Poco M4 Pro Review: Ideal For Budget Smartphone Buyers

Poco M4 Pro Design

The Poco M4 Pro flaunts a glossy, dual-tone rear featuring an oversized camera module. The Poco smartphone comes with a more flamboyant design than many other handsets in its price point. However, the large camera module and logo might put off some people and I am also not a great fan of it. Though it is made of plastic, it is done nicely and feels comfortable when held.

Poco M4 Pro measures 159.87 x 73.87 x 8.09mm and weighs 179.5 grams. It is quite lightweight and can be carried around easily. I got the blue variant of the smartphone for the review while there are black and yellow variants as well with the latter being more eye-catching.

However, if you prefer a minimalist and understated design, then you might not want to buy this smartphone. It could be a refreshing design for many who are used to the same old design language

The physical buttons - volume rockers and power button are present at the right when you look at the display. The fingerprint sensor is embedded into the power button as in the case of many other devices in its price category. At the bottom edge, there is a USB Type-C port for charging and a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is a good addition. It gets the IP53 rating for splash resistance.

Poco M4 Pro Display

In terms of display, the Poco smartphone bestows a 6.43-inch FHD+ with a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels. It is an AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate, DCI-P3 color gamut, and up to 1000 nits peak brightness. There is nothing exceptional about these aspects as such display specs are the baseline for smartphones in the affordable segment of late. The display is quite responsive and the scrolling is fluid.

Though it cannot compete head-on with the OLED panels in terms of brightness and contrast, it is pretty much fine for the cost you pay. The colors and details are sharp and crisp. It is possible to adjust the color temperature manually to make it ideal for you.

The bezels around the screen are slim except for the one at the bottom, which is relatively thicker. What I didn't like about the screen is the circular punch-hole cutout at the top center, which houses the selfie camera sensor as it is quite noticeable and comes in my way.

Poco M4 Pro Hardware And Performance

The Poco M4 Pro gets the power from an octa-core MediaTek Helio G96 processor based on the 12nm platform. This chipset uses dual 2.05GHz A76 cores and hexa 2GHz A55 cores alongside Mali-G57 MC2 GPU. There is up to 8GB of RAM and up to 128GB storage space. Also, the Poco M4 Pro supports a microSD card slot with up to 1TB of expandable storage space.

When it comes to benchmark performance, the Poco M4 Pro managed to score 536 points in the single-core test and 1348 points in the multi-core test. In the AnTuTu benchmark platform, the smartphone scored 376982 points.

You cannot expect a great performance and it is mediocre with the Helio G96 processor. There is minimal lag in some occasions when switching between apps and navigating around menus. But it does not spoil the experience to a great extent. However, if you are looking for an affordable smartphone, then you should be ready for some comprises.

In terms of software, the Poco M4 Pro runs Android 11 OS topped with MIUI 13 out-of-the-box. There is a considerable amount of bloatware and some advert pop-ups on installing apps from the Play Store. While smartphones from the company have their strengths, their major downside is the software performance among others.

Poco M4 Pro comes with a slew of notable aspects including an IR blaster, stereo speakers, Hi-Res Audio certification and standard connectivity aspects including dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, dual-SIM and a dedicated microSD card slot.

Poco M4 Pro Camera

Poco M4 Pro makes use of triple-lens with an improved 64MP rear primary camera with an f/1.8 aperture at the rear. It is accompanied by an 8MP secondary ultra-wide-angle camera sensor with a 118-degree field of view. Also, there is a 2MP macro camera with an f/2.4 aperture. At the front, it has a 16MP selfie camera with an f/2.4 aperture.

Though this camera has an improved sensor, it does not deliver the best-in-class performance. The phone does capture some good snaps but it doesn't always perform the same way. Especially in low-light conditions, it fails to perform well. While the inclusion of an ultrawide lens is a good thing, it misses out on optical zoom support. Even the digital zoom doesn't deliver a smooth effect, mainly around the edges.

Talking about the rear camera performance, the color reproduction and contrast are pretty good. Even the brightness is balanced and it is enhanced with HDR. The shutter speed is snappy too. If you are looking for images to share on social media, then the Poco phone does a good job provided you take the shots outdoors in bright light conditions.

On scrutinizing the shots captured by the Poco M4 Pro, you will know that the fine details are not crisp and the colors appear to be washed out occasionally. There is noise in the low-light shots and the built-in night mode can kick into action in these cases. However, some smartphones with marginally higher pricing deliver a better low-light camera performance.

Poco M4 Pro Battery Life

Poco M4 Pro is fueled by a 5000mAh battery that easily delivers one day of usage. If you are not into activities such as streaming videos, playing games and using GPS navigation very often, then you can even get two days of battery life.

During my review, I used it for these intense battery-draining tasks to some extent and it still had 37% of battery life on the second day morning, while I started it at 100% charge the previous day.

Notably, this is one of the advantages of affordable smartphones as these phones do not draw much of the battery power. Furthermore, the Poco M4 Pro battery is complemented by 33W fast wired charging. It can charge the battery fully from 0 to 100% in an hour.

Should You Buy Poco M4 Pro?

The Poco M4 Pro comes as a good buy for those who do not want a premium smartphone as it costs just half of it and delivers an acceptable performance. Also, it is suitable for users who want a standard display with decent specs and capabilities. Another notable aspect is its battery performance as it lasts for a long between two charging cycles. The long battery life is definitely one of its selling points and makes it ideal for people on the move.

However, you should refrain from buying the Poco M4 Pro if performance is a priority. The device is not slow but there is a noticeable delay on some occasions, which makes sense as it is not a premium and top-end offering. Also, you won't get exceptional camera performance with this smartphone. Moreover, the Poco M4 Pro is not a great upgrade to the M3 Pro.