The most exciting smartphones at the moment are those in the midrange segment because these come with features that have trickled down from the high end (which, by the way, is only seeing incremental upgrades). After the success of Samsung Galaxy A14 5G, which is the most exciting under-20K phone at the moment, there is a new device in town called POCO X5 Pro 5G. It’s not the cheapest of phones but the value-for-money aspect shines in almost every department.
We have been using the device for around 10- odd days and, frankly, you can’t go wrong with this one. It mostly stays the course with the performance of the chipset as well as the camera. In the box, POCO has retained the charging brick. It’s a 67W power adapter to charge the 5,000mAh battery from zero to 100 in around 45 minutes. The battery, in fact, is one of the reasons to buy the phone. It easily offers more than seven hours of on-screen time with enough power left. It obviously means that the chipset as well as the display are power efficient.
Despite having a 6.67-inch 10-bit FHD+ AMOLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate, the phone doesn’t feel enormous. There is a thin bezel around the flat panel but that’s not jarring to the eyes. Keeping weight in check is the plastic rear panel. The matte finish keeps fingerprints at bay while the camera bump is not substantial. POCO plays it safe in way of design, so it’s not enough to make the phone stand out in a sea of phones.
The shutter speed is fast and the focus is quite good for a mid-segment phone
IT’S ABOUT PERFORMANCE
Everything interesting about the phone lies inside. You get a POCO-fied version of MIUI 14, based on Android 12. First the good points. POCO has done a good job of keeping preinstalled apps under check. There are a few of them but these can be deleted and most of these apps are something you would use anyway. The control centre is quite useful. It separates out all the toggles from smart home controls and notifications are easier to access. The review model has 256GB of storage, future-proofing it. There is no micro SD option here but I have never been a fan of it because of the read-write speed discrepancies it can create. The security app is also useful, helping you to optimise your smartphone, giving it a deep clean. For instance, you can set up a block list to tackle marketing teams that call 10 times a day. You can set up dual accounts on various social media apps and there’s the excellent game Turbo feature as well.
The question I have is why Android 12?
The phone will be getting two OS upgrades (and three years of security upgrades) but why an older version, especially when a new Android version will be here in a few months.
The phone comes with AMOLED display chops, which are no longer the biggest distinguishing feature. Quite a few budget-tomidrange handsets these days offer an OLED display but what makes the POCO phone special is the tuning. You will get contrast-y, vivid pictures. The colours are punchy because the default colour mode is set to vivid (not standard) while you can boost brightness enough to counter all the brightness around you. I have absolutely no issues reading things on the POCO screen even when it’s quite sunny.
There’s a stereo speaker set-up; you got one speaker on the top edge of the phone and the other housed on the bottom edge. Maxing out the volume, the stereo speaker packs a punch and is easily audible even in a noisy environment and the clarity isn’t terrible either. Alternatively, you have a headphone jack with high-res audio support or you can stream via Bluetooth.
Perhaps the biggest feature of the phone is the chipset. The previous generation was powered by the Snapdragon 695; this one has Snapdragon 778G, which has a proven track record. My review unit comes with 8GB RAM…more than enough to play Genshin Impact on the highest graphics settings. With a pleasantly smooth frame rate you do get the usual gaming toolbar. I didn’t notice any sudden drops in frame rate; the game played as expected and the flat display is perfectly responsive.
Colours are slightly punched up but it fits well with social media needs
LET’S TALK ABOUT CAMERA
The main 108MP camera uses Samsung ISOCELL HM2 sensor and is backed by an 8MP ultra-wide snapper and a 2MP macro shooter, so no real surprises when it comes to the camera app. You can easily swap between the 108MP and the ultra-wide angle shooter in regular photo mode. The primary sensor uses nine-toone pixel binning to help brighten up shots in darker environments but you can jump straight into the 108MP mode. If you do want to shoot at maximum resolution it can be quite handy if the lighting conditions are not too good. I didn’t find too much noise creeping into the snaps. The portrait mode adds a nice bokeh-style effect in the background and works around a subject’s hair quite well.
The video department too has received a boost. You can shoot 4K@30fps on the rear camera while selfie camera video is restricted to 1080p@60fps. Videos come out well in bright sunshine but at night you need to be careful with the light source. I have no problem with audio pickup and stabilisation is decent (though there is no OIS). Improvements? Skin complexion on the selfie snapper can be improved.
SHOULD YOU GET IT?
If you want optical image stablisation, Redmi Note 12 Pro can come to your rescue. And if youdon’t care about ultra-wide camera, Samsung Galaxy A14 5G has you covered. But if you want a phone that can do a bit of everything and doesn’t compromise on performance, POCO X5 Pro 5G is a sensible choice. What I am looking for is a phone that will give me seveneight hours of on-screen time, offer enough choices in the camera department and boost my streaming experience. It’s all here on POCO X5 Pro 5G, truly a value-for-money mid-range smartphone.
At a glance
POCO X5 Pro 5G comes with MIUI 14 and Android 12 out of the box
Device: POCO X5 Pro 5G
Price: 6GB+128GB version is priced at Rs 22,999 and 8GB+256GB version is priced at Rs 24,999 (without offers)
High notes
- Excellent battery life
- Good gaming performance
- Stereo speakers are clear and loud
- Display is bright enough
Muffled note
- Android 12 out of the box