The macro mode didn't prove to be much use, though close-ups are handled perfectly well most of the time. The phone has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor that's baked into the power button, and the volume rocker is one the same side.

The phone is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 700 5G platform, offering much better performance over the standard M3. Battery life, given the large-capacty 5,000mAh cell on board, also steams along for a decent innings. In our usage, the Poco M3 lasted over one and a half-days on every charge cycle and two days a few times with light usage. While the battery is remarkable and impressive, the slow charging speed might bug a few users who are on the go. The performance is on par with some of the competitions from Realme, but we did get better performance on the Redmi Note 10 and Micromax In 1 under Rs 12,000.Continuing with the design, the phone has gently curves at the back where the rear meets the mid-frame, and mainstays like IR blaster and 3. Sometimes there's a bit of to-and-fro between it and software/apps, though, with our banking app often requiring a double sign-in for it to actually work (something that we've not experienced with Monzo bank on any other phone before now).

Bottom line: The POCO M3 Pro nails the basics: it has powerful hardware that delivers lag-free performance, amazing battery life with 18W fast charging, 5G connectivity, and a design that stands out from other budget devices. Still, it's not a major complaint, and overall the Xiaomi Poco M3 Pro 5G offers about as much style and design flair as you would expect at the budget end of the market. It's not a whole lot beyond the bare minimum though, so be prepared for the occasional stutter or spot of lag – not in a way that ruins the user experience particularly, but just in a way that lets you know you're not using the Samsung Galaxy S21 or the iPhone 12.

It's a decent size, and it's fine for movies and gaming too – though there's no HDR processing, so the darkest and lightest areas of the picture can occasionally lose detail. Xiaomi's budget series has AMOLED panels as standard, robust hardware, 33W fast charging, and stellar cameras in this segment. On that front, POCO says that it will start delivering exclusive software features to its devices starting later this year.