Over All Rating 3/5
Price ₹ 11,499/-
PROS 👍
- Respectable performance
- Long battery life
- Good display
CONS 👎
- Mono speaker
- Mediocre cameras
- Excessive bloatware
“Speed, Style, Snap” is what the tagline of the POCO M6 Plus reads on its official website. With it, the brand wants to direct your attention to the fact that it comes with a Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 chip (speed), a glass back (style), and a 108MP camera (snap). These details become even more significant when you look at the phone’s price tag, located not too far away from that tagline. It costs just Rs 11,499 to lay your hands on the device. But we often see that when the price is too good to be true, that’s because there’s a catch or two that the makers are trying to hide with aggressive marketing. Let’s determine if that’s the case with the POCO M6 Plus.
POCO M6 Plus Review: In-Depth Review
Design
From the onset, be aware that this is a large phone. Its 6.79-inch display gives it a sprawling footprint. This is great for those who desire such a display, but it leads to a lot of overall weight; 205 gms, to be exact. Part of the blame for this also goes to the fact that it features a 5,030mAh battery and a glass rear surface. The flat sides are a highlight, and so is the dual camera housing, flanked by a ring flash.
The device is comfortable to hold and offers a surprisingly good grip. The fingerprint scanner on its right-hand side is fast and well-located, but the volume rocker could have helped with a left-side placement. On the top, a 3.5mm jack is present for wired headphone users, and the bottom is home to a Type-C port and a speaker. There’s a respectable aura to the M6 Plus’ design, but only if you’re the kind who’s okay with large and heavy phones.
Display and sound
The phone’s IPS LCD has decent vibrancy levels, and its 120Hz refresh rate provides a premium experience when navigating the interface. When it comes to consuming content, the 1,080 x 2,460-pixel resolution gives remarkable viewing pleasure. There’s Widevine L1 support as well, which means that HD streaming is fully supported on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. That said, don’t expect much in terms of contrast levels. This display maxes out at 500 nits of brightness. One more thing that will hurt your movie-watching is the sound. The M6 Plus has a mono speaker at the bottom, which falls incredibly short by today’s standards. At high volumes, the sound from this speaker is annoyingly harsh, but if you’re going to use it sparingly, say for watching Reels, you’ll be just barely satisfied.
POCO claims this display supports wet finger touches, but during our review, we found this to be hardly true. The panel behaved erratically the moment droplets appeared on it. What’s good to know, though, is that Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection is present on it, giving it considerable protection against scratches and scrapes.
Camera
The POCO M6 Plus comes with a basic camera configuration featuring a 108MP Samsung ISOCELL HM6 sensor and a 2MP macro lens. However, it misses out on OIS, which makes a big difference to the camera experience. Without it, the phone’s Night Mode is of absolutely no use. There’s smoothening happening everywhere, so the only thing the Night Mode does is raise the brightness without controlling noise. During the day, the 108MP camera captures satisfactory shots but struggles when it comes to dynamic range. The Portrait mode images often appear overly smooth, resulting in unrealistic skin tones. While detail levels are acceptable for the price, overall camera performance is merely average, with noticeable noise in both low-light and moderate daylight conditions.
Selfies captured with the phone’s 13MP front camera are good when there’s ample light around. And although it loses some of its power when the sun goes down, the low-light selfies of this phone cannot be called bad by any means. They do feature a lot of noise, but their retain a good amount of detail.
Performance
At the heart of the POCO M6 Plus is the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 AE chip. That AE stands for Accelerated Edition, which simply means that it has a clock speed of 2.3GHz instead of the original’s 2.2GHz. I was very satisfied with the performance of this handset. It renders a snappy interface that’s quick at loading heavy apps and switching between them. The biggest test of this Snapdragon chip was when it was time to play some BGMI. I’m happy to report that it maintained a steady framerate throughout the multiple sessions I indulged in, and that too while playing the game in Ultra settings. And the same goes for Real Racing 3. But again, the mono speaker spoiled the gaming experience a bit. I only felt satisfied with the sound once I connected my TWS earbuds to the phone. It’s good to know that even wired earphones can easily be connected to the device.
The 5,030mAh battery of this phone doesn’t disappoint. Throughout the time I used it, I continued the practice of charging it overnight. Never during the period did I feel the need to look for a charger during the day, even on days that involved heavy gaming. The phone would regularly have around 20% to 30% of juice left on it by bedtime. And since I would keep it for charging overnight, it took me some time to notice how fast it charges. With the included charger, the M6 Plus can get a full charge in just 75 minutes. For those who desire long battery life, the POCO M6 Plus is a neat proposition.
Software
Now, here’s an area where the POCO M6 Plus really disappoints. Not because HyperOS has a bad user interface but because it’s packed to the brim with bloatware. It’s the same practice of installing as much bloatware as possible to subsidise the low price of the handset, that we’ve seen on so many other cheap phones. There are at least ten pre-installed games, apart from a Game Center that gives you access to plenty more games without downloading them through the Play Store. And each time you update the device’s software, new games just pop up in the app tray out of nowhere. Even barring all this, there’s plenty of other stuff in this software you’d be better off uninstalling. HyperOS, an evolution of MIUI, sure has enough customisation options and a respectable user interface. Still, its entire experience on the POCO M6 Plus is brought down severely by the presence of bloatware.
Verdict
The POCO M6 Plus offers an impressive value-for-money package with its stylish design, 120Hz display, solid battery life, and commendable performance for everyday tasks and gaming. The Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 AE chip keeps things smooth and snappy, however, the phone has noticeable shortcomings. The mono speaker lacks depth, impacting the media and gaming experience, and the camera struggles in low-light scenarios without OIS support. The software experience is also weighed down by excessive bloatware and persistent ads, which detract from an otherwise polished interface. For buyers seeking a big-screen experience with reliable performance at an affordable price, the POCO M6 Plus is a fair choice, though some compromises are evident.
Specification
| Display: | 6.79-inch IPS LCD |
| Camera: | 108MP primary, 2MP macro |
| RAM: | 8GB |
| Processor: | Snapdragon 4 Gen2 AE |
| Battery: | 5,030mAh |
| OS: | Android 14 with HyperOS |
1 Comment
Nice