When Poco launched back in 2018, it was seen as a Xiaomi sub-brand designed to take on the OnePlus 6 at the time. But just like the OnePlus brand, Poco too has evolved over the years, with the brand now focusing more on the mid-range and affordable segment. Poco's latest phone for India is the X5 Pro- successor to the much-loved Poco X4 Pro which had a relatively affordable price of Rs 18,999 when it launched last year. But the Poco X5 Pro is a slightly more expensive phone, starting at Rs 22,999- though with some bank offers it goes down to Rs 20,999. This also oddly puts it in competition against the Redmi Note 12 Pro as well as the Realme 10 Pro+. But what is really different about the Poco X5 Pro and how does it perform? Here’s our review Poco X5 Pro: What are the full specifications? The Poco X5 Pro has a 6.67-inch full HD+ AMOLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate. It runs the Snapdragon 778G chipset coupled with 6 or 8GB RAM and 128GB or 256GB storage options. The phone comes with a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, an IP53 rating for dust and water resistance. It has a 108MP main camera coupled with an 8MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro camera. The front camera is 16MP. The battery is 5000 mAh with 67W fast charging. The phone comes with MIUI 14 based on Android 12. Poco X5 Pro review: What is new on the design and display front? With the Poco X5 Pro, the design change is evident compared to the previous generation. The triple camera is aligned in a manner similar to the Redmi Note 12 Pro series, though Poco has put the brand name right next to the camera. I would have preferred something more subtle on the brand name front. Yes, the Poco X5 Pro is still being offered in the brand’s distinct yellow variant, but I have the blue-coloured one for review. It does look striking, but again it doesn’t stand out from the sea of blues I have seen over the past two years. It doesn’t help Poco’s cause when I place it next to the Redmi Note 12 Pro that the similarities in the camera alignment jump out. Still, Poco X5 Pro has a flatter design, which is not the best fit when you are holding it. Also, the Poco comes with a plastic body and frame, which might be a dampener for some. What I do like about the Poco X5 Pro is that this is a very slim and lightweight phone. It is not as bulky as some of the other devices I’ve used recently-despite the 5000 mAh battery it packs. It’s also good to see it comes with an IP53 dust and water-resistant rating which makes the phone resistant to odd splashes. As always, I would recommend that you don’t go deliberately dunking your phone into the water. The Poco X5 Pro comes with a 6.67-inch full HD+ AMOLED display with a dot camera on top. The display itself is excellent and so is the audio on this device. The screen works well even in bright sunlight. I watched Wakanda Forever in bright outdoors and most of the scenes were legible on the device-- though of course, it is a bit more reflective than what one would prefer. That audio quality is also quite good, be it for gaming or just regular content consumption. You can crank up the refresh rate to 120 Hz or go with the default one which is preset. The default option will change the refresh rate based on the scenarios and is ideal for power consumption. I switched to 120Hz for the purpose of this review. Poco X5 Pro review: What about the performance, is really better than the Redmi Note 12 series? The Poco X5 Pro is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G, which the company has been stressing offers better performance compared to the Mediatek Dimensity 1080 which incidentally also powers the Redmi Note 12 Pro and Pro+. Of course, Poco is pitching the X5 Pro against the realme 10 Pro+, which also runs the Mediatek one. There’s no doubt the Snapdragon 778G is a bit dated, but we’ve seen it on several reliable phones like the Nothing phone (1), the Samsung Galaxy M52, etc. Based on my daily usage, the Poco X5 Pro seems like a reasonably fast device. I was able to run Asphalt 9 (at high graphics settings) without any hiccups, Genshin Impact ran smoothly for me (though I stuck with default lower settings) and it worked well in daily scenarios. For those interested in benchmark scores, I got 2820 on GeekBench 5 in multi-core and 784 in single-core. In comparison, the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ scored 781 in single-core and 2201 in multi-core. Keep in mind these scores are only indicative of actual performance. I would also say that when it comes to performance, both phones are well-matched. I have the 8GB RAM + 256GB storage review unit for Poco X5 Pro, though the base variant is 6GB RAM+ 128GB storage. Poco X5 Pro review: What about the camera? This is one area where I was not expected much from Poco. As reviewers, we have seen the 108MP countless times on devices now. But the Poco X5 Pro surprises with its main rear camera and selfie camera performance. In outdoor lighting and even in low light the Poco X5 Pro does a fairly impressive job handling most colours and delivering crisp details. I also liked the few selfies I clicked, because they did not seem over-processed. Portrait mode also works well on this, and manages to create accurate subject and background segmentation. The camera also delivers surprisingly well with indoor videos as I saw when using this at a recent outing with my son. The colours are crisp, the skin tones look nice, and the video quality is excellent given the lighting in this particular place was not perfect. But it is not all great with the camera. It struggles with bright red colours, which is obvious. The reds look a bit washed out on this one, and sometimes they are just burnt and details missing at times. Plus the ultra-wide angle ends up in a serious drop in quality when shooting. The problem for me though is that there’s nothing that makes the Poco X5 Pro’s camera stand out against the competition. Yes, this is an excellent camera, but this has become the norm in the price bracket. Poco X5 Pro review: What about the software and battery? Poco is giving you a 5000 mAh battery, which will easily last more than a day with gaming, etc. I am using a 5G-enabled SIM and so far I’m down to 35 per cent- I charged it mid-afternoon yesterday and spent close to an hour or so gaming on this, followed by watching a movie, listening to music on Spotify, etc. The 67W fast charging is good enough to get to full charge quickly. Frankly, even with an 80 per cent charge, you will be sorted for the day. The software is where I have a problem. This phone is on Android 12 still, which is unacceptable in 2023. It also means you will get only two software updates which are Android 13 and Android 14 along with three years of security updates. Yes, it comes with MIUI 14 on it, but users would have appreciated the latest Android as well. I’m still not a fan of the Poco launcher and do get confused when using it, compared to say the basic MIUI. But for those who don’t have a problem with this, Poco X5 Pro should not pose any issues. Poco X5 Pro review: Should you consider this device? Poco X5 Pro is a capable device no doubt, with excellent performance and a camera to back it up. But there’s a problem, and that's the price. At Rs 24,999 (for the 8GB RAM variant), it can’t compete against the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ or Pro, which is just more premium and seems like a better option to consider- though the latter two are more expensive. But again with bank discounts, one can always bring the price down further for Redmi Note 12 Pro series and the Poco as well. The question is then whether you should go with Poco or Redmi, if you are getting hefty discounts. I would say the Redmi Note 12 Pro series has an edge here. But if you’re a Poco fan and were waiting to upgrade from the X3 or say an M series device, then sure you can go ahead and pick this.
