Poco M8 review: Cost-effective mid-range phone

Overall, Poco M8 is good phone for people who primarily use for calls, messaging, and multimedia consumption and spend more time on social media apps.

Xiaomi subsidiary Poco earlier this month launched the new mid-range phone, Poco M8 5G, in India.

It is available in three options-- 6GB RAM + 128GB storage, 8GB RAM + 128GB storage and 8GB RAM + 256GB storage-- with prices starting at Rs 18,999.

Design, build quality and display

Compared to the Poco M7 (review) series, the successor comes with an all-new design, but is very similar to the Redmi Note 15 (review). One minor difference is that the back panel has a dual-tone colourway.

The left and the right side edges have a smooth, glossy finish, whereas the rest of the body has a matte texture. Our review unit is carbon black. It looks lovely in the sunlight.

Poco M8 5G.

The company also offers the device in frost silver and glacial blue. They are said to be even prettier carbon variant.

It has a curvaceous square-shaped camera deco at the top. It houses dual-camera sensors and an LED flash.

On the front, it has a visually pleasing curved display, which cascades up to the mid-frame.

It measures 7.4mm in thickness, quite slim compared to most of the rival branded phones. It can easily slip in and out of the pocket without hassle. Also, if you daily commute on a bus or metro/suburban railway, and wear jeans pant, be sure to check in the pocket. It is very light, hardly feels its weight (178g) in the pants.

Poco M8 5G.

The device is one of the most durable in its class. It comes with an IP66 dust-and-splash-resistant rating and MIL-STD-810H military-grade durability certification.

That said, I still recommend using the free silicone cover case, which comes free of cost with the retail box. The case doesn't add too much thickness and weight to the phone, and will safeguard the device from cracking during a heavy fall on a hard surface. It is said to be tested for up to a 1.7 metre fall and survive.

Poco M8 5G.

On the front, Poco M8 5G sports a 6.77-inch full HD+ (2392×1080p) AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate, and offers up to 3,200 nits peak brightness.

It is good for multimedia consumption and scrolling through the news feed on social media platforms endlessly.

Poco M8 5G.

It also supports an in-display fingerprint sensor and works fine with a lower false rejection rate.

The device also features a Type-C port, an infrared sensor, a hybrid SIM slot (nano SIM 1 + nano SIM 2 or microSD card), and stereo speakers tuned with Dolby Atmos. The latter does a fine job with audio output. Even when put to the max volume, there is less distortion.

Performance

Under the hood, it houses a 4nm-class Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 processor with an Adreno 710 GPU, 6GB/8 GB LPDDR4X RAM, and 128GB/256GB UFS 2.2 internal storage.

In terms of day-to-day activities, the device works smoothly without any pressing issues to complain about. It also supports several popular games available on the Google Play Store. But this device is not made for extreme gaming.

Poco M8 5G.

The device runs Android 15-based HyperOS 2. The user interface is very nice and easy to navigate through the settings. Though it has third-party apps, they don't take too much space, as the base model comes with 128GB, and you will have more than 95GB free space to install more apps and even be able to store images and videos captured through the camera.

If you require more storage, the device has a microSD card option, allowing you to add up to 1 TB of additional space.

The device is guaranteed to get four years of Android OS updates up to 2030 and six years of security patches for protection against emerging cyber threats till 2032.

Despite its slim size, it has a big 5,520mAh battery. It is more than enough to last a whole day under normal usage. Also, it supports 45W charging capability.

Poco M8 5G's camera sample.

Photography

Poco M8 5G sports a dual-camera module-- a main 50MP (with 1/1.2.88-inch Light Fusion 400 sensor, f/1.8 aperture) with a secondary 2MP sensor and an LED flash on the back.

Poco M8 5G's camera sample.

It takes pretty nice pictures in the sunlight. The colours of the subject, particularly the human face and flowers, appear smooth and vibrant, worthy to be shared on social media platforms.

Poco M8 5G's camera sample.

Though it has no ultra-wide-angle mode, the device, as you can see from the samples, has managed to capture the wide area of the agricultural field.

Poco M8 Photo sample with 1X (29mm)

The portrait mode does a fine job with sharp focus on the subject in the foreground and a nice bokeh effect of the background.

Poco M8 5G's camera sample.

Poco M8 Photo sample with 1X (35 mm).

Poco M8 Photo sample with 2X zoom.

Poco M8 Photo sample with 5X zoom.

Poco M8 Photo sample with 10X zoom.

It supports digital zoom and goes up to 10X. The picture remains good up to 3X, and beyond that it begins accumulate noise and becomes too grainy at 10X zoom.

Poco M8 5G's camera sample.

At night, the picture quality is decent at best.

Poco M8 5G's camera sample.

The primary camera can record 4K videos at 30 fps (frames per second). The video quality is good, on par with rival brands in its class.

Poco M8 5G's camera sample.

In close range, too, the device does a pretty neat job.

Poco M8 5G's camera sample.

On the front, it houses a 20MP(f/2.2). It captures pretty decent selfies in natural light conditions.

Poco M8 5G's camera sample.

Poco M8 5G's camera sample.

Poco M8 5G's camera sample.

The front camera can record full HD 1080p at 30fps. The video quality is decent.

Poco M8 5G's camera sample.

Poco M8 5G's camera sample.

Final thoughts

Poco M8 is a value-for-money budget phone. It ticks all the checkmarks we look for in a value-for-money budget phone. It has a stylish design language, a reliable processor and offers a full day of battery life under normal usage.

Poco M8 5G's camera sample.

The camera is decent, on par with other rival brands in its class. Overall, a good phone for people who primarily use for calls, messaging, and multimedia consumption and spend more time on social media apps.

The new Poco M8 comes in three colours-- carbon black, frost silver and glacial blue. It is available in three options-- 6GB RAM + 128GB storage, 8GB RAM + 128GB storage and 8GB RAM + 256GB storage-- for Rs 18,999, Rs 19,999, and Rs 21,999, respectively.

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