The year is rolling towards the end and even though it’s December, a few tech companies are coming up with new phones, like the POCO C65 — a budget phone that knows its target audience. Many people use the phone only for making calls, sending WhatsApp messages and perhaps watching a bit of YouTube. To them, an expensive device doesn’t make sense. Then there are people who need a secondary device. POCO C65 is for both of these categories.

The phone looks slightly different from the other POCO phones because of the shimmery finish on the back. Even though it’s a budget phone, it looks good. A sensible addition is the matte finish on the back to ensure it doesn’t pick up fingerprints or smudges and you can easily clean the rear panel. The 4G phone obviously has a plastic finish at the back and frames but while holding the phone, it feels great and not very heavy.

Good display for a budget phone

The 6.74-inch IPS LCD screen supports 90Hh refresh rate, which has become a standard for budget phones. Don’t expect the punchy colours of an AMOLED screen but the panel quality is quite good, reproducing colours that are true to life and you shouldn’t have issues using the phone for media consumption. What POCO could have done differently are the bezels, which need to be narrowed down. I can overlook the bezels when I consider the phone comes with Widevine L1 certification. The single speaker is quite loud and, more importantly, clear.

The IPS LCD display offers a good degree of brightness and colours appear natural

Stable performance

On the performance front, the phone is powered by MediaTek Helio G85 chipset and supports maximum 8 GB RAM (onboard) and 256 GB of internal storage which I think is decent specs for a budget phone. You may ask why the ageing G85. It is ageing but for a budget phone, it’s still a decent option. In case you are buying this device, you know what you want from it. You will obviously not opt for heavy-duty games and the phone will primarily be used for regular apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and food delivery services, besides a bit of YouTube and streaming. Many of the games will run at a decent frame rate, which is perfect for casual gamers. .

Software and UI

The phone runs on MI14, based on Android 13. In case you use virtual RAM, the overall performance will improve slightly. A quibble: First, there are quite a few unnecessary apps like Bubble Shooter, Dust Settle, Crazy Juicer, Phone Pe, LinkedIn and so on. You can uninstall them but why put out such apps in the first place?

Click away but….

It’s a dual-camera setup: 50MP main and 2MP macro. On the front is an 8MP selfie snapper. The overall camera performance is good and the colours come out bright. There is nothing to fault about the main camera and the selfie snapper too is decent. Video is restricted to 1080p@30fps and under bright sunshine, the output is good. But there is no ultra-wide; I think budget phones should start considering having this feature.

Should you buy it?

The phone has a 5,000mAh battery, which should last a day and a half to two days. You get a 10W charger in the box though the phone supports up to 18W fast-charging. Another point to remember: There’s no clear-case cover in the box. Overall, POCO C65 is a safe choice for a budget smartphone.

A sample shot taken on the POCO C65

At a glance

Device: POCO C65

Price: Upwards of Rs 8,499

High notes

Good design

Stable processor

Main camera is perfect for a budget phone

There is a charger in the box

Muffled notes

Ultra-wide mode is absent

Bezels could have been narrower