POCO M4 Pro 5G Review – Best Mid Range All-Rounder

The price of a smartphone is often the most important factor for the majority of phone buyers when making a purchasing decision. When it comes to affordability, Poco is among the brands that focus on it. With this in mind, Poco has released the Poco M4 Pro smartphone in India.

If you’re looking for the best budget smartphone, the Xiaomi Poco M4 Pro 5G should definitely be on your list. However, with average performance and merely acceptable camera quality, the phone’s affordable price, display, and battery life are what makes the selling factor.

It all comes down to your requirements and the money you’re ready to pay for your new smartphone. Here is a full review of the Poco M4 Pro to help you decide whether or not to purchase it.

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The Poco M4 Pro 5G is priced at Rs. 14,999 in India for the 4GB RAM + 64GB storage option. The smartphone is also available in 6GB + 128GB and 8GB + 128GB configurations for Rs. 16,999 and Rs. 18,999, respectively. The Poco M4 Pro 5G will go on sale on February 22nd at 12 p.m. only on Flipkart. It will be available in three different colours: Cool Blue, Poco Yellow, and Power Black colours.

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The all-new addition to the POCO family comes along the following items inside the box:

• Handset
• 33W Power Adapter
• USB Type A-C Cable
• Sim Ejector Tool
• Transparent Case
• Pre-Applied Screen Protector
• User Guide
• Warranty Card

Before we talk in detail about the POCO M4 Pro 5G, let’s see what the on-paper specs look like:

• Display: 6.6 inches IPS LCD
• Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 810
• RAM & ROM: 4GB RAM 64GB Storage, 6GB RAM 128GB Storage, 8GB RAM 128GB Storage
• Software: Android v11
• Rear camera: 50MP + 8MP
• Selfie camera: 16 MP
• Battery: 5000 mAh
• Weight: 195 grams
• Dimensions: 163.5 x 75.7 x 8.7 mm

The POCO M4 Pro has a typical POCO design that is absolutely gorgeous. Despite being made of plastic, the design seems to be premium and flagship-worthy. You’ll notice a large black camera placeholder with the POCO logo inside. The Xiaomi Poco M4 Pro 5G comes in three different colours: blue, yellow, and black.

It features a curved back and is made of a matte finish plastic that sparkles in the light. The back is very smooth and comfortable to the touch. The side frames feature golden lines that look metallic, more like chamfered edges. Don’t be tricked by the camera setup on the back. You’d be fooled for believing the Xiaomi Poco M4 Pro 5G’s camera has four cameras and a flash, or perhaps three lenses and some kind of sensor, at first glance, but a close look reveals that there are only two lenses and a flash. In my opinion, this is a little gimmicky, but as long as you’re aware that it’s a design thing, there’s no harm done.

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It’s small and lightweight, making it easy to carry. As you look at the device, all of the physical controls are on the right: a power button and volume rockers. Finally, there’s a SIM and micro SD card tray on the left-hand side. The fingerprint sensor is integrated into the power button instead of the display, as is common with budget devices – we like it the other way around, but you may disagree.

The smartphone comes with an IP53 rating for dust and splash resistance. This means that the Poco M4 Pro would be safe in light drizzle and humid environments, but not submerged.

The POCO M4 Pro 5G has a 6.60-inch FHD+ LCD display featuring Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and a refresh rate of 90Hz. The display’s standard refresh rate is 60Hz, but you may increase it to 90Hz, which will drain the battery a little more but will make a considerable difference while watching a video or playing games. The screen isn’t AMOLED; instead, it’s an IPS panel with a DCI-P3 wide colour gamut. These features aren’t particularly noteworthy, as these display specs have become the norm for smartphones in the budget segment in recent years. The scrolling is smooth and the display is responsive.

Though it cannot match in terms of brightness and contrasts with AMOLED panels, it is more than good for the price. The colours are vibrant, and the details are clear. You can manually change the colour temperature to make it perfect for you.

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Except for the bottom bezel, which is somewhat wider, the bezels surrounding the screen are slim. The selfie camera is housed in a circular cut-out at the top of the screen, which is the sole interruption to the display. Most smartphones under 15k have AMOLED displays, therefore I believe Xiaomi could have also done the same with POCO M4 Pro 5G.

The POCO M4 Pro 5G is powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 810 5G octa-core CPU, which is a 5G-capable midrange processor. The new MediaTek Dimensity 810 5G chipset is a solid performer that can handle practically any game with ease. The POCO M4 Pro comes in three RAM and storage configurations, beginning with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage for the base model, 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage for the second model, and 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage for the third and highest model.

Browsing the web, reading email, and scrolling social media feeds is smooth, and even taking photographs is quick, in some cases near-instantaneous. When it comes to the basic stuff, the Poco M4 Pro seems more like a flagship smartphone than a budget phone. Because of the 90Hz display, the advantage of that smooth performance is more easily realised.

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One thing that isn’t helping nearly as much is the older UFS 2.2 storage. While I didn’t have to wait forever for apps or heavy games to start, I have certainly experienced faster phones. When switching between apps and navigating around menus, there is some minor lag, but not enough to ruin the user experience.

ThePOCO M4 Pro 5G’s gaming performance is solid, and it can handle a range of games with ease using low to medium graphics settings. I was expecting a solid performance from PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile. Call of Duty Mobile and Genshin Impact, for example, will run at 30 fps with decent graphics settings. In games like PUBG, the graphic settings had to be reduced to medium while playing to get reasonable frame rates. Asphalt 9: Legends was fun to play; however, it was laggy at times. Just don’t expect to use that 90Hz display to its full potential on Ultra settings. After all, this isn’t a flagship smartphone.

The POCO M4 Pro 5G runs MIUI 12.5.4, which is based on Android 11. The phone comes pre-installed with Android 11, while smartphones running the latest Android 12 OS are already on the market. Furthermore, MIUI 13 has been launched, which includes new features and is better than the existing MIUI 12 on the POCO M4 Pro.

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There are a few pre-installed apps on the UI that you can observe, but no worries, you can uninstall them if they aren’t needed. Aside from that, the software is fairly stable, and the menus are simple to navigate. The user experience is clean and seems fast thanks to the 90 Hz refresh rate; the UI is snappy and offers smooth operations. The MIUI 12.5 has been improved for performance and battery life, and various new features have been added to make the MIUI 12.5 more feature-rich.

What’s interesting about POCO M4 Pro 5G is its camera; the backside has a dual-camera setup that appears to be a quad setup, but it actually has two large cameras, one with 50 MP f/1.8 as the primary lens and the second having 8 MP f/2.2 as the ultra-wide-angle lens.

The primary sensor can take good photos in bright light, but as the lights dim, the noise in the photos increases significantly. The colours are a tad dull and undersaturated, but not to the extent of being unreal. It has a hard time focusing on subjects, whether close up or far away.

The Poco M4 Pro is capable of handling a wide range of lighting settings, though extremely dark regions, as expected, appear grainy. In certain situations, night mode delivers better results, but it has a habit to amplify colours.

The ultra-wide camera, on the other hand, is considerably less impressive. It covers a lot more ground, but the level of noise and fuzzy details it captures makes for a much inferior image in every case.

Selfies taken with the 16-megapixel front camera are realistic and detailed, though the Poco M4 Pro, like many other smartphones, has a skin-smoothing filter set on by default.

There are several camera features available like Night mode, 50 MP mode, Time-Lapse, Portrait, Panorama, Slow Motion, Pro Color, Movie Frame, and more.

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The back cameras can record 1080p@60fps videos, while the front cameras can only record 1080p@30fps. The device does not support OIS, but it does support EIS, which is a software-based video stabilisation system.

The camera system on the POCO M4 Pro 5G has several flaws, but it ultimately produces nice pictures ( in good lighting) with good colour balance and a quick shutter.

The POCO M4 Pro 5G has a big 5,000 mAh battery, which is common among affordable smartphones. On heavy use, the POCO M4 Pro may easily last an entire day on a single charge; and depending on usage, you can stretch it on the second day. Overall, the battery performance is excellent.

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Although there is no wireless charging available – and you would not expect it at such a price. The 33W fast charging speed is decent, and you won’t have to wait long to charge the phone. The 33W charger will charge the phone from 0 to 100 per cent in around an hour, which is great for a budget smartphone.

The stereo speakers on the Poco M4 Pro are pretty good, with songs and media through YouTube and Netflix sounding crisp but flat. You can always use wired earphones since this phone features a 3.5mm audio jack.

By the way, the POCO M4 Pro 5G supports 5G, with around 7 5G bands supported, including n1, n3, n5, n8, n2, n40, and n78. On the top, there is an IR blaster that may be used to control the AC, TV, or any other device. Wi-Fi 2.4G/5GHz, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS, and USB Type-C are among the other connectivity options.

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The Poco M4 Pro 5G has a fingerprint scanner integrated into the power button on the side. It’s quick, accurate, and easy to locate with my thumb. If you don’t wish to use the fingerprint reader, you can unlock the phone with facial recognition. Else there are always the more traditional password and PIN alternatives.