Poco earlier in the week launched the new budget phone Poco M3 in India. It will be offered in two variants --6GB RAM + 64GB storage and 6GB RAM +128GB storage-- for Rs 10,999 and Rs 11,999, respectively.
It comes with a good hardware upgrade over the predecessor M2 both in terms of design and internal hardware and yet costs less.
I spent a few hours with the new Poco M3 and here are my initial thoughts.
Design
Poco M3's design language is quite interesting, as it comes with the premium leather-like finish on the rear-side, very rare to see in a budget phone.
On the front, the new Phone features a big 6.53-inch full HD+ LCD screen with 2340 × 1080p resolution and has a 90.3 % screen-to-body ratio. It is bright and having used it for a few hours, I did not face any pressing issue while viewing content with direct sunlight on the screen.
It is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3 shield and comes coated with P2i water splash-resistant coating.
Like the predecessor, Poco M3 also sports a side-mounted fingerprint sensor which also doubles up as a power button. This is a good move by Poco as the biometric sensor is ergonomically placed on the right side in the middle, just right for the thumb to rest on a concave-shaped capacitive biometric sensor to unlock the screen.
Camera
Poco M3 houses a feature-rich camera module-- main 48MP(f/1.79) with LED flash + 2MP depth + 2MP 4cm sensor (f/2.4) with LED flash. On the front, it flaunts an 8MP (f/2.05) sensor.
It takes brilliant photos under bright sunny conditions. The edge detection of the phone is noteworthy. Also, as you can see in the picture above. the phone's camera has done a wonderful job in capturing the details of the flower placed indoors with limited light.
The Poco M3 has made a good first impression, but I am now excited to try in other light conditions. Keep an eye on DH for the full review.
Key system configuration
Poco M3 houses an 11nm class Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 octa-core processor with 6GB RAM. The device comes in two storage-- 64GB and 128GB. Users get the option to expand the memory up to 512GB storage. It runs Android 10-based MIUI 12 OS and offers lots of customization in terms of user-interface and short-cuts to key features.
It comes packed with a massive 6,000mAh battery despite that the phone is quite light to hold compared to the phones with the same cell capacity. I have just used the Poco M3 for a few hours and I saw battery dipping by just two percent during a 15-minute photography session in my office's small garden.
Initial thoughts
For now, I am very impressed with the camera in the natural sunny morning light. But, more testing needs to be done in other lighting conditions and also check its performance in terms of battery life, smooth functioning while gaming, and other day-to-day tasks.
Stay tuned for a detailed review in the coming week.
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