Poco M2 Pro Review: A Budget Phone with Specs That Holds for Years to Come
The sub-brand of Xiaomi, Poco, is aggressive in its strategy to deliver high-spec phones on a budget. To further its mission Poco came out with a very tempting option with Poco M2 pro.
Poco M2 Pro Was Released during the COVID disruption as an amazing value phone. Poco M2 offers a powerful chipset, good enough cameras, and a best-in-class battery.
But there are things you need to be aware of. Today, we will review the budget king Poco M2 Pro.
Let’s begin!
Poco M2 Specs
| Display: | PS LCD, HDR10, 450 nits, 6.67 inches, 1080 x 2400 pixels, 20:9 ratio (~395 ppi density) |
| Processor: | Qualcomm SM7125 Snapdragon 720G |
| Software: | MIUI 12 Based on Android 10 |
| Rear Camera: | 48MP Samsung GM28MP 119-degree FoV ultra-wide lens5MP macro lens2MP depth sensor |
| Front Camera: | 16MP Punch Hole |
| Battery: | 5020mAh battery with 33W charger |
| Others: | IR Blaster, NavIC, Bluetooth 5.0, Dual-band Wi-Fi |
The Pros and the Cons
| The Pros | The Cons |
|---|---|
| Great Display for Price | Familiar Design |
| Cleaner Version of MIUI | Low Refresh Rate |
| Good Fingerprint | |
| Above Average Cameras for the price | |
| Great Battery | |
| Fast Charging |
Poco M2 Review: Display
- PS LCD, HDR10, 450 nits, 6.67 inches, 1080 x 2400 pixels, 20:9 ratio (~395 ppi density)
This phone is quite similar to the Redmi 9 Pro in India but the display feels a bit different.
The phone has a good quality IPS LCD panel with Full HD+ resolution. It gets fairly bright outdoors for easy usage and does not strain your eyes. However, you may have to adjust the color scheme as the default mode leans toward a little blueish tone. Go to Settings and choose Standard color profile for more warner color tones.
One downside of the display is the refresh rate. Sub 20K phones from most brands are making high refresh rates a feature to entice users.
Overall, for the budget, the display is quite good with pretty great performance.
Poco M2 Review: Software Performance
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM7125 Snapdragon 720G (8 nm)
- OS: Android 10, MIUI 12
The M2 Pro from Poco is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G. This is one of the best chips you can get in this price segment. Paired with LPDDR4x RAM and UFS2.1 storage, the performance seems okay. It feels great, there is no lag or delay in processing.
With this powerful chip, multitasking shouldn’t be an issue. However, it may kill apps in the background when it is unable to handle the load.
The gaming experience on Poco M2 Pro is above average, you can expect pretty much a smooth performance. And it didn’t heat up drastically even with the extended gaming experience. Overall, gaming on the Poco M2 Pro was a comfortable experience.
The software of Poco M2 Pro is great, it will feel familiar if you’ve used Xiaomi phones in the past. The feature-rich, less intrusive MIUI 12 will feel just fine for most users. However, If you are a power user and not familiar with MIUI, then you might prefer phones with a stock Android experience.
Fortunately, there are no ads in the interface and within Xiaomi apps as well. But, given Xiaomi’s track record, we can’t be sure about it. But you will have to deal with many preloaded apps.
Personally, I don’t like MIUI, but in this segment, you can’t expect more out of a phone. MIUI is quite stable and customizable, you are less likely to get surprises like lagging or completely freezing the screen with this build.
Also Read : Vivo Y21 Review | Exploring the Features of the Y21 Phone
Poco M2 Pro Review: Camera
Poco M2 Pro comes equipped with five cameras in total, four back cameras and one front-facing camera.
Back Camera:
- 48MP Samsung GM2
- 8MP 119-degree FoV ultra-wide lens
- 5MP macro lens
- 2MP depth sensor
48MP Samsung GM2 is the main sensor in M2 Pro and it offers good-quality photos in the daytime. If you shoot photos with M2 Pro in good light conditions, the results will be impressive. The camera sensors capture all the details with good dynamic range as well.
However, for indoor photography the camera software is a bit aggressive and most photos turn out soft. The software is aggressive in reducing noise, resulting the soft photos. However, with proper lighting, you can expect average results.
If we talk about the wide-angle camera, it’s just there if you need it in emergencies. Otherwise, don’t expect much from it.
The portrait mode is quite good as it handles edge detection very well. But in low light, it doesn’t work as advertised.
It also offers a night light feature but you can imagine how it will be. The image quality of the photos taken at night deteriorates steeply. Let’s just say that it gets the job done, that’s it.
Front Facing Camera:
- 16MP Punch Hole
The selfie camera is above average and offers great dynamic range and highlights as well.
Overall, the camera performance is quite impressive given the price range of the phone. In proper lighting, it’s pretty much shoot-and-go. It can be a testing experience in low-lighting conditions, you may need to try a few times to get the right frame.
Also Read: Realme C20 Review| Is This Mobile Worth The Investment?
Poco M2 Pro Review: Battery
The 5000mAh battery in Poco M2 Pro is quite large in this segment. This battery paired with Snapdragon 720G offers 1.5 to 2 days on moderate usage. You can get around 7 hours of screen time on heavy usage. The box comes with a 33W charging adaptor that can charge your phone in just an hour.
Poco M2 Pro Review: Audio
- 3.5mm audio jack
- AptX, AptX HD, and LDAC support
M2 Pro supports a headphone jack located at the bottom edge and the audio quality through the 3.5mm audio jack is loud enough. Built-in equalizer gives you control over the audio, you can easily use any high-quality sound gear to take advantage.
The speaker, though, is not as good as would expect. It can get loud but doesn’t sound good with little to no bass. And there is no stereo speaker.
The Verdict
Poco M2 Pro offers great hardware in a budget segment with cleaner software than Xiaomi’s version. But it is limited by the software capabilities. However, given the price bracket, it is an excellent choice for people familiar with Xiaomi phones.
So, it’s a thumbs up from us.