Poco F5 Review: Power Comes at a Cost

Worth When Reviewed

Unavailable within the US

Xaoimi is again once more this spring with the Poco F5, the pure follow-up to final 12 months’s Poco F4 and F4 GT. Although the spin-off model’s namesake was initially considered as a top-tier gaming machine for its highly effective specs and relatively low worth, you’ll battle to seek out that focus in its branding this time round.

Nonetheless, the ability beneath the unassuming hood can compete. With dual-SIM help and a killer chip, it’s nearly every part you want at a discount worth. Nearly.

Design & Construct

• Plain however sturdy plastic and steel building
• Glittery blue is straightforward on the eyes
• Little wasted display house

Proper out of the gate, the Poco F5 feels acquainted, triggering flashbacks to a Vivo X51 5G I briefly examined a few years again. It’s skinny and options modestly rounded corners, is gentle sufficient to carry all through the day, and appears acceptable in knowledgeable atmosphere with the straightforward, uniform, and unassuming reflective paint job on the again with just about microscopic glitter aptitude for catching the sunshine.

In order for you the shiny blue headset I examined, you’ll must accept the non-Professional variant. However each variations can be found in Black and White as effectively, albeit with completely different finishes.

Josh Brown / Foundry

The display exhibits a gap punch digital camera notch on the prime with near-invisible bezels, and the three-lens 64Mp digital camera cluster on the again juts out simply sufficient to have the entire assemble wobble a tiny bit when poked and prodded on a flat floor. Selecting it up feels wonderful due to it, and I’m comfortable to report that there’s been no challenge with scuffing the lenses.

The place you would possibly say Poco clearly hasn’t forgotten about players this 12 months is the considerably surprising reintroduction of the basic 3.5mm headphone jack. You gained’t get any generic wired earbuds within the field to take you on a nostalgia journey, however you’ll get a turbo-charging 67W charger (USB-A to C) and a clear rubber case. The helpful inclusion definitely saved its bacon when it went flying out of my pocket and into the street. 

Choosing the Poco F5 Professional swaps out the three.5mm headphone jack for 30W wi-fi charging help. Although, similar to the omission of earbuds within the field, there’s no included wi-fi charger as is typical.

Display & Audio system

• Strong FHD+ 120Hz panel
• Plentiful color gamut tweaks
• Middling audio system

The 6.67in FHD+ (2400 x 1080) AMOLED always-on show clocks in at a variable (or fastened) 120Hz refresh price full with 240Hz sampling to maintain animations clean and your touches responsive. On the Professional mannequin, that’s upgraded to a WQHD+ panel with a 480Hz sampling price that, on the very least, ought to fulfill players with a flowery four-finger grip.

Josh Brown / Foundry

Sticking with the display for a second, it’s completely wonderful. Nothing spectacular or progressive, however completely useable in just about each possible state of affairs. AMOLED at all times helps colors pop, and it may get loads vibrant sufficient to remain useable in brighter situations.

Studying mode ensures a summer time’s day gained’t cease you scrolling, and the “always-on” function turns it into an unimposing bedside clock with out actually impacting the battery for the day forward. 4 color presets can be found within the settings, and you’ll even dial in your most well-liked look past the P3 and SRGB color gamut toggles. 

You’ll discover a single bottom-firing speaker on the highest and backside of the machine. Sadly, I’d take into account them beneath common, producing tinny and processed sound. They’ll get loud sufficient to blast out bursts of music for buddies, however exterior of YouTube vlogs and extra informal gaming, you’ll in all probability need to stick with an exterior audio supply to save lots of any delicate ears. Dolby Atmos help can’t save them.

Specs & Efficiency 

• Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 chip
• 12GB RAM + 256GB storage
• 3.5mm headphone jack

The Poco F5 and Poco F5 Professional seem like sidelining the gaming markets manufacturers like Asus ROG, Crimson Magic, and Lenovo now have on lock with {hardware} buttons and peripherals, as a substitute highlighting its place as a good all-rounder for the worth that simply so occurs to have a specific penchant for working at present’s demanding 3D digital worlds.

Aside from the appreciated return of the headphone jack that ought to guarantee FPS gamers aren’t deprived with latency-prone Bluetooth cans, the Poco F5 options lots of the similar {hardware} tips of the earlier cellphone. The facet energy button nonetheless acts as a lightning-fast fingerprint sensor for unlocking the machine, and facial recognition returns.

Josh Brown / Foundry

On the core degree, the Poco F5 leaps over its descendants by the use of the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 chip that cruises by at present’s prime cell titles at modest settings. Stepping as much as the Professional mannequin earns you the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 for some additional oomph however Geekbench scores are very comparable.

Regardless of the claims concerning the liquid cooling tech inside, you’ll nonetheless discover it will get comparatively heat beneath a gaming load. Not sufficient to have an effect on issues in a four-season local weather, nevertheless it’s one thing to pay attention to within the blistering warmth. Both approach, the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 performs admirably in each state of affairs, stomping the competitors in 3D titles like Genshin Impression, Honkai Star Rail, and Pokemon Masters EX.

Paired with the 12GB RAM (with a less expensive possibility for 8GB in some markets), it stored up with my diversified workload with no main hiccups. The RAM might have doubled over final 12 months’s mannequin (as has the storage), however the worth has elevated by nearly 20%, too, pushing the Poco branding additional afield from its finances powerhouse fame of the early days.

In the actual world, I ran the Poco F5 for round two weeks. I used to be in a position to make use of the machine in a lot the identical approach I’ve my iPhone for the final couple of years: Podcasts within the tub, YouTube Music on a stroll, and loads of juice to take to the marina to play Pokemon Go for a few hours, snapping photographs of the canal boats, spring blooms, and wildlife all of the whereas.

Cameras

• 64Mp essential shooter
• Extremely-wide, macro, and 16Mp selfie lenses
• 4K video with OIS & EIS

The place the gaming chops of the Poco F5 begin to resurface is whenever you evaluate the digital camera to others sharing the identical worth vary. The big lenses and 64Mp decision might look and sound spectacular on paper, however they’re truly the place the compromises turn into clear. Regardless of the setting, it’s arduous to be actually impressed by something you snap with the essential point-and-shoot technique of taking photographs which most individuals will use.

Josh Brown / Foundry

A number of smartphone pictures is dealt with by software program magic today, however whether or not that’s occurring right here or not, photos simply look oddly processed or noisy in my opinion. Pure gentle clearly helps rather a lot, however you’ll be able to nonetheless pinch into your photographs to see textures like animal fur, tough terrain, or leaves on timber look subpar and unrealistic.

The 16Mp snapper is completely wonderful. Just a little heat with no alarmingly apparent “magnificence” results occurring, which might both be a blessing or a curse, nevertheless it’s totally useable.

With basic indoor lightning situations, photographs are both darkish or void of color, with nighttime photographs being just about unattainable to get with out some form of backlight. It’s totally usable, and also you’ll discover loads of “professional” and social-focused options constructed into the MIUI 14 digital camera app to fiddle round with, nevertheless it’s a key instance of a much bigger quantity not often which means an entire lot on a handheld machine. 4K video is current, too, and also you’ll actually discover the picture stabilisation kick in as you zoom.

The worth is appropriate, the ability is thru the roof, however one thing needed to give. In the event you can, spend extra to graduate to the Samsung Galaxy A54 or Google Pixel 7a for a greater shooter for those who’re on the lookout for a real general-use machine.

Battery Life & Charging

• 5000mAh battery
• 67W charging
• Charger and cable included

On the aforementioned day on the marina, I had greater than sufficient juice to observe some movies within the cafe and even managed to make use of Google Maps to stroll the additional half an hour into city. I might have comfortably match the 90-minute stroll again house into the combo, however a basic Spring rainstorm had me working for the bus as a substitute, getting right into a textual content chat, doomscrolling Twitter, and briefly calling my mom on the stroll from the bus cease.

Josh Brown / Foundry

The entire journey was a stacked afternoon within the Spring solar and one of the diversified (and largely unintentional) use instances I might have imagined for any cellphone. It was juiced as much as near-max earlier than I left the home at 1pm, and barely dipped into the beneath 70% by the point I returned house round 5 hours later.

The Poco F5 comfortably lasted by the remainder of the busy Saturday, pushing by a extra reserved Sunday of some gentle Honkai Star Rail play and much more podcasts by paired Bluetooth earbuds whereas I chipped away at yard work.

Within the PCMark for Android battery take a look at, the cellphone lasted a formidable 14 hours and one minute, largely due to the mix of the sizable cell, environment friendly processor and FHD+ decision.

Utilizing the included 67W USB-A/C wall charger resuscitated the days-dead Poco F5 to 43% in quarter-hour. After half-hour, it was juiced up toan spectacular 81%. By comparability, a Samsung Galaxy A54, which doesn’t even include a charger in any respect, might solely soak up sufficient of that energy to achieve 16- and 31% in the identical timeframe respectively.

Software program & Apps

• Android 13 with MIUI 14 pores and skin
• Google apps
• Loads of pre-installed bloatware

One draw back to the Poco F5 is the sheer quantity of bloatware put in out of the gate. Doubtless serving to maintain the price low by subsidising by software program partnerships like Reserving.com, AliExpress, and no matter WPS Workplace is, you’ll even discover a stack of fundamental video games (and Brawl Stars) clogging up a small share of the storage and display house whenever you boot it up.

They’re straightforward sufficient to uninstall, however the Mi Distant app utilizing the included IR blaster might be one thing to maintain. In my case, the spotty makes an attempt at controlling my Samsung TV meant it couldn’t substitute my constantly-misplaced distant. Many of the key Google apps are current, however I nonetheless needed to obtain Google’s podcast app and health apps to get it prepared for my private day-to-day actions.

One included app, Recreation Turbo, highlights the times of the model’s heavier gaming focus. Just like the Armory Crate cope with the Asus ROG handsets, Recreation Turbo makes an attempt to auto-detect any video games you put in and lets a pull-out overlay sit unassumingly along side the display as you play.

Josh Brown / Foundry

Sliding it out reveals a stack of options like real-time temperature measuring, app shortcuts, reminiscence optimisation efforts, and a great deal of different nifty options for getting essentially the most out of your gameplay like customising touch-resistant areas to restrict unintentional actions, and turning off the display whereas maintaining the sport lively – which is nice for AFK-style titles.

On the draw back, you’ll solely get two OS updates and three years of safety updates, which is behind rivals akin to Google and Samsung.

Worth & Availability

The Poco F5 is on sale now and even the early-bird pricing of £379 matches the worth of the older Poco F4, however it’s geared up with extra reminiscence and storage than its predecessor.

Common pricing is £449 for the 256GB mannequin with 12GB of RAM. That is the one possibility on the official Mi retailer the place you’re in a position to snatch it up in its Black, White (with “ice flake” rear patterns), or the blue model reviewed.

Whichever handset you go for, you’ll earn double Mi Factors you would put towards subsequent 12 months’s mannequin. For a time, you’ll be able to put £50 of that worth distinction again into the Mi retailer to bag a Poco Watch, too.

It’s also possible to discover it at AliExpress for those who’re comfortable to import it. The Poco F5 Professional is over £100 additional at £559 if you’d like issues like the next decision, wi-fi charging and extra spectacular cameras.

An enormous challenge for the Poco F5 is that the inflated worth places it in direct competitors with prime mid-range telephones just like the Galaxy A54, Nothing Cellphone (1) and Pixel 7a which can possible be higher buys within the UK.

Josh Brown / Foundry

Verdict

Assuming you’re a Poco die-hard, the F5 is probably going what you’ve been ready for. It’s an enormous step up from the F3 and F4 by way of efficiency, and the headphone jack is again with a vengeance.

Nonetheless, the worth enhance makes it arduous to suggest over different finances telephones with higher digital camera methods or barely dearer gaming telephones with nifty {hardware} choices. If gaming is all you care about, it stomps equally priced telephones just like the Samsung A54 and Pixel 7a, nevertheless it lags behind in different areas.

In the event you’re anticipating to keep it up for various years, it’s value your consideration. It truly is a powerhouse in relation to uncooked gaming efficiency. In any other case, you may get away with spending rather less on the OnePlus Nord 2T for diverse use or, in case your finances is versatile, a used Asus ROG Cellphone 6 for laser-focused gaming help.

A excessive refresh price, quick charging, the Recreation Turbo mode, and the headphone jack solidify the Poco F5 as a gaming-focused smartphone masquerading as an all-rounder, however it may’t be each at its yearly rising worth level.

Specs

• Android 13 with MIUI 14
• 6.67in FHD+ AMOLED show with fingerprint reader
• 120Hz max refresh price
• Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 octa-core SOC
• 8/12GB RAM
• 256GB storage
• Cameras:
  • 64Mp essential digital camera with OIS
  • 8Mp ultrawide digital camera
  • 2Mp macro digital camera
  • 16Mp entrance digital camera
• 5000mAh battery
• USB-C port
• 67W charging
• Twin-SIM (twin standby 5G+5G)
• Twin audio system
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, IR blaster
• IP53 splash-proof
• 161mm x 75mm x 8mm
• 181g