Poco F5 Assessment: Correct Poco Energy

Verdict

The Poco F5 is one other sturdy mid-range cellphone, with glorious efficiency for the cash and an excellent AMOLED show. Add in a comparatively refined design, and it’s a transparent enchancment over the Poco F4. Nevertheless, a stagnant digital camera system, the ever-unlovable MIUI 14, and an unwelcome worth bump mood a few of these encouraging components.

Introduction

The headline for the 2023 Poco F-series would possibly effectively be the return of the Professional line after three years out, however let’s face it: extra individuals can be eyeing up the plain Poco F5.

Whereas the Poco F5 is much more value-focused than the Poco F5 Professional, although, it nonetheless prices £449. Not solely is that an £80 bump over the Poco F4, it’s additionally precisely the identical worth because the Google Pixel 7a and the Samsung Galaxy A54. 

Xiaomi has stepped up into an altogether extra aggressive league with its newest performance-focused mid-ranger. Does it have the chops to compete?

Design and Display

• Extra refined design than earlier than
• Slim and lightweight
• Robust 6.67-inch AMOLED show

The Poco F5 Professional might need various eye-catching parts, however I desire the Poco F5’s design. Its squared-off edges, shimmering (however not shiny) again, and discrete digital camera module appear and feel extra trendy and simply plain premium than the Professional.

It’s a extra slender system, too, at 161.1 x 75 x 7.9mm, whereas a a lot lighter weight of 181g makes it good and pocketable. All in all, it’s a step up from the Poco F4’s design language, which felt a bit extra low cost and generic.

It helps that I used to be despatched the Blue mannequin, which has a pleasant shimmering tinge to it, and which fends off fingerprints fairly effectively. It’s also possible to specify the Poco F5 in Black or White, with the latter particularly coming with an attention-grabbing mottled end.

There’s a sure symmetry to the highest and backside bezels, which is all the time good to see in a less expensive cellphone. You continue to solely get an IP53 ranking, nonetheless, which is inferior to the likes of the Pixel 7a and the Samsung Galaxy A54. There’s Gorilla Glass 5 round entrance, which beats the Pixel 7a’s GG3 for toughness. 

As if the Poco F5’s improved design wasn’t sufficient, Xiaomi has additionally restored the three.5mm headphones jack after skipping the characteristic on the Poco F4. That’s good to see, and backs up all of the gaming discuss from the model. Wi-fi buds usually imply latency, in spite of everything.

Whereas the design has gotten a bit extra refined, Xiaomi has caught with broadly the identical show set-up with the Poco F5. It’s one other 6.67-inch FHD+ (1080 x 2400) AMOLED show with a 120Hz refresh price and a 240Hz contact response price. The height brightness (in HBM) has been nudged up ever so barely, from 900 nits within the Poco F4 to 1000 nits right here, however there actually isn’t a lot in it. 

I’ve no complaints concerning the Poco F5 display screen staying a lot the identical. It’s nonetheless an agreeably large, vibrant, responsive, and colour-accurate panel for the cash, and one which’s effectively suited to consuming media on the go. 

A method wherein it’s really gotten a bit worse, nonetheless, is with a contact sampling price of 240Hz slightly than the Poco F4’s 360Hz. For the overwhelming majority of customers, this gained’t be remotely consequential. However provided that Poco usually courts the gaming crowd and bigs up the gaming efficiency of its telephones, it’s not a very good look, at the least on paper. 

This display screen is flanked by a set of stereo audio system, that are loud and clear, if a bit missing in nuance and bass.

Digicam

• Identical so-so digital camera system as final yr
• 64MP important sensor with OIS
• 8MP ultra-wide and pointless 2MP macro

Xiaomi seems to have caught with precisely the identical triple digital camera system because the Poco F4. After all, it’s additionally the identical system because the Poco F5 Professional, which is a slightly extra flattering level of comparability.

As soon as once more there’s a slightly compact 1/2in 64MP important sensor, a mediocre 8MP ultra-wide, and an inconsequential 2MP macro. OIS makes a return for that important sensor, which is nice information, however once more nothing new.

The primary digital camera captures stable pictures with respectable element and dynamic vary, at the least in sturdy lighting. Colors are typically vibrant in such situations, with out dropping too far into garish territory – at the least by default.

The AI assistant is turned off by default, as appears to be the case throughout the broader Xiaomi vary. It is a good factor, as when energetic it tends to punch colors up an excessive amount of. Blue skies and inexperienced fields, particularly, grow to be slightly gaudy. The place it may be useful is in issues corresponding to indoors meals pictures, the place a bit additional brightness and color is commonly welcome.

It additionally helps elevate ultra-wide pictures which can be in any other case drab, flat, and missing intimately, with a giant drop-off on the edges. We’ve come to count on this from such mid-range set-ups, after all.

There’s no telephoto digital camera, so the Poco F5 crops in on the primary sensor for its 2x pictures. These look high-quality in good lighting, with the superior tone and dynamic vary serving to out. However there’s a sure softness that speaks to that weedy sensor and Xiaomi’s picture processing working time beyond regulation to compensate.

There’s a 2MP macro digital camera too, however it merely doesn’t seize ample element to make it in any respect worthwhile. The truth that macro mode is buried within the digital camera menu slightly than readily accessible from the primary digital camera UI means that Xiaomi is aware of this to be the case.

There’s a 16MP selfie digital camera round entrance, however it’s slightly restricted on the subject of element and dynamic vary. A number of the selfies I took appeared bleached out, and my pores and skin appeared even sicklier than regular. Selfie portraits, in the meantime, do a reliable job of distinguishing the topic, however wrestle much more with overexposure.

General, the Poco F5’s digital camera is completely acceptable for the cash, however it lags behind mid-range rivals such because the Redmi Word 12 Professional Plus and with its spectacular 200MP important digital camera, in addition to the Redmi Word 12 Professional and the OnePlus Nord 2T with their bigger Sony IMX766 picture sensor. Google’s Pixel 7a and Pixel 6a, after all, stay mid-range digital camera stars for a similar or a lot much less cash respectively.

Efficiency

• Quick, trendy Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 2
• Capacious 12GB RAM and 256GB storage
• MIUI as cluttered as ever

Poco telephones, and the Poco F-series particularly, have all the time been performance-focused. It’s good to see the Poco F5 sticking to its heritage and packing a extremely succesful Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 2 chip.

In CPU phrases, this chip really outperforms the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 discovered within the Poco F5 Professional – at the least in keeping with my Geekbench assessments. That’s spectacular stuff.

It’s a special case on the subject of the GPU outcomes, the place the Poco F5 Professional comfortably beats its little brother in like-for-like circumstances. Even so, the Poco F5 isn’t any slouch, and I used to be in a position to play Wreckfest on ramped-up settings. There was the odd stutter that implies you is perhaps higher off barely under the highest settings, however it remained playable.

It likely helps that my take a look at mannequin got here with a beneficiant 12GB RAM, which is the one spec accessible within the UK. You’ll get 256GB of storage in that sole mannequin, too, which is equally beneficiant. It could have been good to have a lower-capacity choice (maybe 8GB/128GB) at a less expensive start line, although.

And so we come to the a part of the assessment the place we point out the important thing weak spot with most if not all Xiaomi telephones: software program. 

You’re getting MIUI 14 layered on high of Android 13 with the Poco F5, identical to with the Poco F5 Professional, to not point out the Xiaomi 13 and the Redmi Word 12 Professional. It’s no much less cluttered or clumsy right here.

There’s nonetheless far an excessive amount of bloatware, together with three internet browsers, which by no means ceases to amaze me irrespective of what number of occasions over the previous few months I’ve encountered it (and Xiaomi releases a lot of telephones). The UI is usually very busy and considerably nannying with its persistent notifications.

In its defence, it’s fairly a customisable UI, and you may work to minimise the annoying bits by deleting apps, putting in others, and tinkering round within the Settings menu. You may swap away from that convoluted cut up notification menu (like iOS, however clunkier) to one thing extra easy, arrange the always-on show, modify the notifications, and extra.

However actually, you shouldn’t must work that arduous straight out of the field. Different mid-range telephones, most notably the Pixel 7a and the Motorola Edge 40, don’t make you bounce via so many hoops.

Battery life

• 5000mAh battery
• Two days of sunshine utilization
• 67W wired charging

Xiaomi has given the Poco F5 a 5000mAh battery, which is far bigger than the Poco F4’s 4500mAh cell. Contemplating final yr’s mannequin was fairly a bit heavier, that’s fairly a feat.

Certain sufficient, the Poco F5 will see anybody via a full day of utilization with change to spare. I used to be in a position to get via lighter days with greater than 60% left, which means this can be a real two-dayer for some individuals. For players and extra intensive customers, you possibly can count on a full day with no worries.

Hit it laborious with media – which is sort of what the Poco model is all about – and it’ll stand as much as the problem. An hour of 4K video streaming drained 6%, whereas the identical video at FHD drained simply 3%. Half an hour of intensive gaming on Wreckfest drained 11%, whereas an hour of music streaming on YouTube Music didn’t even transfer the dial under 100%.

The Poco F5 is a stable stamina champ, then, and it additionally fees up fairly shortly with 67W quick cost capabilities. In my expertise, it’ll go from empty to 47% in quarter-hour, and on to 82% in half-hour. It hits 100% in round 52 minutes.

There are faster-charging telephones for the cash (the Redmi Word 12 Professional Plus with its 120W charger springs to thoughts), however it’s not unhealthy in any respect. It’s a disgrace there’s no wi-fi charging right here, nonetheless. Ordinarily, it might barely be value a point out, however the Poco F5 Professional does embrace such a characteristic this yr, as does the Pixel 7a.

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