How good are funds Android telephones in 2025? Xiaomi Redmi Word 14 Professional and Poco F7 Professional reviewed

Over the previous few years, we have seen an actual explosion in true mass market Android telephones that match flagship telephones spec-for-spec with out too many obvious sacrifices. Certainly, for some time now, when somebody has come to ask for a cellphone suggestion, I’ve instructed they purchase a funds to mid-range headset with a superb OLED display screen, a good set of cameras and lengthy battery life. On the finish of the day, that is what’s necessary to most people.

With that in thoughts, I believed it could be pertinent to try two promising telephones on this class: the £299/$370 Xiaomi Redmi Word 14 Professional and the £499/$499 Poco F7 Proy. I’ve put them by way of their paces in a few mini-reviews under to gauge how nicely they carry out and in the event that they’re value your hard-earned money.

Xiaomi Redmi Word 14 Professional evaluate: Plastic improbable?

Purchase:

The Redmi Word 14 Professional impresses at first with a nice teal end (referred to as Coral Inexperienced) to its plastic rear panel. It is two-tone, too, and extends to each the highest and backside sides of the cellphone for added aptitude. It’s also out there in black or purple, when you’d choose.

There have additionally been upgrades in opposition to final yr’s mannequin, equivalent to a transfer to Gorilla Glass Victus 2, in addition to to a correct IP68 water and dirt resistance ranking that you simply solely acquired on the Professional+ mannequin in 2024. The transfer to IP68 has had the unlucky transfer to take away the headphone jack, although.

The display screen is a stunning and massive 6.67-inch OLED with a 2712×1220 decision and 120Hz refresh fee that gives decently detailed and responsive output. There’s additionally help for Dolby Imaginative and prescient and HDR10+ HDR requirements in supported content material, whereas the precise display screen curves on the edges to assist the Redmi Word 14 Professional really feel slimmer than it really is each in hand and pocket.

This panel may get even brighter than its predecessor at 3000 nits peak, resulting in beautiful and punchy HDR efficiency and good visibility on sunny days after I took this cellphone out and about in London for work.

The Redmi Word 14 Professional’s cameras aren’t an excessive amount of completely different from the earlier yr, with a 200MP fundamental snapper with a 1/1.4-inch sensor, alongside a ¼-inch 8MP ultrawide and 2MP macro lens. The selfie digicam has seen a bump from 16MP as much as 20MP with a wider f/2.2 aperture.

Common extensive pictures are completely okay with good element and extra pure colors. Nonetheless, with out the shortage of a devoted telephoto, cropping in and zooming an excessive amount of leads picture high quality to fall to items. Should you keep on with the principle sensor, you may be more than pleased with the outcomes that the Redmi Word 14 Professional gives for the value.

Internally, the Redmi Word 14 Professional encompasses a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Extremely SoC, which is a boosted model of the identical mid-range chip present in cheaper telephones equivalent to Nothing’s CMF sub-branded Cellphone 1. Within the run of benchmarks I put it by way of, outcomes weren’t too spectacular, and the gulf between this being a less expensive cellphone turns into a little bit clearer.

Nonetheless, benchmarks are just one aspect of the story. In precise use, the Redmi Word 14 Professional felt zippy and responsive for informal use, together with writing up some phrases in a pinch in Google Docs after I was out and needed to get my head down, and looking by way of social media and Google Uncover for information.

Transcend that type of informal use and into extra energy consumer territory, and also you would possibly discover some slowdown and stutter. In attempting some heavier video games out, equivalent to Wuthering Waves, you do want to show settings right down to get the next body fee out of the system. Lighter titles equivalent to Mario Kart Tour are greater than playable right here, whereas EAFC Cell felt responsive on default settings, though it wanted some assist from the cellphone’s gaming mode to push to larger body charges.

The Redmi Word 14 Professional comes with a variety of gaming options to try to optimise efficiency for the most effective expertise potential. Swiping from the left when the cellphone is in panorama mode in a recreation means that you can examine on real-time FPS figures, in addition to permitting you to decide on whether or not the cellphone prioritises visible constancy or body fee. It’s also possible to do issues equivalent to display screen report straight from the tab and activate a don’t disturb mode so that you simply hold your head within the recreation.

Software program right here comes within the type of HyperOS, Xiaomi’s extremely customised model of Android 14, which, like Honor’s MagicOS, borrows some cues from Apple’s iOS. That is significantly noticeable with its fast settings menu that is accessed by swiping on the best aspect of the display screen and has a really Apple really feel by way of brightness and quantity management. It is the identical as MagicOS, so I have been fairly used to it, however when you’re transferring from different Android variants, it may well take some getting used to.

As a variant of Android, it is completely cromulent, coming with a few of Google’s newest additions, equivalent to Circle to Search and utilising Gemini as an assistant. There are Xiaomi-specific AI gubbins right here, which principally function within the gallery app when modifying pictures, equivalent to object elimination and portrait blurring with a man-made bokeh impact. There are additionally a number of extra superior choices, like the flexibility to take away backgrounds, FOV enlargement and AI-powered computerized video modifying.

What I dislike about HyperOS is the quantity of bloatware that comes pre-installed, equivalent to Xiaomi’s personal MI app retailer, in addition to OneDrive, the Opera browser, and the Reserving.com app. Honor is responsible of this, too, and I want extra manufacturers would go for a cleaner method to their Android skins. As for updates, Xiaomi says the Redmi Word 14 Professional 5G is about to get three OS upgrades and 4 years of safety updates.

Battery life right here is usually fairly good, with the PCMark Work V3.0 check at half brightness displaying the cellphone’s 5110mAh capability cell to final for simply over 13 hours of multi-tasking and basic use. It additionally helps as much as 45W quick charging, though you do not get a charger within the field, and this wattage is decrease than the 67W of its predecessor, and simply over a 3rd of the 120W supported by the higher-end 14 Professional+ mannequin.

For the £299/$370 asking worth, the Xiaomi Redmi Word 14 Professional 5G is a usually competent cellphone. It is not going to be flagship high quality for that worth, however it’s greater than serviceable in appears and really feel, in addition to providing cheap digicam efficiency, good battery life and helpful efficiency for lighter video games and multi-tasking. I am not the largest fan of HyperOS, however some gentle housekeeping nicely hold your cellphone clear when you’re too fussed.

Poco F7 Professional evaluate: A mid-range handset with flagship oomph

Purchase:

The second keen volunteer is the Poco F7 Professional, which jumps up the value ladder to verge on extra mid-range territory at £499/$499. From the outset although, it feels such as you’re getting much more cellphone in your cash. It is a nice mix of a sturdy aluminum body and a glass again to supply a classy, silver rectangular slab that is simple to carry. It’s out there in black or blue when you’d choose – Poco’s signature yellow is notably absent.

There was a noteworthy improve to the F7 Professional’s IP ranking, with this new mannequin having a full IP68 water and dirt ranking, which is a big enchancment over the F6 Professional’s splashproof designation and IP54-grade seal. It additionally comes with a helpful pre-applied display screen protector and a case within the field for further safety, which is a pleasant contact.

The F7 Professional has a big 6.67-inch AMOLED display screen with a excessive QHD+ decision and 120Hz refresh fee for a stunning viewing expertise that is slick, detailed and sharp. A peak brightness of as much as 1800 nits within the display screen’s high-brightness mode is very punchy, and it may well additionally attain as excessive as 3200 nits in HDR content material, though this comes on the expense of shedding some element and definition, as is typical.

The place this handset felt extra within the midrange versus being a flagship was with the F7 Professional’s twin digicam setup that encompasses a fundamental 50MP sensor and an 8MP ultrawide. No telephoto lens right here. The primary snapper right here is nice in your basic pictures wants, with pictures which have loads of punch and peppiness in gentle or darkish conditions. It additionally maintains a superb quantity of element. Utilizing the 2x mode for some portrait-style pictures leads to pure bokeh round topics, which I used to be significantly impressed with.

The dearth of a telephoto is pronounced although, as zooming in any additional than the 2x zoom causes element and sharpness to fall off a cliff. As well as, the ultrawide lens is not as much as the identical normal as the principle snapper; for probably the most half, pictures can come out fairly grainy and missing in high quality element.

In typical F-series trend, the actual focus of the F7 Professional is its inner energy, and this mannequin packs in a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip. That was, up till fairly not too long ago, probably the most highly effective processor you’d discover in an Android cellphone, so to get it in a mid-ranger gives loads of oomph for the value. It is the identical processor discovered contained in the Honor Magic V3 and Magic 6 Professional, as an illustration.

As such, it is maybe no shock to study that this is a wonderful cellphone for every little thing from gaming to average productiveness and multi-tasking masses. The leads to the likes of Geekbench 6 are nearly an identical to the Magic V3, though the F7 Professional barely wins out in multi-core efficiency. As well as, it garnered excessive body charges within the pair of GFXBench assessments that had been similar to the duvet show on the Magic V3, and above the principle display screen.

The F7 Professional proves significantly succesful in additional intense titles equivalent to COD Cell or Wuthering Waves in testing, whereas it additionally has the identical Sport Turbo options because the Redmi Word 14 Professional. Which means swiping from the left when the cellphone is in panorama mode in a recreation means that you can examine on real-time FPS figures, though you’ll be able to’t select whether or not the cellphone prioritises visible constancy or body fee, oddly. It’s also possible to do issues equivalent to display screen report straight from the tab and activate a don’t disturb mode so that you simply hold your head within the recreation.

Poco is technically a sub-brand of Xiaomi, so it is sensible the 2 telephones run the identical pores and skin of Android. Which means HyperOS is current on the F7 Professional, and it feels similar to the way it does on the Redmi Word 14 Professional. Which means some comparable cues to iOS, such because the notification menu, and the presence of some bloatware, such because the Opera browser, pre-installed, plus add-riddled system apps that may’t be uninstalled. As for updates, Xiaomi says the Poco F7 Professional is about to get 4 OS upgrades and 6 years of safety updates.

Battery life right here is fairly wonderful, with the PCMark Work V3.0 check at half brightness displaying the cellphone’s giant 6000mAh capability cell to final for 20 and a half hours of multi-tasking and basic use. It additionally helps as much as 90W quick charging, and also you do get a charger and cable within the field, which may be very good.

I am a little bit bit extra wholehearted in my suggestion of the Poco F7 Professional for its £499/$499 asking worth, given its flagship-esque efficiency, wonderful battery life and glossy appears for a extra modest price ticket. The cameras listed here are cheap, whereas the HyperOS variant of Android is not as clear as some rivals, although.

So, there you’ve it – a little bit of a take a look at the world of low cost and mid-range Android telephones in 2025, and the way nicely we appear to be getting on. The reply I believe is, surprisingly nicely, albeit nonetheless with a few quirks within the occasion of those two selections.