Poco M8 5G review

Display

The Poco M8 practically has the same curvy display as the Redmi Note 15 5G. We wouldn't be surprised if it's the same panel, in fact, since they only differ slightly in HDR support. The display is no slouch either. It is a spacious 6.77-inch AMOLED panel. While it is far from the best class of display Xiaomi currently has in circulation, it has a lot going for it, like an impressive advertised peak brightness of 3,200 nits, a 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10 support.

You are limited to a FullHD+ resolution of 1080 x 2392 pixels, but at this screen size, that still works out to a sharp 388 ppi, so there's little to complain about.

In our standard display testing, the Poco M8 posted some very solid results. We recorded around 590 nits with the manual brightness slider maxed out and up to 1,473 nits in auto mode under strong ambient light. The measured peak in a 10% window reached an impressive 3,501 nits. Altogether, this makes the panel perfectly usable even under harsh sunlight and well-suited for HDR video playback.

The panel Xiaomi has gone with looks excellent in person. Its 12-bit color depth helps minimize visible banding, and it offers solid DCI-P3 coverage for richer, more vibrant colors.

As mentioned, the display supports a 120Hz refresh rate and offers two modes. The default adaptive option adjusts dynamically based on on-screen content and app support, switching between 30Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz. Since this is an LTPS panel, however, the behavior is limited to these fixed steps rather than the more granular scaling you'd get from LTPO technology.

Alternatively, there is a "Custom" refresh rate mode that lets you either lock the panel at 60Hz or select the 120Hz mode, which acts the same as the default adaptive mode. Unfortunately, the per-app refresh rate selector found on the Redmi Note 15 5G is nowhere to be found on the Poco M8. This makes the whole system a lot less versatile. We tried high refresh rate gaming and got very mixed results. It is not a dependable use case.

Xiaomi claims the Poco M8 has HDR video support. However, on a software level, the phone does not report any HDR decoder support, which means that you won't be able to decode HDR video even if the display might technically be able to display it. Hence, effectively, there is no HDR video support here.

As expected, the Poco M8 also comes with Widevine L1 DRM certification, enabling streaming services such as Netflix to deliver high-resolution content and fully take advantage of the panel's native resolution.

Battery life

The Poco M8 has a 5,520 mAh battery, which is pretty decent-sized, but definitely not a chart leader with some modern devices pushing 7,000 mAh. On the plus side, the battery uses modern Si/C chemistry.

The Poco M8 is pushing about 14 hours of Active Use Score, just as expected, like the Redmi Note 15 5G. It's a solid result, but nothing to phone home about.

Charging speed

The Poco M8 supports 45W wired fast charging. While that is far from the fastest charging available out there, it is still very solid in our books. Fifteen minutes on the charger got us from empty to 36%, and thirty minutes resulted in 63%. A full charge took just over an hour.

The Poco M8 can also be used as a power bank in a pinch, thanks to its 18W reverse wired charging support. That's a bit below the 22.5W some other Redmi Note 15 devices are capable of providing.

The Redmi Note 15 5G offers a couple of battery protection features for charging. You can either set a fixed 80% charge limit or opt for the "Intelligent Charging" mode, which is supposed to learn your usage habits and intelligently cap charging at 80% when it makes sense.

Speakers - loudness and quality

The Poco M8 is equipped with a stereo speaker setup, combining a bottom-firing main unit with a secondary top-firing speaker. The two aren't identical in size, and that imbalance is noticeable in real-world output as well.

Even so, channel balance remains fairly good overall. The soundstage is pleasantly wide, and the mids come through with reasonable body. As expected, bass is practically nonexistent, while cranking the volume towards the upper end introduces audible high-frequency distortion, giving the sound a somewhat harsh edge. Xiaomi appears to have favored outright loudness over pure fidelity here.

The volume slider can be boosted all the way up to an aggressive 300% here, whereas the Redmi Note 15 Pro 5G and 4G push things even further to 400%.

For the cleanest listening experience, we recommend sticking to 100% or below. At maximum boost, the phone certainly gets very loud, but clarity takes a clear hit.

Our recorded audio sample is captured at 100% volume, while the loudness score reflects the boosted 300% setting.

On the software front, the Poco M8 supports Dolby Atmos, complete with a graphic equalizer and multiple presets. Alternatively, you can switch to Xiaomi's in-house audio tuning if you prefer a different sound profile.

Connectivity

The Poco M8 is a dual Nano-SIM device, with SA/NSA Sub-6 5G support on both of its SIM slots simultaneously. Unfortunately, there is no eSIM support, just like it is lacking on the Redmi Note 15 Pro 4G and the Redmi Note 15 5G. You do get expandable storage. Though it is a hybrid slot, you have to choose between a second SIM or a microSD.

Positioning includes GPS, GLONASS, BDS, QZSS and GALILEO support. Local connectivity is pretty solid, though not exceptional in any way. You only get dual-band Wi-Fi 5 (ac) and Bluetooth 5.1 with LE support. Some markets get NFC as well, but you have to check with your retailer of choice for that.

There is no 3.5 mm audio jack and no FM radio receiver. You do, however, get an IR blaster located on the top frame, rather than in the camera island, which is the latest trend.

The USB Type-C port is limited to a basic USB 2.0 connection, capping theoretical transfer speeds at 480 Mbps. USB OTG/Host Mode is supported, but there are no extras like video output via USB Alt Mode.

For sensors, the Poco M8 gets an STMicro lsm6dso accelerometer and gyroscope combo, a QST qmc630x magnetometer and compass combo and an SI sip1328 light sensor positioned in the frame right above the display.

Unfortunately, there's no onboard barometer or dedicated hardware proximity sensor. Instead, Xiaomi relies on a virtual solution. In practice, though, it seems reliable enough for tasks like turning off the display during calls.