All You Need to Know About the Poco X5 Pro: Complete Review

As I said in the video, when the Poco X5 Pro arrived at the editorial office, no one jumped on their chair trying in every way to grab the product for the review. Indeed, the product remained on the desk for a few hours waiting for someone to open it and start configuring it. That someone is me and today I’m telling you about my week with X5 Pro, a smartphone that pleasantly surprised me and puts a stone on the many small and big problems of Xiaomi’s cheap smartphones.

• DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION QUALITY
• DISPLAY
• SOFTWARE
• DATA SHEET
• USER EXPERIENCE
• PHOTO AND VIDEO
• CONCLUSIONS
• VIDEO

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION QUALITY

Although there are no longer major aesthetic innovations in modern smartphones which, in fact, are a set of screens with small frames around and holes for cameras, Poco X5 Pro still manages to leave us displaced for a moment. Knowing the technical characteristics of the smartphone in general, I was convinced I was picking up a “brick” given the 5000mAh battery and the 6.7-inch screen. But no, so much so that I had to go and check the specifications: only 181 grams of weight! It is one of the lightest smartphones I’ve ever used in relation to the size and battery capacity.

A detail that makes the use of Poco X5 Pro very pleasant and a result achieved thanks to the use of plastic materials for the body and side edge. Materials which, however, are by no means cheap or of poor quality, on the contrary, to be sure of the absence of metal, we had to do some small tests as the chosen plastic is really hard and with a very pleasant matte finish. In short, it deceives the less attentive observer well with an absolutely approved build quality.

 

However, the design is pleasant and, despite the mid-range price, we find thin edges for the frames, a good general symmetry and a very small central hole for the front camera. Below I show you a slightly provocative photo : S23 Ultra on the right, Poco X5 Pro on the left. Between the two there is a difference of around €1100 , yet the Poco doesn’t look “ungraceful” aesthetically, don’t you think?

Although the frames are flat and a bit angular, the corners are curved and this allows for a better grip and, again comparing it to the S23 Ultra, it slips much less in the hand and holds much better also because it is narrower since there is no stylus. Of course, comparing the two smartphones is quite absurd, but given the similar dimensions and having tried them almost together, allow me this forcing.

DISPLAY

Nothing to say: Little has not saved and probably the quality of the OLED panels has increased so much that even in this price range you can find excellent proposals. However, X5 Pro has many good features. Gorilla Glass 5, 120Hz, FHD+ resolution, an excellent AOD (always on display), Touch Sampling at 240Hz and truly excellent brightness: 500 nits in normal conditions and up to 900 nits peak in outdoors or HDR.

Tested by facts and therefore in real use, I found this screen really pleasant in all light conditions and even outdoors in full sun the readability was always excellent. Clearly we don’t have a record-breaking panel but for the price positioning I don’t feel like making any criticism.

Among other things, in MIUI 14 there are many interesting options for managing colors, lights and optimizing scenes with also a series of quick options that allow color calibration even on individual applications during use.

And since you are surely wondering and I don’t want you to get to the end of the review, yes, there is the real proximity sensor which does not give any problems with calls, voice messages, messaging programs, capsule listening and so on. Hurray!

SOFTWARE

MIUI 14 is not easy or rather, not everyone likes it. Not because it isn’t a pleasant interface, on the contrary, it’s well made, well structured, super customizable and has many useful and even unique features. The problem is that Xiaomi makes a lot of smartphones and not all are supported equally; this leads to having products that go very well, others that struggle or still others with very annoying bugs or suicide hardware choices (the virtual sensor on some models).

The trust of the more expert public is therefore not always maximum and although here we have MIUI 14, Poco X5 Pro comes out in February 2023 with Android 12 and, even if we want to be optimistic, it will see Android 14 at the most. A pity even if it must always be considered that the MIUI customization bypasses the Android distribution as the aesthetic and functional innovations are introduced precisely with the customization update rather than with the new system distribution. Security patches still important and at the moment it is difficult to hope for more than 3 years for this Poco X5 pro.

That said, MIUI 14 is still very complete. On this smartphone we find practically all the features, including wireless screen sharing and some goodies that allow you to have the maximum possible privacy . I am very attentive to these aspects and I must say that in addition to the application lock with password on startup, which I use a lot and which is not always present, I found the possibility of activating blurring in the previews of the applications inside really interesting of multitasking. A feature that is almost never found but which allows you to have an additional privacy filter if someone were to look at our smartphone (in short, also perfect for avoiding showing attractive young ladies on TikTok who appear continuously – only to me? – while you pass between one app and another).

The interface in general is however a bit too loaded, not so much with options and settings which, however, could be organized even better, as with useless applications that make the smartphone “a little too Chinese”. Although everything can be disabled or uninstalled, finding absurd games, 2 Poco applications, dual Xiaomi software that join Google or default Android, is not the best. Mi Browser has some good functions but it is still “invasive” with some suggestions that come out in the notification bar and an application that does everything, including the browser, but even too much!

Another aspect is that, by default, the advertisements are active which, as in all MIUI, I advise you to deactivate in a few moments from the settings by searching for “advertising”. True details, everything is customizable and manageable but the feeling is always that with MIUI it takes a few days before being able to adapt the interface to us.

However, I appreciated the fast side panels for managing floating windows, audio and multimedia controls with also the possibility of using fast forward up to 2X on many video and native video apps (I abuse it to decrease listening times of many contents).

Are there any bugs? In principle, I have seen very few imperfections, no crashes but actually, by activating the automatic rotation, if you place the smartphone on the desk, when unlocking you may find the last application used horizontally instead of vertically. I think it’s a problem of refinement of the accelerometer management, nothing that can’t be solved in software.

DATA SHEET

• display: Flow Amoled DotDisplay da 6,67″, 2400 x 1080, 1200nit, refresh rate 120Hz (60/90/120 Hz)
• mobile platform: 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G
• memory:
  • 6/8GB LPDDR4X RAM
  • 128 GB /256 GB internal UFS 2.2 expandable via microSD
• cameras:
  • Front: 16MP with f/2.4 aperture
  • posteriori:
    • 108MP main wide angle, 1/1.56″ sensor
    • 8MP ultra wide angle, FOV 120°
    • 2MP macro with f/2.4 aperture
• Battery: 5,000mAh with 67W turbo charging
• connettività: 5G dual SIM, WiFi 6 ax, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, USB-C, GPS, jack audio, IR blaster, Galileo, Glonass, Beidou, QZSS
• fingerprint sensor: lateral
• audio: 2x speaker
• dimensioni: 165.88mm x 76.21mm x 7.9mm
• weight : 189g
• colors : Green, Blue and Black
• OS: MIUI 14 for POCO

USER EXPERIENCE

 

A few words: Poco X5 Pro is a splinter! This is what I feel like telling you after this week of use. The Snapdragon 778G processor combined with 8GB of RAM (there is a 6GB version), make the smartphone always very responsive, fast, fluid and extremely pleasant to use. You also want a large and excellent quality screen, but the X5 Pro gives satisfaction and what amazed me is the consistency of the animations, always very beautiful, pleasant and perfectly synchronized with our action. The fixed 120Hz, which I set as a value in the settings, gives that extra spark to the whole UI.

Multitasking is also excellent and although 8GB is a lot, there is also the possibility of taking advantage of the RAM boost up to 5GB and therefore making the use of different applications at the same time even wider. In short, I had a good time and I didn’t think that a Poco could go like this given the experiences I had previously which had certainly not thrilled me.

We are not dealing with a fake Top of the Range but with a very balanced mid-range with the right design choices.

The battery is another worthy aspect. True, 5000mAh are many, but they are also associated with an excellent processor and an interface that is well optimized and therefore has no abnormal consumption. Well, a lot, even the temperature which has always remained low even after long gaming sessions (among other things, excellent gaming suite) or navigation with Google Maps.

No problems with reception, use of bluetooth or anything else, on the contrary, the Wi-Fi amazed me: Poco X5 Pro is the mid-range with the best Wi-Fi speed tested to date and able to beat even the extremely fastest top-of-the-range smartphones. expensive. I rarely exceed 1GB/s in real download consistently and this X5 Pro is flawless and is always very consistent with the results.

 

Furthermore, in call, no problem with sensor and pleasant audio. Stereo also in speakerphone and with Jack Audio present which I always find handy in some cases.

In general, therefore, a very positive experience and, despite its size, it is much more comfortable and manageable in the hand than an S23 Ultra for example. Very different materials and a smaller width are obviously two key elements but this Poco is still a smartphone that manages to combine a large display with excellent handling, which is not a given.

PHOTO AND VIDEO

 

Poco X5 Pro is the classic Xiaomi that tries to amaze even just from the technical data sheet and the use of a 108MP camera certainly does not go unnoticed. Obviously we are not talking about the best 108MP sensor on the market but still an excellent 1/1.52″ unit that defends itself well in good light conditions. 

FOTO A 108MP

The app is well done, it doesn’t have any particularly complex settings or dispersive menus. The main part has all the options and then there is the dedicated 108MP mode which however does not apply any kind of post-shot optimization. 

However, that grain is not perfect during the day and a little too soft if you make a crop in the photo. Unlike other smartphones of the same price, the chromatic consistency between the cameras is appreciable, which does not differ much under the same scene and daylight conditions. 

It should also be noted that the 108MP does have a higher resolution but, since it does not activate all the software optimizations, it can have a lower yield in some parts such as, in the case you see below, the sky which is less uniform.

In the evening obviously the quality deteriorates as imaginable but in general it is certainly not the worst 108MP I have seen considering the various mid-range smartphones that use this lens today.

The Wide has a resolution of 8MP and, as always happens, it is only useful during the day in particular cases: in general to be avoided together with the rather superfluous macro having only 2MP of resolution. 

Excellent opinion instead for the videos: they are very stable thanks to the EIS, clean, with good audio and with a fast and enjoyable focus. No jumps but good softness and even in motion it performs well.

CONCLUSIONS

Prejudiced party, Poco X5 Pro amazed me and, in no uncertain terms, it is the best Poco tested to date. In fact there is not one element that stands out and at the same time there is not a detail out of place . It has a fast processor, in the 8/256GB version it has a lot of memory and RAM, fluidity is excellent, it has a reception that has never given me problems, excellent connectivity, excellent autonomy, real proximity sensor, excellent display, excellent dimensions compared to weight and a price which, in promotion, is in any case in line with competitors, the market and expectations.

MIUI may not be to everyone’s liking but it has matured a lot and has no obvious bugs on this device today. Too bad only for the update guarantee not yet extensive and an release in February 2023 with Android 13.

BRIGHT AND CLEARLY VISIBLE DISPLAY FLUIDITY AND PLEASANT USE AUDIO JACK REMAINED EXCELLENT GENERAL BALANCE

ANDROID 12 TO CAMERA OUTPUT MEDIA INTERFACE TO ADAPT AND IT IS NOT THE INTERFACE TO ADAPT TO US

VOTE 7.8