The Indian smartphone market has recently seen a lot of activity at the sub-Rs. 30,000 categories. Most of the new product launches are usually the successors of the phones that were available last year for around Rs. 20,000 marks. The increase in prices of newly launched products can be attributed to various factors, such as rising costs of components and raw materials, weakening Rupee against the dollar, etc. Poco, a well-known company know to offer value-for-money hardware in the mainstream and mid-range segments, now show the Poco X5 Pro 5G as its new product under Rs. 25,000.
Successful phone Poco X4 Pro 5G (Review) and has received many screen, camera and performance upgrades. However, like other newly launched products, the Poco X5 Pro is also more expensive than the old model. Should you consider buying this phone? We help you decide.
Poco X5 Pro 5G price in India
Poco X5 Pro 5G has been launched with two storage options in India. The base variant of the phone has 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. It is priced at Rs. 22,999. The company sent us the 8GB RAM variant with 256GB internal storage. This one is priced at Rs. 24,999. As part of the launch offer, customers with an ICICI Bank card can claim an instant discount of Rs. 2,000 when buying a phone.
Poco X5 Pro 5G design and display
The Poco X5 Pro 5G generally has the same structure as the Poco X4 Pro 5G with a flat frame and flat back. However, unlike the previous model with a glass back, the Poco X5 Pro 5G uses a plastic material. The polycarbonate shell also makes the phone feel a lot lighter than its predecessor.
Poco X5 Pro 5G weighs 181g, but when holding the device, it feels lighter. At 7.99mm thick, the device is also said to be the thinnest Poco smartphone in India. Seen from the back, the phone looks very similar Redmi note 12 Pro 5G And Note 12 Pro+ 5G smartphone.
Poco X5 Pro 5G has a flat frame design
The Poco X5 Pro 5G’s Horizon Blue color that the company sent us has a matte finish to the back. This gives the phone a slightly premium look. However, the upper part of the rear panel has a glossy finish. Some may or may not like this design choice. There is also a giant ‘Poco’ branding in the upper right corner, which somewhat reminds me of Realme’s ‘Dare to Leap’ branding style.
I think the Astral Black color of the X5 Pro 5G looks the best. There’s also the classic ‘Poco Yellow’ color option, which features a slightly muted yellow back and black paint job for the camera area.
The Poco X5 Pro 5G features a tall, 6.67-inch Xfinity AMOLED display, which is said to use chip-on-panel technology to keep the display thin. The bezels around the screen are also a bit thinner than on the old model. While the screen does not have curved edges like Realme 10 Pro+ 5G (Review), Poco X5 Pro 5G with support for Dolby Vision and HDR10 playback. Video streaming apps like Netflix take advantage of it.
The 10-bit display produces vivid colors and deep blacks, and I didn’t notice any display issues such as tinting (greenish) on my device, unlike some reported issues. reported on previous Poco (and Xiaomi) phones. The multimedia experience is enhanced by equally good stereo speakers that support Dolby Atmos. There is also a 3.5mm headphone jack that supports Hi-Res audio.
The screen of the Poco X5 Pro 5G is also quite bright when used outdoors. The screen’s brightness level can go up to 900 nits when viewing HDR content. It’s not the brightest screen in its class, but it should be more than enough for outdoor use.
Poco X5 Pro 5G’s screen has a maximum brightness of 900 nits
Like its predecessor, the Poco X5 Pro 5G supports a 120Hz refresh rate. The monitor can change the refresh rate between 30Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz, depending on usage. For example, when watching a video, the screen refreshes at 60Hz, but when scrolling through the interface, the screen refreshes at 120Hz. When the Always On Display (AoD) lock screen is on, the phone’s screen refreshes at 30Hz. Some compatible games can also take advantage of the 120Hz refresh rate.
Poco X5 Pro 5G Software and Specifications
The Poco X5 Pro 5G has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G SoC. The 6nm SoC also has an Adreno 642L GPU and is paired with LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.2 storage. The X5 Pro also supports seven 5G bands in India. Connectivity options include dual-band Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.1, and a USB Type-C port.
In terms of software, the Poco X5 Pro 5G ships with MIUI 14 based on Android 12. For a phone priced above Rs. 20,000 in 2023, the lack of the latest version of Android is disappointing. The new MIUI update has features that improve overall performance such as using less memory and saving power.
Although Poco X5 Pro 5G has MIUI 14, it is still based on Android 12 when it ships
The custom interface further offers a wide range of customization and personalization options. Users can choose between two different styles for the Control Center. There are also options to customize the Always On Display screen, change the wallpaper and theme, adjust the animation speed, etc.
Plus you get the Android Privacy Dashboard which is a one stop place to check which apps have access to your location, contacts, call logs, photos and media, microphone, etc. your , etc. There is also a privacy indicator at the top right to mark when an app uses the camera or microphone.
Poco X5 Pro 5G comes with a number of third-party apps pre-installed, such as Amazon, Moj, Zilli, Prime Video, etc. You can choose to uninstall these apps whenever you want. . There is also an option to set up Glance for wallpaper suggestions on the lock screen.
Even if you don’t activate it while setting up the phone, the software tends to keep giving a pop-up in case you want to reconsider. Unfortunately, there is no way to stop this notification. Get Apps, Xiaomi’s original app store, also spams you with several notifications during the day to remind you to update apps or consider installing some recommendations.
Poco X5 Pro comes pre-installed with a few third-party apps
Poco has promised to deliver two major Android updates to the X5 Pro 5G. This means the Android 13 update should be out later this year, although it’s not yet known exactly when this will happen.
Poco X5 Pro 5G Performance and Battery Life
The Poco X5 Pro 5G is a great option for those who play a lot of games on their smartphone but don’t necessarily want to pay a premium. The Snapdragon 778G is a processor capable of handling certain resource-hungry tasks, let alone everyday tasks.
I played Call of Duty: Mobile on the Poco X5 Pro 5G at ‘Very High’ graphics settings and ‘Max’ frame rate and the experience was quite enjoyable. There is no sign of any stuttering or stuttering when playing in group or multiplayer rounds. The game also allows you to select ‘Super’ frame rate as an option with ‘Low’ or ‘Medium’ graphics quality on the X5 Pro 5G. Asphalt 9 Legends also runs smoothly on Poco X5 Pro 5G.
I also ran a few benchmark tests on the Poco X5 Pro 5G. The phone scored 531,029 points in AnTuTu, which is very close to the published score of 545,093 points. Realme 10 Pro + 5G, the closest in terms of price, reached 504,626 points, while Redmi Note 12 Pro+ 5G scored 4,38,678 points. In Geekbench, Poco X5 Pro scored 755 and 2819 points in single-core and multi-core tests, respectively. The ability to manage RAM on Poco X5 Pro 5G is quite good. Games load slightly faster when Game Turbo mode kicks in.
Poco X5 Pro 5G supports 67W fast charging via USB Type-C port
Poco X5 Pro 5G’s 5,000mAh battery can easily last all day on a single charge. On average, the phone delivered eight hours of screen-on time (SoT) when I played games or recorded videos with the camera. On days where my use case is lighter, the SoT is around nine hours. Your mileage may vary depending on how you use it.
In our HD video loop test, the Poco X5 Pro 5G lasted for 17 hours and 32 minutes. The 67W fast charger charged the battery from 0 to 100% in 47 minutes. The phone gets a bit hot near the camera module area while charging.
Poco X5 Pro 5G . Camera
The Poco X5 Pro 5G has a triple rear camera setup. There is a 108-megapixel Samsung HM2 main camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera, and a 2-megapixel macro camera. There is no optical image stabilization (OIS) for the main camera. The phone also has a 16-megapixel front-facing camera sensor.
Poco X5 Pro 5G camera module design is inspired by its brother, Redmi Note 12 Pro series
The main camera takes detailed, brilliant photos during the day. However, when HDR kicked in, I noticed that the reds and greens were a bit more saturated than usual. Dynamic range performance is good but there is still room for improvement. Also, there are times when the sky looks unusually blue but this can be rectified in post-production.
The 1/1.52-inch Samsung ISOCELL HM2 sensor when using Night Mode also does a good job of retaining details in the dark. I missed the OIS at times though even a slight shake would result in a blurry image.
Shot on Poco X5 Pro 5G: (Top to bottom) Photo mode, Photo mode, Night mode, Night mode
Photos taken with the ultra-wide camera have good colors but are generally a bit soft. Dynamic range performance is also decent. The 2-megapixel macro camera takes poor pictures and is best not used. Instead, take a picture in 108-megapixel mode and crop your subject for better results.
Ultra-wide camera samples taken on Poco X5 Pro 5G
The 16-megapixel front camera captures fine details and facial tones. When using portrait mode, edge detection is mostly accurate but the software smooths the skin too much. This happens to a certain extent even when beauty mode is turned off.
Poco X5 Pro 5G front camera models: (from top to bottom) Photo mode, Portrait mode
The rear camera can record 4K 30fps video, and for the price, the quality is pretty good. Colors are close to natural and dynamic range performance is also quite good. The front-facing camera can record 1080p 60fps video and it does a great job.
judgment
Poco X5 Pro 5G offers a great multimedia experience, solid performance and good battery life. Design is subjective and if you ask me, I’m not a huge fan of how it looks. However, the light and thin design may attract many buyers. The main rear camera and front camera work well, but the other two cameras have some areas for improvement.
What I don’t like is that there is no Android 13 available, which is a huge disappointment. The savings advantage is that the software has less bloatware and is rich in features.
All in all, if you want a phone that offers good performance and is a good overall package, the Poco X5 Pro 5G can definitely be considered. In fact, I would also recommend this on the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G, the device does not offer a good software experience, even though it runs on Android 13. There is also the cousin of the X5 Pro 5G, Redmi Note 12 Pro (First impressions), offers the same software experience and features but with OIS for the main camera.
