Recognition: Supplied by Xiaomi
- Xiaomi introduced the Poco M3 in Europe.
- It’s the company’s newest lower-middle-range phone.
Xiaomi’s Poco brand has been teasing the Poco M3 for a few weeks, painting the picture of a long-lasting budget smartphone. Now the company has pulled the curtain completely back. So what should you expect?
The design on the back of the phone is reminiscent of the OnePlus 8T Cyberpunk 2077 Edition, as the distinctive rectangular camera body stands out. Otherwise you have the choice between the colors Cool Blue, Power Black and Poco Yellow.
If you move forward, you’ll find a 6.53-inch FHD + LCD screen with a water-drop notch and Gorilla Glass 3. Don’t expect a high refresh rate panel here, however.
The standout feature is the 6,000 mAh battery. In theory, this should deliver two days of battery life pretty easily, especially since it doesn’t have to power a 5G modem. In fact, Poco claims the phone can last for more than five days with low use, just under three days with moderate use, and 1.5 days with heavy use.
Unfortunately, the phone only offers 18W of charging, which means you’ll have to wait forever for the battery to charge. At the very least, you have a 22.5W charger in the box that allows you to charge other devices at a more respectable pace.
What else does the Poco M3 offer?
A look at the core specs shows that the Poco M3 is pretty much a midsize smartphone. They have a Snapdragon 662 chipset, 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB or 128 GB of expandable storage. In other words, basic tasks and light games should work fine, but you will definitely notice the performance gap when playing heavy 3D titles.
The camera setup also reflects the phone’s clear budget as you have a 48 megapixel triple camera setup. This consists of the 48MP main camera and a pair of 2MP sensors (depth and macro) for inflating the numbers. An 8 megapixel camera in the aforementioned water drop notch processes your selfies.
Other notable features include a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, a three-slot design (two SIM slots and a microSD slot), MIUI 12 for Poco on Android 10, a 3.5mm port, an IR blaster, and a camera-based one Face release.
Expect $ 149 for the 4GB / 64GB model while you get $ 169 back for the 4GB / 128GB variant. However, Poco notes that the phone will be available on Black Friday for just $ 129 and $ 149, respectively. Either way, this is cheaper than the OnePlus Nord N100 for £ 179. The phone will be available through the website of Amazon, AliExpress, Lazada, and Xiaomi.
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