Introduction
After much teasing, POCO (an independent offshoot from Xiaomi) has finally unleashed the new mid-range smartphone in India today. This device, known as the POCO M2 Pro, has a largely similar design and specs as the Redmi Note 9 Pro. The Poco M2 Pro is a performance and battery-centric smartphone that marks the company’s entry into the budget segment of under Rs 15,000. Key specs of the POCO M2 Pro include the Snapdragon 720G chipset, a punch-hole display, a 48MP quad-camera setup, and 33W fast charging support. The Phone runs on MIUI 11 out-of-the-box, with Poco launcher 2.0 on top. The POCO M2 Pro will go on sale starting 14th July via Flipkart for a starting price of INR 13,999 ($187) for the 4GB + 64GB variant. The 6GB + 64GB variant will cost you INR 14,999 ($200), while the top model with 6GB + 128GB will cost INR 16,999 ($227). For those who’re interested, the POCO M2 Pro will be offered in three different shades including Blue, Green, and Black.
Design and display
The POCO M2 Pro has a hole in the middle of the upper part of the display for a selfie camera. This is similar to what we have seen in phones from a number of manufacturers including Samsung and Redmi. The bottom of the screen has a thicker bezel while the top and side bezels are pretty slim.
On the back, the phone has four rear cameras arranged in a squircle and positioned in the center. Below the camera housing is an LED flash. The M2 Pro is P2i dust and water-resistant. The phone sports a big 6.67-inch IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 2,400 x 1,080. Owing to its construction, the fingerprint scanner is embedded in the power button on the side. The Gorilla Glass 5 protects the front and back panels.
Front and rear cameras
Speaking of cameras, the Poco M2 Pro has a quad-camera setup on the rear which includes a 48MP primary camera with f/1.8 aperture, an 8MP (119-degree) ultra-wide shooter, a 5MP macro lens and a depth sensor. The front camera has a resolution of 16MP. The company claims that “it brings a full-fledged manual camera that can be used for stills as well as videos.” The smartphone also comes preloaded with camera modes including a Pro Colour Mode, Pro Video Mode, and a RAW Mode. Poco M2 Pro can record 4k and Full HD videos at 30fps. On the other hand, the selfie camera only can record Full HD videos at 30fps.
Processor, battery, and software
Powering the POCO M2 Pro is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G octa-core SoC, featuring 2x ARM Cortex-A76 cores clocked at 2.3GHz and 6x ARM Cortex-A55 cores running at 1.8GHz, coupled with Adreno 618 GPU, up to 6GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.1 storage. The battery is one of the key talking points of the Poco M2 Pro, as it houses a big 5,000mAh which supports 33W fast charging over USB Type-C.
This is one of the fastest charging stats in the segment. On the software front, this phone ships with MIUI 11 based on Android 10 OS. In addition, the phone comes with P2i nano-coating for a dust- and splash-resistant experience. Other notable highlights of the POCO M2 Pro include IR blaster, a 3.5-mm audio jack, bottom-firing speaker, Bluetooth 5.0, dual VoLTE with VoWiFi support, and support for Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC).