Poco M7 Pro 5G review: Reliving the 2010’s Android

Do you remember all those old jokes about Android devices being filled with bloatware and having software issues galore? Android, as a platform, has come a long way since the mid-2010s. Google, Samsung and OnePlus have pushed Android hard, putting it on par with iOS when it comes to the user experience. But if you are ever pining for the old days of Android, there’s Poco

I was able to get my hands on the brand-new Poco M7 Pro 5G. This is the first time I have held a Poco, and after a week of using it as my daily driver, I have some thoughts. It’s a beautiful device, with a gorgeous display. It fits nicely in my hands. It does everything it’s supposed to do. However, it has enough bugs, and comes with enough bloatware, to harken back to the Android of old.

Specs and availability

The Poco M7 Pro 5G looks decent on paper. The device packs a Dimensity 7025-Ultra chipset and 12GB of RAM. It has a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate. There’s a 50-megapixel main camera with Sony sensors and a 50-megapixel wide-angle lens. These base specs make it a decent device for any casual user.

Poco sells globally and has free shipping on all its devices, although when I clicked on the “Buy Now” button, I was taken to AliExpress. The phone is currently $265.

A touch of class

I received the purple Poco M7 Pro 5G. Two-thirds of the back has a slightly textured design and reminded me of last year’s OnePlus 12r Genshin Impact edition. Two enormous camera lenses protrude out of a square camera housing with the Poco logo engraved on it.

I loved how this device felt in my hand the moment I picked it up. The edges along the rear are slightly curved, and at only 75mm wide, it sits perfectly in my palm. The phone is light, if a little slippery without a case. Overall, it is a classy-looking phone.

The display is also beautiful. It may not be on the same level as a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, but for everyday use, it’s perfect. I was able to use it outdoors in the bright April sunlight. Scrolling, watching videos and playing mobile games was great on the 120Hz AMOLED display. It didn’t blow me away, but it didn’t disappoint, either. The in-display fingerprint scanner was one of the best I’ve ever used. It worked every time.

Dimensity is okay-ish

I was never intending on pushing this device to extremes. I didn’t shoot in RAW format or try to do any crazy video editing on it. Instead, I used it as a casual user might, sticking with the Google Play Store and throwing on all my normal apps. Even then, the Dimensity 7025-Ultra had some issues.

There were random stutters. Sometimes, the app I was using would simply close for no reason. This was rare, but it happened a few times in the week I used it. It wasn’t as snappy as you get with a Snapdragon or even a Tensor-powered device, and it felt sluggish. Not annoyingly so, but enough to notice.

Geekbench 6 scores

When I benchmarked the M7 Pro 5G with Geekbench 6, it scored 945 for single-core and 2,283 for multi-core, which isn’t great compared to most other devices

Some of this could come down to Xiaomi’s HyperOS, an operating system I can now say I have tried and do not like. It’s trying to be iOS while stuck inside Android, straddling an uncomfortable position between the two. Furthermore, the amount of bloatware on this device is crazy for 2025. There’s the Xiaomi version of everything, the Google version of everything, and dozens of useless games and theming apps. I tried to install Smart Launcher 6 (my favourite), but it constantly crashed, and the phone would revert back to HyperOS. I’ve never seen an Android so hostile to third-party launchers until now.

The cameras are average

Those big cameras on the back are more bark than bite. They take decent photos at 1x and 2x zoom, with great colour accuracy, detail and brightness. I was able to capture some beautiful shots of Mooney’s Bay in Ottawa on a bright April day, but when I zoomed in on some geese, it all fell apart.

The zoom sucked. The geese I tried to photograph from afar turned out blurry and pixelated. The same thing happened with the video camera: decent quality up close and horrible pixels and artifacts when zoomed in.

The camera app itself was fairly straightforward, with photos, video, portrait mode and the “50-megapixel” mode for the wide-angle shooter. The Pro setting allowed me to adjust the finer details like white balance and f-stop, but I found leaving all these in auto produced the best results. At least those Sony-built sensors work well.

Everything else

One thing I loved was the lack of AI. I could call up Gemini by holding down the power button, but that’s it. The battery is excellent and lasted me two days with regular use. The haptic feedback is a little too overpowered, but it works. And again, I loved the fingerprint sensor. It never let me down.

Should you buy the Poco M7 Pro 5G?

Personally, I wouldn’t buy it, but I’m a power user who reviews a half dozen phones a year. This could be a great phone for your kids (if you’re one of those parents) or for your own aging parents. It would be like handing down your old Nexus or LG device from 2016, except with some of 2025’s bells and whistles.

At under $300, this is a great purchase, and at the very least, it will remind you of the Wild West days of Android, when software stutters and bloatware infested everything.