Poco X5 Pro review: Upping the budget ante

The Poco X5 Professional is the newest finances Android cellphone within the Xiaomi sub-brand’s X sequence. 2021’s Poco X3 Professional delivered a ton of horsepower and little else, whereas 2022’s Poco X4 Professional supplied loads of upgrades however a significant efficiency downgrade. So do you get one of the best of each worlds with the follow-up? It’s time to seek out out in our Poco X5 Professional evaluation.

• Poco X5 Professional (6GB/128GB): €299 (~$322)
• Poco X5 Professional (8GB/256GB): €349 (~$376)

The Poco X5 Professional is a follow-up to the Poco X4 Professional, and the Xiaomi sub-brand is taking the identical method as final yr’s cellphone. That’s, you’re a rebadged model of the China-only Redmi Be aware 12 Professional Velocity Version, very like the Poco X4 Professional was a rebranded Redmi Be aware 11 Professional 5G with a recent coat of paint.

There aren’t many upgrades from the Poco X3 Professional to the X4 Professional at first look, however the largest change is undoubtedly the swap from the middling Snapdragon 695 SoC to the extra succesful Snapdragon 778G chipset. So budget-conscious cell avid gamers ought to be blissful on paper. The Poco X5 Professional additionally hangs on to some more and more uncommon options akin to a quick and correct, side-mounted fingerprint reader, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and an IR blaster for controlling legacy home equipment. It does, nevertheless, lose out on expandable storage as in contrast to it’s predecessor the Poco X5 Professional doesn’t have a microSD card slot.

The Poco X5 Professional begins at €299 for the 6GB/128GB mannequin, with an early fowl value of €249. Anticipate finding it in Black, Blue, and Yellow colorways. The cellphone might be obtainable in Asia-Pacific, Africa, Europe, elements of Latin America, and the Center East. Sadly, you’ll need to import this gadget if you happen to’re in North America because it’s not obtainable there.

Unbox the brand new Poco cellphone and the very first thing you’ll discover is simply how mild and skinny it’s. Poco says it’s the slimmest X-series gadget round, at 7.9mm thickness, which isn’t all that totally different from the older cellphone. However the ~20g weight discount is definitely noticeable when coming from the X4 Professional.

You’ve received flat, plastic edges and a plastic again right here too. These anticipating a metallic and glass slab could be dissatisfied, however the usage of plastic means the rear cowl received’t spiderweb if dropped. Our evaluation unit is a Yellow mannequin, that includes a yellow again and yellow energy button. The rear cowl is extra of a golden yellow shade scheme versus banana yellow, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a refreshing departure from the ocean of gray and black colorways.

I’m additionally glad to see that the plastic again isn’t a fingerprint magnet in any respect. Moreover, the Poco X5 Professional presents IP53 mud and water resistance, which is at all times welcomed within the finances section.

Maintain the ability button and also you’ll be greeted by an amazing 6.67-inch 120Hz OLED display. It’s not the brightest, measuring in at a peak of 900 nits, however I had no points in direct daylight and it compares favorably to different finances handsets. The cellphone additionally allows you to select between 60Hz, 120Hz, or a dynamic refresh fee. The latter solely switches between 60Hz and 120Hz fairly than dropping right down to 30Hz or 24Hz. In any occasion, you’re nonetheless getting an amazing viewing expertise for the value.

The Poco X5 Professional can be bringing the Snapdragon 778G chipset to the desk, and this can be a main step up over the X4 Professional’s Snapdragon 695 processor. Geekbench scores see a rise over the older cellphone, with multi-core CPU scores displaying a large leap. These scores are a way off the Snapdragon 870-toting Poco F4, not to mention current flagship telephones, nevertheless it nonetheless bodes nicely for the gadget’s efficiency nicely into the longer term.

Thankfully, this silicon improve bears out in real-world utilization too. Fundamental duties like launching apps, multitasking, and scrolling generally had been a easy expertise in our testing. The cellphone additionally dealt with 3D gaming fairly nicely. Genshin Influence ran at 60fps for probably the most half on low settings, whereas Name of Responsibility Cell ran at most graphics and max body charges too. It’s even viable for GameCube and PS2 emulation, though you’ll undoubtedly see some slowdown in additional demanding video games like Burnout 3 or Shadow of the Colossus. It’s not a sooner expertise throughout the board because the X5 Professional nonetheless takes one and a half to 2 seconds to course of full-res 108MP photographs, however that might be a fringe use case for most individuals.

This horsepower improve doesn’t come on the expense of battery life, both. Poco’s handset is supplied with a 5,000mAh battery, and I used to be capable of recover from 9 hours of screen-on time throughout two days of reasonable utilization. This utilization consisted of a number of hours of YouTube playback, downloading and taking part in Genshin Influence, and shopping Reddit. In any other case, extra typical days consisting of some Telegram messaging, shopping Reddit, watching movies, and taking part in numerous video games yielded over eight hours of screen-on time and simply over two days of utilization. That’s spectacular proper there.

Poco’s newest gadget handed with flying colours when it got here to {hardware}, however software program is one other story altogether. Maybe the largest problem is the quantity of bloatware on board. Out of the field, I counted seven pre-installed video games on the Poco X5 Professional (together with Solitaire, Bubble Shooter, and Genshin Influence), in addition to further apps like Fb, Netflix, WPS Workplace, Opera Mini, and TikTok. Granted, these apps may be uninstalled, however you realize what’s higher? Not having them within the first place.

The Poco X5 Professional additionally ships with MIUI 14 for Poco, albeit atop Android 12. That’s one other disappointing determination as Android 13 has been out for over 4 months already.

Making issues worse is the truth that Poco hasn’t issued an replace dedication for the gadget. Even Samsung’s Galaxy A14 5G — a cellphone that retails for lower than $200 — serves up two main OS updates and 4 years of safety patches. For what it’s price, 2021’s Poco X3 Professional launched with Android 11, is now on Android 12, and is reportedly set to get Android 13/MIUI 14 within the close to future. At the very least I didn’t expertise any advertisements throughout my time with the gadget, however your area would possibly differ.

It’s not all sunshine on the {hardware} entrance, both. The cellphone presents noticeably imbalanced sound from the stereo audio system, with the downward-firing speaker providing a lot louder sound than the highest speaker.

Poco’s handset additionally brings the identical low-quality secondary rear cameras we’ve seen on low cost Xiaomi telephones for years now. However extra on that under.

Take a look on the digicam specs and also you’ll be forgiven for pondering you’re trying on the Poco X4 Professional. We’ve received a just about equivalent rear digicam system on the X5 Professional, particularly a 108MP fundamental digicam, 8MP ultrawide shooter, and 2MP macro lens.

Sadly, we discover the identical drawbacks because the earlier cellphone relating to the secondary cameras. Pictures from the 8MP ultrawide digicam supply extra saturated colours than the already vivid pictures from the primary digicam, in addition to noticeably tender corners. You’ll even see seen noise in broad daylight, akin to within the blue sky and in shadows. In the meantime, the 2MP macro lens would possibly as nicely be a 2MP watercolor digicam owing to the extraordinarily splotchy, low-res pictures.

Fortunately, the 108MP fundamental digicam does an amazing job in most circumstances. The default 12MP photographs — pixel binned from 108MP — typically look nice through the day, delivering saturated colours, a very good stage of element, and minimal noise. It’s not flawless, although, as I’ve seen some apparent fringing in scenes with robust HDR (take a look at the highest of the cat’s head within the gallery above). Lens flare additionally rears its head in some conditions, and infrequently the saturation ranges are dialled up a bit too excessive. It’s additionally price noting that portrait mode typically ends in blown-out backgrounds, however general this can be a stable finances digicam cellphone for taking pictures in first rate mild.

Swap to low-light circumstances, and the first digicam sees a significant drop in picture high quality. The evening mode does a serviceable job of elevating the brightness, however noise ranges nonetheless depart us wanting. Take a look at the comparability under.

You’ve additionally received the power to shoot at a full 108MP decision, certainly delivering extra element in daytime circumstances. Nonetheless, these full-resolution photographs are additionally vulnerable to elevated ranges of noise, significantly in darker areas of the scene. 108MP photographs additionally appear to endure from blown highlights extra typically than the 12MP shot, presumably as a consequence of Poco not providing HDR on this mode. Nonetheless, had been instances after I felt the 108MP shot was nicely price it, with the ocean shell shot within the gallery above delivering far more element than the 12MP model. Take a look at the cropped comparability under for a more in-depth look.

The Poco X5 Professional delivers respectable (if sometimes tender) selfies, though portrait selfies are vulnerable to quite a few depth errors even in splendid circumstances. Switching to video, we’re glad to report that the cellphone certainly presents 4K/30fps and 1080p/60fps modes, which had been lacking from the Poco X4 Professional. There’s additionally an excellent regular video mode for many who want stability above all else, however we’d’ve cherished to see this mode topping out at 60fps.

Different notable digicam options embrace an extended publicity suite of modes (e.g. starry sky, mild portray), vlog mode, timelapse choice, quick video mode, and a professional mode (full with publicity verification and focus peaking).

The Poco X5 Professional presents comparatively few upgrades over the Poco X4 Professional, however this isn’t essentially a nasty factor. The corporate mounted two of our largest complaints in regards to the older cellphone, particularly the tough software program and distinct lack of horsepower. Thankfully, Poco retained options like that nice display, huge battery, stable fundamental digicam, and comparatively quick wired charging. All of it comes collectively to ship a well-rounded finances cellphone for probably the most half, particularly if you happen to nab it on the €249 early fowl value.

We are saying “for probably the most half,” as a result of the finances nature of the gadget makes itself recognized by way of these below-average secondary cameras, the older model of Android, bloatware, and the silence relating to a software program replace dedication.

Even with these grumbles, the Poco X5 Professional stacks up nicely to the competitors. Essentially the most distinguished rival would be the Samsung Galaxy A23 5G ($299.99 at Amazon). Samsung’s cellphone presents much less horsepower, slower wired charging, and a decrease decision fundamental digicam. However you’re nonetheless getting a large 120Hz OLED display, a big battery, and, better of all, Samsung guarantees 4 main OS updates, beating Poco by a rustic mile.

If you happen to’re prepared to spend a bit of further, the OnePlus Nord 2T ($539 at Amazon) is price a glance. Your further money will get you loads of processing grunt, sooner 80W wired charging, and a flagship-level 50MP fundamental digicam. In saying so, the cellphone additionally brings a smaller battery, 90Hz refresh fee as an alternative of 120Hz, and no IP ranking.