The Poco M3 Pro 5G has received a lot of press since it was announced earlier this month, and now that we've spent enough time with it, let's see if it's really worth the hype. Going by the name, it wouldn't be wrong to assume that this is a more powerful version of Poco M3, which it does in some ways. But, to offer these upgrades while keeping prices under control, Poco has made some deals, such as removing stereo speakers, and using low-capacity batteries.
The poco M3 Pro 5G is currently the company's most affordable 5G smartphone offering, and as I said in my first impression article, it competes directly with the RealMe 8G 5G and the RealMe narzo 30 pro 5G - the other two most affordable 5G smartphones in India at the moment. . The main appeals of the M3 Pro 5G are its design, high refresh rate performance, and MediaTek Dimensity 700 SoC. Is this phone worth the money? Let's find out.
Poco M3 Pro 5G price and variants
The base variant of the poco m3 Pro’s base iant 4GB of RAM and 64GB storage is targeted directly at Realme 5G, and both are priced at Rs. 13,999. The second version, which I have for this review, has 6GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, and is priced at Rs. 15,999 It is less expensive than the top-end variant of the Realme 8 5G and the base variant of the Realme Narzo 30 Pro 5G, although the latter offers better features and performance.
Design Poco M3 Pro 5G
The back of the Poco M3 Pro 5G looks fresh new. The black-out part on the upper left part of the body of the "switchblade" design is similar to the camera module design in Samsung's Galaxy S21 series, while the rest of the design is finished. The back panel and frame are made of plastic, but they are shiny and easily attract fingerprints. I noticed a few small suffix marks in the week I used this phone, so it's best to use a bundle case.
The Poco M3 Pro 5G is not too thick at 8..9mm mm and doesn't feel too heavy at 1901g. Ergonomics is good, and the volume and power buttons have a good touch response. There is a headphone jack, as well as an IR emitter to control infrared gadgets and devices. The fingerprint sensor integrated into the recessed power button on the right side of the frame.
ALSO READ: Poco M3 Pro 5G has been launched in India
6.5 inch full-HD + display is fast, with good color reproduction. But, its maximum brightness could have been better. There's an ambient light sensor but this phone felt a bit sluggish in adjusting the screen brightness around me, and I often had to manually increase or decrease it. in this display has Corning Gorilla Glass for safety.
I really like the overall design of the Poco M3 Pro. This package is less heavy than the M3, which is a good thing.
Poco M3 Pro 5G Software and Specifications
The Poco M3 Pro 5G uses the MediaTek Dimension 700 SOC, which is similar to the Dominance 800 U except for its small clocked CPU cores and a slightly slower GPU. RAM. storage used here are LPDDR4X an UFS 2.2 respectively. The M3 Pro 5G also has dual-band WiFi AC, FM radio, Bluetooth.1.1, and a hybrid dual-SIM slot. The phone has a mAh 1000 mAh battery that supports 18W of fast charging.
The phone runs on MIUI 12.0.2 (at the time of this review) based on Android 11, when I first started using the phone, no stock apps were abusive, but a few days later I started getting plenty of spam. Forms of notifications from applications such as GATE applications, music, MI credit, etc. Some of these applications can be uninstalled, but for others, there is little that can be done.
Poco M3 Pro 5G Battery Life and performance
In daily use, the Poco M3 Pro 5G was snap and hassle-free. The tested 6GB RAM version that I tested handled Multitasky very well, and a screen refresh rate of H0 Hz with the application as well as smooth and fluid scrolling in the interface. Confirmed The Dementity 7o00 SOC also did well on the benchmarks, with the M3 Pro 5G having 3,, 2, 3555A and A557 and 1775753 points in the Antu in the single and multi-core testing of the GeekBench.
Game performance was also good. Heavy titles such as Call of Duty: Mobile performed well, while graphics quality was limited to moderate and advanced options were disabled. The Poco M3 Pro got warm after 20 minutes of play, but it wasn't scary. Video playback was also good, but the low brightness and reflective nature of the display meant that the experience of watching from the outside or in bright lights was not good.
Despite its low battery capacity compared to the Poco M3, the M3 Pro 5G still managed to run our 1 hour video minutes 2 minutes HD in our HD video loop test, which is good. The phone usually stays in regular use for a day and a half. This was not the fastest way to charge the phone. The M3 Pro 5G can only charge up to 18W, and took about two full hours to fully charge from scratch.
Poco M3 Pro 5G cameras
The Poco M3 does not have an ultra-wide camera and I was also hoping to see one in the expensive M3 Pro 5G. Sadly, this is not the case. In fact, the camera setup is similar to the poco M3. You’ll find an 8-megapixel front camera, and 48-megapixel primary cameras, as well as two 2-megapixel rear cameras for macro and depth. The camera app offers standard shoot mod modes such as Night, Pro, etc., and can record video up to 1080p.
Shot landscapes in daylight looked good on the phone's display but after close inspection the texture and edges of objects lacked good definition and sharpness. Close-ups performed better in this regard. Macro photos were useful but I found that the camera was used a lot. Portrait shots looked good, especially of humans or animals.
Photo quality take a turn for the worse in low light. The main camera struggled to reproduce the details and texture qualities, and there was a grain of attention. Surprisingly, the mod at night didn't help much when it came to detailing the details.
1080p video cuts heavily if stability is enabled but even under good quality the video quality was average. Low-light videos were grainy and not very usable. The front camera captures useful selfies for the day, but struggles with backlit shots and in low light.
Overall, I think Poco could use better sensors for this ‘Pro’ model, or at least buyers have given this phone an ultra wide camera to set it apart from its dowry.
Certified
The base variant of the Poco M3 Pro 5G isn't too bad if you're looking for a phone that will be ready to go when it arrives on the 5G network. But, the 6GB variant is not the best value for money, especially when you can get a more powerful get 5G Smartphone like the Realm Norzo Pro 5G, for almost the same price or less, if you consider the running discount.
As I mentioned in my first impressions piece, if you haven’t fussed too much about 5G (and you shouldn’t be now), the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10S and Redmi Note 10 Pro offer very good value but with similar performance to phones like better features.