Chances are, a youngster you know is using a POCO phone. And chances are you have come across on Twitter POCO-Redmi Note comparisons. Hang on. There are areas where POCO excels, especially the overall experience. There are quite a few things to enjoy about the new POCO M4 Pro, especially on the software side.
Good overall performance
Powered by Helio G96 processor, the phone can tackle often-used applications with ease while gaming is restricted as far as graphics go, depending on what you are playing. For a casual gamer, it’s not a problem. What you get is sustained performance out of the machine. Even though it’s a budget phone, Game Turbo mode makes a difference. Swipe the menu in to get control over a few features, like taking screenshots, screen recording, casting and memory management. These are well thought out options. With Turbo RAM, you get to add 3GB to the onboard 8GB.
Snaps taken under bright light have enough contrast
Going hand in hand with performance is the display, which is a 6.43-inch super AMOLED display with 90Hz refresh rate, working hand in hand with dual stereo speakers. Streaming movies on the phone is delightful. Besides, the phone is light and offers a good grip. The headphone jack too has been retained. To something that puzzles me — if the phone has 90Hz refresh rate on the display, why not set it on by default? In case the user feels it’s not helpful, then the same can be switched off. It’s a small thing that may add to the user experience.
Photos taken under uneven lighting have some noise
Performance in the camera department is acceptable. First, POCO should have got rid of the 2MP macro camera, which adds nothing to one’s experience. But the 64MP main snapper works well, offering decent photographs and there is no shutter lag. Colours are mostly true to life and there is enough contrast for social media. The 8MP ultra-wide snapper too does well, even under uneven lighting. What could have been done differently is video, which is restricted at 1080p@30fps. Coming back to macro, to access that while taking photos one has to dive into the settings on the top panel, which is too much of an effort for any user. Selfie camera? Decent. Microphone? Audio recording is top quality. Night photography? It’s all right.
Should you buy it?
There is a 33W charger in the box, which is faster than what some brands are offering in this price band while the 5,000mAh battery easily lasts a day. All this takes us back to software, which is perhaps the best part of the phone. However long you use the phone, there is fluidity in the software department. The only glitch here is bloatware, most of which can be deleted. So, fluid performance is the winning trick for the POCO M4 Pro. If the software upgrade cycle is taken care of, POCO remains a great brand... a dependable brand.
At a glance
The rear panel has a matte finish, so it’s not a fingerprint magnet\
Device: POCO M4 Pro
Price: Upwards of Rs 14,999 (6GB+64GB); Available on Flipkart starting March 7, noon onwards
High notes
• Fluid software performance
• Good deal of customisation
• Decent battery life
• Dual stereo speakers
Muffled notes
• Bloatware
• Macro camera is of no use