The POCO M3 has several attractions, including a 48MP main camera, 6000mAh battery, Full HD screen, digital reader, and other details that draw attention to your segment. But the most interesting detail is its price, as I write this review, it can be imported for about $140 on sites like AliExpress and Banggood.
In this analysis, I comment on all aspects of the POCO M3 to make it clear what it is capable of delivering. Below, our hands-on:
Design
The design of the POCO M3 is not its strong point, most of the people to whom I showed the phone found it ugly, with no smooth edges and an unnecessary highlight for the camera game and the brand name “POCO” written in bold letters on the cell phone. In general, it is an ugly cell phone. The rear cameras seem to take up more space than necessary thanks to the manufacturer’s logo.
However, for those who don’t care much about how it looks, there are high points in the way it is built and that needs to be taken into account.
At the bottom, there is the USB Type-C connector, audio output, and a microphone. At the top, there is a headphone jack, another microphone, and the second sound output to complete the stereo audio set.
As for its finish, it is plastic, which is also not a problem. The back has leather-like details and is painted in matte, something that helps to avoid fingerprints when sliding your hand across the cell phone.
A positive point in the choice of design elements of the POCO M3 is its on / off button which also works with a digital reader. This feature is very useful and intuitive, the digital reader combined with a button was one of the most interesting changes that I saw in the intermediate segment and should be used more by companies.
Screen
The POCO M3 has an IPS LCD screen, quite common for the segment. With the exception of Samsung, which usually brings AMOLED screens for even entry-level devices, other manufacturers use this type of screen. The differential of Xiaomi with its cheap cell phone is to offer Full HD resolution (1080×2340) on a 6.53 “screen.
HD cell phones (with the longer screen) became popular even without Full HD, which is a shame since you end up having a bigger screen to watch content, but in lower resolution. In this way, Xiaomi is right to bring more definition to a screen that does not have as much contrast but takes advantage of the fact that it is larger than the standard resolution.
The POCO M3 is ideally sized, not too small, and not too big. Very large cell phones tend to be more difficult to use on a daily basis, make a lot of volume in your pocket, are heavier, and so on. With the 6.53 “it is possible to take advantage of the extended screen for content and games and also the convenience of a smaller cell phone.
Battery
The POCO M3 has the same processor, amount of RAM, and the same 6000mAh battery present in the Moto G9 Power. So, my battery usage tests were very similar on both phones, it’s not difficult to keep it away from the charger for up to three days and the energy efficiency management is really surprising.
For those who like drums on a cell phone, the POCO M3 does not disappoint, even if you play games, watch movies, listen to music for hours on end, the phone will hardly lose its full charge in just one day. At least two days of battery life you can get with it, even if you are an extremely demanding user with the performance of the phone.
Thanks to an economical chip, the Snapdragon 662, and a 6000mAh battery, the POCO M3 can handle very well, but one detail caught my attention. While the Motorola 20W charger with the G9 Power took 2 hours and 45 minutes to fully charge the phone, the POCO M3 with its 20W charger took 5 hours and 4 minutes to reach full charge.
And in our battery consumption test, the POCO M3 didn’t do badly, but it ended up doing worse than the MOTO G9 Power. With 2 hours of Prime Video, 1 hour of YouTube, 30 minutes of Amazon Music, and 30 minutes of gambling he ended up with 67% of battery life.
System and performance
The POCO M3 did well in terms of system performance, crashes were rare and brief. Only one detail really bothered me, but it has to do with the camera, so I comment below. Like the Moto G9 Power, this phone features a Snapdragon 662 processor, which handles Android 10 and the main social networking apps very well.
With 4GB of RAM and the Adreno 610 graphics chip, the phone was able to run COD Mobile at maximum, PUBG Mobile was recognized for medium quality and Asphalt 9 was the game that ran the worst on the phone, being possible to play without crashes only at the highest quality. low.
But the good 6.53 “screen in Full HD guaranteed a good experience when there was fluidity.
Read More: 5 Reasons to Buy the LG V20
Cameras
The POCO M3 camera surprised me positively, the images with the main sensor present good definition, contrast, and saturation without exaggeration. In low light conditions, post-processing leaves the image with less detail but manages to make the right choices for artificial intelligence and gives a good balance of light, removing noise without making it so artificial. In good lighting conditions, the cell phone is free to preserve as much detail as it can capture, without resorting to exaggerated post-processing and it stands out.
One point that needs to be commented on is its macro camera, which is not justified. It would be more interesting for Xiaomi to have delivered a wide-angle camera or to have abandoned this second lens to lower the price of the device or invest in the main one. The macro camera, being very simple, ends up not being used, it is more advantageous to shoot with the main camera and zoom in editing programs (sometimes even digital) to achieve the desired detail. The marketing of having more cameras hurt the POCO M3, which could be even cheaper or offer an even better main camera.
Notice below how it is possible to take photos close to high-quality objects without the need for a macro camera. It is worth mentioning that the photos here are uploaded with some compression to save bandwidth for those who access the site by cell phone, so the quality you see is even lower than the original.
Conclusion
Devices imported from China on sites like Ali Express, Banggood, undergo a slightly different analysis due to issues involving Brazilian import laws. In general, all these smartphones should be taxed at 60% over the amount declared by stores at the time of shipment. The POCO M3 costs about U$ 140, so the law requires a fee that is around U$ 84 for him, which totals around R$ 1120.
