One month after the official launch of the Redmi Note 12 , Xiaomi returns to enrich the mid-range by bringing the new F5 and F5 Pro to Italy under the POCO brand . I’ve been trying these two smartphones for more than a week and today we’re starting to talk about the standard version, the F5 to be clear, in order to take a few more days to try the PRO variant in depth and understand how much the more powerful SOC and the smaller upgrades make the difference being two smartphones, I already anticipate it to you, very complete. In these days in the company of the two POCOs I have never had the urgent desire to go back to using a top of the range thanks to a fluidity on par with much more expensive phones, an infinite battery, excellent connectivity and a camera that, although not an excellence in terms of sensor, can still boast of an optical stabilization that helps a lot.
The POCO F5 is a smartphone with the brand new Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 available accompanied by 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage, an AMOLED flow display of 1000Nits of peak brightness with 120Hz refresh rate, a 5000mAh battery with fast 67W, a 64MP main camera with OIS and full connectivity that we’ll talk about shortly. The technical data sheet does not lie and neither does the aesthetics: we are practically faced with a rebrand of the Redmi Note 12 Turbo presented a few weeks ago in China and which at a price slightly higher than the Redmi Note 12 price list almost completely eclipses them but we will return to the Redmi-Poco lineup at the end.
WHAT WE FIND IN THE UNBOXING
Before starting with the analysis of the POCO F5, I would like to say a few words about the unboxing as Xiaomi is now one of the few that not only offers us the charger in the package but also a cover, without going through “fake” bundles or similar marketing gimmicks.
CONSTRUCTION QUALITY AND DESIGN
POCO F5 is a smartphone that fortunately maintains some characteristic features of the Xiaomi sub-brand smartphones such as the carbon fiber texture on the back cover and a featherweight of 181g thanks, just like POCO X5, to almost all plastic materials which however are be of excellent quality. Reading metal and glass is certainly pleasing but if they tend to weigh down the smartphone excessively and perhaps they are also of dubious quality in terms of workmanship, it makes no sense and I prefer a good plastic like this, perhaps using a cover then and still having a reduced weight which favors the usability in medium-long sessions.
There are three colors available for sale for this POCO F5: Carbon Black, Snowstorm White, and Blue. Compared to the Redmi Note 12 Pro, here we do not have the plastic border to act as a sheath around the display. much more pleasant solution thanks to a frame with opaque treatment that can extend over a greater surface, improving the grip among other things. The glass-like back cover, glossy in our black color, creates a slight jaggedness with the side frame but nothing that bothers too much to the touch.
If we delve into the equipment on the frame, we find above the input for the 3.5mm jack, a microphone, an infrared sensor and three holes that allow the audio of the ear capsule to flow better as it is used as a second speaker . Below we find the type c 2.0, the main microphone, the primary speaker and the trolley for the two SIMs protected by a rubber that reminds us of the presence of the IP53 certification , just like on the Redmi Note 12.
DISPLAY AND UNLOCK
The POCO F5 inherits from the Redmi Note 12 the unlocking with the fingerprint sensor placed inside the side power button. The recognition is good, on par with the one tested on the Redmi Note 12 Pro + although I personally preferred the one placed under the display of the PRO variant, for me being left-handed it is much more comfortable. The unlocking with the 2D face is present and is also quite reliable even if on the security side there are obviously always all the limits of the case.
As soon as the POCO F5 is unlocked, we are faced with an unexpected surprise: a display with very narrow frames around it that you would never expect on such a medium range with 93.4% of the surface occupied by the screen, well done POCO. The data just mentioned was possible to achieve thanks to the AMOLED flow display, so called precisely because thanks to its being flexible and half the thickness of a conventional AMOLED it allows to reduce the frames around the display and to be more resistant to shocks. Staying on the subject of resistance, the glass protecting the display is a Gorilla Glass 5, an acceptable compromise compared to the Victus in this price range, whilethere are absolutely no compromises on the quality of the display: FHD+ resolution, 12 Bit color depth, maximum refresh rate at 120Hz with 30/60/90/120 scaling and a declared peak brightness of 500Nits in manual mode and 1000Nits in automatic mode . Outdoors visibility is excellent thanks also to not excessive reflections and a display very flush with the glass, as well as excellent touch management thanks also to a maximum touch sampling of 240Hz
Although it is not something much mentioned during the launch phase, as was the case for the Redmi Note 12 Pro and the F5 Pro, here too we find support for HDR 10+, Dolby Vision and HEVC in third-party applications such as Netflix where we have a more than satisfying multimedia experience, which is rare in this price range. Compared to the F5 Pro, here we do not have an environmental sensor to automatically adapt the white point and the “TrueTone” style color tone, but we still have extensive display customization. Following the trend of this early 2023 of going to reduce eye strain when viewing displays, the POCO F5 also boasts a certification that recognizes and guarantees low blue light emission and a PWM dimming of 1920Hz.
SOFTWARE AND UPDATES
In the previous screens regarding the display settings you will have already started to notice the MIUI 14 for POCO of this POCO F5. Let’s start with the most positive news there can be : there is Android 13! It will seem trivial to say that a phone is marketed in almost mid-2023 with the latest official version of Android but Xiaomi and other manufacturers have accustomed us to a few too many slips such as the Redmi Note 12 Pro and the Xiaomi 13 Liteoffered with Android 12, a policy that we didn’t like especially if we think that it goes against the trend of the three promised majors compared to the two of the past. Also for these new LITTLE the policy I hope is 3 + 4 but waiting for official confirmations be careful because for the sub-brand the old updates roadmap could still be valid, a factor that would put them two steps below Samsung as regards software support, more and more important now for users.
The MIUI for POCO compared to the classic MIUI differs only in optional aesthetic choices and a launcher more accustomed to a casual audience by offering a basic app drawer that can be reached with an upward scroll. Compared to the Xiaomi here we have the POCO Store and the POCO Community as proprietary pre-installed apps while the pre-installed third-party bloatware is important with lots of pre-installed games and apps of dubious utility, fortunately everything can be uninstalled.I consider MIUI 14 to be the first version of the Xiaomi interface that can actually be used without serious bugs or problems of any kind, with the presence of well-made animations and enviable fluidity and ease of use. Compared to MIUI 14 Global, which had already lost many features of MIUI 14 China, here we have even fewer features such as large folders but I understand the target of these smartphones can do without them by focusing on speed and consumption.
POCO F5 Specifications
- display: 6.67″ FHD+ Flow AMOLED DotDisplay, refresh rate up to 120Hz, touch sampling 240Hz, 500nit, contrast 5.000.000:1, PWM dimming 1920Hz, adaptive HDR, reading mode, SGS Low Blue Light Ex, Dolby Vision, HDR 10 +, Corning Gorilla Glass 5
- mobile platform: Qualcomm Snapdragon 7+ Gen2
- memory:
- 8/12GB di RAM LPDDR5 con Dynamic RAM Expansion
- 256GB interna UFS 3.1
- security: side fingerprint sensor, AI Face Unlock
- altro: Liquid Cool Technology 2.0
- connettività: 5G dual SIM, WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, jack 3,5mm, IR, GPS
- audio: Dolby Armos, Hi-Res Audio, Hi-Res Wireless Audio
- OS: MIUI 14 for POCO
- resistance: IP53
- cameras:
- anteriore: 16MP, f/2,45
- posteriori:
- 64MP principale, f/1,79, pixel 1,4um (4-in-1) OIS
- 8MP ultra wide angle, f/2.2, FOV 119°
- 2MP macro 4cm, f/2,4, FF
- battery: 5,000mAh, 67W charging
- dimensions and weight: 161.11×74.95×7.9mm per 181g
- colori: Black, White, Blue
POCO F5 PERFORMANCE AND FUNCTIONALITY
Praise to POCO and Xiaomi for having brought the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 produced by TSMC to less than two months after the official presentation on a smartphone in a mid-range market where we are used to seeing old-fashioned SOCs used to exhaustion. Do you remember the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 tested on the Xiaomi 13 Lite? Here take it but imagine it even more powerful, less energy consuming and with much lower maximum temperatures reached, perfection in practice. I won’t hide from you that I have always been a lover of Qualcomm’s Snap 7 family or SOCs that offer you performance on par with the top of the range with few sacrifices and significantly lower consumption andI still argue that very few people need more than a Snap 7+ Gen 2 can offer in 2023.
Putting the useless benchmarks aside, we find ourselves faced with a SOC that as a CPU is positioned on a par with the Snap 8+ Gen 1 of its older brother F5 Pro while on the GPU side we lose a little something and we notice it in prolonged gaming sessions where after 1h-1h30min of gaming with games like Honkai Star Rail we notice the POCO F5 with the Adreno 725 losing a few frames too many compared to the F5 Pro which with the Adreno 730 continues to run as if it were the first minute of the game. Did I not tell you that alongside the new CPU there are 128/256GB of UFS 3.1 storage and 8/12 GB of dual channel LPDDR5 RAM that can be virtually expandable up to 20GB with the Dynamic Ram Extension. After more than an hour and a half of gaming and two hours of continuous use of the smartphone, the battery temperature reached 41°C with the smartphone more than warm but not scalding, an excellent result if I think of the Pixel 7 which, after only 20-30 minutes it reaches the same temperatures . Heat dissipation is also excellent thanks to the LiquidCool 2.0 technology , within a few minutes in standby the phone returns to the canonical battery 24-26°C for this spring season.
AUTONOMY AND RECHARGE
The battery of the POCO F5 reaches 5000mAh and can boast a quick charge at 67W with a full charge from 0 to 100 in practically 55 minutes . We don’t have wireless charging like the F5 Pro but thanks to the less aggressive SOC in consumption we practically reach the same hours of active display which vary from 5h to 10h. In my most extreme day with 200km of travel by car with cell changes and Android Auto Wireless with Maps always active and more than 500mb of music listened to from Apple Music, lots of photos and videos, just over an hour of hotspot, all 5G with practically zero WiFi, I reached 3h of display with 30% battery remaining at 03:01 at night with 15h of use. On a day always outdoors with 5G but without using the car, I reached 3h30min of SOT with 40% battery with 13h of use. I also bring you the data of a mixed day where I reached 6h and 47min of battery with 14h30min of use or a second day where I reached 6h with 43% battery remaining and 12h20min of active use. In short, the 5000mAh and Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 combination is not only a winner but it is undoubtedly the best power / autonomy ratio, we really hope to see this SOC more used in the future, it’s a wildcard!
MICROPHONES, SENSORS AND RECEPTION
Calling with the POCO F5 is pleasant but nothing surprising. I had some more trouble in speakerphone, as soon as the microphones were further away from the face but all in all the cancellation of surrounding noise is not bad. It is certainly not a concert smartphone, such as the Google Pixel 6A that we recently tried again, but compared to the POCOs of the past it is a step forward. For those wondering, the proximity sensor is physical, we have thoroughly tested it for you (and it is also responsive). Reception is excellent as is the immediate transition from 4G to 5G, all probably also facilitated by the plastic frame.
DOUBLE SPEAKER and DOLBY ATMOS
The double speaker of POCO F5 works in the same way as the one tested on the Redmi Note 12 Pro + and just like this it can make use of the Hi-Res Wireless or via 3.5mm jack input as well as Dolby Atmos. There is therefore no second actual speaker, as on the POCO F5 Pro, but the ear capsule helps to generate stereo audio which however is very unbalanced towards the bottom.
POCO F5 CAMERA
POCO F5 is anything but a camera phone. Once this clarification has been made, I can safely tell you that for those who do not have big needs, the camera is more than satisfactory thanks to a 64mp sensor, probably a 1/2″ size Omnivision OV64B, f/1.8 focal aperture and OIS optical stabilization We have seen and seen the OV64B, it is nothing new and the results are the classics that we can expect from a sensor with three years of experience behind it.The 8MP ultra wide-angle secondary camera and the 2MP Macro with fixed distance focus of 4cm are situational and not very useful, it is time to improve this aspect too considering the price list to which this POCO F5 is proposed.
POCO F5 performs a 4 to 1 binning with the main camera by taking 16 megapixel photos although there is an “HD” shooting mode for full resolution photos which we personally do not recommend: the photos are decidedly heavier and there are no substantial improvements already considering the starting file. The only scenario where this smartphone suffers the most is the environment with few lights or at night as well as scenes of difficult exposure such as a dense forest but the optical stabilizer gives us a big hand in all these situations helping us to eliminate camera shake in cases long exposure times.
The videos stop at 4k 30fps for the main camera and 1080p 30fps for the ultrawide and 16MP selfie camera . Just bringing up the selfies are of decent quality but at the same price a future Pixel 7A but also an “old” Pixel 6A are a separate category. The portrait mode is very artificial and at the slightest decrease in light the detail disappears completely. Obviously forget the integration of secondary sensors such as ultrawide in applications such as Instagram.
CONCLUSIONS
Before drawing conclusions for this POCO F5, let’s make a small summary: featherweight for a smartphone of this segment and type, excellent display and very thin edges, very complete connectivity, some doubts about software support, fantastic performance and incredible battery, discreet but almost useless secondary, borderline selfies, good audio but less full-bodied than the F5, mediocre microphones and physical proximity sensor.
Taking what is listed and placed at the list price of €429/€479 based on the chosen storage configuration, we get an excellent smartphone but which suffers from the competition at home from the Redmi Note 12 Pro which have officially dropped below the €300 threshold and competitors such as the Galaxy A54 or the upcoming Motorola Edge 40. Personally I would also bring up the Google Pixel 7a which approaches the presentation slyly and will have a slightly higher price, however offering a completely different experience in aspects such as the camera and software support. Watch out for price drops because just like the Note 12 which immediately lost those 50-100€, here too the offer and the discount can always be around the cornerand with a discount of that type POCO F5 would become a smartphone that is difficult to beat for anyone. If you asked me, “Marco, would you keep it for a few more weeks now that you’ve finished testing it?” my answer would be affirmative, had the IMX766 of the Redmi Note 12 Pro it would have been perfection. And the POCO F5 Pro? I anticipate that I’m finding it very well and waiting for his in-depth review written here on the blog, I invite you to take my considerations in the video that we published on the YouTube channel!
Furthermore, from today 9 May at 15.00 until 16 May at 23.59, both smartphones will be available in an early bird offer . POCO F5 will be available for purchase at: € 379.90 for the 8GB + 256GB configuration; €399.90, for the 12GB+256GB configuration; BOMB WITH DISCOUNT CODE
POCO F5 5G – 8 + 256GB, 6.67? 120Hz FHD+ POLED, Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2, Triple Camara 64MP with OIS , 5000mAh, NFC, White (IT version+2 years warranty) 429
379 € See offer
POCO F5 5G – 12 + 256GB, 6.67? 120Hz FHD+ POLED, Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2, Triple Camara 64MP with OIS , 5000mAh, NFC, Green (IT version+2 years warranty)
479 399€
POCO F5 Pro 5G – 8 + 256GB, 6.67? 120Hz WQHD+ AMOLED, Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, Triple Camara 64MP with OIS , 5160mAh, NFC, White (IT version+2 years warranty)
579 479€
POCO F5 Pro 5G – 12 + 256GB, 6.67? 120Hz WQHD+ AMOLED, Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, Triple Camara 64MP with OIS , 5160mAh, NFC, White (IT version+2 years warranty)
629 499€
LOW WEIGHT SNAPDRAGON 7+ GEN 2: TOP PERFORMANCE BATTERY AND EXCELLENT CONSUMPTION OPTICAL STABILIZER ON THE MEDIUM RANGE
ANACHRONISTIC SECONDARY CAMERAS QUALITY/PRICE RATIO NOT TOP WITHOUT PROMO
VOTE: 8.5
VIDEO
