Content
- Video review
- Specifications
- Appearance and equipment
- Software
- cameras
- Performance and Benchmarks
- findings
Rumor has it that in ancient China, the most inveterate criminals were forced to understand the range of Xiaomi smartphones. The same device can be called differently for different regions, have variations, and also come out under a sub-brand. Today we will talk about POCO M4 Pro, a budget smartphone by design, but not in the current realities.
Video review
Specifications
 |
Specifications Poco M4 Pro |
|---|---|
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G |
| Firmware | MI UI 13 on Android 11 |
| Screen | 6.43″, 2400 × 1080 pixels, AMOLED, 90 Hz , 180 Hz touch, 1000 nits (peak), DCI-P3 |
| Chipset | MediaTek Helio G96 Mali-G57 MC2 |
| RAM | 6/8 GB LPDDR4X |
| ROM | 128/256 GB UFS 2.2 |
| SIM and memory card | nanoSIM + nanoSIM/microSD |
| Camera | Primary : OmniVision OV64B, 64MP, f/1.8, 1.4µm (4 in 1), 1/1.52” Width : Sony IMX355 8MP, f/2.2, 118° Macro : GalaxyCore GC02M1 2 MP, f/2.4 |
| Selfie | Sony IMX471, 16 MP, f/2.4 |
| Battery | 5000 mAh |
| Charger | USB-C 33W |
| Wireless interfaces | WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac bluetooth 5.0 GPS L1, GLONASS G1, Beidou: B1, Galileo E1 IR emitter |
| NFC | There is |
| Biometrics | Fingerprint scanner at the end face unlock |
| Sound | Stereo, 3.5mm |
| Waterproof | IP53 |
| Dimensions and weight | 159.87 x 73.87 x 8.09 mm 179.5 g |
Appearance and equipment
The smartphone comes in a bright corporate color box along with a 33W power adapter, a USB-A to USB-C cable, a transparent silicone case, a protective film applied to the display, a SIM eject needle and documentation. The cover has moderately protruding protective corners on the front side and a minimal border around the photo block. The latter, coupled with a significant (and, in fact, decorative) cutout for the cameras, raises concerns for safety. Otherwise, an excellent full-fledged kit, unlike flagships for 100k+. * I look askance at the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra ( review , video review ) *.
The lid and frame are made of plastic, while the display is protected by impact-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The sloping edges of the lid provide a comfortable grip, and the flat display simplifies the process of applying a protective film / glass.
Much brighter solutions coexist with the classic black coloring.
Of the features of the interfaces, it is worth paying attention to the following points:
- The fingerprint scanner is built into the power button. Works accurately and quickly: a momentary touch is enough to unlock. However, the awakening of the smartphone takes a good second.
- An IR emitter is located on the upper end, which allows you to use your smartphone to control home appliances.
- Multimedia and conversational speakers form not the highest quality, but still a stereo pair. The speaker holes are not symmetrical: with a horizontal grip, not blocking one of them with your hand is a big deal.
- Vibration is normal. Buzzing.
- The 3.5mm audio jack is located on the top end. Its very presence pleases, but still I would like to see it in the lower end (subjectively, of course, but a smartphone is usually placed “head” down in a pocket).
The display uses a 6.43 “AMOLED matrix with a resolution of 2400 × 1080 pixels. The screen pleases with a clear picture and an increased refresh rate of 90 Hz, which works successfully regardless of the situation (except for individual games, like COD). Of the features, I note the strange operation of the sensor lighting (often had to manually increase the brightness to comfortable values) and the lack of technology to reduce PWM’a… Users sensitive to this parameter will have a hard time.
PWM
Display settings
Software
Poco M4 Pro runs on Android 11 in Xiaomi’s proprietary shell – MI UI 13. At the first start, the system throws the user with a whole heap of visual noise: there are application recommendations, explicit advertising in local applications, and bright multi-colored icons, and a ton of pop-up spam, and a bunch of shortcut icons, “and this and that, in short, everything is here.” Of course, if you wish, you can clean up this bacchanalia to a more or less adequate state.
During testing, in addition to problems with the light sensor, I did not encounter frank bugs, crashes and other instabilities. Questions are raised, except perhaps not always by the quick response of the system to pressing, micro-lags that occur from time to time and the need to manually activate the refresh rate of 90 Hz (why is this not done by default?).
cameras
Four sensors are responsible for the photo and video capabilities of the smartphone: the main OmniVision OV64B with a resolution of 64 (→16) MP, 1/1.52” matrix size and f/1.8 aperture, wide-angle Sony IMX 355 with 8 MP, f/2.2 aperture and 118° capture, 2 MP macro plug and 16 MP Sony IMX471 front camera.
With good lighting on the main camera, you can get sensible shots with very good detail and quite realistic colors. Shirik suffers from a clear lack of detail for shooting panoramas and has a smaller dynamic range than the main camera. In contrasting scenes, “burning out” of light areas is noticeable.
Main and wide-angle cameras
Main Camera: Zoom
Main camera: standard and portrait modes
With a lack of light, both cameras have a hard time. A more or less adequate result can be obtained when using the “Night” mode, but it is available only for the main camera. But the Pro mode is also available for the width, which means you can achieve some kind of result by experimenting with fine-tuning the shooting.
Main and wide-angle cameras in low light: wide, wide + Pro mode (15 sec, 50 ISO, handheld but with emphasis), main, main + Night mode
Front camera: standard and portrait modes
Shooting video is the weak side of the smartphone. The shooting mode is limited to 1080p@30fps on all cameras, there is no switching between cameras during shooting, the light sources in the rooms noticeably double, and especially bright ones are burned out. The quality is enough for everyday needs, but lovers of beautiful videos and vlogging are clearly not here.
Performance and Benchmarks
The performance of the device fell on the shoulders of not the most powerful, but rather stable MediaTek Helio G96 chipset. For working with data in response to 6/8 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128/256 GB of permanent memory UFS 2.2. There is a slot for a microSD memory card, as well as a technology for borrowing 2 GB of permanent memory at the expense of operational memory. We got the younger version at 6/128. The system works sluggishly on it: thoughtfulness when switching heavy applications is a common thing.
For games and applications, MIUI offers launch through its own game launcher. In the CPU throttling test, it significantly improved stability, but the GPU, with or without it, produced the same values.
Throttling test: normal launch and through the game launcher
3DMark graphical stress test: normal launch and through the game launcher
AnTuTu: Launched via game launcher
Most modern games give a comfortable frame rate at low-medium graphics settings. COD mobile does not allow you to choose graphics above average, but pleases with constant 60 fps and nimble responsiveness (according to measurements, the touch gave out up to 200 Hz). In Tacticool, the device showed 60-90 fps on low graphics (with drops during intense moments).
Tacticool and COD Mobile: focus on fps charts
Desperately demanding on resources, Genshin Impact is poorly playable even at low graphics settings. At the time of launch, the counter showed 18-46 fps in the field and 10-35 fps in the city. Half an hour later – 15-35 fps and 10-32 fps. In both cases, the average fps is kept around 20-30, however, constant drops prevent at least some comfortable game. Despite the heating of the CPU up to ≈50°, the case does not burn, but only seems to be warm in the area of the photoblock. Apparently, the claimed LiquidCool 1.0 cooling system really works.
Iron of moderate power and a 5000 mAh battery provide the device with confident autonomy. With not the most active use of the Poco M4 Pro charge, I consistently had enough for two days. In more objective units, this is:
- 8% discharge in 60 minutes of watching YouTube (Wi-Fi, 50% brightness, 1080p).
- Discharge by 9% in 30 minutes of playing Tacticool (Wi-Fi, 60% brightness, minimum graphics settings, ≈60-90 fps)
It is proposed to charge the smartphone with a 33 W (11 V, 3 A) power adapter. The charge timings are as follows: 10 minutes – 17%, 30 – 48%, 60 – 95%, 68 – 100%. In terms of other technologies, I note support for Wi-FI ac (5) in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, as well as the presence of NFC, FM radio and Bluetooth 5.0.
findings
Poco M4 Pro pleases with a large AMOLED display with an increased refresh rate of 90 Hz, a good main camera, stable chipset behavior, excellent autonomy, fast charging, good ergonomics, stereo and small utilities like FM radio, 3.5 mm audio jack, etc. .P.
On the other hand, it is impossible not to note the specific proprietary shell and weak video capabilities. The fault for the latter, most likely, lies with the moderately powerful chipset, which does not always process system requests quickly. Although if there were a more powerful processor, this would almost certainly result in more power consumption and less stability.
Leapfrog around the dollar exchange rate brought the release official price of POCO M4 Pro to indecent. Hand on heart, I can only recommend taking a closer look at the Poco M4 Pro at a very pleasant discount. Fortunately, the manufacturer himself understands this, so there is even a discount on the official website. In addition, I suggest that everyone interested read our article ( link ), where we tried to explain in an accessible way the current situation with the abundance of Xiaomi and Poco smartphones.
© Dmitry Pivnev. mobile phone
