Since its inception, Poco, one of Xiaomi's offshoots, has been a brand defined by its pursuit of high-end features at a more affordable price point than a mid-range handset. Nowhere is that more evident than in its X series models, and for 2023, there are two new additions to this lineup: the X5 and X5 Pro. Can these devices continue Xiaomi's tradition of offering the best value for money?
POCO X5 Pro: a special design
In recent years, we've seen many smartphone makers move away from designs with curved edges and rear panels. It's a shame, as those shapes are much more comfortable to hold than designs with right and square angles. Few are among them, with the X5 Pro offering flat edges and tight angles on all sides and corners. Visually, it's cleaner than any rounded or curved shape would be, offering that clean break between each surface of the phone, but it does mean that the ergonomics suffer a little.
Like any good POCO, the X5 Pro comes in yellow and black versions. The latter is truly eye-catching. This Bumblebee paint job comes on a phone that's predominantly made of plastic, in an effort to keep material costs down.
But it's not the shiny, flexible plastic of the cheap smartphones of yesteryear. It has an almost glossy finish on the surface, which adds visual texture to the point of being almost shiny, but not quite. One of the advantages of this finish is that it's neither glossy nor slippery, so it shouldn't slide randomly across surfaces, as might happen with a polished oleophobic glass finish.
Otherwise, much of the design feels very practical and doesn't get in the way of what you want to do. The bezels around the display, for example, are very thin and don't encroach on the visible surface. The punch-hole camera is small and discreet, located in the center of the top edge. There's even a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top edge for connecting wired headphones.
Being closer to the low-end of the market means one more thing: a physical fingerprint scanner. It's located on the power button on the side and works quickly and reliably. Ghost touches are virtually nonexistent.
Screen
The Poco X5 Pro's display is one of the best reasons to buy it. Typically, when buying phones at the lower end of the market, you have to sacrifice something in the display department, and yet with the X5 Pro, it doesn't seem significantly hampered in any discernible area.
It's bright, rich in color, and has such smooth and responsive refresh rates that it almost feels like you're using a high-end device. It can go up to 120Hz, which means that when you scroll through interface elements and software, the animation is truly fluid and clear at all times. In this sense, it's like using a high-end flagship.
There are, of course, differences between using this and using a much more expensive phone screen. However, most are invisible to the naked eye. For example, Poco doesn't adapt to incremental steps between 1 Hz and 120 Hz to save significant battery life. Instead, it switches between 60 Hz and 120 Hz depending on the content.
However, to enjoy the video, there is little we can say against the X5 Pro's screen, considering its launch price.
Battery and performance
As we mentioned in the display section, there's a real sense of speed and fluidity to the Poco X5 Pro. It handles tasks effortlessly, and it doesn't seem to matter what those tasks are. Part of that, of course, is due to the display's 120Hz refresh rate capability, and part of it is due to the processing power behind it.
It's powered by the Snapdragon 778G chipset, which isn't Qualcomm's top-of-the-range platform, but it's more than enough to ensure a fast and responsive experience. Games and apps load without any perceptible delay. It might not be as instantaneous and snappy as a Snapdragon 8 series phone, but unless you're sitting next to one of those, we don't think you'll notice.
Plus, it's backed by ample RAM and storage to ensure there's enough memory to handle all your biggest demands. There are different versions with 8GB of RAM (plus an additional 3GB borrowed from storage) and 256GB of said storage. All in all, a good amount of memory that shouldn't run out in a flash. However, this is the higher RAM/storage variant of the two. The cheaper base model comes with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage (again with RAM upgrade).
Camera
With any affordable phone, tempering your expectations is always a good idea. Especially when you're looking at a well-priced phone with a triple-camera system. Having tested several mid-range and entry-level phones over the past few years, we weren't surprised to see that of the three rear cameras, two have relatively low resolution and one is completely redundant.
The low-quality lens—sometimes affectionately called a "sticker camera"—is in this case a 2-megapixel macro camera. And like the 2-megapixel macro cameras that came before it, it's difficult to get a decent image with. Sure, it lets you get close to objects and focus on them, but the lack of sharpness is very noticeable. It also doesn't capture colors or depth of field very well, and delivers a squashed, dark, and flat image with a lot of grainy noise.
Like the macro sensor, the 8-megapixel ultrawide (again, a comparatively low resolution by modern standards) delivers results that aren't very sharp, often quite blurry, and particularly distorted toward the edges. Colors aren't always well balanced with the main lens, often appearing darker and more contrasty. If you need a little more width for your shots, it's fine, but it's not a particularly powerful camera.
For the most part—if you buy this phone—you'll want to stick with the main camera. It's a 108-megapixel sensor, as we've seen on some other affordable phones, but it means that if you're in good lighting conditions, you can take a quick photo and know it should turn out well.
It's detailed, has good color, and generally performs well in bright lighting thanks to HDR processing. Its sharpness and depth of field won't compete with the most expensive phones on the market, of course, but it's good enough to share on social media.
Arguably its strongest point is that with its extra pixels, you can zoom in 2 times and still get a pretty sharp image without too much blur or noise.
Verdict
With any phone that seeks to maximize its capabilities while keeping costs low for the buyer, compromises always have to be made. Whether in design and manufacturing, as with the X5 Pro, or in other areas. The trick is to get all the important things right so that you feel like you're using a phone that actually performs well on a daily basis.
That's exactly what Poco has managed to do with the X5 Pro. By skimping a bit on the design and build, it's managed to make a phone that - in many ways - acts like a more expensive device. It has a large, vibrant display with fast refresh rates, smooth performance, fast charging, and at least a decent camera.
The final feeling, however, is the same as always with POCO: you get a lot of phone for an affordable amount of money, and true to tradition, the POCO is a phone with excellent value for money.