Poco X5 Pro Review: Is This Bright Yellow Phone Worth Your Money?

11 minute read

Poco X5 Pro Review: Is This Bright Yellow Phone Worth Your Money?

What is the difference between a new smartphone and the model it replaces to really be considered "new"? Is a new design enough or do you need completely new features and completely updated hardware?

That's a question I've been asking myself since using the Poco X5 Pro, which is almost identical to the Poco X4 Pro announced about a year ago. Was the X4 Pro so good it didn't need changing, or is that just Poco laziness?

Poco X5 Pro theme

The Poco X5 Pro is different from the Poco X4 Pro, but they are clearly related. The X5 Pro has flat sides, a flat back and a flat display. It looks like a frying pan, like Poco X4 Pro, Redmi Note 11 Pro and Xiaomi 12 Lite. Comparisons are important because they all have a lot in common. The body of the X5 Pro is made of metal, the screen is covered with Gorilla Glass 5, but the back is made of plastic.

The camera module is mounted in the top left corner, next to it is the branding on a black background, making the module appear much larger than it actually is. It's the same design strategy that Poco used with the X4 Pro, it took a different direction. My review unit is bright yellow with a black body, but black and blue models are also available, as is the case with the X4 Pro.

It's a great smartphone. It's 76mm wide and 7.9mm thick and is highlighted by flat sides. This makes the phone difficult to use with one hand and is not a phone for people with small hands. Poco claims it's the thinnest X-series phone ever made, but since the X4 Pro is 8.1mm thick I'd be really surprised if you could feel a 0.2mm difference between the two.

It's significantly lighter than the X4 Pro, weighing 175 grams, which is impressive considering the overall size of the phone. But the X4 Pro had a glass back and a plastic body. The old phone's basic but good IP53 rating is gone too, and while the phone feels solid and well-made, it also lacks the simple confidence that it can withstand water splashes. It is unusual for a modern phone to have a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Poco X5 Pro has a new design ? Yes, it's definitely a great device, although it shares a lot with the Poco X4 Pro, but not all differences are positive.

I'll go with less weight if it means dropping the glass, but it's a shame they left out the IP53 rating. Yellow won't be to everyone's liking, but it does draw attention.

Display, performance and battery of the Poco X5 Pro

ALSO READ:Elevate Your Mobile Experience With Xiaomi's Redmi Note 13 Series

Inside the Poco X5 Pro is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G processor, which is the only hardware difference between it and the Poco X4 Pro. The old phone was powered by a Snapdragon 695 chip. You have a choice of 6GB or 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage respectively. The display is a 6.67-inch AMOLED with a 120Hz refresh rate and 2400 x 1080 resolution. It is powered by a 5000mAh battery with a 67W fast charge cable.

Apart from the chipset , everything is the same as the Poco X4 Pro. Add in some really compelling specs and unfortunately the X5 Pro seems to get the rejection. According to Poco, the X5 Pro's screen has a typical brightness of 500 nits and a peak brightness of 900 nits, which is below what the X4 Pro claims. However, I had no problem looking at the screen in the winter sun. Also, the 240Hz touch sample rate is lower than the X4 Pro's 360Hz. At first glance, the X5 Pro's display is a Flow AMOLED panel, which differs from the X4 Pro's Dot AMOLED panel, but the difference is subtle.

The 120Hz refresh rate is the real reason to buy the Poco X5 Pro as it's rare to see a phone at this price point with such a high refresh rate. The smoothness is noticeable when using a phone with a 60Hz refresh rate, but it's almost impossible to tell the difference between this and a 90Hz display. The flat-screen will appeal to some die-hard gamers, but others won't like the way it reflects light, which can be distracting outside.

The old Snapdragon 695 wasn't a winner so any improvement is welcome and the Snapdragon 778G was fast and reliable. However, it was released in mid-2021, so it's not brand new . Its performance is sufficient for everyday tasks, including videos and games. Asphalt 9: Legends plays well but isn't as smooth as on phones with more powerful processors, but that's to be expected. The phone gets a little warm after 30 minutes of gaming and consumes another 10% of the battery during this time.

It's efficient and the Poco X5 Pro consumes power when you're using the shelf. I turned off my phone at night and worked two days without even thinking about charging it. That's two to three hours of screen time every day. Watch a video for 30 minutes and the battery percentage drops by 3-4%. Relatively conventional specs, smart cooling, and a high-capacity battery make the Poco X5 Pro a front-runner when it comes to battery life.

Poco X5 Pro camera

On the back of the X5 Pro is a 108-megapixel main camera, an 8-megapixel wide-angle camera, and a 2-megapixel macro camera. There is a 16-megapixel selfie camera at the top center of the display. Poco hasn't revealed the exact sensors used, but apart from a slight increase in the wide-angle lens's field of view (it's now 120 degrees instead of 118 degrees), it's the same camera setup. of the Poco X4 Pro. However, the Snapdragon 778G will speed up the system, the ISP has become more powerful and can now record 4K video.

As an affordable phone, the main camera captures colorful photos that can be shared. Saturation levels are quite high in direct sunlight, but that means few people go into the gallery app's editing suite before posting a photo online.

Main camera photo taken with the Poco X5 Pro.

Wide-angle photo taken with Poco X5 Pro.

In less than perfect conditions, the camera has such good white balance and detail that I never thought it would let me down. However, this can add a bluish cast to some photos, and color accuracy can suffer in certain situations.

The wide-angle camera is less good, taking high-contrast photos with little detail and strong edge distortion. There's another 8-megapixel wide-angle camera, which doesn't offer much of an advantage, and the 2-megapixel macro camera isn't much better, meaning you should only use the main camera. The good thing is that the photos it takes are beautiful, which will appeal to those who want to take Insta-worthy pictures with ease. The selfie camera is also solid, offering plenty of detail and good skin tones.

Poco X5 Pro software

ALSO READ:Redmi Note 13 Review | Geek Lifestyle

Poco is part of Xiaomi and as such runs Xiaomi's MIUI 14, a version of Android 13 with some minor Poco-related tweaks. MIUI 14 is alive and well here, with Poco design changes changing some icons and menus. Whether you like it or not depends on your love of bright primary colors and attractive designs. There's nothing minimalistic or subtle about MIUI on the Poco X5 Pro.

There are tons of customization options, tons of notifications letting you know about phone services, low battery alerts, and different things that happen depending on where you swipe. If you find One UI too busy on a Samsung phone like the Galaxy S22, you won't like the Poco version of MIUI. A good example of the cluttered and boring design is the way you swipe down on the left side of the screen to see notifications and on the right side to see your quick settings. One of the two phones combines them, and for good reason: it makes sense and is perfect for one-handed use. This is really annoying with the X5 Pro.

Surprisingly for a phone with so many settings, the always-on screen is limited to showing the time and notifications for just 10 seconds. There's no way to tie the Do Not Disturb settings and make them visible all the time like there is with almost every phone you can buy today. Poco also comes with many preinstalled games and apps. I'm sure if you spend some time tweaking the settings and then tweak it for a few weeks, you'll get used to MIUI 14. But I wish it had a well-designed, user-friendly default that welcomes younger users. . , not the one looking confused and frustrated.

Poco X5 Pro price and availability

At the time of writing, Poco hasn't confirmed the cost of the X5 Pro, so we'll have to estimate based on the price of the Poco X4 Pro, which starts at around £259 or $320. Given the minimal changes, the X5 Pro would cost the same or a little less. That's a massive range of phones priced at around $350 or £300, so Poco's competition is stiff.

The OnePlus Nord N300 is our $250 pick, but also check out the Moto G Power or Moto G Stylus. In the UK we recommend the Nothing Phone 1, but the OnePlus Nord CE 2 and Realme 9 Pro+ are also good buy recommendations. However, it's definitely worth saving a little more to pick up a Google Pixel 6a or a Samsung Galaxy A53 5G, both of which cost around $450 but offer much better features, software, and cameras.

The Poco X5 Pro doesn't do anything new.

The design of the Poco X5 Pro is nice, I like the bright yellow color and the specs are good, but it's basically the same as a phone released in early 2022 and it's not great at all. Redmi Note 11 Pro and Xiaomi 12 Lite, it is also indistinguishable from the other two phones of last year. It makes me question the value, which is the problem with a cheap phone.

Is there a reason to buy it? You get good battery life, the screen has a 120Hz refresh rate and the camera is good for a phone of this caliber. The software is clunky, however, and the main camera alone is worth your time. The Poco X4 Pro certainly deserves a new processor, but the only major change replacing it, and therefore the main reason to buy it, is the perfect X5 Pro.

It's a shame because it's a really good phone, but unfortunately Poco hasn't taken the X5 Pro's specs one step further to make it a true successor to the X4 Pro and worthy of an upgrade for 2023. Instead of getting a strong recommendation from us. , it's worth waiting to see what the competition has to offer over the next few months before making a purchasing decision. Maybe someone has something special that makes them want to buy it instead of this lazy paraphrase of a 2022 phone.

Poco X4 Pro 2023 Review – Buy Poco X5 Pro or Maintain

Redmi

Sinyo Media Corporate

Poco X5 Pro Review: Is This Bright Yellow Phone Worth Your Money?

Poco X5 Pro theme

Display, performance and battery of the Poco X5 Pro

Poco X5 Pro camera

Poco X5 Pro software

Poco X5 Pro price and availability

The Poco X5 Pro doesn't do anything new.

Poco X4 Pro 2023 Review – Buy Poco X5 Pro or Maintain

Post a Comment

Poco X5 Pro Review: Is This Bright Yellow Phone Worth Your Money?

Poco X5 Pro theme

Display, performance and battery of the Poco X5 Pro

Poco X5 Pro camera

Poco X5 Pro software

Poco X5 Pro price and availability

The Poco X5 Pro doesn't do anything new.

Poco X4 Pro 2023 Review – Buy Poco X5 Pro or Maintain

You may like these posts

Post a Comment