Poco M3 review

Design, build quality, handling

The Poco M3 is not a reworked version of some Xiaomi Redmi phone. It was designed exclusively by Poco and has its own unique design.

What's even better is that the Poco M3 punches above its price class in terms of looks. It avoids looking cheap thanks to the smart choice of materials and accents. The M3 doesn't try to mimic a dual-glass sandwich phone as many others do. Instead, Poco has focused on making the best use of its all-plastic build, and the result is exemplary.

First, the Poco M3 is all screen at the front. The bezels are small enough, there is a waterdrop-like shaped notch, and everything is covered with a flat piece of Gorilla Glass 3.

The back panel is made of plastic and is slightly curved towards the frame. It has the somewhat forgotten faux-leather texture, and it looks good on the Poco M3, no matter if you get the black, yellow, or blue version. It is also very grippy and fingerprint resistant. Win-win, right?

Also on the back, you'll see this massive piece of black glass, which houses the camera setup and the large POCO logo. This piece has purely aesthetic purposes, and it gives the Poco M3 the unique touch it needs to stand out from a bunch of Redmis and Realmes.

Finally, we see the thick plastic frame, which has a matte finish and is rather smudge resistant as well. Its longer parts are not flat but rather pointy, which may not be the best shape for a great grip when holding the phone in landscape orientation. It's not that bad; it's just not perfect and makes the phone a little bit weird to pick up from your desk or table.

Now, let's take a closer peek at the front.

Here, you can see the 6.53" 1080p IPS LCD screen with the droplet-shaped notch. Inside this cutout is the 8MP selfies camera.

If you look closely above the front snapper, you'll see one very thin grille that hides the earpiece. Some of you might have expected to see a notification LED light here, but no dice, sorry.

The bottom bezel is thicker than the rest - that's common for LCD screens as the display driver is beneath that piece. We don't mind that, especially in a €130 phone.

The triple-camera and the LED flash are on the back sharing a piece of black glass that's a bit jutting out of a larger glass with the POCO logo. It doesn't make the phone wobble much, though.

The plastic frame houses a lot. On the left, you'd find the triple-card slot.

The right side has the volume keys and the power button that's also doubling as an always-on (and fast) fingerprint reader. You can opt for Press and scan option instead of always-on reading and this way avoid the major con all side-mounted fingerprint scanners have - misreadings that lead to PIN unlock when grabbing/handling your phone.

The top part of the Poco M3 accommodates one of the stereo speakers, the 3.5mm audio jack, the IR blaster, and a microphone. Indeed, the Poco M3 offers full-blown stereo speakers on its sides instead of designating the earpiece as a secondary tweeter like many flagships do.

Finally, at the bottom, you can see the other stereo speaker, the mouthpiece, and the USB-C port.

The Poco M3 spreads at 162.3 x 77.3 x 9.6 mm and weighs 198 grams. It's not the thinnest of phones, but it's not overweight. And considering the 6,000 mAh battery inside, we are quite pleased with the overall footprint.

We liked our time spent with the Poco M3. It's a solid and well-built phone with an excellent grip and excellent design. It omits all sorts of waterproofing, but nobody should expect such a thing from a hundred bucks or so phone.

Our only complaint is about the shape of the frame - its pointed design makes picking the phone from a desk a bit uncomfortable experience. But if that's an issue for you, the bundled case will fix it in a second.