Poco M4 Pro/Redmi Note 11T 5G review

Design, build quality, handling

The Poco M4 Pro 5G is a slightly reworked version of the Chinese Redmi Note 11. While Poco usually relies on its own designs, the only cosmetic change we see on the M4 Pro 5G is the large black blob with the large POCO logo.

With that out of the way, we have to say the Poco M4 Pro 5G is a looker. The slightly curved back uses matte plastic, and the combination of this cool graphite color (officially called Power Black) with the black camera and logo holder is really cool - flashy but not overwhelming. We can describe best the matte finish as premium because it is incredibly pleasant on touch and makes the plastic feels more like glass.

The graphite rear panel is lovely, sure, but it is also a giant fingerprint magnet and gets overrun with smudges in minutes. If you are not a fan of this, you may want to consider the yellow or blue color options, though both feature the same black spot around the top.

Other than the Poco identity touch on the back, the M4 Pro 5G is pretty much your typical smartphone with a Gorilla Glass front, plastic frame, and a plastic rear panel. The phone has an official IP53 rating for dust and splash resistance, and it features proper insulation here and there. This means the Poco M4 Pro will be fine in light rain and humid cities but should not be submerged.

The entire front is home to the new 6.6-inch display, a 0.1-inch increase over the Poco M3 Pro 5G. The new panel has the same punch-hole for the selfie camera but has been improved with newly added DCI-P3 color space support and faster 240Hz touch response.

The selfie camera inside the screen cutout is also a new one - a 16MP snapper, up from 8MP on the M3 Pro 5G.

Above the screen, you can see a thin earpiece grille. There is actually a stereo speaker underneath with two sound outlets - this grille, and a few holes on the top of the phone. When playing music, you can hear the sound coming from both spots. It is not as loud as the bottom speaker, but the stereo effect is good and convincing as both are tuned proficiently.

Let's take another look at the back of the phone. There is a huge camera island here, but it's misleading, as it only houses two snappers - the 50MP primary shooter is at the top, followed by a small 8MP ultrawide camera. The other three 'holes' feature the LED flash, a red dot, and an AI logo.

We do appreciate Xiaomi ditching the obsolete cameras, but we would have appreciated it even more if they also retired this design for the camera island.

The frame is also made of plastic and offers the same premium matte finish and paint as the back panel. It has a minor curve, but you can still feel it when handling the phone.

The top of the Poco M4 Pro 5G has a secondary microphone, the IR blaster, and one of the stereo speakers.

The bottom has the other more powerful speaker, the USB-C port, the 3.5mm jack, and the primary microphone.

The hybrid SIM slot is alone on the left part of the Poco M4 Pro 5G - it houses two nano-SIMs, but you can put a microSD card in the second compartment instead of a SIM card.

The left side • the right side

The volume rocker and the power/lock key are on the right; the surface of the Power key also doubles as a fingerprint scanner - it's always-on and blazing-fast. If you touch it often while handling your locked M4 Pro, and this leads to PIN request, you may want to change it to require pressing rather than just touching.

The Poco M4 Pro 5G measures 163.6 x 75.8 x 8.8 mm and weighs 195 grams, that's 2mm taller and 5g heavier than the Poco M3 Pro 5G.

We loved our time spent with the Poco M4 Pro 5G - it feels solid in hand with a secure enough grip thanks to the matte frame. It's a large phone, no two ways about it, but in line with the competition and apparently, what most people want nowadays.

We think the maker has done a great job with the design, color options, and the build itself, and for a budget phone, we cannot think of anything we would change if we had the power to do so.