Battery and display are better, but the Samsung Galaxy A3…

The affordable Xiaomi Poco M8 5G is a solid everyday companion, but has no real unique selling point and therefore has a hard time competing with rivals such as the Samsung Galaxy A36 5G. The advantages of the test candidate include the very bright 120 Hz AMO…

Xiaomi doesn't make it easy for buyers to warm to the Poco M8 5G. If you don't have high expectations of a smartphone, the 6.77-inch device is a solid everyday companion. Ultimately, however, it lacks a unique selling point to set it apart from the masses of affordable mid-range smartphones. Its greatest strengths are the above-average battery life and the bright AMOLED display. However, the Poco M8 5G lacks support for eSIMs and the Wi-Fi data throughput is weak with Wi-Fi 5.

Updates are available until 2032, but whether you want to use the smartphone for that long in view of the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3, which is already not exactly fast, is another question. The Xiaomi Poco M8 5G costs 270 Euros (8/256 GB) or 300 Euros (8/512 GB)(~$314/$353 respectively) at Xiaomi. In other online stores, you pay a little less for both versions, for example at Amazon. Elegant 3D design, large battery, a 120 Hz display and the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 as the control center: Xiaomi is competing with itself with the Poco M8 5G, as it is technically equivalent to the Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 5G.

The Poco phone should therefore also be recommended as an affordable but well-equipped smartphone. Xiaomi packs the Poco M8 5G into a sturdy and lightweight plastic casing. Its rounded long sides make the back cover and display appear to merge seamlessly. However, the factory-applied screen protector acts as a haptic brake because it can be clearly felt due to the curved design. Xiaomi does not provide any information on the protection class of the display glass.

The Poco M8 5G is protected against dust and water in accordance with IP65, which means that it cannot be harmed by rain, for example. The proximity sensor is only virtual and therefore tends to be less accurate than its physical counterpart. A microSD card of up to 1 TB fits into the hybrid SIM slot. In the copy test with the Angelbird AV Pro V60 microSD reference card, the card reader achieved a reasonable speed of 32.3 MByte/s on average.

The Poco M8 5G supports WiFi 5 as the fastest WiFi communication standard. Connected to our reference router Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000, the Xiaomi phone therefore only achieves below-average WiFi transfer rates. The Poco M8 5G only supports dual SIM if the microSD card is omitted. In the test, the smartphone scored with good voice quality and managed to largely block out distracting ambient noise.

The capacitive touchscreen responds quickly to inputs and works as reliably as the fingerprint sensor underneath it in the test. Alternatively, you can authenticate yourself biometrically using 2D Face Unlock. An ERM vibration motor is responsible for haptic feedback, which can be adjusted in 3 levels. Xiaomi's HyperOS 2.0 operating system for the Poco M8 5G is still based on Android 15, displays ads in many places and comes with a lot of bloatware.

Xiaomi plans to provide four Android updates for the Poco M8 5G and supply it with security updates until January 2032. The packaging of the Poco M8 5G is made of recycled paper, but is delivered shrink-wrapped in plastic film. The manufacturer does not provide any information on the recycled materials used in the smartphone. Xiaomi also offers tools and spare parts for the Poco M8 5G. The selfie camera offers a fairly high resolution of 20 MPix.

However, the quality of its images is very average and sometimes look artificial due to the pronounced sharpening. However, the quality is fine for occasional video chats, which can take place at up to 1080p at 30 frames per second. The main camera sensor has a resolution of 50 MPix, uses Light Fusion 400 and takes quite acceptable photos in daylight. However, it does not show much detail and it quickly becomes blurry at higher zoom levels.

Video recordings achieve roughly the same image quality, up to 4K at 30 frames per second. This largely exhausts the Poco M8 5G's photo capabilities, as it does not have an ultra-wide-angle camera. Additional cameras include only a 2 MP camera, which is only used to capture depth information. Choose a scene and navigate within the first image. One click changes the position on touchscreens. One click on the zoomed-in image opens the original in a new window.

The first image shows the scaled photograph of the test device. According to Xiaomi, the 120 Hz AMOLED panel achieves a peak brightness of 3200 nits, which it also reaches in smaller image sections (APL18 measurement 3355 cd/m²) and in HDR with 3492 cd/m². This is complemented by precise color reproduction and a high PWM dimming frequency of 3840 Hz. Thanks to its high peak brightness, the Poco M8 is well equipped for outdoor use.

In the test, however, it makes no difference whether we activate the sunlight mode or not. This should actually provide a brightness boost, but it does not change the display brightness. The frequency of 60 Hz is very low, so the flickering may cause eyestrain and headaches after extended use. In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 8013 (minimum: 5 – maximum: 343500) Hz was measured.

Measurement series with fixed zoom level and different brightness settings (The amplitude curve at minimum brightness looks flat, but this is due to the scaling. The info box shows the enlarged version of the amplitude at minimum brightness) With the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 the Poco M8 5G is not fast, but can still get quite warm during operation. The SoC power is not sufficient for complex apps and if you want to play a lot with the smartphone, you are better off with the OnePlus Nord CE 5 for example.

The stereo speakers deliver the typical treble-heavy smartphone sound and sound best at medium volume. USB-C and Bluetooth are available for external sound output. The 5520 mAh battery helps the Poco M8 5G achieve above-average runtimes. In the WLAN test, only the Nothing Phone (3a) is more enduring. With a suitable power adapter, the Xiaomi can be charged with up to 45 watts. In the test, a full charging cycle takes just under 1.5 hours.

(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (89.8 dB)Bass 100 – 315 Hz(-) | nearly no bass – on average 31% lower than median(±) | linearity of bass is average (8.4% delta to prev. frequency)Mids 400 – 2000 Hz(±) | reduced mids – on average 10.2% lower than median(±) | linearity of mids is average (8.7% delta to prev. frequency)Highs 2 – 16 kHz(+) | balanced highs – only 4.5% away from median(+) | highs are linear (5% delta to prev.

frequency)Overall 100 – 16.000 Hz(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (22.3% difference to median)Compared to same class» 47% of all tested devices in this class were better, 7% similar, 46% worse» The best had a delta of 11%, average was 35%, worst was 134%Compared to all devices tested» 64% of all tested devices were better, 6% similar, 29% worse» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 24%, worst was 134% (+) | speakers can play relatively loud (90.5 dB)Bass 100 – 315 Hz(-) | nearly no bass – on average 26.4% lower than median(±) | linearity of bass is average (7.3% delta to prev.

frequency)Mids 400 – 2000 Hz(±) | reduced mids – on average 6.1% lower than median(+) | mids are linear (4.3% delta to prev. frequency)Highs 2 – 16 kHz(+) | balanced highs – only 3% away from median(+) | highs are linear (1.8% delta to prev. frequency)Overall 100 – 16.000 Hz(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (17.9% difference to median)Compared to same class» 15% of all tested devices in this class were better, 8% similar, 76% worse» The best had a delta of 11%, average was 35%, worst was 134%Compared to all devices tested» 36% of all tested devices were better, 8% similar, 56% worse» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 24%, worst was 134% Buyers who want to spend little money on a smartphone are undoubtedly well served with the Xiaomi Poco M8 5G.

However, competitors such as the Samsung Galaxy A36 5G offer even more value for the same money. The selection of devices to be reviewed is made by our editorial team. The test sample was provided to the author as a loan by the manufacturer or retailer for the purpose of this review. The lender had no influence on this review, nor did the manufacturer receive a copy of this review before publication.

There was no obligation to publish this review. As an independent media company, Notebookcheck is not subjected to the authority of manufacturers, retailers or publishers. Every year, Notebookcheck independently reviews hundreds of laptops and smartphones using standardized procedures to ensure that all results are comparable. We have continuously developed our test methods for around 20 years and set industry standards in the process.

In our test labs, high-quality measuring equipment is utilized by experienced technicians and editors. These tests involve a multi-stage validation process. Our complex rating system is based on hundreds of well-founded measurements and benchmarks, which maintains objectivity. Further information on our test methods can be found here.

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