X8PM 3 Month Review
As I have owned this phone for 3 month to the day I'd like to offer a review of sorts of my experience so far with this device. Please note I am NOT a gamer so if you are looking for thermal performance while gaming I have no experience here.
History
Overall to summarize I will say this is the best phone I've used to date. I have come from using primarily Pixel devices, but I have had smartphones for many many years, as far back as I can remember would have been a Motorola Q9M phone, back when keyboard phones and Blackberry's were all the rage. Yeah, I'm dating myself, I know! My most recent devices have been the Pixel 9 Pro XL (photos taken from that phone) Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 4a5G, Samsung S23+, LG G7, iPhone 7plus.. ok, I'll stop there.
Initial Impressions
I'm using this phone in the U.S. on Google Fi and I have had no problems with it on the carrier. I get great 5G signal everywhere I go so far. I purchased it on Amazon and it came with the 100W Charger and UK to U.S. adapter. It was my first foray into HyperOS and I was a bit nervous about moving away from a more simplistic Pixel UI to this one. After researching about debloating I figured out all of that and got the phone to where I wanted it to be.
Battery
In the first week the battery life was impressive but I anticipated the first time set up, app downloading and all of that to not really factor in the battery performance. It did warm up a bit while I was charging and figuring it out but I'll send a screenshot of my current battery status if it means anything to you all. I love the battery life on this thing and it changed the way I think about and use my phone. I no longer feel like I need to look for a charger all of the time. My Pixel 9PXL was giving me almost 2 day battery and this one gives me 3 easy without breaking a sweat. Granted, I don't play demanding games but light casual games, doomscrolling socials and lots of YouTube/Music streaming.
Camera
I haven't taken a lot of photos with it but the ones I did are not much to write about. It's decent but I'll do some more photo taking maybe over the weekend and upload some photos from it. I should honestly take the cameras through their paces more. It's no Pixel camera for sure... even with a GCam Mod.
Accessories
Cases and screen protectors can be found just about everywhere on Amazon and AliExpress and are a dime a dozen but what I want to bring your attention to is the best skin I've used on any phone so far and that is from Gadgetshieldz. You can look closely but you can barely see that this has a full body Matte skin on it. It adds a nice smooth feel to the phone and the screen has an anti-glare finish to it. Excellent for deterring fingerprints. I took a picture of the top left where you can see it applied on the side and there is even one on the camera. Excellent for those of you adventurous ones who don't like to use cases. I highly recommend!!!
Software
Day to day the phone is much more smooth and responsive, scrolling through apps is excellent. Every now and then with my Pixel I would see some lags in transition and slight stuttering but none of that is here. I used to really want to have the latest Android updates and having the Pixel satisfied that itch for the longest but lately the pixel exclusives have been lack luster to me so it was time for me to move on to another platform even though it doesn't receive updates as timely as Google would push them out. I find myself liking the customization options on the Poco much better. I do look forward to keep on using this for the next 2 years and seeing what Poco or Xiaomi will come up with when I am ready to upgrade again.
*Edit: These photos make it seem as this is the White variant, but this is in fact the light blue colorway*
**Edit: I went out and took some photos today. It was not the best day for photos as it was pretty overcast but this is the time I had. I didn't really mess with any of the camera settings, just point and click. Without manipulation the quality is alright. A little muted and when you zoom the quality gets worse but that's to be expected. Not bad, not the best either. Certainly not a Pixel camera for sure, but it's ok.
https://reddit.com/link/1wzjk8i/video/bl7trzysshuh1/player
