POCO has pretty much revolutionized the smartphone world in 2018 with the release of the Pocophone F1 with a Snapdragon 845 SoC and other compelling specifications. In 2019, Xiaomi put the brand to rest and only revived it this year. So far, the company already released a multitude of smartphones but lost some of its appeals due to an unexpected rebranding strategy. In September, however, POCO surprised us again with the POCO X3 NFC, one of the best value for money smartphones released in 2020. The device came with a 120Hz display, a massive 5,160mAh battery (6,000mAh if you’re in India), 33W fast-charging, and a Snapdragon 732G chipset. Today, the company unveiled the POCO M3 that comes with the promise of being the king of the budget segment. It really impresses with all the features available, and POCO is even offering a Black Friday deal that makes the phone even more attractive. Without further ado, let’s dive in the POCO M3 specifications.
POCO M3 Specifications
Display and Processor
The POCO M3 packs a 6.53-inch LCD with FHD+ resolution (2,400 x 1080) and a 19:5:9 aspect ratio thanks to the waterdrop notch that serves as a house for the selfie snapper. Unfortunately, the display only has a 60Hz refresh rate, but this still is a standard for budget smartphones. The display is covered with Gorilla Glass 3 and has TUV Rheinland’s Blue Light certification.
Under the hood, the POCO M3 carries the Snapdragon 662 SoC. According to the brand, the 11nm chipset was the perfect choice for the budget device since it is cheaper and even outperforms the Snapdragon 665 which is available in other devices like last year’s Redmi Note 8. The Octa-Core chipset brings the Adreno 610 GPU that can run modest games and heavy ones at average settings. In case you’re wondering this is an LTE only smartphone, but it brings the usual Dua-SIM support. The chipset is paired with 4GB of LPDDR4X RAM which boosts the phone’s multitasking capabilities. There are two distinct variants, one has 64GB of UFS 2.1 storage and the other has 128GB of UFS 2.2 Storage. Of course, you can expand this amount via a microSD card.
Cameras
The POCO M3 comes with a Triple-Camera array led by a 48MP main camera. The camera housing is black and reaches the edges of the smartphone resulting in a design that quite resembles the first Pixel smartphone. The main sensor has a 1/2″ size, f/1.79 aperture, 6P lens, Auto-Focus, 0.8um pixel size, 1.6um 4-in-1 Super Pixel. The secondary shooter is a 2MP Macro Camera with a 1.75um pixel size, f/2.4 aperture. The third and final sensor is a 2MP Depth module with 1.75um pixel size and f/2.4 aperture. Unfortunately, the POCO M3 does not bring an Ultra-Wide module but tries to compensate with a solid primary camera.
The device brings the whole set of camera features present in MIUI 12. That includes Night Mode, Document Scanning, AI scene Detection, AI Beautify, and other modes. When it comes to video recording, the handset can record 1080p videos at 30fps and 720p videos at the same 30 frames per second.
On the front, we have an 8MP snapper sitting inside of the Dot Notch display. This modest module has a 1.12um pixel size and f/2.05 aperture. It also comes packed with a set of smart features.
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Battery, Design Aspect, and other features
The POCO M3 has a matte finish and three distinct colorways – Power Black, Cool Blue, and POCO Yellow. During today’s keynote, the brand stated that the latter color is what better represents POCO as a brand. This color is what makes the device stand with its original design among the myriad of other smartphones in the segment. He says the users will love to see it in the real life. I have to agree, that if in the market for a POCO M3 I would promptly get the Yellow color as it seems to be quite unique.
The handset brings a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. This seems to be a recurring trend for Xiaomi smartphones in 2020. According to POCO, this is the best placement as the user can unlock the device even when it is placed over a table. The sensor sits below the volume rocker in the right side of the smartphone. The bottom part houses the USB Port and the loudspeaker. Worth noting that this phone has Stereo Speakers just like the POCO X3 NFC. It makes use of the earpiece speaker and loudspeaker to create a Stereo Effect. POCO is proud that this is only of the few smartphones offering this feature on its price segment.
The top serves as a house for the 3.5mm headphone jack and IR Blaster. According to POCO both are cool features and the brand is proud to bring them back once again in a budget smartphone.
A massive battery with 22.5 fast-charging
The phone has a USB-C port that supports up to 22.5W fast-charging. If you’re curious about the battery size, yes, the POCO M3 comes with a massive 6,000mAh battery. We have to say that the M3 shines in this aspect, after all, most of the budget smartphones are offering 18W fast-charging. The M3 will charge slightly faster with the 22.5W rate. The brand has been kind enough to include a charging brick with the supported rate in the box, so users won’t need to be concerned.
Other features include GPS / A-GPS, BEIDOU, GLONASS, Triple Tray for Dual-SIM + microSD cards, Global LTE Networks, Dual-Band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz / 5GHz), Bluetooth 5.0, and FM Radio. The device has 162.3 x 77.3 x 9.6 mm overall dimensions and weighs just 198 grams. This isn’t a heavy device when you have the 6,000mAh battery in mind.
The POCO M3 runs Android 10 straight out of the box and has MIUI 12 running atop. Of course, the handset will receive Android 11 once it gets available.
Pricing and Availability
POCO is selling the 4GB / 64GB variant for just $149, whereas the variant with 128GB will set you back by $169. That is a nice price for everything the phone offers. However, during Black Friday, the company will be offering the handset for a crazily cheap price of $129 for the starting variant and $149 for the higher tier. The handset is available through several global partners and you can find more details on the brand’s global website.
The POCO M3 has everything to follow the successful route traced by the POCO X3 NFC. According to POCO, the device was the last POCO-branded smartphone of 2020. But the company can’t wait to reveal more exciting devices in 2021.