Poco X5 Review: A Great Feeling Mid-Range 5G Smartphone

Poco X5 is the latest addition to the Poco lineup. The 2023 smartphone has almost the same technology as the last year but with a better and modern 2023 design. Xiaomi is repeating the previous year’s practice in which Redmi Note 11 Pro and Poco X4 Pro were no better than their predecessors. But this time, Poco X5 supports 5G. It has an old and controversial chipset. So, it might be a little different in real-life scenarios. 

Poco is still the most affordable smartphone; only Realme might be able to beat this pack. So, let’s see how Poco X5 competes against the 2023 smartphone storm. 

Let’s Inspect

Summary

Pros

• Affordable Pricing
• Slim and Smart Design
• Long battery life
• 5G Support
• Great Image Quality
• Beautiful AMOLED Display

Cons

• Lack of NFC
• Video Recording is Limited to 1080p
• Mid-range chipset
• UI has ads and comes with many pre-installed apps

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Summary

Pros

• Affordable Pricing
• Slim and Smart Design
• Long battery life
• 5G Support
• Great Image Quality 
• Beautiful AMOLED Display

Cons

• Lack of NFC
• Video Recording is Limited to 1080p
• Mid-range chipset
• UI has ads and comes with many pre-installed apps

Poco X5 – Price

In 2023, Poco X5 is still among the most affordable smartphones in the market. It cost only 270$ in February 2023 with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. The only real competitor I can think of is Realme smartphones. 

Poco X5 – Unboxing

The unboxing experience is pretty good, almost the same as the previous generation. It has the trademark black and yellow Poco packaging. Inside we have the blue Poco X5 nicely wrapped in plastic wrapping. Moreover, we have the silicon case and other usual paperwork and the sim ejection tool. 

Overall, the unboxing is nice, pretty much like it has been over time with Poco phones. 

Appearance and Build Quality

Poco X5 has a slightly different design than the previous X4 Pro. It has a nice 6.67-inch AMOLED display on the front with a hole punch camera in the center. On the back, we have the big camera part, half cameras module, and half empty section with POCO branding. The bottom side has the speaker and the charging port with a 3.5mm headphone jack and IR Blaster on top. 

The phone feels very good in the hand; it is among the slimmest phone on the market and weighs 189 grams, which is pretty good for a mobile phone with a 5000mAh battery. Plastic back and frame also contribute to the lightweight of the smartphone. 

Technical Specifications

• Body: Plastic Frame and Back with Gorilla Glass 3 Protection on top
• Weight: 189-grams
• Screen: 6.67-inch AMOLED 120Hz display with 1080×2400 resolution
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G processor 
• Memory: 128GB + 6GB, 256GB + 8GB
• OS: Android 12 covered with MIUI 13 screen
• Cameras: Main Camera 48MP with f/1.8, Ultra-wide 8MP with f/2.2, Macro 2MP with f/2.4, Front Camera: 13MP with f/2.5 
• Battery: 5000mAh 
• Sensors: Fingerprint sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity sensor
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.1, Dual Band Wi-Fi, USB Type-C 2.0, GPS, GLONASS, 
• Infrared: Yes

Poco X5 – Camera

Let’s start the review with the main selling point of the mobile phone. The cameras! It has four cameras, three on the back and one on the front. The overall specs of the cameras are as follows. 

• Main Camera: 48MP with f/1.8 aperture
• Ultra-wide Angle: 8MP Lens with f/2.2, 118 FOV
• Macro Lens: 2MP with f/2.4
• Front Camera: 13MP with f/2.5 
• Can record 1080p videos at 30FPS

Rear Cameras

The main camera is 48MP, but many of the specs are not revealed by the Poco. We don’t know about the image sensor, but we know one thing for sure most of the magic happens in post-processing, and Poco X5 has a capable processor, which we can also see in these pictures. They are sharp, clear, and have excellent colors. 

The low light photography is also very improved. It is not as good as the Google Pixel 7 but still respectable, considering it’s a low mid-range cell phone. 

The disappointing thing was the limitation of Poco X5 to just 1080p 30FPS. In this modern era 4K is not a luxury. It’s a necessity that all smartphones have nowadays. Overall, the video is alright and a bit unstable, as there is no OIS. 

Let’s move to the other two modules Ultra-wide camera is alright in the daytime. And the macro lens is again a waste of space and money because clearly, macro shots of the primary camera are better than the picture of the 2MP macro lens. 

Front Camera

Poco X5 also has a decent front camera capable of producing some good shots and can shoot 1080p at 30 FPS like the back camera. 

Poco X5 – Screen

The screen is another remarkable aspect of the Poco X5. Although it’s an old screen, it is still pretty good. The colors are bright, and the 120Hz refresh rate is exceptional, but it is limited to 60Hz for many apps. The screen is excellent. I absolutely loved playing games and streaming multimedia. 

The only downside is the weaker screen, unlike the last generation’s Gorilla Glass 5 is Gorilla Glass 3 protection which is weaker and easy to break.

User Experience and Performance

The user experience is outstanding. I have said before that MIUI is one of the best Android skins on smartphones. Right now, Poco X5 is running MIUI 13, but we will soon see MIUI 14. Overall, the user experience is excellent. It’s snappy and has many configurations and settings to tune it your way. 

But some things have a negative impact on the user experience. Like it has over 15 useless apps pre-installed, eating up a lot of storage. Moreover, the UI shows ads when you are using proprietary smartphone apps, which is quite irritating. But the ads are region-dependent, so you might not see them in your region. 

Poco X5’s performance is not the greatest but pretty good than many mid-range smartphones. It can run high-end games at medium settings, and with the bigger battery, you can enjoy gaming for a long time. 

Poco X5 – Connectivity

Poco X5 supports 5G and has an excellent implementation of LTE along with dual-band Wi-Fi. All of them are very nicely implemented, but I would have loved to see Wi-Fi 6. Then we have a hybrid dual sim slot to accommodate a microSD card. The smartphone also has an IR blaster and a good old 3.5mm headphone jack. 

The only thing missing in my region is the NFC. So, for NFC payment, you might have to get NFC-enabled Mi Band 6. 

Battery Endurance

Next up, we have the battery. Poco X5 has a 5000mAh battery partnered with a low-power SoC and a screen with remarkable battery performance. The 33W fast charging is pretty good but not as good as the last year’s 120W of Poco X4. The only thing MIUI is not good at is standby time which we might see getting better in the near future. 

Downsides

• No wireless charging
• Should have 4K video recording
• The chipset is not the best
• No waterproof 

Verdict

This is everything about Poco X5. I have tied to like the smartphone because of its great and slim design, but in terms of hardware development, Poco has lost its flare. Because Poco X4 Pro is still better than X5 in many besides the 5G support. So, if you are looking for an upgrade, Poco X5 is not for you. But if you are in the market for s dependable mid-range smartphone that will receive regular software and security updates for 2-3 years, then I think Poco X5 can be a nice option. 

Poco X5