Poco M8 Pro review: Great value comes at a cost

Greatest Costs At this time: Xiaomi Poco M8 Professional

Xiaomi runs a few sub-brands, specifically Redmi and Poco which sit under flagships of their positioning. Poco is usually pitched as a youthful model providing good worth whereas supporting avid gamers and tech followers, whereas Redmi is extra about mid-range mass market worth.

The Poco M8 Professional is basically the identical telephone because the Redmi Be aware 15+ Professional, however with a a lot easier identify and a budget-friendly £299 worth.

Nonetheless, you get high quality mid-range {hardware}, a big and potent show, and the kind of battery life that embarrasses flagship telephones.

However once you’re getting this a lot goodness for thus little cash, there needs to be a compromise – and with the Poco M8 Professional, there may be. I’ve been testing it for the previous couple of weeks to seek out out if it’s price shopping for.

Design & Construct: Eye-catching however stable

Poco has a behavior of manufacturing telephones that look extra like gaming telephones than its rivals. Whereas the design is similar as its Redmi sibling, the colors are way more attention-grabbing.

Pictured right here is the “Inexperienced”, which has a broad striped end integrating detailing that almost all telephones received’t provide.

Chris Corridor / Foundry

It’s a plastic construct with a big digicam housing on the again. That’s largely about design, as whereas it appears to be like like there are 4 lenses, there’s truly solely two, so it’s a design assertion to make you suppose it’s a greater digicam providing than it truly is.

The 205.9g of this telephone means it’s pretty hefty, with the big display and battery accounting for a lot of the burden. The display and the body curve into the rear to make this massive telephone simpler to grip and I discovered it snug to make use of.

Additional ideas

• The telephone has an IP66 and IP68 safety from mud and water
• The Poco M8 Professional comes with a protecting case within the field

Display screen & Audio system: Good show

It’s clear to see the place the hassle has gone into the Poco M8 Professional, with a 6.83-inch AMOLED show that’s shiny, vibrant and really succesful. This speaks to Poco’s core proposition and there’s little to complain about in the case of the show.

Chris Corridor / Foundry

There’s loads of element, it helps as much as 120Hz refresh charges and there’s loads of brightness too – as much as 3,200 nits peak brightness, which is nice for bringing HDR content material to life. In regular use it is going to attain 1,800 nits, so content material stays seen in shiny daylight.

I watched Glass Onion: A Knives Out Thriller on Netflix – labelled as Dolby Imaginative and prescient – and located the HDR presentation to be nice.

The stereo audio system on the Poco M8 Professional are good, reaching a surprisingly excessive quantity, however could be a little shrill at high volumes. They’re completely good for watching video on the transfer and for gaming, though I discovered it simple to cowl the underside speaker with my hand, blocking the sound.

Additional ideas

• The Poco M8 Professional helps Dolby Imaginative and prescient and HDR 10+
• The display is protected with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2

Specs & Efficiency: Strong mid-range {hardware}

At this worth, it’s the Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 that will likely be of most curiosity to consumers.

That is mid-range {hardware}, a step down from Snapdragon 8 Collection chips present in flagship telephones. However it affords nice effectivity and whereas not delivering the identical energy, it’s ample for every day duties and gaming for all however essentially the most demanding customers.

Chris Corridor / Foundry

I discovered it performed Name of Responsibility Cell satisfactorily, however it doesn’t have the graphical prowess to allow you to get essentially the most out of the sport at increased settings. Even underneath load, this telephone doesn’t warmth up massively, however the graphical efficiency received’t compete with flagship fashions.

I discovered the Poco M8 Professional to supply a stable connection and located that calls have been made and acquired with none issues, with callers coming by way of good and clear. However there’s no microSD card slot and no assist for eSIM, solely twin bodily SIM.

Additional ideas

• There are two variations of the Poco M8 Professional, 8/256GB or 12/512GB
• Helps WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4 requirements

Cameras: A reasonably primary expertise

There are two cameras on the Poco M8 Professional, a 50Mp major digicam and an 8Mp ultrawide digicam. On the entrance, there’s a 32Mp selfie digicam.

The principle digicam is usually good in shiny situations, however it isn’t significantly robust in decrease mild, the place even day pictures indoors present indicators of noise.

The principle digicam additionally affords 2x zoom by way of cropping with appears to be like adequate, however then out to 20x by way of digital zoom, which is finest averted, as the standard rapidly degrades. The ultrawide digicam isn’t nice, with a barely totally different color tone to the primary digicam – noticeable in all however good situations.

The entrance digicam is finest utilized in good mild, as a result of the slightest dip in brightness brings noise, whereas pictures will be very contrasty and never too flattering. The portrait mode works effectively, with adjustable bokeh impact and I believe it’s price turning down a notch to get the very best outcomes, as the sting detection is somewhat harsh and never too lifelike.

That sees an enormous 6500mAh battery on this telephone – in contrast 5000mAh within the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.

The huge battery not only accounts for some of the phone’s size and weight, but it also means it can breeze through a day. Thanks to that mid-range hardware, endurance is one thing that this phone is really good at. I didn’t need to charge the phone at the end of most days, happy to charge it every other day instead.

Chris Hall / Foundry

To enable that charging there’s support for a massive 100W wired charging. There’s no charger in the box as standard for most European countries, but some regions will get a charger.

I tested it with a 100W charger and found it got 71% in 30 minutes, charging from 23% to 94%.

Further thoughts

• Supports 25W reverse charging for accessories.
• There’s no wireless charging on the Poco M8 Pro.

Software & Apps: A bloated mess

Where Poco falls down – and it’s something that Redmi and Xiaomi phones suffer too – is in the software experience.

For the Poco M8 Pro, it comes in a number of forms. Firstly, the phone launches on HyperOS 2 based on Android 15, so it’s already out of date.

There are 4 years of OS updates and 6 years of security updates, which is typical of this level of phone, but not competitive with phones from Google, Samsung or even Honor.

Chris Hall / Foundry

Then there are extensive changes that come with HyperOS, so this phone feels substantially different to a typical Android phone. Part of that equation is the bloatware – pre-installed apps on the phone (I counted about 14 apps I couldn’t opt not to install) – and then there’s duplication that comes from Xiaomi’s apps too.

Stick to Google’s apps, they’re much better.

The user interface is filled with options and some may like the additional choices for customisation and control, some might find that it’s just a bit of an overload. Certainly, the experience is slower, less consistent and less refined than something like the Pixel 10a, but then it’s half the price.

Further thoughts

• Most of the pre-install apps can be removed once the phone has been set up.
• Gemini is present on this device for all your AI conversations.

Price & Availability

The Poco M8 Pro is available for £249 at the time of writing, direct from Mi.com, with an RRP of £299. It’s also available from Amazon and unavailable within the US as all the time.

The Redmi Be aware 15 Professional+ is a pure various however with a 200Mp major digicam, however at £100 extra, I don’t suppose it’s price it.

Elsewhere, Google’s most cost-effective telephone is £499 – the Pixel 10a – providing longer software program assist, a cleaner expertise and higher cameras, however a smaller show and fewer spectacular battery.

Samsung’s rival gadget can be the Galaxy A36 (£399), though Poco beats it on the spec sheet in nearly all areas. Samsung’s benefit is cleaner software program with longer assist.

Take a look at our checklist of the very best funds telephones and finest mid-range telephones for extra choices.

Must you purchase the Poco M8 Professional?

The Poco M8 Professional delivers loads of {hardware} and nice efficiency for an amazing worth. It’s onerous to beat Poco for worth, making this an amazing alternative for individuals who can’t afford a flagship telephone however need a few of that energy. The battery life and charging are higher than most flagship rivals, too.

However the software program doesn’t make for an amazing expertise and there’s so much to be accomplished to take away bloat and transfer to Google apps to make all the things smoother and cleaner. It’s a telephone that you simply’ll have to tinker with to get the very best expertise – and it would simply be price it for the worth.

In the end, this can be a nice funds telephone, with a powerful show and battery life, for not some huge cash.

Specs

• HyperOS 2, primarily based on Android 15 
• 6.83-inch, 1280 x 2772 AMOLED, 120Hz  
• Optical fingerprint scanner  
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 chipset
• 8/12GB RAM  
• 256/512GB storage 
• 50Mp, f/1.6 major digicam 
• 8Mp, f/2.2 ultrawide
• 32Mp, f/2.2 selfie  
• As much as 4K @ 30fps rear video  
• Stereo audio system
• Wi-Fi 6
• Bluetooth 5.4
• 6500mAh battery  
• 100W wired charging  
• 163.34 x 78.31 x 8.31 mm
• IP66/68 licensed  
• 205.9g
• Colors: Black, Silver, Inexperienced