Poco M7 5G review: Decent budget phone

Xiaomi subsidiary Poco earlier this month rolled out the M7 5G phone in India.

The latest Poco M7 is the budget version of the feature-rich M7 Pro (review) launched in December 2024. It has a reliable Qualcomm Chipset and a big display.

Poco M7 is available in two variants-- 6GB RAM + 128GB and 8GB RAM + 128GB storage-- with prices starting at Rs 9,999.

Here are my thoughts on the budget Android phone from Poco.

Design, build quality and display

The latest Poco M7 is a big phone with a large display. It comes in a chocolate bar design language with flat rails around the edge with curved corners.

The mid-frame is made of sturdy polycarbonate material with matte finish and offers a good grip for the fingers to hold on to the phone.

Poco M7 5G.

On the back, the phone feature a massive circular camera module. The glass-based cover panel has dual-tone finish, wherein the top part has glossy finish and the rest has frosted glass-like look with matte finish.

Our review unit is ocean blue and it looks stunning in the sunlight. The company also offers the device in two other colours-- mint green and satin black.

On the left side at the top, you will find the dual-SIM tray with dedicated space for a microSD card. On the opposite side, there is the power button and a volume rocker.

At the top, there is a 3.5mm audio jack, which has become rare feature in modern smartphones. With this, users can enjoy HD quality music and audio from OTT applications.

Poco M7 5G.

At the base, there is a Type-C USB port with microphone and a speaker. The latter deliver good audio output even when the volume is put to the max. There is special feature in the phone, which boost the volume by 150 per cent.

The device also has an IP52 rating, meaning it can survive accidental water splashes.

On the front, it houses a 6.88-inch HD+(1600 x 720p) display, supports 120Hz refresh rate, offers up to 600 nits of peak brightness. It is great for watching movies and TV series for hours without any strain to the eyes.

It should be noted that the Poco M7 is one of the few phones to boast of TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Light (Software Solution) and Flicker Free certifications, which ensure the blue light emission is controlled. It comes in handy while reading long-form articles and e-books at night just before going to the bed.

The side-mounted fingerprint sensors works as advertised. It is fast in recognising the finger impression and unlock the phone.

Performance

Under the hood, it houses 4nm class Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 octa-core processor with Adreno 613 GPU, 6GB / 8GB LPDDR4X RAM, and 128GB UFS 2.2 internal storage (expandable upto 1TB).

Poco M7 5G.

During the review period, Poco M7 was able to deliver smooth performance in terms of regular day-to-day usage such as faster loading of apps, switching between multiple apps running in the background and operating camera, internet browsing, scrolling through social media apps and watching video blogs on YouTube.

However, it is is not made for extreme gaming, but supports all popular titles such as Candy Crush, Ludo, Angry Birds, Temple Run and other regular games.

The device runs Android 14-based HyperOS. It has a familiar user interface we see in Redmi and Xiaomi phones. Also, the Poco M7 is guaranteed to get two years of Android OS updates and three years of security patches up to 2028.

With a 5,160mAh battery, it was able to last a whole day under normal usage with more than 20-30 per cent juice left before I retired to the bed at night. It supports an 18W charger and needs anywhere between 80-90 minutes to charge from zero to 100 per cent capacity.

It supports 12 5G bands in India (Standalone (SA): n1/n3/n5/n8/n28/n40/n78, (Non Standalone)NSA: n1/n3/n40/n78/n8).

Poco M7's camera sample.

Photography

Poco M7 houses dual-camera module-- main 50MP (with f/1.8 aperture) and secondary camera with LED flash on the back.

Poco M7's camera sample.

It takes decent quality pictures in the sunlight. The subjects, particularly the flowers, look vibrant in the frame.

Poco M7's camera sample.

Though it has no wide-angle sensors, the main camera captures a wide area of the landscape.

Poco M7's camera sample.

Poco M7's camera sample.

Poco M7's camera sample.

Even in close range, it can take pretty good photos with minute details.

Poco M7's camera sample.

Poco M7's camera sample.

At night, the Poco M7 does a nice job in capturing nice images with less noise.

Poco M7's camera sample.

It also sports an 8MP (f/2.0) front camera for selfies and video calling. It takes pretty decent selfies in the sunlight.

Poco M7's camera sample.

Final thoughts

It is a well-packaged budget phone with a big display, good for normal day-to-day usage and multimedia content consumption.

Poco M7 5G.

It is available in two configurations-- 6GB RAM + 128GB storage and 8GB RAM + 128GB storage-- for Rs 9,999 and Rs 10,999, respectively.

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