POCO X8 Review: Budget Phone with Premium Specs

Quick summary: The POCO X8 is a roughly €350 phone with a big, bright display and a huge battery that lasts multiple days. To hit that price, it cuts corners on cameras and performance.

Specs

• Display: 6.83 inches, 1.5K, 120Hz, up to 3,500 nits.
• Speakers: dual, with Dolby Atmos.
• Cameras: 50MP main and 2MP depth on the back, 16MP on the front, with 1080p 30fps video only on both.
• Battery: 8,340mAh with 67W wired and 22.5W reverse wired charging.
• Chip: Snapdragon 6s Gen 4.
• Memory: mine has 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and it goes down to 6GB/128GB. I’d get at least 8GB, because I think 6GB would lag too much.
• Weight: about 223 grams, light and not too thick for the battery size.
• In the box: a case, but no charger.

Cameras

The camera app is easy to use and includes Pro mode. Photos came out pretty good, especially in good light. Video is limited to 1080p30, the rear camera sometimes struggled to focus on my face, and stabilization isn’t amazing. Don’t expect flagship cameras at this price.

Performance and gaming

Geekbench scores are nothing to go crazy about. Roblox is playable on auto graphics but a little laggy, with some hiccups at max graphics, and distant terrain loads slowly. You can game on it, but I’d leave graphics on automatic.

Software

There’s a fair amount of bloatware, like Booking.com and some games, but it all uninstalls easily. The UI is pretty snappy at 120Hz (I had to set that manually), and the 12GB of RAM helps. I love the theme store with free and paid themes. There’s also an iPhone-style Dynamic Island area at the top for things like music controls.

Display, speakers and battery

The 1.5K screen looks good and gets very bright. The speakers are loud but lack low end. Expect a full day or more, maybe two with regular use, though less if you game a lot.

Verdict

It looks nice, feels good in the hand, and has a decent screen and huge battery. Performance is just okay: not terrible, not great.

• POCO X8 on eBay