POCO M4 Pro (4G) Review

Written by JM ChavariaPublished • March 26, 2022

Last year, we saw the prowess of the POCO M4 Pro 5G with its verdict as a solid daily driver on a budget. Not only a few months later, Xiaomi released its sibling of the same name, except with no 5G capability. Although that’s not the only difference we’re gonna see with the new variant. The POCO M4 Pro (4G) equipped with a different chip, a better display, and a new set of rear cameras, will it be your better choice over its older sibling? Let’s see what POCO M4 Pro (4G) has in store through our full review.

Table of Contents

Design and Construction

At first glance, the POCO M4 Pro’s (4G) back panel looks identical with its older brother, but there are quite nuances. The huge POCO moniker now follows the portrait layout, and the frame module on the main sensor is now removed, despite its higher megapixels count at 64MP.

It has the same polycarbonate build, but it has a glossy finish this time—wherein you can literally see reflections like a mirror—and of course, it is a fingerprint magnet thus using the included jelly case is quite handy. It has an IP53 rating though, which makes it dust and water splash resistant.

The POCO M4 Pro (4G) has the same color options: POCO Yellow, Cool Blue, and Power Black which is the color of our unit.

Turning over to the front panel, it boasts a 6.43-inch flat screen smaller than the 6.6-inch the 5G model has. There’s a hole punch notch at the top which houses the 16MP selfie camera, then a wide earpiece further above. The bezels are thin while the chin slightly protrudes thicker.

The device’s plastic frame sides are sharp yet with a slight curvature for a more comfortable grip. On the left side, it now has a dedicated slot for a microSD card rather than a hybrid slot on the 5G.

While on the right side are the volume rocker and the power button that also serves as a fingerprint sensor that can be reached by the thumb at ease.

Up top we see a stereo loudspeaker, the usual IR blaster, the secondary mic, and the 3.5 mm audio jack.

On the bottom, we get a USB Type-C port, another stereo loudspeaker, and the main mic. The only difference in their layouts is the placement of headphone jack. The 5G version placed it on the bottom, while the 4G version placed it on top.

Display and Multimedia

This is one of the most significant changes in the newer version. The POCO M4 Pro (4G) now has an AMOLED panel ‘DotDisplay’. Now we’re talking. Because with AMOLED, it has the edge over the IPS panel of the 5G version as we get deep blacks, the sweet ‘Always On Display’ feature, higher contrast ratios, and higher peak brightness ranging from 700 up to 1000 nits. Therefore, the screen will still be visible under harsh sunlight outdoors, and viewing angles are great.

Just like its older sibling, it has a max 90 Hz screen refresh rate with 1080 x 2400 FHD+ resolution, and a 20:9 aspect ratio which is superb for watching cinematic films. Corning Gorilla Glass 3 is also layered on the display for protection against minor scratches and fall damage. It also has a pre-installed screen protector.

As mentioned, the POCO M4 Pro has two loudspeakers for stereo sound. It can fill up a room on max volumes, however it lacks the needed bass especially when listening to music. In most cases, it produces sufficient sound, but hey, we have the rare headphone jack in here that is certified with ‘Hi-Res audio’ output.

Camera

Don’t be fooled, the POCO M4 Pro’s (4G) large, protruded camera module only has three sensors, the 64MP main, 8MP ultra-wide, and 2MP macro. The other two circles are LED flash and “AI” print for aesthetics. While the 5G version only had dual cameras—50 MP main, and 8MP ultra-wide—it doesn’t necessarily mean that higher megapixel count equates to better photos. It only means more details can be captured for crispier photo quality.

Under ample lighting, it did not disappoint. It produced photos with rich dynamic range and sharp details as it should. However, when switching to ultrawide, the image goes kinda flat. Hopefully, its post-processing capabilities get improvements from OTA updates. Turning on HDR mode makes the photos unnatural to my liking due to oversaturation on some image regions. 64MP mode can also be used for higher photo resolutions and I can say it’s nice, but it’s not always great.

Surprisingly, there is a night mode on this thing and it captures decent photos as long as there is a bit of lighting. It becomes noisy when there isn’t lighting at all.

Flipping to its 16MP selfie camera, it tends to overexpose in well-lit conditions while in low-light I consider it decent. Or maybe it’s just because of my mask? It’s still good for social media use though. The bokeh effect on portrait mode looks natural at least. Trying out TikTok filters with it worked like a charm—it didn’t have any hiccups and you’ll expect good results with the front camera videos.

Talking about videos, the rear cameras had difficulty finding a consistent exposure. It can shoot up to 1080p, 30 fps and its autofocus is quite exquisite as it was able to focus quickly from one subject to another. The phone has Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) here for more stable video recording, but don’t expect too much. It’s still shaky especially if you’re just casually walking, but if you’re stationary, it will be stable AF.

OS, UI and Apps

POCO M4 Pro (4G) runs Android 11 out of the box with MIUI 13 skin overlay. Since it’s a custom OS, it packs a bunch of additional features, functionalities, and bloats as expected, although some can be uninstalled. MIUI also offers Xiaomi’s own proprietary apps built-in to the device such as Mi File Manager, Mi Calculator, Notes, ShareMe, Music, and Security app for cleaner, antivirus, and various optimizations.

Google services are also present with their Phone, Gmail, Calendar, and Messages apps set by default, and there are more Google apps pre-installed.

For security, users may set up fingerprint lock and face recognition. As usual, the capacitive fingerprint sensor works faster, and is more secure.

Performance and Benchmarks

Another significant change is a different MediaTek chipset as the POCO M4 Pro (4G) is equipped with Helio G96 octa-core CPU paired with the same Mali-G57 MC2 GPU. RAM management looks decent, and scrolling socials is really good on this device with its buttery smooth 90 Hz refresh rate.

Graphically demanding titles like Genshin Impact are playable at lowest settings and may have hiccups on higher graphics. Asphalt 9 is also playable however the 60 FPS option is missing on its settings. MOBA titles like Mobile Legends and League of Legends: Wild Rift will definitely run without a hassle on this device, although the ultra graphics setting on Mobile Legends is grayed out. You’ll also rock on first-person shooter games on this phone since it has a higher than average touch sampling rate at 180 Hz.

There’s this ‘Game Turbo’ app that features a performance boost and floating window for supported apps while gaming. Basically, you can play while casually scrolling on your Facebook or Twitter timeline.

In case you’re interested, here are the figures that we got from benchmarks:

AnTuTu v9.2.1 – 306,079
AnTuTu v9.2.1 Storage Test – 24,510 (510.9 MB/s Seq. Read, 454.0 MB/s Seq. Write)
Geekbench 5 – 528 (Single-Core), 1,819 (Multi-Core), 1,428 (OpenCL)
PCMark – 8,676 (Work 3.0)
3D Mark – 3,460 (OpenGL 3.0), 1,095 (Vulkan), 323 (WildLife Extreme)

The device is available locally in two configurations: a 6GB RAM plus 128GB internal storage, and an 8GB RAM with 256GB internal storage (LPDDR4X RAM, UFS 2.2 storage). Our unit is the former. The base model of POCO M4 Pro 5G on the other hand only had 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. Both versions have expandable storage up to 1TB but the 4G version had better setup with dedicated slot for microSD over the hybrid slot of the 5G version.

Connectivity and Battery Life

The last significant change, Helio G96 doesn’t support 5G. Not a deal-breaker though as there is still limited access to 5G coverage. All the connections are the same except the Bluetooth 5.0 (the 5G version had Bluetooth 5.1). And the same battery capacity at 5,000 mAh and 33W fast charging that reaches 100% battery in just about an hour.

Apparently, the benchmarks got lower on this one. PCMark’s Work 3.0 battery life test only rated 10 hours and 47 minutes compared to the 16 hours and 48 minutes from the 5G version. Perhaps because the Dimensity 810 chip is better on paper. But on a first-hand experience, draining the phone battery took more than a day with casual usage and MOBA gaming on the side.

Conclusion

The POCO M4 Pro will make you ponder between 5G connectivity or a better display. The AMOLED display upgrade is neat, considering the starting of Php12,990 for the base model.

The device would be great for media consumption, and scrolling through your social apps feel seamless through a higher screen refresh rate. The Helio G96 CPU is considerably on par with Dimensity 810, and should handle your productivity and entertainment needs at ease, with of course, gaming on the side. Ultimately, it is indeed a better choice over its older sibling although at the cost of 5G connectivity, and a thousand pesos more.

What’s the gist of POCO M4 Pro over the 5G version? Here are its pros and cons.

Pros:

AMOLED display
Higher peak brightness
Dedicated slot for microSD card
8GB RAM + 256GB storage max option

Cons:

No 5G capability
Less powerful MediaTek chipset
Smaller screen
Base model will cost a thousand pesos more

POCO M4 Pro specs:

6.43-inch FHD+ (2400 x 1080) AMOLED display
90Hz refresh rate, 180Hz touch sampling rate
Corning Gorilla Glass 3
MediaTek Helio G96 SoC
ARM Mali-G57 MC2 GPU
6GB, 8GB LPDDR4X RAM
128GB, 256GB UFS 2.2
microSD card support
Triple-rear cameras:

64MP F1.8 main
8MP F2.2 ultra-wide
2MP F2.4 macro

16MP F2.4 front camera
Dual-SIM
4G LTE
WIFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth 5.0
NFC
GPS, A-GPS
IR blaster
Dual speakers
3.5mm audio jack
USB-C
IP53 splash-proof
5,000mAh battery w/ 33W fast charge
LiquidCool Technology 1.0 Plus
159.87 x 73.87 x 8.09 mm (dimensions)
179.5 grams (weight)
Power Black, Cool Blue, POCO Yellow