Few things are as irritating as watching your battery icon turn red when you’re nowhere near a charger. Everyone has a coping method. Some people carry power banks, some live in battery saver, and some treat 20 per cent like a medical emergency.
Poco’s answer is to put a small power station inside the phone. The Poco X8 Power has a 10,000mAh silicon-carbon battery, the biggest Poco has ever fitted, and I took that as a challenge. I watched YouTube, played games, scrolled social media and ignored every screen time reminder. The plan was to drain it as fast as I could. Here’s how it went
What I Liked
1. The Battery Just Keeps Going
This is the phone’s whole pitch, and it delivers. With moderate use and four to five hours of screen-on time, I got about two days out of it. If your day is mostly WhatsApp, Instagram and a few calls, three days is realistic. An hour of YouTube costs roughly 3 per cent, and half an hour of gaming took about 4.5 per cent. After a while, you stop thinking about charging. No hunting for a plug point, no rationing your screen time at 15 per cent.
2. Charging Isn’t A Chore Either
The catch with a battery this size is that you eventually have to charge it. The X8 Power supports 100W charging, and the charger comes in the box. Going from 20 to 100 per cent takes roughly an hour to an hour and twenty minutes, which is quick for this capacity.
There’s also 27W reverse wired charging, so it can top up your earbuds or another phone. Poco claims the battery will hold 80 per cent of its capacity after 1,600 charge cycles, about six years of use. That’s a company claim, and checking it would take a very patient editor.
3. The Screen Makes Draining The Battery Easy
Killing a battery on purpose means watching a lot of video, and this display made that easy. It’s a 6.83-inch 1.5K AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+, Dolby Vision and a claimed peak brightness of 3,500 nits. It’s sharp, the colours are strong, and it stays readable in sunlight. Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protects it.
The stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos are loud and well-rounded, so I rarely reached for earphones. Leave the 400 per cent volume boost off, though. The sound starts to distort.
4. It’s Tough, And The Yellow Is Fun
A phone with a 10,000mAh battery should feel like a power bank with a screen stuck on. This one doesn’t. It’s 8.65mm thick, the weight is well balanced, and it’s easier to hold than the spec sheet suggests.
It also carries IP66, IP68, IP69 and IP69K ratings, which cover dust, immersion and high-pressure water jets. The Realme P4 Power and OnePlus Nord CE 6 stop at IP68. I wouldn’t test that on purpose, but it’s reassuring.
Then there’s the yellow vegan leather finish. It’s loud and unmistakably Poco, and a relief after so many phones in the same expensive grey.
5. Software Support That Will Last
The phone runs HyperOS 3 on Android 16, with four years of OS updates and six years of security patches. That matters on a phone built to last, because a battery that outlives its software is no use to anyone. HyperOS 3 itself is smooth and quick, and I had no complaints about everyday performance.
What I Didn’t Like
1. It Ships With 83 Apps
The X8 Power comes with 83 pre-installed apps, 35 of them third-party. Most can be uninstalled, but spending the first hour with a new phone deleting things I never asked for isn’t my idea of premium. You’ll also want to switch off app suggestions in search, and some of the apps return if you reset the phone. It’s a shame, because HyperOS 3 is good software. The clutter spoils the first impression.
2. It’s Heavy
At 229 grams, the X8 Power is heavier than the Realme P4 Power (219), the OnePlus Nord CE 6 (215) and the iQOO Z11 (199). That sounds small on paper, but hold it one-handed for a while, and you’ll notice. Good balance doesn’t change the weight.
Reaching across the big display is awkward, especially when you’re lying in bed holding it above your face. I got used to it, and for this battery it’s a fair trade. Just don’t expect a featherweight.
3. The Other Cameras Are Weak
The main camera is good. The rest of the setup shows where Poco saved money. The 8MP ultrawide loses noticeable detail next to the main sensor. The 32MP selfie camera is sharp, but the beautification keeps smoothing your face even when you turn it down to zero. I’d rather my phone didn’t decide my face needs a software update.
Video tops out at 4K at 30fps, with no HDR recording. None of it is a dealbreaker, but if cameras matter most to you, look elsewhere.
4. It Isn’t A Gaming Phone
A phone this hard to drain could game for hours, but the chip isn’t built for it. The Snapdragon 6 Gen 5 handles everyday use well. Apps open quickly, and multitasking is smooth. BGMI runs well, while Genshin Impact needs lower graphics settings.
Verdict: The Battery Won. I’m Okay With That.
I started with one goal, which was to kill the battery. After hours of streaming, gaming and scrolling, I failed. The phone is very hard to drain, and that’s exactly the point of it.
The X8 Power isn’t the fastest gaming phone, the best camera phone or the lightest one in your pocket. It sets out to solve one problem and solves it well. The screen, speakers, tough build and long software support make the package better. The compromises are real, though: cluttered software, weak secondary cameras, average gaming performance and a weight you have to get used to.
If you spend long hours away from a charger, travel a lot or just don’t want battery anxiety running your day, it’s an easy phone to recommend. I’d pay the extra the 256GB model. As for killing the battery, the Poco has more stamina than I do.
Price: ₹35,275
