Poco last month announced the Poco M4 5G in India. It is a budget 5G smartphone promised to deliver a strong performance regardless of what the user is doing. I have used the device for two weeks now, and I have nothing but good things to say about this smartphone. The Poco M4 5G is everything a user can ask for in the budget segment; let me explain why.
Poco M4 5G Body and Design Review
The Poco M4 5G is an absolute beauty. I have the Poco Yellow variant of the smartphone, and frankly speaking, it's one of the most elegant looking devices in the budget segment. Yes, it comes with a polycarbonate back, so it won’t feel the best on touch, but you can’t ask for anything more than this in the budget segment.
The smartphone has a very big camera bump at the rear, which is sort of like what we saw on the Pixel 6 series. The black glass camera bump goes well with the Poco Yellow colour, though. The Poco branding is in the camera bump on the far right, while at the bottom left, there’s a small 5G print to signify that it is a 5G smartphone.
At the bottom, there’s a USB Type-C port along with a speaker. There’s nothing on the left side of the body except for the SIM tray. Poco has added the volume rockers and the power button on the right side of the device. Note that the power button also acts as the fingerprint sensor, which, I must say, is pretty fast! For people who love using wired earphones, there’s a 3.5mm audio jack as well on the top.
I personally love the camera rings at the back. They are big and bold on top of black glass, which feels very premium to me. The Poco M4 5G will seriously stand out amongst other devices. It is definitely a unique looking smartphone for me.
Poco M4 5G Display and Sound Review
The display has become one of the most important factors for users of a smartphone today. A faster display with a higher refresh rate has been in demand even by budget device users.
The Poco M4 5G comes with a 6.58-inch FHD+ display which can support 90Hz of refresh rate and 240Hz of the touch sampling rate. The device comes with support for intelligent refresh rate switching between 30Hz, 60Hz, and 90Hz to save battery. Further, there’s Gorilla Glass 3 on top to protect the screen from external damage.
There’s a tear-drop notch on the top of the screen, which houses the selfie sensor. It wouldn’t bother you much as the device has an excellent display experience. At the price range that the Poco M4 5G is selling, I would any day be happy with getting a display which is as large as 6.58-inch and can support FHD+ resolution and 90Hz of refresh rate.
Even under the sun, the display’s max brightness is good enough to watch and read content on the screen. I dig the colours on the display of the Poco M4 5G. The response is just amazing for anything I am doing. Watching high-res videos won’t be a problem with this one. The viewing quality is comfortably good.
But it is the sound output I just have a slight issue with. It isn’t the loudest. I get it; you can’t expect the best of the best from a budget device. But I would have loved it if the sound output was better than what it is actually delivering right now. Regardless, let’s move to the performance of the smartphone.
Poco M4 5G Performance and Battery Review
Poco M4 5G does heat up when you put it to the test. While playing heavy games and continuous multi-tasking, the device became pretty hot. For the unaware, the smartphone is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 700 SoC.
This particular chipset was meant to be put in a budget smartphone. However, it is quite an old chip for 2022. The Redmi Note 10T also packs the same chip. But in terms of performance from a budget smartphone, it is still a satisfactory one.
In honest words, the Poco M4 5G has been a class act for being a budget smartphone when it comes to performance. Look, it won’t be the best at beating a mid-range device, but it will certainly be one of the best in the budget segment.
It is a 5G smartphone and can support the following 5G bands - 5G SA: N1/N3/N5/N8/N28/N40/N78, 5G NSA: N1/N3/N40/N77/N78
I would like to put your focus on the MIUI 13 for a bit. The device boots on Android 12 based on MIUI 13 out of the box. It is flawless. It is cleaner than I have ever experienced MIUI OS to be. Xiaomi did focus on elevating the customer experience by delivering a seamless OS experience without any bloatware. You will find some Xiaomi apps and Google apps but nothing else that can’t be uninstalled.
The Poco M4 5G is backed with a big 5000mAh battery and support for 18W fast-charging. Honestly, I wish the charging was around 30W, but then it would have raised the cost of the device. Poco is bundling a 22.5W fast-charger inside the box with the device.
The battery backup is excellent. If you charge the device once completely in the morning, you can comfortably use it for the entire day without worrying about charging it again.
Now, let’s see how the camera of the smartphone is!
Poco M4 5G Camera Review
The Poco M4 5G comes with a stable camera experience. It won’t offer much, but enough for being a budget smartphone. The Poco M4 5G has a dual-camera setup at the rear with a 50MP primary sensor and a 2MP depth sensor. At the front, there’s an 8MP sensor for selfies and video calling.
The picture quality from the camera of the device is decent enough. I wouldn’t expect anything more in the camera department from Poco with this budget smartphone. Take a look at the pictures below yourself. Note that the images are compressed to be put on the website, and the original quality is at least 50% better than this.
Poco M4 5G Price and Conclusion
The Poco M4 5G comes in two memory variants. The first variant comes with 4GB+64GB for Rs 12,999 and the second one comes with 6GB+128GB for Rs 14,999. The RAM can also be expanded virtually by 2GB with the 6GB RAM variant. (I had the 6GB RAM variant for review). There are bank offers available, too, which you can get on Flipkart. The device is also available in Cool Blue and Power Black colours.
In my honest opinion, the Poco M4 5G can be a good partner for you if you want a budget smartphone that can comfortably last for up to 3 years and more. It can support a number of 5G bands which makes the device future proof as well.
