POCO M6 5G Quick Review: Affordable 5G Smartphone with a Few Limitations

The new POCO M6 5G falls squarely into the cheap 5G market, which could certainly benefit from more options. That is not to argue that the new smartphone is free of competition. In fact, like its Pro counterpart, the POCO M6 5G shares specifications with a Redmi phone (can you guess the name?). This will be a brief review, as we have already reviewed the Redmi smartphone.

For a more in-depth analysis, see our Redmi 13C 5G review. Except for the design, the POCO M6 5G is very identical to that device. Furthermore, if it is important to you, the availability of the two cell phones varies. The Redmi 13C 5G is exclusive to Amazon, whilst the POCO M6 is accessible in India through Flipkart.

Putting aside the similarities, the POCO M6 5G appears to be a good smartphone. The device provides adequate performance and battery life. While the camera and viewing experience may not be perfect, for the price, you couldn’t ask for much more.

POCO M6 5G KEY FEATURES

The Poco M6 is an entry-level smartphone in Xiaomi’s 2024 series. The Poco M6 sits immediately above the Poco C65 and is nearly identical, except for a more powerful chipset and small camera modifications.

The specifications are very standard for this pricing range. You get a 720p LCD with a reported refresh rate of 90Hz. On the rear, there is a single functional 50MP camera, while the front has a 5MP camera. However, you do get a big 5000mAh battery, a headphone jack, and microSD card support. A fingerprint sensor has been effectively integrated into the power button.

For a starting price of around $115, you can’t expect much more. The essential thing now is to see how well everything functions.

POCO M6 UNBOXING

The Poco M6 comes in rather basic packaging, as one would expect from an entry-level smartphone. It features the same yellow exterior and vertical branding as other Poco packages.

Inside, you will find the phone, a 10W charger, and a cord. There is no case or screen protector included in the box.

CAMERA

The POCO M6 5G’s camera configuration includes a 50MP AI primary sensor, a 2MP depth unit, and a 5MP selfie snapper. Daylight images look acceptable despite an overall lack of details and sharpness, while colors appear oversaturated. Indoor and low-light images have a lot of noise, which can only be mitigated to some extent by using night mode at the sacrifice of steadiness. Selfies also lack sharpness, and skin tones may appear inaccurate. Overall, the POCO M6’s photographic capabilities are adequate, but not particularly impressive for an entry-level smartphone.

Similar to the Redmi 13C, the POCO M6 5G is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 6100+ SoC. This is helped by up to 8GB of RAM, 8GB of virtual RAM, and 256GB of extensible storage. The handset comes pre-installed with MIUI 14, which is based on Android 13.

The handset performs well for its price. Naturally, certain bloatware and pre-installed apps degrade the overall experience. Regardless, the phone is great for most everyday tasks, such as browsing, navigating through social media, chatting, and more. You can also play graphically demanding games on this device, albeit there are some restrictions.

DESIGN AND SCREEN

If you prefer a dual-tone look, the POCO M6 5G might be a better choice than the Redmi 13C 5G. Similarly to other POCO devices, the smartphone features a rectangular bar (in this case black) with two camera rings and an LED flash. AI CAM, 50MP, and POCO are also inscribed on the bar.

I received the Orion Blue model of the smartphone for review, which has a gradient finish when light hits the surface. Speaking of the surface, the phone is a magnet for fingerprints and smudges. Additionally, there is no IP rating, so you should keep the phone away from water and dust. The POCO M6’s edges are flat, making it reasonably easy to hold, and its plastic design allows for lengthy use without straining your wrist. The handset weighs only 195 grams.

The POCO M6 5G features a 6.74-inch LCD with HD+ quality, a refresh rate of 90Hz, a U-shaped notch for the selfie camera, and thick bezels. The display provides a fairly ordinary experience, but it is reasonable for the price. The colors appear well-balanced, and the brightness appears enough for outdoor visibility.

A single mono-firing speaker complements the display and can grow quite loud, if not sharp. For further security, the handset includes a dependable side-mounted fingerprint scanner.

HOW’S THE PERFORMANCE?

The Poco M6 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 6100+ processor, which has eight cores. You may choose from 4GB, 6GB, and 8GB of LPDDR4X memory, as well as 128GB and 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage with microSD expansion. You can choose your storage capacity, although we strongly advise against using 4GB of memory in 2024. Our evaluation machine has 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

The Poco M6’s performance was decent, especially given its low price. The major drawback is the display, which frequently lowers to 60Hz in apps, making the phone feel choppier than it is. The apps that support the full 90Hz operate fine, however, they are few and far between. The phone feels quite quick, although we only tested the 8GB model, and performance on the 6GB and, particularly, 4GB variations will be noticeably poorer.

One advantage of having a low-power chipset is that the phone rarely gets warm, let alone hot. Even when running games, the skin temperature did not rise significantly. However, this is not a gaming phone, so don’t expect much in terms of gaming performance.

Buy it if...

• The phone’s dual-tone finish appears extremely inviting.
• The handset’s performance is adequate for most daily tasks.
• With daily use, the battery should last at least a day.

Don't buy it if…

• The software provides a bloated experience with pre-installed applications.
• The handset takes more than two hours to fully charge with its 10W adaptor.

FULL SPECIFICATION