Entry-level standout with long update support – Xiaomi Poco M7 Pro 5G review

[Redaktion]

Despite its low price, the Poco M7 Pro offers impressive value for money. A 3.5 mm headphone jack and a microSD card slot, together with IP certification, are features almost unheard of in this price segment Yet here, they all come as standard. The AMOLED display, complete with PWM dimming, delivers surprisingly strong performance for a phone in this category.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Entry-level-standout-with-long-update-support-Xiaomi-Poco-M7-Pro-5G-review.1019104.0.html

[heffeque]

Wifi-5 (from 2013) in 2025.
Lol what?

Previous Poco phones have been good options but since the EU has mandatory SW updates, Xiaomi is cutting costs/performance on the strangest places.

[Worgarthe]

Wifi-5 (from 2013) in 2025.
Lol what?

Previous Poco phones have been good options but since the EU has mandatory SW updates, Xiaomi is cutting costs/performance on the strangest places.

That's MediaTek to blame, heffeque, as WiFi is in a SoC. Take a look at the specs of the Dimensity 7025 and you'll see it says: "Wi-Fi  Wi-Fi 5 (a/b/g/n/ac)"

Finding a well-rounded package at a low price always requires compromises, and this case is no exception. It's not an easy task to find a new phone that's significantly better than this one for €188. Sure, many offer better performance but fall short elsewhere, others have faster connections including WiFi but suffer from crap displays and other shortcomings... you get the point. And then there are those with almost everything great but are limited to 4G to keep the overall cost low.

The real issue here is that this isn't truly a POCO phone, it's more like a Redmi model. POCO devices tend to prioritise raw performance above everything else, unlike the Redmi series. But an even bigger issue is no NFC - wtf?

Edit: Nevermind, it does have NFC, says Xiaomi themselves.

[heffeque]

That's MediaTek to blame, heffeque, as WiFi is in a SoC. Take a look at the specs of the Dimensity 7025 and you'll see it says: "Wi-Fi  Wi-Fi 5 (a/b/g/n/ac)"

Finding a well-rounded package at a low price always requires compromises, and this case is no exception. It's not an easy task to find a new phone that's significantly better than this one for €188. Sure, many offer better performance but fall short elsewhere, others have faster connections including WiFi but suffer from crap displays and other shortcomings... you get the point. And then there are those with almost everything great but are limited to 4G to keep the overall cost low.

The real issue here is that this isn't truly a POCO phone, it's more like a Redmi model. POCO devices tend to prioritise raw performance above everything else, unlike the Redmi series. But an even bigger issue is no NFC - wtf?

Edit: Nevermind, it does have NFC, says Xiaomi themselves.

And who's fault was it to put that SOC in it?

You were making my point for me. Poco is usually the cheaper performance phone compared to Redmi, which is a bit more balanced. But in this case... I can't say that Poco is following that lead.

[Worgarthe]

Xiaomi, of course, but until we know the cost of each SoC we can't really judge. I was trying to find something equally good (or bad, depends how you look at it) with WiFi 6/6E for 200€ and I couldn't find anything. Although there are phones with both 5G and WiFi 6, mainly from Oukitel and similar brands, but they pack tragically slow eMMC storage, or dim 720p displays, or they have no 3.5mm jack and/or microSD slot, or some other fairly significant trade-off. Idk, I mean I agree with you that WiFi 5 sucks, but it's a cheap upper-low-range phone, so it's tolerable when it's very good in many other things. Plus, as you initially said, long software support (something that won't happen with Oukitel, for example).

[heffeque]

OK, I'll give you that.