We are among the first in Slovakia to test one of the most affordable smartphones with the support of fifth generation networks, LITTLE M3 Pro 5G. It comes with a 90 Hz display, a processor from MediaTek, NFC support and a good battery.
How did he pass our test? In the review, you will learn all the important strengths and weaknesses.
Where to buy POCO M3 Pro 5G?
The POCO M3 Pro 5G smartphone went on sale only a few days ago, on May 20, 2021. We got it in the editorial office before the official presentation, so we may be among the first in Slovakia to have the opportunity to test this smartphone. If you are interested in buying, it is currently sold in the official POCO Store on Aliexpress.
Delivery is free of charge as it is sent from a European warehouse. So you don't have to worry about any extra payments or customs procedures.
Contents of the package
POCO M3 Pro 5G comes in a deep yellow box with the brand's logo. The interior is also yellow, similar to the previous model of the M3 series. In the upper part, there is traditionally a flat box with a transparent, silicone case, a needle for opening the slot for SIM cards and paper documentation.
Then the smartphone itself is located in a protective foil, on which the basic parameters of the smartphone are highlighted. Under the phone we also find a charging adapter and a cable with a USB-C connector. A small bonus is a series of stickers with the POCO brand logo.
Design and layout of elements
The smartphone measures 161.81 x 75.34 x 8.92 mm and weighs 190 g. It is very light to feel and the plastic processing does not add to the feeling of quality.
In terms of design, it is a classic smartphone in its class with space for the front camera, which is slightly larger than we would expect. However, the manufacturer impressed with the unconventional design of the rear module of the camera, which is separated from the rest of the cover by a black strip with the POCO logo.
The left edge of the POCO M3 Pro 5G model contains a slot for SIM cards. It can accommodate two 5G SIM cards in mode dual standby or 1 SIM card with a MicroSD memory card. The right side typically already contains buttons for volume control and a fingerprint reader.
At the bottom we find a USB-C port for charging, a microphone and a speaker. The upper part hosts sensors including an infrared, a second microphone and a 3.5 mm headphone port, which is slowly disappearing from smartphones.
We evaluate the design positively and appreciate that the manufacturer was not afraid to go for the non-traditional design of the back, which distinguishes it from other smartphones.
IPS display with a frequency of 90 Hz
POCO M3 Pro 5G brings an improved 6.5″ IPS display with FullHD+ resolution (2400 x 1080 px) compared to its predecessor. The contrast ratio is represented by a value of 1500:1 and the interesting thing is dynamick refresh rate. POCO calls this technology DynamicSwitch and in this case can switch between the values of 30 / 50 / 60 and 90 Hz automatically, according to the current need.
Really, however, do not expect any miracles. This is not a premium display. The refresh rate of 90 Hz is an enticing figure, but it is still more of an average IPS display with clear color changes when viewed from the side. The brightness is 400 nits and visibility is sufficient even in direct sunlight.
However, it must not be forgotten that this is a lower-category smartphone, where we cannot expect a display that is too high quality. From our point of view, the biggest problem was occasionally worse reactions to the touch, especially at the bottom of the display. Fortunately, they disappeared after the restart and have not reappeared, so we expect this issue to be resolved by the next update.
Processor from MediaTek
The performance of the smartphone is taken care of by the MediaTek Dimensity 700 processor. It is an eight-core processor manufactured with 7 nm technology with a maximum frequency of 2.2 GHz. Although MediaTek processors are not very popular in our region, there is nothing to worry about.
During the week of daily use of the smartphone, we did not notice absolutely any jams or significant slowdowns, which would be too visible. The system is smooth and we were very satisfied with the overall performance.
The processor is seconded by the Arm Mali-G57 MC2 graphics chip with a maximum frequency of 950 MHz. In the benchmark AnTuTu v9 we achieved a score of 315, which is decent for this price category. Compared to the M000 model, the score is approximately 3% higher.
We had a version with 6 GB of LPDDR4X RAM at our disposal, and we must admit that even with such a cheap smartphone, even more demanding games such as Call of Duty or PUBG can be played without any problems. Of course not in the highest details, but playing is smooth without unnecessary lags.
Unlocking options
The POCO M3 Pro 5G offers two screen unlock options. The first option is to use the fingerprint reader on the right, the second is to unlock the face with the front camera,
The fingerprint reader is accurate, but there is a noticeable delay. The screen unlocks with a delay of about one second after placing your finger. Unlocking the face takes about the same amount of time, there is also a slight delay.
The fingerprint reader is not one of the fastest, but the accuracy is at a good level. It almost never happened to us that we had to add our finger to the reader repeatedly. Unlocking on the first finger application was in 99% of cases.
Endurance and charging
Compared to the previous M3 model, the battery has been reduced from 6000 mAh to 5000 mAh. The smartphone supports 18 W charging and the endurance per charge is still decent. In normal use, we easily reached a 2-day endurance even with the highest display refresh rate. Longer endurance is also realistic, but it all depends on the intensity of use.
The package contains a 22 W charger. Wireless charging is not available, but as with the POCO M3, it is possible to charge other smartphones using the smartphone. We connected the phone to the charger at 20% of the remaining capacity and the charging process was as follows:
- from 20% to 50% - 28 minutes
- 75% - 51 minutes
- 100% - 1 hour and 38 minutes
Camera and video
The rear camera module contains three sensors:
- main, 48 MPx CMOS sensor SONY IMX 582 Exmor RS size 1/2 ″ with aperture f / 1.79
- 2 MPx macro sensor GalaxyCore GC02M1 with aperture f / 2.4
- 2 MPx depth sensor with f / 2.4 aperture
The main sensor is not wide-angle, which we lacked and the quality is rather weaker, but at certain moments it can surprise. In good light, the photos are nice, but in low light it's worse. However, this is not a disaster and the photos in the price category in which the POCO M3 Pro moves are good and the target group of this model will be satisfied.
Let's take a look at some photos taken by the main sensor during the day. The photos in good light are quite nice, the color rendering is faithful and you don't have to worry about any oversaturated, artificial-looking photos.
In low light, the quality is worse, a slight noise begins to appear and dark areas are too underexposed, which is typical of cheaper smartphones. On the other hand, the atmosphere of the lighting is well captured and the image is close to reality.
The macro sensor has a resolution of only 2 MPx, so don't expect any great macro photos. Personally, we would namithey often adopted a wide-angle lens. Selfie has only 8 MPx and we didn't like that the beauty filter is always turned on automatically, which then needs to be turned off manually. The quality of photos from the selfie camera is very average, it ranks among the weakest.
Night mode is also available. In most cases, it brightens dark areas, but at the same time loses sharpness. But he can also surprise. When looking at a comparison of photos without night mode and with night mode, you can see how well it can handle strong light, where without night mode we see only the glow of light (the last pair of photos).
When it comes to video, a maximum resolution of 1080p / 30 fps is available, even with digital image stabilization. The video is not very good, but digital stabilization at least partially eliminates shocks while walking.
Sophisticated environment with POCO launcher
POCO M3 Pro 5G is traditionally equipped with Android, this time in version 11 with the MIUI 12 extension (12.0.5) and POCO launcher. Not a very positive tradition is the number of pre-installed applications and games, which are completely useless and most users uninstall them immediately.
These include applications such as Netflix, Bubble Shooter, Dust Settle, Jewels Blast, Tile Fun, WPS Office and a link to PUBG.
As for the launcher itself and the environment, we have almost no reservations here. Everything is pretty logical and practically arranged and the system's responses are fast, without hesitation. There is also a sophisticated dark mode, which we highlighted in the review of the basic model LITTLE M3.
We tested a global version of the smartphone and all notifications from popular applications such as Messenger, Facebook, Instagram, Viber, Gmail and the like worked properly for us.
5G network connectivity and test
Among the cable connectivity, we must highlight the presence of a 3.5 mm headphone port, which is already slowly disappearing from smartphones.
From wireless connectivity we can find IR, Bluetooth in version 5.1, support for 5G networks, dual-band WiFi (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) with 802.11a / b / g / n / ac standards and GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and Beidou location systems. WiFi 6 is missing, which is not the standard in this price category.
Since we also visited our capital during the test, we tested the speed of the internet connection in the 5G network. For comparison, we also present a speed test during connection to the 4G network from the same place.
The speed at 5G is visibly higher, but for better speeds we will probably have to wait even longer for the 5G network to be more developed in Slovakia.
POCO M3 Pro 5G: Final evaluation
POCO M3 Pro 5G is a very decent smartphone in its price category. It is almost the same model as the recently introduced Redmi Note 10 5G.
It impresses with its nice back design, sufficiently powerful processor and sophisticated environment. It will also please a battery with good capacity, NFC support and, last but not least, 5G, despite the fact that this new generation network is still underway in our country.
The negatives include a weaker speaker, a very average display and also a camera that can't handle poor lighting conditions too much, but sometimes it can surprise even in night mode. Compared to the M3 model, performance improvements in particular can be clearly seen. Applications open faster and, even from a design point of view, it is a more successful piece from our point of view.
For an undemanding user who is looking for a smartphone from this category, this is definitely an interesting choice, as its price / performance ratio is a very attractive factor when choosing a new smartphone.
