Poco X5 Pro 5G Review

Over the years, the affordable phones that Xiaomi has introduced under the Poco branding have proven to be excellent, as they offer solid specifications and have an attractive design at a very reasonable price. The Poco X5 range offers exactly that for 2023 and they can be categorized as excellent value in a market that is becoming increasingly crowded.

Design and build

After the change in design came in Poco X3 Pro, Xiaomi has opted to keep things similar this year, even though there are some rather subtle tweaks that you will see. The main one is the camera surround that still takes up a big portion of the back, but there is just one raised section this time. This is on one side and the rather large ‘POCO’ logo has been rotated 90-degrees.

The phone will be a bit wobbly when you put it on a flat surface because two camera lenses stick out, but the Poco X5 Pro is significantly lighter and thinner, as it weighs just 181g and is 7.9mm. The rear side of the device is plastic, which attempts to imitate frosted glass, but falls short. As it is IP53 rated, the phone is not completely waterproof.

Screen and speakers

The X5 Pro has the same display as its predecessor, which means it is a 6.67 inch AMOLED panel that has a Full HD+ resolution and a refresh rate of 120Hz. Considering how svelte the phone is, the display appears to be quite large and it delivers a dazzling experience with its 10bit color support and DCI-P3.

You will also find the contrast to be excellent, which makes it a joy to use the display, no matter what you are doing. The display appears to be flagship level, but is available in a budget price phone, which makes it excellent value for money.

The speakers of the X5 Pro are one of the best you will find in this price range. They are stereo speakers that offer you an oomph and with good tone and clarity. There is also a headphone jack given on the top if you want to use wired headphones.

Specs and performance

The Poco X5 Pro has been put forward as a gaming device and for that it has added the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G. It comes with a 6nm octa-core chip, but the 2.4GHz Cortex-A78 cores are a tad more complex. You will get 6 or 8GB RAM, depending on the storage options, which are 128 GB and 256 GB. No microSD card slot is given.

The phone is a dual-sim and offers 5G network support. Plus, the dynamic RAM Expansion 3.0 means more apps can run in the background.

Cameras

The camera system of the Poco X5 remains mostly the same as its predecessor, but the selfie camera has a higher resolution. There is a 108Mp main camera at the back and it is flanked by a 2Mp macro and 8Mp ultrawide. You will find that the camera offers a good level of color reproduction, detail and exposure. The selfie camera gives excellent shots, as it is 16Mp and also has a portrait mode.