Xiaomi Poco M8 Pro Review: Great Value Comes at a Cost

Value When Reviewed

Unavailable within the US

Finest Costs At present: Xiaomi Poco M8 Professional

Xiaomi runs a few sub-brands, particularly Redmi and Poco which sit beneath flagships of their positioning. Poco is mostly pitched as a youthful model providing good worth whereas supporting players 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 Word 15+ Professional, however with a a lot less complicated title and a budget-friendly £299 worth.

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

However once you’re getting this a lot goodness for thus little cash, there must be a compromise – and with the Poco M8 Professional, there may be. I’ve been testing it for the previous few 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 rather more fascinating.

Pictured right here is the “Inexperienced”, which has a broad striped end integrating detailing that the majority telephones gained’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 seems 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 massive display screen and battery accounting for a lot of the load. The display screen and the body curve into the rear to make this massive telephone simpler to grip and I discovered it comfy 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 & Audio system: Sensible show

It’s clear to see the place the trouble has gone into the Poco M8 Professional, with a 6.83-inch AMOLED show that’s brilliant, vibrant and really succesful. This speaks to Poco’s core proposition and there’s little to complain about with regards to 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 can attain 1,800 nits, so content material stays seen in brilliant 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 generally is a little shrill at high volumes. They’re completely good for watching video on the transfer and for gaming, though I discovered it straightforward 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 screen 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 can be of most curiosity to consumers.

That is mid-range {hardware}, a step down from Snapdragon 8 Sequence chips present in flagship telephones. Nevertheless 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 Cellular satisfactorily, but it surely doesn’t have the graphical prowess to allow you to get essentially the most out of the sport at larger settings. Even below load, this telephone doesn’t warmth up massively, however the graphical efficiency gained’t compete with flagship fashions.

I discovered the Poco M8 Professional to supply a stable connection and located that calls had been made and obtained with none issues, with callers coming by means 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 fundamental expertise

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

The principle digicam is mostly good in brilliant circumstances, but it surely isn’t notably sturdy in decrease mild, the place even day photographs indoors present indicators of noise.

The principle digicam additionally affords 2x zoom through cropping with seems ok, however then out to 20x through digital zoom, which is finest prevented, 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 circumstances.

The entrance digicam is finest utilized in good mild, as a result of the slightest dip in brightness brings noise, whereas pictures might be very contrasty and never too flattering. The portrait mode works nicely, 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 a bit harsh and never too life like.

Additional ideas

• The Extremely HD mode will allow you to shoot on the full 50Mp decision if you want.
• Video seize as much as 4K 30fps is obtainable.

Battery & Charging: Flagship shaming

Some manufacturers are aggressively rising the battery capability and charging charges of their units and Poco is simply a kind of manufacturers.

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

The massive battery not solely accounts for among the telephone’s dimension and weight, but it surely additionally means it might breeze by means of a day. Because of that mid-range {hardware}, endurance is one factor that this telephone is admittedly good at. I didn’t must cost the telephone on the finish of most days, blissful to cost it each different day as an alternative.

Chris Corridor / Foundry

To allow that charging there’s assist for a large 100W wired charging. There’s no charger within the field as normal for many European nations, however some areas will get a charger.

I examined it with a 100W charger and located it received 71% in half-hour, charging from 23% to 94%.

Additional ideas

• Helps 25W reverse charging for equipment.
• There’s no wi-fi charging on the Poco M8 Professional.

Software program & Apps: A bloated mess

The place Poco falls down – and it’s one thing that Redmi and Xiaomi telephones undergo too – is within the software program expertise.

For the Poco M8 Professional, it is available in numerous types. Firstly, the telephone launches on HyperOS 2 primarily based on Android 15, so it’s already outdated.

There are 4 years of OS updates and 6 years of safety updates, which is typical of this stage of telephone, however not aggressive with telephones from Google, Samsung and even Honor.

Chris Corridor / Foundry

Then there are intensive modifications that include HyperOS, so this telephone feels considerably totally different to a typical Android telephone. A part of that equation is the bloatware – pre-installed apps on the telephone (I counted about 14 apps I couldn’t decide to not set up) – after which there’s duplication that comes from Xiaomi’s apps too.

Persist with Google’s apps, they’re a lot better.

The person interface is stuffed with choices and a few might like the extra selections for customisation and management, some would possibly discover that it’s only a little bit of an overload. Actually, the expertise is slower, much less constant and fewer refined than one thing just like the Pixel 10a, however then it’s half the worth.

Additional ideas

• A lot of the pre-install apps might be eliminated as soon as the telephone has been arrange.
• Gemini is current on this gadget for all of your AI conversations.

Value & Availability

The Poco M8 Professional is out there for £249 on the time of writing, direct from Mi.com, with an RRP of £299. It’s additionally out there from Amazon and unavailable within the US as all the time.

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

Elsewhere, Google’s least expensive 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 could be the Galaxy A36 (£399), though Poco beats it on the spec sheet in virtually all areas. Samsung’s benefit is cleaner software program with longer assist.

Try our listing of the very best finances telephones and finest mid-range telephones for extra choices.

Must you purchase the Poco M8 Professional?

The Poco M8 Professional delivers lots of {hardware} and nice efficiency for an incredible worth. It’s exhausting to beat Poco for worth, making this an incredible 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 incredible expertise and there’s rather a lot to be finished 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 must tinker with to get the very best expertise – and it would simply be price it for the worth.

Finally, it is a nice finances telephone, with a formidable 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 predominant 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