Let’s say you need a budget smartphone with the goodwill of 5G connectivity, 90Hz refresh rate, good battery life and from a reputable brand, well, that’s the Poco M3 Pro 5G. However, are these enough reasons to pick up this $180 device or, is there a catch? In this article, I will take you through the Xiaomi Poco M3 Pro review, letting you in the imperative details.
However, before diving into the article proper, do know that you can also watch our review of the Xiaomi Poco M3 pro on the Oscarmini channel on Youtube.
Unboxing
The Poco M3 Pro 5G comes with a charger, which is 18W in this case, you get a TPU case, connecting USB C cables, some stickers and manual, exactly as with other devices from Xiaomi.
Design and Build
The design maintains a plastic body as expected, with the camera module to the corner and POC branding right beneath that, and a fingerprint magnet.
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Volume rocker and power button which doubles a fingerprint sensor to the right, a hybrid sim tray to the left, USB C and down firing speakers.
IR blaster, audio jack port and secondary microphone to the top. Front side gives you a display with a centered hole punch notch, gorilla glass 3 protection.
The Display
The display offers an interesting 6.5-inch IPS LCD panel, with a Full HD+ resolution, that’s slightly above the 1920 you are used to, and you get 90Hz refresh rate.
Meaning that, scrolling through is quite smooth. You get a decently sharp display for an LCD, and 500nits is plenty bright enough for what it is.
Pretty much anyone can live with this. It’s not to say that this is the best display for the price, the Galaxy A22 is brighter and looks better, it’s AMOLED and they are similarly priced, but for an LCD, this works pretty well.
Performance and Specs
The Poco M3 Pro 5G comes in Android 11, MiUI 12, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage and 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage.
It offers an easy to use software, comfortable MiUI, lovely animations, gestures and all that. But, you should expect a couple bloatware apps, and occasional ads popping up this smartphone when you use it.
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You can expand the memory using the hybrid micro SD card slot, hence, you’d have to let go of one SIM slot when you go that route.
Still on the performance, you get the MediaTek Dimensity 700 chipset, which handle graphic intensive apps quite well. Surely, you’d notice the stutters, but this device performs well for its price and you should expect slightly better performance if you are getting the 6GB variant.
Battery Life
With the Poco M3 Pro 5G, 5000mAH battery is what you get, and it can be charged from 0 to hundred in about 2 hours using the 18W charger from within the box. As far as how long it takes to drain, definitely over a day of mid-heavy use.
The Cameras
The rear camera are 3 in total, the 48MP main lens, 2MP macro and 2MP depth sensor and the front side gives you an 8MP sensor making it a total of 4 cameras on this smartphone.
The cameras are quite decent, passable at best, however, this could be better than what it is. Most times, to nail that perfect shot, you’d have to run multiple takes and select the best of them all.
Also, the photos looks washed out and a lot of times, overexposed and that’s not exactly what the average user wants, most people love the vibrant looking images from these kind of smartphones. Videos can be recorded at up to 1080p 30fps with no form of stabilization.
Price
The 4GB/64GB variant is $180, roughly N92,000 while the maxed out 128GB variant retails for about $210 or N110,000.
Should You Buy?
If you need an affordable or budget 5G smartphone that features 90Hz refresh rate, good performance and great battery life, the Poco M3 Pro 5G is definitely one device to keep an eye on, but if 5G isn’t an issue or something you are bothered about, then there are better options out there.
The camera is a deal breaker since it’s possible to get something slightly better in that aspect. A lot of people don’t really care about performance when they handle budget smartphone, the cameras matters to them.
However, if you can excuse the camera, the Poco M3 Pro 5G is definitely a good budget smartphone. Let us know what you think in the comment section.