New budget Android phones offer features that put | Tech News

The costliest Android phones from the likes of Samsung, Honor and Google can command upwards of £1,100, however you don’t need to take out a loan to get your arms on a less expensive, very succesful handset. The UK is rife with Android choices at many price factors, and the newest addition on your consideration is a £229 cellphone from Xiaomi’s sub-brand Poco.

The Poco M8 5G and M8 Pro 5G deliver svelte beauty, massive batteries with very fast charging and succesful digital camera specs to a price level that shouldn’t make you scoff.

For simply £229 (with an introductory offer of £199) the Poco M8 has a 6.77-inch 120Hz AMOLED screen, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chip and a 50MP important digital camera. It additionally has a massive 5,520mAh battery with help for 45W charging, although Poco confirmed to me that neither cellphone ships with a charger within the box within the UK, so that you’ll should pay additional to get high speeds.

It’s an annoyance that applies to the bulk of new smartphones purchased on these shores in 2026.

The M8 is a slim cellphone at simply 7.35mm and light-weight at 178g. Many phones lately tip the scales at 200g, and if you’re coping with small quantities like this, more than 20g of weight much less will certainly be noticeable in hand and pocket.

Xiaomi has usually positioned Poco for players, and that is the place chances are you’ll need to contemplate stepping up to the £299 Poco M8 Pro (on offer proper now for £259). Its Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 will churn by means of high-end 3D video games higher than its sibling, plus you’re getting an huge 6,500mAh battery with 100W charging for much less than £300. That greater battery makes the cellphone thicker although at 8.31mm and 205.9g.

Add to that a 6.83-inch 1.5K AMOLED screen, 50MP important digital camera with optical image stabilisation (OIS) and full IP66, IP68, IP69, and IP69K mud and water resistance, that is, on paper, a very succesful machine for the price.

Specs such because the 100W fast charging far outstrip any Samsung cellphone at this price, and even the £1,249 Galaxy S25 Ultra can solely muster 45W speeds. Chinese producers like Xiaomi are actually pushing the envelope by placing superior specs in mid-range Android phones, placing companies like Samsung and Google to disgrace, particularly in relation to charging speeds and battery sizes.

At these costs, the Poco phones outstrip Samsung in phrases of screen and battery specs, with digital camera chops that simply go toe to toe.

The M8 Pro even consists of, for the primary time in a Poco M sequence cellphone, a liquid cooling system that helps keep the cellphone chillier if you’re actually pushing it during video games.

Both these phones are a cheaper approach of getting your arms on Xiaomi’s much-improved HyperOS Android software program. I’ve used many Xiaomi and Poco phones in my decade as a cellphone reviewer, and the software program previously generally known as MIUI left a lot to be desired. Now HyperOS, it’s a a lot more user-friendly and considerate software program, and vastly improves the texture of budget and mid-range phones.

This was evident when I examined the very good Xiaomi 15T Pro earlier this yr. I predict the enhancements will help no finish with the Poco M8 and M8 Pro regardless of their cheaper price factors.

The introductory gives that’ll prevent money on each Poco phones run till January 14.