In this video I tested the Xiaomi POCO M8 5G and straight away it does that classic budget-phone trick where it looks like it’s got four cameras… but it hasn’t. You’ve basically got one 50MP rear camera (the rest is just an LED and decorative bits), and my unit also didn’t have a fingerprint sensor even though the website says it should. Not the end of the world at this price because you still get face unlock, but it’s worth knowing before you buy. Where the POCO M8 really surprised me is the stuff that actually matters day-to-day: the 5,520mAh battery is solid (about a day with moderate use, up to two days if you’re light), and you get a 45W charger in the box plus a case. The display doesn’t feel “cheap” either—thin bezels, super bright (up to 3,200 nits peak), and it feels properly smooth at 120Hz. Performance is also strong for the money with the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage, and microSD expansion up to 1TB. But here’s the issue: the Redmi Note 15 5G exists at the same £199 and keeps basically all the same core specs while adding a 108MP main camera, an ultrawide, and a fingerprint reader. So even though the POCO M8 is great value on its own, I can’t recommend it over the Redmi at the same price.