Smart Android And Trik-Commenting on Andorid indeed never endless, because smart devices this one is often updated every certain amount of time. So that the market can always be garapnya menerinya with pleasure. And it is not denied if this device has become the lifestyle of each society. To not wonder if the 6th business information and many are turning to mobail smartphone. With Android which thoroughly dominated the mobile industry, choosing the best Android smartphone is almost identical to choose the best smartphone, period. But while Android phones have few real opponents on other platforms, internal competition is intense.
Introduction
The Poco M4 Pro is now available worldwide, and we can already see it as one of the season's bestsellers. It is a sensible upgrade over the Poco M3 Pro 5G with a larger and more colorful display, an improved rear camera setup, speedier charging, and stereo speakers. And most importantly, it's still incredibly cheap.
The new Poco M4 Pro is built around a 6.6-inch IPS LCD screen with 1080p resolution and adaptive 90Hz refresh rate. Other than the slight increase in size, the new display also supports DCI-P3 colors instead of sRGB on the M3 Pro. It also has an improved touch panel with a 240Hz sensing rate vs. 180Hz on the Poco M3 Pro.
The Dimensity 810 5G chipset is at the heart of the Poco M4 Pro 5G - a trivial update over the Dimensity 700 5G in the Poco M3 Pro 5G. The new chipset offers a minor increase in the CPU clock, but it is also built on a more efficient manufacturing process. This won't make for a noticeable difference in real life, at least today, but it's still an improvement, nevertheless.
Xiaomi is done with the camera count game and is putting an end to those mostly obsolete cameras like depth sensors and underwhelming macro shooters. This new Poco M4 Pro 5G has a traditional dual-camera on the back with a 50MP primary shooter and an 8MP ultrawide snapper, which may be one camera less than on the Poco M3 Pro, yet more versatile - the M3 had no ultrawide snapper.
The Poco M4 Pro 5G has a large 5,000mAh battery, which now supports much faster 33W charging, and you bet this power adapter is part of the retail bundle. Xiaomi promises a full charge in 59 minutes, and we will put that to the test for sure.
Finally, the Poco M4 Pro 5G is what makes this device such a sweet deal - the 4/64 version retails at €230, while some early birds will be able to get it at €200 at launch. Yes, we are intrigued.
Xiaomi Poco M4 Pro 5G specs at a glance:
- Body: 163.6x75.8x8.8mm, 195g; Gorilla Glass 3 front, plastic back, plastic frame, IP53-rated for dust and splash protection
- Display: 6.60" IPS LCD, 90Hz, 450 nits (typ), 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 399ppi.
- Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 810 5G (6 nm): Octa-core (2x2.4 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G57 MC2.
- Memory: 64GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 6GB RAM; UFS 2.2; microSDXC.
- OS/Software: Android 11, MIUI 12.5.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 26mm, PDAF; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.2, 119˚.
- Front camera: 16 MP, f/2.5, (wide).
- Video capture: Rear camera: 1080p@30/60fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 5000mAh; Fast charging 33W, 100% in 59 min (advertised).
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); Infrared port; 3.5mm jack.
The Poco M4 Pro 5G is IP53-certified for dust and splash resistance, just like many of the recent Redmi and Poco phones. This means the device will probably survive light splashes and should be fine in light rain and humid regions.
Now that there are no macro and no depth camera, we are yet to see if the Portrait mode will suffer, or the AI algorithms will make up for the lost hardware. Let's hope it's the latter case.
Unboxing the Poco M4 Pro 5G
You cannot mistake the iconic yellow box of Poco and the M4 Pro 5G, just like the previous Poco phones arrives in such a catchy carton.
Inside, you'll find a 33W power adapter, a 3A rated USB cable, and a transparent rubber case for additional protection.
The case compartment also houses some paperwork, the SIM ejection PIN, and several POCO stickers for the fans that like to declare their love for the brand publicly.
Design, build quality, handling
The Poco M4 Pro 5G is a slightly reworked version of the Chinese Redmi Note 11. While Poco usually relies on its own designs, the only cosmetic change we see on the M4 Pro 5G is the large black blob with the large POCO logo.
With that out of the way, we have to say the Poco M4 Pro 5G is a looker. The slightly curved back uses matte plastic, and the combination of this cool graphite color (officially called Power Black) with the black camera and logo holder is really cool - flashy but not overwhelming. We can describe best the matte finish as premium because it is incredibly pleasant on touch and makes the plastic feels more like glass.
The graphite rear panel is lovely, sure, but it is also a giant fingerprint magnet and gets overrun with smudges in minutes. If you are not a fan of this, you may want to consider the yellow or blue color options, though both feature the same black spot around the top.
Other than the Poco identity touch on the back, the M4 Pro 5G is pretty much your typical smartphone with a Gorilla Glass front, plastic frame, and a plastic rear panel. The phone has an official IP53 rating for dust and splash resistance, and it features proper insulation here and there. This means the Poco M4 Pro will be fine in light rain and humid cities but should not be submerged.
The entire front is home to the new 6.6-inch display, a 0.1-inch increase over the Poco M3 Pro 5G. The new panel has the same punch-hole for the selfie camera but has been improved with newly added DCI-P3 color space support and faster 240Hz touch response.
The selfie camera inside the screen cutout is also a new one - a 16MP snapper, up from 8MP on the M3 Pro 5G.
Above the screen, you can see a thin earpiece grille. There is actually a stereo speaker underneath with two sound outlets - this grille, and a few holes on the top of the phone. When playing music, you can hear the sound coming from both spots. It is not as loud as the bottom speaker, but the stereo effect is good and convincing as both are tuned proficiently.
Let's take another look at the back of the phone. There is a huge camera island here, but it's misleading, as it only houses two snappers - the 50MP primary shooter is at the top, followed by a small 8MP ultrawide camera. The other three 'holes' feature the LED flash, a red dot, and an AI logo.
We do appreciate Xiaomi ditching the obsolete cameras, but we would have appreciated it even more if they also retired this design for the camera island.
The frame is also made of plastic and offers the same premium matte finish and paint as the back panel. It has a minor curve, but you can still feel it when handling the phone.
The top of the Poco M4 Pro 5G has a secondary microphone, the IR blaster, and one of the stereo speakers.
The bottom has the other more powerful speaker, the USB-C port, the 3.5mm jack, and the primary microphone.
The hybrid SIM slot is alone on the left part of the Poco M4 Pro 5G - it houses two nano-SIMs, but you can put a microSD card in the second compartment instead of a SIM card.
The left side • the right side
The volume rocker and the power/lock key are on the right; the surface of the Power key also doubles as a fingerprint scanner - it's always-on and blazing-fast. If you touch it often while handling your locked M4 Pro, and this leads to PIN request, you may want to change it to require pressing rather than just touching.
The Poco M4 Pro 5G measures 163.6 x 75.8 x 8.8 mm and weighs 195 grams, that's 2mm taller and 5g heavier than the Poco M3 Pro 5G.
We loved our time spent with the Poco M4 Pro 5G - it feels solid in hand with a secure enough grip thanks to the matte frame. It's a large phone, no two ways about it, but in line with the competition and apparently, what most people want nowadays.
We think the maker has done a great job with the design, color options, and the build itself, and for a budget phone, we cannot think of anything we would change if we had the power to do so.
Display
The Poco M4 Pro 5G packs a 6.6-inch IPS LCD screen of 2,400 x 1,080 pixels. It has a small punch-hole to make way for the selfie camera and is protected with a Gorilla Glass 3 sheet against scratches and cracks. The phone also arrives with a thin plastic film for additional display protection, but it's so cheap and impossible to clean, so we peeled that off immediately.
The Poco M4 Pro 5G display supports a dynamic 90Hz refresh rate, DCI-P3 color space and offers a 240Hz touch sampling rate. The Poco M3 Pro 5G also had a 90Hz screen, but it had a slower 180Hz touch sampling and lesser sRGB coverage.
There is no HDR support whatsoever, not that we expected such a thing.
Xiaomi has listed the screen's expected typical brightness as 450 nits. We measured 410 nits when controlling the brightness manually and 510 nits when the sunlight mode kicks in. In both cases, we captured deep blacks, which made for an excellent contrast ratio of 1500:1.
The minimum brightness we measured at point white was just 1.3 nit!
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0.264 | 410 | 1553:1 | |
| 0.33 | 510 | 1545:1 | |
| 0.28 | 413 | 1475:1 | |
| 0.366 | 536 | 1464:1 | |
| 0.252 | 395 | 1567:1 | |
| 0.277 | 439 | 1585:1 | |
| 0 | 475 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 682 | ∞ | |
| 0.21 | 377 | 1795:1 | |
| 0.275 | 492 | 1789:1 | |
| 0.311 | 411 | 1322:1 | |
| 0.383 | 530 | 1384:1 | |
| 0.334 | 472 | 1413:1 | |
| 0.408 | 577 | 1414:1 | |
| 0.376 | 484 | 1287:1 | |
| 0.667 | 571 | 856:1 | |
| 0.236 | 385 | 1631:1 | |
| 0 | 393 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 814 | ∞ | |
| 0.286 | 426 | 1490:1 | |
| 0.338 | 497 | 1470:1 | |
The MIUI for Poco offers two Refresh Rate options - High (90Hz) and Standard (60Hz). The High setting is advertised as dynamic - it should auto-switch between 50Hz, 60Hz and 90Hz depending on the shown content.
The UI is supposed to be drawn at 90fps for scrolling and kept at 50fps when static. The same goes for other static content across compatible apps. 60Hz should be used in games and streaming/local video playback. Unfortunately, we cannot confirm this as the integrated Refresh Rate indicator always shows 90Hz, even when a static image is shown. The only exceptions are 60Hz for the file manager, games, and some video apps (Mi Video, Netflix).
Note that we cannot be sure that the screen is not working as advertised. There is a chance that MIUI and Android are miscommunicating things, and the refresh rate indicator could be displaying wrong numbers.
Refresh rate • Color options
One of the screen updates over the Poco M3 Pro 5G includes expanded colors - the M4 Pro 5G display now supports DCI-P3 color space. MIUI for Poco supports three different Contrast settings - Vivid (default, DCI-P3), Saturated (DCI-P3), and Standard (sRGB).
In the default Vivid mode, we noticed a noticeable blue tinge, and the colors aren't that accurate, though punchy. The same goes for the Saturated option. The Standard color has good accuracy within the sRGB color space, and we captured an average deltaE of 3.
Finally, the Poco M4 Pro 5G supports Widevine L1 DRM out of the box, and you will be able to enjoy streaming content at the maximum Full HD resolution.
Battery life
The Poco M4 Pro 5G has the same large battery as the M3 Pro 5G - a 5,000 mAh cell. It now supports 33W fast charging, an improvement over the 18W charging for the M3 Pro.
Quite expectedly, the Poco M4 Pro 5G aced our battery life test and scored similar results to the Poco M3 Pro 5G. It posted a 123-hours Endurance rating - the same as the Redmi Note 10 5G and Poco M3 Pro 5G. It did an outstanding job across all test scenarios - calls, web browsing, video playback and demonstrated decent standby performance.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating denotes how long the battery charge will last you if you use the device for an hour of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. More details can be found here.
Charging speed
One of the major updates over the Poco M3 Pro 5G is the faster charging. Now, the new Poco M4 Pro 5G supports 33W fast charging and is advertised to achieve a full charge in 30 minutes.
The retail bundle contains the 33W charger and a proper 3A-rated USB cable, so you don't need to buy anything to enjoy the speedier battery charging.
So, we've plugged our dead Poco M4 Pro 5G into its original charger, and it recharged 54% of the battery in half an hour.
30min charging test (from 0%)
Higher is better
- Realme 7 Pro
94% - Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite 5G
68% - Realme 7 5G
57% - Poco M4 Pro 5G
54% - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
50% - Poco M3 Pro 5G
33% - Realme 8 5G
29% - Xiaomi Redmi 10
26% - Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
23%
Poco advertises a full charge in 59 minutes. We got ours in 67 minutes, which is in the ballpark. The battery charging is often affected by ambient and battery temperatures, as well as network connection and background services such as automatic app updates. Still, 67 minutes is a great result for a budget device!
Time to full charge (from 0%)
Lower is better
- Realme 7 Pro
0:37h - Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite 5G
0:58h - Realme 7 5G
1:06h - Poco M4 Pro 5G
1:07h - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
1:21h - Poco M3 Pro 5G
2:00h - Xiaomi Redmi 10
2:13h - Realme 8 5G
2:20h - Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
2:29h
It seems the Poco M4 Pro 5G does not support reverse wired charging.
Speakers
The Poco M4 Pro 5G has two standalone speakers on its top and bottom sides behind two dedicated grilles - an upgrade over the M3 Pro 5G and its single speaker. The top stereo speaker also acts as an earpiece - the reason why sound is coming from both the front and the top grilles.
Top speaker • Bottom speaker
The bottom speaker is more powerful than the top one, but when playing music or video, the output seems well balanced.
The speakers scored a Very Good mark on our loudness test. The audio quality is not that good - while we can hear bass and the high notes are well presented, there is a serious lacking in mid-tones. Still, for a budget offer, we liked what we heard, and most people will be happy with the stereo sound and the audio.
Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.
MIUI 12.5 with POCO spices on top of Android 11
The Poco M4 Pro 5G boots Android 11 with Poco-spiced MIUI 12.5 out of the box. The MIUI 12 version has been around for a while, and even if it uses an Android 11 base, you can't really tell that as it skins everything thoroughly. The Poco launcher uses a slightly different system theme, icons included, but you can change it to your liking.
You unlock the screen via the side-mounted fingerprint scanner. The reader is easy to set up, blazing-fast, and the accuracy is superb.
We advise you to set the unlock method to 'Press' as the always-on reader will often attempt reading your palm and/or other fingers and eventually disable the fingerprint unlock until you input your PIN. A 2D Face Unlock is available, too, but it is far less secure than the fingerprint option.
Security options
The homescreens are business as usual - they are populated with shortcuts, folders, and widgets. The leftmost pane, if enabled, is Google's Discover.
The Poco M4 Pro 5G does not support an Always-on screen, there are no Super Wallpapers either.
Homescreen
The Poco-fied MIUI 12 offers an app drawer, but unlike on the Redmi phones, you cannot disable it on the Poco M4 Pro 5G. It automatically organizes your apps into categories. The first is All, meaning it contains all apps. Then follow Communication, Entertainment, Photography, Tools, New, and Business. You can edit these categories or even disable them altogether.
App drawer
The Notification shade is split into Notification Center and Control Center. Indeed, this is precisely what the iPhones do, and you even summon them in the same fashion - pull down from the left part of the screen for the Notification Center, pull down from the right for the Control Center.
If you are not fond of this split design - you can disable the Control Center, and the shade will revert to its normal looks and operation.
Notification Center • Control Center • Options • The old Notification Shade
The task switcher has not changed much. It shows all of your recent apps in two columns. Tap and hold on a card for the split-screen shortcut, or just swipe it left or right to close it.
The Poco M4 Pro 5G can do split-screen, but it doesn't support Floating Window, at least not from the Task Switcher. You can shrink some system apps like the Calculator into a floating window, but this can only happen from within the app itself.
Task Switcher • Split screen • Split screen • Pop-up window
Themes are a huge part of MIUI, and they are available on MIUI 12, too. You can download new ones from the Themes store, and they can change wallpapers, ringtones, system icons, and even the always-on display style.
Themes
Xiaomi enhanced MIUI 12 with a couple of additional privacy options. Now, when sharing stuff, like photos and videos, you can opt to remove location info and/or other metadata (incl. device info) and thus protect your privacy better. Neat.
Gallery • Privacy Settings
MIUI also offers a Security app. It can scan your phone for malware, manage your blacklist, manage or restrict your data usage, configure battery behavior, and free up some RAM. It can also manage your installed apps' permissions and allow you to define the battery behavior of selected apps and apply restrictions only to the apps you choose.
MIUI 12 packs proprietary Gallery, Music, and Video player. In some regions, the music and video apps may include paid streaming options. Mi Remote for the IR blaster, as well as an FM radio app, are available, too.
Security • Security • Music • Video • Mi Remote • FM radio
MIUI 12 supports Dark Mode, too, and you can even force it on wallpapers or restrict its application on incompatible individual apps.
Dark Mode
MIUI 12 is fully optimized to work on HRR displays, and it looks great on the Poco M4 Pro 5G. Everything is smooth and fast; animations are unobtrusive yet impressive, the attention to detail is excellent. We did enjoy working with MIUI on the Poco M4 Pro 5G's 90Hz screen for sure.
Some MIUI ROMs include ads in the default apps; it is a well-known thing.
How to disable ads
The international ROM version of this Poco M4 Pro 5G does come with baked-in "recommendations" or ads, but even if they were enabled by default - nothing appeared through the UI. Still, if your phone does show ads - you can disable those even if it's a bit tedious to do it. For example, if you are annoyed by the app scanner's ads, just hit the settings gear and disable recommendations. Ads in the File Manager - Settings->About should do it. Themes - go to Settings and disable Recommendations. It's not ideal, sure, but at least you can get rid of them all.
Performance and benchmarks
The Poco M4 Pro 5G utilizes one of the most basic MediaTek's 5G chips - the Dimensity 810. It is a refreshed Dimensity 700 (in Poco M3 Pro 5G) with more powerful big CPU cores and more efficient 6nm fabrication processes (vs. 7nm for Dimensity 700).
The Dimensity 810 5G chip packs an octa-core processor with 2x 2.4GHz Cortex-A76 and 6x 2.0GHz Cortex-A55. The big A76 cores clock has been increased from 2.2GHz up to 2.4GHz.
The GPU is still Mali-G57 MC2, but its clock has dropped from 950MHz down to 850MHz. Weird, indeed.
The chip includes an improved 5G modem and ISP.
Finally, the Poco M4Pro 5G is available in two variants, all containing LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.2 storage - 4GB RAM + 64GB and 6GB RAM + 128GB.
The CPU benchmark scores are great, and indeed, the M4 Pro offers more than adequate performance.
Note that we couldn't run benchmarks on the Poco M3 Pro 5G and its Dimensity 700, but you can use Realme 8 5G for reference - it has the same SoC.
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Poco M4 Pro 5G
1797 - Realme 7 5G
1794 - Realme 8 5G
1784 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
1780 - Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
1719 - Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
1673 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
1599 - Poco M3
1398 - Samsung Galaxy A32
1277
GeekBench 5 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Realme 7 5G
598 - Poco M4 Pro 5G
597 - Realme 8 5G
569 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
569 - Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
560 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
534 - Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
505 - Samsung Galaxy A32
361 - Poco M3
308
Even if the GPU clock is theoretically lower, the GPU scores are plenty adequate for the class and in line with the Dimensity 700 in the Realme 8 5G. We did hope for a minor upgrade, though.
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Realme 7 5G
31 - Poco M4 Pro 5G
23 - Realme 8 5G
22 - Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
21 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
15 - Samsung Galaxy A32
13 - Poco M3
11
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Realme 7 5G
17 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
16 - Poco M4 Pro 5G
13 - Realme 8 5G
13 - Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
12 - Samsung Galaxy A32
8.1 - Xiaomi Redmi Note
7.9
5.9
3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Realme 7 5G
1589 - Poco M4 Pro 5G
1232 - Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
1185 - Realme 8 5G
1104 - Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
1104 - Samsung Galaxy A32
686 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
482 - Poco M3
368
Finally, AnTuTu puts the Poco M4 Pro 5G among the top performers in its price bracket.
AnTuTu 8
Higher is better
- Realme 7 5G
318535 - Realme 8 5G
302059 - Poco M4 Pro 5G
296721 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
295442 - Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
242155 - Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
226561 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
218788 - Poco M3
177904 - Samsung Galaxy A32
174332
AnTuTu 9
Higher is better
- Realme 8 5G
361505 - Poco M4 Pro 5G
353663 - Samsung Galaxy A22 5G
223188 - Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
222125
Finally, we ran the two stress tests we always do - CPU Throttle and 3D Mark Wild Life.
The Poco M4 Pro 5G did very well on the CPU Throttle test by keeping 79% of its maximum performance during an hour of 100% CPU usage. Then it scored 99.4% stability on the 3D Mark Stress Test - an excellent result.
CPU stress test • GPU stress test
Obviously, the Poco M4 Pro 5G is not a powerhouse, but it behaves very well under pressure. The phone doesn't overheat, nor does it throttle. We did not observe any unpleasant hot spot around its body either.
The UI runs smoothly under 90Hz, but we observed lag in some busier menus with many app icons. The same goes for some more demanding games. Sure, no game will be able to achieve 90fps; we are talking for noticeable drops under 30fps. You can, of course, tweak game graphics and lower resolution - this way, you can enjoy a smooth gaming experience for quite some time at that.
Yes, the Poco M4 Pro 5G is not a gaming phone, but, if necessary, it can put a good show provided you play with the graphics settings. For everything else, it will give you mostly smooth interface experience and scrolling, and that's enough for a budget 5G smartphone.
A traditional dual-camera setup
The Poco M4 Pro 5G has one camera less than the Poco M3 Pro 5G, yet it has one more. How's that possible? Well, the new Poco features a primary wide and a secondary ultrawide cam, waving goodbye to the obsolete depth and macro cams. Having an ultrawide camera makes the M4 a more versatile shooter than the M3.
The Poco M4 Pro 5G's primary camera utilizes a 50MP Samsung ISOCELL S5KJN1 1/2.76"" sensor with Tetracell filter and 0.64µm pixels (same as on Redmi 10 and Realme 8i). The sensor is coupled with an f/1.8 lens and supports PDAF. Night Mode is available on this camera.
The ultrawide camera uses an 8MP Sony IMX355 sensor behind f/2.2 lens. The focus is fixed at infinity. Night Mode is NOT supported on the ultrawide cam.
The selfie camera relies on a 16MP 1/3.06" OmniVision OV16A1 sensor with 1.0µm pixels and a Quad-Bayer filter. The sensor is behind an f/2.5 aperture lens that has a fixed focus.
The default camera app is a typical MIUI affair - switching between modes is done by swiping left and right, and all available modes but Macro are on this rolodex. There are three zoom shortcuts - 0.6x, 1x and 2x. The 2x is digital zoom as there is no telephoto camera on the M4 Pro.
On the opposite end of the viewfinder, you have a flash mode switch, an HDR switch, an AI toggle, and a magic wand with beauty effects and filters. You'll find some more options behind a hamburger menu, plus the shortcut to the settings. What you won't find is an option to set the output resolution.
There is a Pro mode for the main camera. Manual 50MP pictures are also an option. You can use up to 30s shutter speed (15s for ultrawide) and ISO up to 6400.
Camera app
Photo quality
The main camera saves 12.5MP by default, and they are pretty good for this budget class. The colors are mostly true to life (it's late autumn here, so it's not that colorful), the contrast and the dynamic range are praise-worthy, and the noise levels are incredibly low. Auto HDR was turned off, though even when it was on, it still didn't want to fire.
The photos are average in detail and not that sharp, some foliage and people's faces may look like oil-painting or just smeared. Still, for this budget class, we'd say we are happy with the Poco M4 Pro 5G photos.
Main camera, 12.5MP
The usual AI trigger is available on the Poco M4 Pro 5G. As usual, it "improves" your photos by saturating the colors and boosting contrast depending on the scenes - skies, greenery, buildings.
Main camera AI, 12.5MP
The 2x zoomed photos appear to be done in a bit more proficient manner than simple crop and upscale. They are sharper than expected and less processed than the default 1x photos, and if you need a zoomed photo, we strongly recommend using the 2x zoom.
The zoom is still artificial, but some smart upscaling is involved, and it provides slightly better results than the widespread simple crop and upscale. If you downsize these photos to, say, to 4MP, they are quite nice!
Main camera 2x zoom, 12.5MP
The 50MP photos are just upscaled from the default 12.5MP images, and there is no point in using the 50MP mode. Not even for better 2x zoom results as the 2x digital zoom from the viewfinder does a good enough job.
Main camera, 50MP
The 8MP ultrawide photos are surprisingly pleasant, especially considering a budget phone such as the Poco M4 Pro 5G. They are nicely detailed across the entire frame and with proficiently straightened corners. The noise is low, the contrast and the dynamic range are good for such a camera. Overall, these are some of the best ultrawide photos we've seen from a budget, heck, even a mid-range smartphone!
Ultrawide camera, 8MP
The Poco M4 Pro 5G has no depth sensor, and it has to rely on AI magic for the depth map required for the portrait mode. And it does a marvelous job indeed, as the subjects are well separated from the background without abrupt transitions or clipped parts.
The photos are colorful, and with good contrast, they are sharp where it matters, and we like the blur quality. Sure, a bit more detail would have been appreciated, but they are plenty good, even as is. Good job, Poco!
Portraits, 12.5MP
The low-light photos turned up good for the class. They offer enough detail, partially thanks to the not that aggressive noise reduction. The colors are good, contrast is okay, while the dynamic range is not that good - typically for low-light pictures.
We know there is room for improvement, but let's not forget this is a budget phone with a budget camera, and yet it does a good job, which is a win by our book.
Main camera, 12.5MP
The Poco M4 Pro 5G is one of the rear phones where we can't recommend using the Night Mode. The Night Mode photos are often much noisier than the default ones, softer and look notably worse. The only benefit we could find is a few restored clipped highlights, which we will never trade for the drop in quality we saw.
Main camera Night Mode, 12.5MP
You can see what's on the ultrawide photos at night, but upon closer inspection, you'll see they are soft and overrun by noise. They do retain good colors and okay contrast, for whatever that's worth.
There is no Night Mode available for the ultrawide camera.
Ultrawide camera
And here are photos of our usual posters taken with the Poco M4 Pro 5G. You can see how it stacks up against the competition. Feel free to browse around and pit it against other phones from our extensive database.
Poco M4 Pro 5G against the Poco X3 Pro and the Poco M3 Pro 5G in our Photo compare tool
The Poco M4 Pro 5G has a Quad-Bayer 16MP camera that saves 16MP photos instead of the expected 4MP ones. In fact, this is the same snapper found on the much more expensive Xiaomi 11T Pro, so, yay?
Anyway, saving in full resolution always leads to soft selfies, but other than that, we liked the photos from the front camera. They show likable colors and contrast, the dynamic range is good, too. The sharpness is okay, the noise levels are tolerable. Overall, we liked what we saw, especially on the phone's screen.
Selfie camera, 16MP
You can shoot selfie portraits, too, but they are not that impressive. While the per-pixel quality mostly matches the regular selfies, the subject separation is so-so, and it could be bad with more complex backgrounds.
We guess the results will vary drastically in different locations and with different haircuts, so we suggest you try this mode, but just don't expect much.
Selfie portraits, 16MP
Video recording
The Poco M4 Pro 5G supports video capturing up to 1080@30fps with all its cameras, and optional electronic stabilization is available for all snappers on this mode, too. There is no 4K option; 60fps shooting is supported only on the main camera (no EIS, though).
The video bitrate is about 20Mbps, while audio is recorded in stereo at 256kbps bitrate.
The 1080p clips from the main camera are detailed enough, with good dynamic range, low noise levels, and excellent contrast and dynamic range. While not the sharpest footage we've seen, it's enough for the budget class.
The footage from the ultrawide camera is not so good. While it does fit a lot in the frame and offers good colors, the picture is soft, and the dynamic range is rather low. It is usable, sure, but unless you must capture everything around you in your video, we suggest using the main camera instead.
Finally, here is the Poco M4 Pro 5G in our video comparison database.
1080p: Poco M4 Pro 5G against the Realme 8 5G and the Poco M3 Pro 5G in our Video compare tool
The competition
The Poco M4 Pro 5G is a good smartphone, alright. It has a large and fluid screen, stereo speakers, okay performance, capable cameras, all-around connectivity with 5G, and long-lasting battery life with fast charging. It's a versatile device that offers exactly what's promised, nothing more, nothing less.
The thing is that the budget 5G phones are common already, and the competition is thriving here. The carriers have been offering lucrative 5G plans for the past year, making the 5G-capable smartphones even more attractive despite their caveats like subpar performance (we'll get to that).
So, the Poco M4 Pro 5G launches at €230 for its 4/64 version and €250 for the 6/128 model. The first batches will be €30 cheaper at €200 and €220. These are also the prices you will see in all upcoming shopping events for Black Friday, Christmas and whatnot.
That's the same price as the Realme 7 5G, which has an even smoother 120Hz display, faster graphics, and 128GB base storage. It doesn't offer stereo speakers, but we'd say the gains are surely something to think about.
There is also the Realme 8 5G currently priced at €160. It's basically the Poco M3 Pro 5G, but under the Realme branding - it doesn't offer an ultrawide camera, there are no stereo speakers, and the fast charging is not as fast. But if your budget is limited, it's a phone you should at least consider.
And speaking of the Poco M3 Pro, it's going right now for €185, a bit more expensive than the Realme 8 5G. But if you want MIUI and Poco on the cheap, it is the way to go.
Then there is the Samsung Galaxy A22 5G - it's a good match to the Poco M4 Pro 5G with a similar screen, chipset, battery and camera skills. The Galaxy has splash-resistant though, there are no stereo speakers, and the charging is sluggish. Yet, it costs as much as the Poco (after the early bird promo) - €230.
Realme 7 5G • Realme 8 5G • Xiaomi Poco M3 Pro 5G • ZTE Axon 30 Ultra 5G
Obviously, the Poco M4 Pro 5G is the cream of the crop when it comes to budget 5G phones.
But if 5G is not essential to you right now, 4G phones are still pretty fast when it comes to mobile internet, then there are some totally different offers for you.
Like the Poco X3 Pro with its 120Hz LCD screen and flagship-grade Snapdragon 860 chipset. It costs about €230 and offers more storage, better speakers, and an additional macro camera on top of the better screen and much better performance.
Or the €240 Redmi Note 10 Pro with its outstanding 120Hz AMOLED screen and high-quality 108MP snapper on the back.
Or the Realme 8 Pro with a 6.4" AMOLED, a great 108MP primary camera with lossless 3x zoom, even faster 50W charging and more storage. It cannot offer stereo speakers and splash resistance, though.
There is also the €190 Galaxy A22 with a 90Hz Super AMOLED screen and a versatile quad-camera on the back. It is not waterproofed though, the charging is slower, and there are no stereo speakers.
Xiaomi Poco X3 Pro • Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro • Realme 8 Pro • Samsung Galaxy A22
Our verdict
The Poco M4 Pro 5G is a good all-round offer, and it does what it was supposed to - it offers smooth OS experience thanks to its 90Hz LCD screen, it can handle games if needed, it takes great photos, it can play stereo sound, and its battery life is great, and we appreciate the fast charging.
There are a lot of phones in the same price bracket, but we'd say the Poco M4 Pro 5G is consistently good at everything and that's the best reason why you should pick one if your budget is about €200 or so.
The strongest threats are also Xiaomi-made - phones like the cheap Poco X3 Pro and Poco F3. Those two offer flagship-worthy performance, and their prices are unbelievably low these days. The F3 can even offer 5G connectivity.
Then again, the Poco M4 Pro 5G is the newest smartphone from the maker and is sold at a reasonable price. Unless you want a phone to play games all day, we'd recommend it for its thoughtfully picked feature set.
Pros
- Attractive splash-resistant design, cool color options.
- Large 90Hz LCD screen with excellent contrast ratio.
- Outstanding battery life, fast charging.
- Stereo speakers, loud enough.
- Dependable performance, no throttling.
- Good photo and video quality, portraits are fine without depth sensor.
- 3.5mm jack, microSD slot, dual 5G, NFC, IR blaster, FM radio.
- Cheap.
Cons
- Screen's 90Hz may put a strain on the GPU.
- Not-so-good speaker audio quality.
- No macro camera, no 4K video capturing.
- No obvious performance updates since Poco M3 Pro 5G.
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