Xiaomi’s Poko sub-brand has launched its latest entry level phone, Poko M3. Like most other Poco phones, the M3 has a strong specsheet for its comparatively low price.
The Poco M3 has a 6.53-inch 1080p LCD screen, with Waterdrop excellent for an 8-megapixel selfie camera. The display is very basic: the chin at the bottom is fairly large, the fingerprint sensor is integrated into the side power button instead of the screen, and the panel is only 60 Hz, but it is sharp enough and fully serviceable.
The design of the phone definitely stands out from the back, too, with a glossy camera bump, adorned with a bright white “POCO” logo. The main camera is 48 megapixels, but the other two cameras have sensors of only 2-megapixels for depth and macro, so this is not a really meaningful triple-c camera marrow setup. When the phone’s chassis is made out of plastic, it uses a leather ish finish that feels better to the touch than most other plastic phones. It is available in black, yellow and blue.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22120890/DSCF7449.jpg)
The M3’s processor is Qualcomm Snapdragon 662, paired with 4GB of RAM. It runs MIII 12 on top of Android 10. The battery is an impressive 6,000 mAh, and this phone is a huge but fairly tidy 9.6 mm thick and weighs 198 grams. There are options for 64GB or 128GB storage, and the phone has two SIM card slots in addition to a separate microSD slot. There is also a headphone jack as well as a USB-C port.
The Xiaomi Poko M3 is set to go on sale on Black Friday, November 27, with the US starting at 12 129 for the 64GB model and 14 149 for the 128GB. The regular price is 9149 for 64GB and 9169 for 128GB.
Even at those high prices, M3 seems to be the best in the US. Would be very good value by market standards. You can compare it to this year’s Moto E, for example, which starts at the same price point of $ 149 but has a 720p screen, Snapdragon 632 processor, a micro USB port, 32GB storage, and 2GB RAM.
