Poco M7 5G Review: Familiar Territory

The Poco M7 5G was launched in India final month as the most recent entry-level smartphone from Xiaomi’s performance-focused subsidiary. The handset is priced beneath the Rs. 10,000 mark, and it options an octa-core Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 SoC, 128GB of built-in storage, a 50-megapixel rear digital camera, and runs on Android 14. It will compete with equally priced smartphones just like the Samsung Galaxy F06 5G, Redmi A4 and Redmi 14C 5G from Xiaomi, Infinix Hot 50 5G, Tecno Spark 30C, and Lava Blaze 3 5G.

The base mannequin of the Poco M7 5G is priced at Rs. 9,999, whereas the 8GB variant prices Rs. 10,999. Poco sells the smartphone in three colourways. But is that this the perfect finances smartphone you should purchase at this time? Read our Poco M7 5G overview to search out out.

Poco M7 5G Design: Hard to Spot the Differences

• Dimensions – 171.9×77.8×8.2 mm
• Weight – 205.4g
• Colours – Mint Green, Ocean Blue (Featured on this overview), Satin Black

The Poco M7 5G has a 6.88-inch show and a significantly huge cellphone. The decrease half of the handset’s rear panel has a matte end, whereas the higher portion (which additionally homes the 50-megapixel rear digital camera) has a clean end. The rear panel and the raised digital camera island are product of plastic, and the latter glitter when held at numerous angles.

Poco M7 5G has half-matte and half shiny rear design

If you have regarded on the Redmi A4 from final yr or the Redmi 14C 5G, the brand new Poco M7 5G ought to really feel very acquainted. All three telephones have the identical show dimension and dimensions, whereas the Poco M7 5G and the Redmi 14C 5G each weigh 204.5g. At a look, the one technique to determine Poco’s handset amongst these three fashions is to search for the half-matte, half-glossy design on the rear panel.

On the entrance, the Poco M7 5G sports activities an LCD display screen with thick bezels on the prime, left and proper edges, and a fair thicker chin. A waterdrop-style notch on the prime homes the selfie digital camera, and the entrance of the smartphone is an identical to the aforementioned Redmi telephones.

The edges of the Poco handset are product of plastic, and there is a quantity rocker and energy button on the precise facet, a USB Type-C port on the backside, and a 3.5mm audio jack on the highest edge. The overview unit we acquired didn’t embrace a display screen protector or a canopy. You get a 33W energy adapter, a USB Type-A to USB Type-C cable, and a SIM ejector instrument.

Poco M7 5G Software: Older Android Version, Preinstalled Apps

• Software – HyperOS
• Version – Android 14
• Latest safety patch – January 1, 2025

The Poco M7 5G runs on Android 14, with Xiaomi’s HyperOS pores and skin on prime. It’s just a little disappointing to see it ship with this model six months after Google launched Android 15. The firm says that the Poco M7 5G will obtain two Android OS updates (which implies its final main replace can be Android 16) and 4 years of safety updates.

The Poco M7 5G comes with a handful of preinstalled apps (Tap to broaden)

The HyperOS pores and skin appears to be optimised to run on the Poco M7 5G, and switching to the earlier app and again feels clean. The unit we acquired had 6GB of RAM, with a reminiscence extension characteristic turned off by default.

Like different smartphones on this worth section, the Poco M7 5G features a few preinstalled apps and video games. These embrace Spotify, Snapchat, LinkedIn, WPS Office, Facebook, Word Scenery: Crossword, Jewels Blast, Tile Fun, and a few bubble shooter video games.

They are situated in folders known as “More apps” and “Games” that additionally immediate you to put in apps like Junglee Rummy, Ludo Supreme, MPL, and Dream11. These apps will be uninstalled, and the folders disappear after their contents are emptied. You can even have to disable ads on numerous system functions to forestall full-screen advertisements from displaying up whereas opening these apps.

Poco M7 5G Performance: Good Value for Money

• Processor – Snapdragon 4 Gen 2
• Memory – Up to 8GB LPDDR4x
• Storage – 128GB UFS 2.2

There’s a 4nm Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 chip contained in the Poco M7 5G — the identical processor powers the Redmi 14C, and it contains two Cortex-A78 cores (2.2GHz) and 6 Cortex-A55 cores (1.95GHz), together with an Adreno 613 GPU. The chipset is barely extra succesful than the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 SoC on the Redmi A4, and it may well deal with fashionable apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and X (previously Twitter).

The Poco M7 5G delivers efficiency on par with equally priced smartphones (Tap to broaden)

Games like Temple Run 2 and Asphalt Legends Unite run on the default settings with none points. I additionally ran Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), which ran advantageous on Smooth settings with the Ultra framerate choice. The cellphone would not have a gyroscope, so you may have to make changes whereas transferring your character round within the recreation.

We additionally ran benchmark assessments to see how the Poco M7 5G performs in opposition to rivals just like the Redmi A4 5G, Moto G35, and the dearer HMD Fusion, which additionally options the identical chipset.

The 6.88-inch HD+ (720×1640 pixels) IPS LCD display screen on the Poco M7 5G has a 120Hz refresh charge. While there’s an automated mode that switches between 60Hz and 120Hz, you may also choose one of many two manually. I enabled the Standard color scheme within the show settings, which provided improved color accuracy.

The show on the Poco M7 5G is brilliant sufficient for many out of doors situations

Poco says that the handset’s show has a peak brightness of 450nits (and 600nits in excessive brightness mode). The display screen will get brilliant sufficient whereas open air throughout the day, besides if you happen to’re utilizing the cellphone when it is extraordinarily sunny exterior.

Poco M7 5G Cameras: Decent Daytime Photos

• Main digital camera – 50-megapixel (f/1.8), PDAF, as much as 1080p/ 30fps video
• Selfie digital camera – 8-megapixel

A 50-megapixel major digital camera on the Poco M7 5G with part detection autofocus (PDAF) and an f/1.8 aperture. This digital camera delivers brilliant and sharp photographs throughout the day, and hues are reproduced precisely. Images captured with the rear digital camera have numerous element, even while you zoom in.

Top to backside: Samples from major rear digital camera, 2x zoom, Portrait (Tap to broaden)

The major digital camera has a 2x in-sensor crop choice, which lets you zoom in on topics which are additional away. When there’s sufficient pure gentle, this mode can ship respectable photographs of topics which are barely additional away.

While capturing photos with the Poco M7 5G, I seen that the digital camera app is fast to seize photos within the default mode. Unlike another finances telephones that take a second to seize every shot, the Poco M7 5G saved every picture as quickly as I tapped the shutter button.

If you are capturing photos in low gentle situations, I like to recommend utilizing the default picture mode (wherever doable) except your topic is completely nonetheless or your environment are very darkish. Images of animals and different transferring topics taken with the default mode have extra element (and extra noise), however it’s preferable to the softening on photos captured when Night mode is enabled.

Low gentle samples (Tap to broaden)

The default digital camera app has two different modes — 50MP and Portrait. The former captures very detailed photos and takes a second to avoid wasting earlier than the digital camera is able to take one other shot. However, if you wish to seize photos with numerous element and do not thoughts the additional storage required by these photographs, I like to recommend utilizing the 50-megapixel mode.

Without help for picture stabilisation, the Poco M7 5G captures shaky movies throughout the day and evening when utilizing the rear digital camera or the front-facing digital camera. If you could have a handheld gimbal, you would possibly have the ability to mitigate this. You can file as much as 1080p at 30fps utilizing the rear digital camera and the selfie shooter.

Poco M7 5G Battery: A Day and a Half on One Charge

• Battery Capacity – 5,160mAh
• Wired Charging – 18W (USB Type-C)

The mixture of the 5,160mAh battery and the environment friendly Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 SoC on the Poco M7 5G is sufficient to ship over a day and a half of battery life. This included a mixture of calls and texting (with WhatsApp in companion system mode), some gentle gaming, shopping Instagram and X, and streaming movies on YouTube.

Poco M7 5G would not ship with a case within the field

On our HD video battery loop take a look at, the Poco M7 5G lasted for 23 hours and 10 minutes. Keep in thoughts that this can be a artificial take a look at, in order that the actual world will range primarily based on precise utilization. The cellphone ships with a 33W charger, however the handset can solely be charged at 18W. It took round 1 hour and 50 minutes for a full cost.

Poco M7 5G: Final Thoughts

At Rs. 9,999, the Poco M7 5G is likely one of the most value-for-money choices at present accessible in India. It provides help for 5G connectivity and has a familiar-looking design, and provides respectable digital camera efficiency throughout the day. Battery life and charging speeds are additionally on par with different equally priced smartphones.

It’s disappointing to see the Poco M7 5G launch with Android 14 when Android 15 has been out for a number of months when its largest rival — the Samsung Galaxy F06 5G — ships with the most recent model and is slated to obtain 4 Android OS model upgrades. Other alternate options to the Poco M7 5G embrace the Redmi A4 (Review), Redmi 14C 5G, and the Moto G35 (Review).