We've reviewed the Poco M2 Pro to see how it performs in real life. Let's see if the Poco M2 Pro is really as good as it's made out to be.
Highlights
Poco M2 Pro is equipped with a hole-punch display and a 5,000 mAh battery.
The smartphone is priced starting at ₹13,999 in India.
Poco M2 Pro comes equipped with up to 6GB of RAM and Snapdragon 720G chipset
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Poco M2 Pro comes equipped with up to 6GB of RAM and Snapdragon 720G chipset
Poco M2 Pro review
Poco M2 Pro price in India starts at ₹13,999
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Poco has been very selective about its smartphone portfolio. The brand recently separated from its parent company Xiaomi , and more than a year after the launch of the Poco F1, the company launched the Poco X2 ( Review ). Instead of launching a flagship killer like the Poco F1, the company is now focusing more on the budget segment. With the new Poco M2 Pro, it aims to dominate the sub-15,000 price segment. Poco says it experienced tremendous success with the Poco X2 and hopes to replicate that formula with this phone.
The Poco M2 Pro launched in India at a starting price of ₹13,999, and given its specifications, it seems likely to be a strong competitor to the Redmi Note 9 Pro and Realme 6 , two excellent products in the same price range. However, specifications alone don't truly reveal a smartphone's capabilities. We've reviewed the Poco M2 Pro to see how it performs in real life. Let's see if the Poco M2 Pro is really as good as it's made out to be.
Poco M2 Pro design
Poco wants to convince people in India that the M2 Pro is a homegrown phone. To this end, the company has specifically labeled the front and back of the box. Strangely, though, the charger that comes with the phone features the Mi logo, and when you turn on the phone, you're greeted with the MIUI logo.
The Poco M2 Pro has an attractive design and is well built, but it looks similar to the Redmi Note 9 Pro ( Review ). Everything, including the display, buttons, ports, hole-punch, and rear camera bump, is completely identical. Poco has used a new pattern on the bottom of the phone. There have also been some minor changes to the camera module. The M2 Pro has a P2i water-repellent coating, which is said to be splash-proof. The Poco M2 Pro feels a bit heavy and large in the hand. The fingerprint sensor is integrated into the power button, and it unlocks the phone with a simple tap.
Poco M2 Pro performance
MIUI and app performance were excellent during our review. This is largely due to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G chipset, the same processor used in the Redmi Note 9 Pro and Realme 6 Pro. I'm testing the mid-range Poco M2 Pro, which comes with 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 64GB of UFS 2.1 storage and is priced at ₹14,999. The phone also comes in a 4GB RAM + 64GB storage variant and a 6GB RAM + 128GB storage variant, priced at ₹13,999 and ₹16,999, respectively.
Navigating the MIUI interface was fast, and multitasking worked well. App loading was generally fast. Gaming performance was also very good. I played a few graphics-heavy games, and they all ran smoothly with good graphics. I didn't notice any heating issues, even after playing for long periods of time. Game Turbo is a useful feature that gives you shortcuts for screen recording and other functions while playing games.
The video experience on the Poco M2 Pro's display also looks good. However, the single speaker isn't very impressive. If you use wired headphones, you can enable software enhancements for audio, but there's no feature to increase the speaker volume.
Poco M2 Pro cameras
The Poco M2 Pro has four rear cameras, including a 48-megapixel primary sensor. This includes an 8-megapixel wide-angle lens, a 5-megapixel macro camera, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. You also get a 16-megapixel hole-punch selfie camera. The Poco M2 Pro runs the same version of the MIUI camera app as the Redmi Note 9 Pro. The only real difference in functionality between the two is that you can use Night Mode for the selfie camera on the M2 Pro. There
are also some interesting features, such as the ability to record full-HD video with the macro camera, and the output was surprisingly good. Video recording can also be done in Pro mode, which lets you set your own exposure, and it also offers the ability to record in LOG format.
In daylight, the Poco M2 Pro's primary camera takes good-looking photos. Landscape shots had sharp details and vivid colors. The included Pro Color toggle gives you better color gamut when needed. Close-ups also look good, though the camera app tends to overexpose colors a bit more than the actual scene. The wide-angle camera produced significantly weaker colors and detail than the primary sensor. Portrait mode worked well, with the background blur level set well.
The primary and wide-angle cameras struggled in low-light conditions. The camera app did a good job of suppressing noise, but photos generally appeared underexposed. Zooming in also resulted in a loss of detail. Night mode wasn't effective, barely showing any improvement in a few photos.
Selfies shot in good lighting looked good, with details and skin tones generally good. Shots were decent as long as there was enough light around.
The M2 Pro supports video recording at up to 4K 30fps. Videos shot at this resolution have warm color tones and colors appear overly sharp. There's no stabilization at this resolution. As for 1080p, video stabilization is better here, and colors are more natural. Video quality isn't as good in low light, and videos appear a bit grainy.
Overall, the Poco M2 Pro's cameras performed well in good lighting, but struggled to produce good results in low light.
Poco M2 Pro battery
I found the Poco M2 Pro's battery life quite impressive. Even with gaming and camera usage, the 5,000mAh battery easily lasted a full day. With light usage, I was able to make it through a second day. The phone lasted a little over 17 hours in our HD video loop test, which was good. The bundled charger charges the battery at 33W output. This charger can charge the phone's battery to about 95 percent in an hour.
Verdict
I think the Poco M2 Pro is a good addition to the sub-₹15,000 smartphone segment, and I have no problem recommending it. From almost every angle, you can think of it as similar to the Redmi Note 9 Pro ( Review ), albeit with a higher charging output. Furthermore, it should be much easier to purchase than Xiaomi's flash sale system. The Poco M2 Pro offers good build quality, a sharp display, solid battery life, and good performance. The cameras aren't too bad, provided you're shooting during the day.
However, I wouldn't say the Poco M2 Pro is the only option in this price segment, as it's similar to the Redmi Note 9 Pro, which has been selling in the country for some time. The Realme 6 ( Review ) also remains a solid option, as it's still the only phone in the sub-₹15,000 range to come with a 90Hz display.
