The Poco X5 Professional is the most recent finances Android telephone within the Xiaomi sub-brand’s X sequence. 2021’s Poco X3 Professional delivered a ton of horsepower and little else, whereas 2022’s Poco X4 Professional supplied loads of upgrades however a serious efficiency downgrade. So do you get the perfect of each worlds with the follow-up? It’s time to search out out in our Poco X5 Professional evaluation.

• Poco X5 Professional (6GB/128GB): $299
• Poco X5 Professional (8GB/256GB): $349

The Poco X5 Professional is a follow-up to the Poco X4 Professional, and the Xiaomi sub-brand is taking the identical strategy as final yr’s telephone. That’s, you’re a rebadged model of the China-only Redmi Word 12 Professional Velocity Version, very similar to the Poco X4 Professional was a rebranded Redmi Word 11 Professional 5G with a recent coat of paint.

There aren’t many upgrades from the Poco X4 Professional to the X5 Professional at first look, however the largest change is undoubtedly the swap from the middling Snapdragon 695 SoC to the extra succesful Snapdragon 778G chipset. So budget-conscious cell avid gamers must be completely satisfied on paper. The Poco X5 Professional additionally hangs on to a couple more and more uncommon options reminiscent of a quick and correct, side-mounted fingerprint reader, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and an IR blaster for controlling legacy home equipment. It does, nevertheless, lose out on expandable storage as not like it’s predecessor the Poco X5 Professional doesn’t have a microSD card slot.

The Poco X5 Professional begins at $299 for the 6GB/128GB mannequin, with an early chook value of $249 (there’s no phrase on Euro pricing). Look forward to finding it in Black, Blue, and Yellow colorways. The telephone shall be obtainable in Asia-Pacific, Africa, Europe, elements of Latin America, and the Center East. Sadly, you’ll need to import this gadget in the event you’re in North America because it’s not obtainable there.

Unbox the brand new Poco telephone and the very first thing you’ll discover is simply how mild and skinny it’s. Poco says it’s the slimmest X-series gadget round, at 7.9mm thickness, which isn’t all that completely different from the older telephone. However the ~20g weight discount is definitely noticeable when coming from the X4 Professional.

You’ve received flat, plastic edges and a plastic again right here too. These anticipating a steel and glass slab is perhaps disenchanted, however the usage of plastic means the rear cowl received’t spiderweb if dropped. Our evaluation unit is a Yellow mannequin, that includes a yellow again and yellow energy button. The rear cowl is extra of a golden yellow coloration scheme versus banana yellow, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a refreshing departure from the ocean of gray and black colorways.

I’m additionally glad to see that the plastic again isn’t a fingerprint magnet in any respect. Moreover, the Poco X5 Professional gives IP53 mud and water resistance, which is at all times welcomed within the finances phase.

Maintain the ability button and also you’ll be greeted by an ideal 6.67-inch 120Hz OLED display screen. It’s not the brightest, measuring in at a peak of 900 nits, however I had no points in direct daylight and it compares favorably to different finances handsets. The telephone additionally allows you to select between 60Hz, 120Hz, or a dynamic refresh price. The latter solely switches between 60Hz and 120Hz moderately than dropping all the way down to 30Hz or 24Hz. In any occasion, you’re nonetheless getting an ideal viewing expertise for the worth.

The Poco X5 Professional can also be bringing the Snapdragon 778G chipset to the desk, and it is a main step up over the X4 Professional’s Snapdragon 695 processor. Geekbench scores see a rise over the older telephone, with multi-core CPU scores exhibiting an enormous leap. These scores are a way off the Snapdragon 870-toting Poco F4, not to mention latest flagship telephones, nevertheless it nonetheless bodes effectively for the gadget’s efficiency effectively into the long run.

Luckily, this silicon improve bears out in real-world utilization too. Fundamental duties like launching apps, multitasking, and scrolling on the whole had been a clean expertise in our testing. The telephone additionally dealt with 3D gaming fairly effectively. Genshin Influence ran at 60fps for essentially the most half on low settings, whereas Name of Responsibility Cell ran at most graphics and max body charges too. It’s even viable for GameCube and PS2 emulation, though you’ll undoubtedly see some slowdown in additional demanding video games like Burnout 3 or Shadow of the Colossus. It’s not a sooner expertise throughout the board because the X5 Professional nonetheless takes one and a half to 2 seconds to course of full-res 108MP photographs, however that shall be a fringe use case for most individuals.

This horsepower improve doesn’t come on the expense of battery life, both. Poco’s handset is provided with a 5,000mAh battery, and I used to be in a position to recover from 9 hours of screen-on time throughout two days of average utilization. This utilization consisted of a number of hours of YouTube playback, downloading and taking part in Genshin Influence, and shopping Reddit. In any other case, extra typical days consisting of some Telegram messaging, shopping Reddit, watching movies, and taking part in numerous video games yielded over eight hours of screen-on time and simply over two days of utilization. That’s spectacular proper there.

Poco’s newest gadget handed with flying colours when it got here to {hardware}, however software program is one other story altogether. Maybe the largest concern is the quantity of bloatware on board. Out of the field, I counted seven pre-installed video games on the Poco X5 Professional (together with Solitaire, Bubble Shooter, and Genshin Influence), in addition to further apps like Fb, Netflix, WPS Workplace, Opera Mini, and TikTok. Granted, these apps may be uninstalled, however you already know what’s higher? Not having them within the first place.

The Poco X5 Professional additionally ships with MIUI 14 for Poco, albeit atop Android 12. That’s one other disappointing resolution as Android 13 has been out for over 4 months already.

Making issues worse is the truth that Poco hasn’t issued an replace dedication for the gadget. Even Samsung’s Galaxy A14 5G — a telephone that retails for lower than $200 — serves up two main OS updates and 4 years of safety patches. For what it’s value, 2021’s Poco X3 Professional launched with Android 11, is now on Android 12, and is reportedly set to get Android 13/MIUI 14 within the close to future. At the least I didn’t expertise any adverts throughout my time with the gadget, however your area would possibly differ.

It’s not all sunshine on the {hardware} entrance, both. The telephone gives noticeably imbalanced sound from the stereo audio system, with the downward-firing speaker providing a lot louder sound than the highest speaker.

Poco’s handset additionally brings the identical low-quality secondary rear cameras we’ve seen on low cost Xiaomi telephones for years now. However extra on that beneath.

Take a look on the digital camera specs and also you’ll be forgiven for pondering you’re trying on the Poco X4 Professional. We’ve received a nearly similar rear digital camera system on the X5 Professional, specifically a 108MP important digital camera, 8MP ultrawide shooter, and 2MP macro lens.

Sadly, we discover the identical drawbacks because the earlier telephone in the case of the secondary cameras. Photographs from the 8MP ultrawide digital camera provide extra saturated colours than the already vivid pictures from the primary digital camera, in addition to noticeably gentle corners. You’ll even see seen noise in broad daylight, reminiscent of within the blue sky and in shadows. In the meantime, the 2MP macro lens would possibly as effectively be a 2MP watercolor digital camera owing to the extraordinarily splotchy, low-res pictures.

Fortunately, the 108MP important digital camera does an ideal job in most situations. The default 12MP photographs — pixel binned from 108MP — usually look nice through the day, delivering saturated colours, an excellent degree of element, and minimal noise. It’s not flawless, although, as I’ve seen some apparent fringing in scenes with robust HDR (try the highest of the cat’s head within the gallery above). Lens flare additionally rears its head in some conditions, and sometimes the saturation ranges are dialled up a bit too excessive. It’s additionally value noting that portrait mode usually leads to blown-out backgrounds, however general it is a strong finances digital camera telephone for taking pictures in respectable mild.

Change to low-light situations, and the first digital camera sees a serious drop in picture high quality. The evening mode does a serviceable job of elevating the brightness, however noise ranges nonetheless go away us wanting. Take a look at the comparability beneath.

You’ve additionally received the power to shoot at a full 108MP decision, certainly delivering extra element in daytime situations. Nonetheless, these full-resolution photographs are additionally vulnerable to elevated ranges of noise, significantly in darker areas of the scene. 108MP photographs additionally appear to endure from blown highlights extra usually than the 12MP shot, presumably on account of Poco not providing HDR on this mode. Nonetheless, there have been instances once I felt the 108MP shot was effectively value it, with the ocean shell shot within the gallery above delivering far more element than the 12MP model. Take a look at the cropped comparability beneath for a better look.

The Poco X5 Professional delivers respectable (if sometimes gentle) selfies, though portrait selfies are vulnerable to quite a few depth errors even in ultimate situations. Switching to video, we’re glad to report that the telephone certainly gives 4K/30fps and 1080p/60fps modes, which had been lacking from the Poco X4 Professional. There’s additionally a brilliant regular video mode for many who want stability above all else, however we might’ve beloved to see this mode topping out at 60fps.

Different notable digital camera options embody an extended publicity suite of modes (e.g. starry sky, mild portray), vlog mode, timelapse possibility, brief video mode, and a professional mode (full with publicity verification and focus peaking).

The Poco X5 Professional gives comparatively few upgrades over the Poco X4 Professional, however this isn’t essentially a nasty factor. The corporate mounted two of our largest complaints concerning the older telephone, specifically the tough software program and distinct lack of horsepower. Luckily, Poco retained options like that nice display screen, large battery, strong important digital camera, and comparatively quick wired charging. All of it comes collectively to ship a well-rounded finances telephone for essentially the most half, particularly in the event you nab it on the $249 early chook value.

We are saying “for essentially the most half,” as a result of the finances nature of the gadget makes itself identified through these below-average secondary cameras, the older model of Android, bloatware, and the silence concerning a software program replace dedication.

Even with these grumbles, the Poco X5 Professional stacks up effectively to the competitors. Probably the most distinguished rival would be the Samsung Galaxy A23 5G ($299.99 at Amazon). Samsung’s telephone gives much less horsepower, slower wired charging, and a decrease decision important digital camera. However you’re nonetheless getting a large 120Hz OLED display screen, a big battery, and, better of all, Samsung guarantees 4 main OS updates, beating Poco by a rustic mile.

In case you’re prepared to spend just a little further, the OnePlus Nord 2T ($539 at Amazon) is value a glance. Your further money will get you loads of processing grunt, sooner 80W wired charging, and a flagship-level 50MP important digital camera. In saying so, the telephone additionally brings a smaller battery, 90Hz refresh price as an alternative of 120Hz, and no IP score.

Lastly, those that don’t care about efficiency past primary performance would possibly need to take into account the Poco X4 Professional ($325 at Amazon). It’s successfully similar to the X5 Professional bar the chipset improve, bringing a equally nice display screen, that 108MP important digital camera, and an enormous battery with quick wired charging.