POCO M4 Pro 5G Review

Rear cameras, photo and video samples

The camera department of the POCO M4 Pro is probably what makes it the most different from the M3 Pro. For starters, the rear cameras are only two, not three. The main shooter uses a 50MP Samsung S5KJN1 sensor with an ISOCELL 2.0 pixel type, 0.64 μm pixel size, and a 1/2.76" optical format. The camera has an f/1.8 aperture, 26-degree FoV, and a 4.22 mm focal length. It shoots photos with a resolution of 12.5MP by default. For 50MP photos, you have to choose this specific feature from the Pro mode. The maximum video resolution is FHD @ 60 fps. Video shooting uses EIS but is available only for FHD and HD video recording at 30 fps.

The second rear camera is an 8MP ultra-wide unit using the new Sony IMX355 sensor with a 1/4 optical format. It has an f/2.2 aperture and a 1.65 mm focal length. The field of view is 119 degrees. The camera does not use autofocus and is not stabilized. It shoots photos with a resolution of 3280 x 2464 pixels.

Primary camera

Front camera, photo samples

The front-facing camera of the POCO M4 Pro uses a 16MP OmniVision OV16A1Q sensor paired with an f/2.45 lens. The same sensor is used by the front cameras of the POCO M2 Pro and Redmi Note 9 Pro. The camera snaps photos with a resolution of 4608 x 3456 pixels and shoots 1080p videos at 30 fps.

Camera app

The Camera app has a familiar layout with a circular shutter button at the bottom's center, a shortcut to the list of photos and videos to its left, and the camera switch to its right. The various shooting modes are listed above the shutter button. "Photo" is the default one. The others include Portrait, Video, Pro, and More. The latter contains Night, 50MP, Short video, Panorama, Documents, Slow motion, TimeLapse. These can be edited by removing them from the list or addition more options. Furthermore, you can choose how this "More" section appears - as a tab (the default look) or as a panel accessed by swiping upwards. The top of the screen contains the flash and HDR options, AI on/off and Beautification on/off buttons, focus options, and a hamburger icon for more options - photo aspect ratio, timer, show grid lines, movie frame, time shift, timed burst, and camera settings. These additional options change depending on the shooting mode that's active at the moment. The default Photo mode snaps 12.5MP photos and you have to specifically choose 50MP shooting in order to take 50MP photos. The camera settings for photos allow you to switch on/off the watermark, set the picture quality, turn on the focus & shoot function, etc. When you're shooting videos, you can choose the resolution and fps from the corresponding option on the top of the screen. The camera settings for videos contain a toggle for EIS, video encoder choice, and other general settings. The Pro mode allows you to adjust the white balance, shutter speed, exposure, ISO, focus metering. You can choose between the two cameras, add filters, shoot in 50MP, etc. The Portrait mode lets you adjust the degree of background blur and add beautifying effects. The interface for the front camera is almost entirely identical to the one for the rear cameras. Whenever you choose a shooting mode that's not supported by the front shooters (the Pro mode, for example), the device simply switches to the rear cameras. In addition to getting the usual photo editing features, you also get a video editor from the Photos app with filters, aspect ratio, captions, soundtrack, etc.