Poco X5 Review

introduction

The Poco X5 5G is here, another spec offering in an already huge lineup of spec offerings. Between display types, camera hardware, and chipset capabilities, there’s a reasonably priced Poco for everyone—now even more so.

The X5, in particular, insists on next-generation connectivity as stated in the official name and on the packaging. In that sense, it’s a notch above the M5 and M5 which are limited to LTE. But the Snapdragon 695 trades peak performance and 4K recording for that 5G – the M5s have 4K. The X5 Pro, on the other hand, gets the Snapdragon 778 for a noticeable performance upgrade (at an extra cost, of course).

The 6.67-inch AMOLED display with 120Hz capability is one of its main selling points – according to the specs, it matches that of the Pro in all respects except maximum brightness while being superior to the M-series screens in one way or another. in the other .

The camera system is in a similar intermediate position. The Poco X5 has a regular and an ultrawide camera (so better than the M5 without UW), but that primary camera doesn’t have the same specs as the M5 or X5 Pro.

The Xiaomi Poco X5 specifications at a glance:

• Body: 165.9×76.2×8.0mm, 188g; glass front (Gorilla Glass 3), plastic frame, plastic back; IP53, dustproof and splashproof.
• Screen: 6.67″ AMOLED, 120Hz, 1200 nits (peak), 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 395ppi.
• chipsets: Qualcomm SM6375 Snapdragon 695 5G (6nm): Octa-core (2×2.2GHz Kryo 660 Gold and 6×1.7GHz Kryo 660 Silver); Adreno 619.
• Memory: 128GB 6GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM; UFS 2.2; microSDXC (uses a shared SIM slot).
• Operating system/software: Android 12, MIUI 13.
• Rear camera: Broad (main): 48MP, f/1.8, PDF; Ultra wide angle: 8MP, f/2.2; Macros: 2MP, f/2.4.
• Front camera: 13 MP, f/2.5, (wide).
• Video capture: Rear camera: 1080p@30fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
• Drums: 5000mAh; 33W wired.
• Various: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); infrared port; 3.5mm jack; NFC.

Another “middle option” can be found if you pull out the card tray: the X5 has a shared cutout for the microSD and second SIM, while the M5 and M5 have dedicated memory slots and the X5 Pros it has none. A moderately nasty flaw in the spec sheet is the single speaker, a rarity on Xiaomi phones as of late and one of the few areas where the X5 is closer to the M5.

In some ways, all of this differentiation makes sense: The X5 is kind of a new model, as there wasn’t a vanilla X4 last year, so it has to carve out a niche for itself. There’s also a handful of Redmi Note 12s that have this or that little bit different, and the global Vanilla 12 is probably closest to this here Poco (other chipset, maybe brighter display). Whether such granular segmentation is really necessary is a question we can’t answer, but we’ll at least try to establish how good the Poco X5 itself is.

Poco X5 unboxing

The X5 arrives in the usual Poco cardboard packaging: a black lid with yellow lettering covers a yellow box.

Inside, the contents aren’t out of the ordinary either. You get a full set of accessories to get you started: a 33W charger and USB-A-to-C cable, plus a basic clear case for protection.