La mid-range of 2022 featured a series of devices that, even personally, I was able to try and explore: POCO has been one of the most active brands in the last twelve months of smartphones, and his X4 Pro it was one of the devices that most struck me for its design, for its value for money and for how incredibly balanced it was.
As per tradition, that moment of the year has arrived when companies begin to announce new products to the public, e POCO it does so with the two totally renewed X5s, in the standard version and in the PRO version. Looking forward to trying the POCO X5 in the coming weeks, we can begin to get an idea of the progress made by the company with the new one POCO X5Pro 5G, a smartphone that raises the mid-range bar ever higher.
Review POCO X5 Pro
Design and Materials
When I try the smartphones of POCOI'll be honest, I always cross my fingers for the most extravagant colors to happen to me, and I must say that this time my superstitious ritual worked. The POCO X5 Pro that I have had the opportunity to try these days is the most particular variant, in full style with the brand: canary yellow back cover with matte finish to the touch, well broken by the canonical rectangular section with rounded edges in which the package is integrated optics and the brand on display screen-printed in aluminum colour.
The dimensions, on the other hand, represent a considerable improvement compared to 2022: in fact, the company has created this smartphone with a particular eye to this aspect, so much so that those of POCO have managed to contain the weight of about 20 grams compared to the X4 PRO, for a total weight of about 181 grams and a really balanced size, 162.1 x 76 x 7.9 mm. This is the X-series device from POCO thinner than ever.
The smartphone frame always remains in plastic: it has a completely clean left side, the right one integrates the volume rocker and the power button of the same color as the back cover, which also includes a biometric sensor for fingerprints, well functional but sometimes difficult to reach given its positioning almost flush with the body, which does not make us feel the button "to the touch". On the underside, however, the POCO X5 Pro houses the trolley for the two SIMs in Nano format (and no, memory expansion via MicroSD is not foreseen) as well as the speaker, the main microphone and the USB-C connector. At the top is the other speaker, the infrared port and the 3.5mm headphone jack.
Speaking of speakers, I can tell you that they are compatible with Dolby Atmos and have a quality that is difficult to compare with other smartphones of the same type price range: the sound quality is good both in terms of pure equalization and in terms of volume, loud enough for any eventuality. As for water resistance, the smartphone seems to be declared IP53 for splashes and dust: therefore not suitable for actual diving.
Display
Steps forward have also been made on the front, that of the display. First of all it must be said that it is a panel from 6.67 "inch FullHD + type Flow Amoled: Have you ever heard about it? In case you missed this news, in short we can say that the Flow Amoled displays (of which POCO X50 Pro is an early adopter in this market segment) are similar to conventional OLED.
The biggest difference between Flow AMOLED and conventional OLED screens is the substrate material: Flow AMOLED uses a special flexible substrate, so on the one hand they can maintain the quality advantages of traditional OLED screens, and on the other hand they improve the appearance related strength and durability. Moreover this technology has allowed to POCO to further resize the edges of the display, that's about this X5 PRO they turn out to be even more optimized than the previous model, especially in the lower part of the screen.
Beyond these purely technical aspects, what I can tell you is that I really fully appreciated this display in concrete terms: there is good brightness, good touchscreen responsiveness and high fluidity during use, for via compatibility with 120Hz. The quality of the colors is excellent, it is no coincidence that there is one 100% DCI-P3 10-bit color coverage. Really nothing to say, especially if you consider that MIUI always offers a good number of possibilities to customize the calibration of the display.
Hardware and Performance
On the hardware front, however, I am sure that many will complain and contest: while the younger brother, POCO X5, was born with almost identical hardware to POCO X4 Pro from last year, the POCO X5 Pro raises the bar a bit with a configuration that I personally like but I'm sure I won't get everyone's positive opinion, especially in relation to the selling price.
The data sheet, in fact, tells us about a processor Snapdragon 778G 6nm Octa-Core, one Adreno 642L GPU, 8GB RAM memory LPDDR5 at 3200MHz, e 256GB of storage. Therefore, the rumors that featured Snapdragon 782 or Snapdragon 778+ were denied; it remains a SoC from the previous generation of smartphones, dated May 2021, but which still manages to still guarantee high-profile performance.
In both benchmarks and daily use tests, in fact, the POCO X5 Pro it won't make you miss a more pumped hardware, because this SoC is so well optimized that it can be compared, in some cases, to higher caliber processors. In operations such as web browsing, multitasking, or even gaming with the most recent titles, I have not encountered any difficulties with this smartphone, also thanks to MIUI 14 which has raised the levels of optimization; to be honest in scenarios like Call of Duty, for example, I noticed some microlag in the initial loading phases, but then during the games I always had a constant framerate at 60 fps, thanks also to the Turbo Mode that can be activated in game.
Also, I'm sure you're wondering how the proximity sensor is doing: good, but I expected it. Probably POCO has understood its mistakes of the past, which is why the physical and non-virtual proximity sensor returns to this new generation, which is obviously responsive and works well.
Software
La MIUI 14, as anticipated a few moments ago, is the protagonist of this POCO X5 Pro: this smartphone features Android version 12 with security patches updated to November 2022, but I'm sure that in a few days after the smartphone will be available to the public, new updates will be published in this regard.
In any case it is the first smartphone that I try with the new MIUI interface and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by the extreme fluidity of the system, an adjective that, honestly, I would never have thought of combining with MIUI which is very rich in functionality and goodies, but has never enjoyed an enviable speed.
Camera
On the photographic front, the formation deployed on the field is very similar to that seen last year, but it must be said that POCO worked a lot on software optimization through AI. The photographic hardware, on the other hand, is composed of a primary lens from 108MP f / 1.9, a lens ultra-wide 8MP f/2.2 and the lens 2MP f / 2.4 macro, in addition of course to the LED flash.
Although we are not dealing with top-of-the-range photographic lenses and the numbers could be misleading, the camera of this one POCO X5 Pro it convinced me overall: the primary lens is able to take good quality photographs, with well-calibrated colors and with adequate sharpness. It also handles dynamic range well, and HDR is well optimized. The big news can be seen in the shutter speed and photographic processing which, now, is practically instantaneous even when night mode is activated.
Compared to last year, the management of the lights has improved a lot: if before at night in the dark with the lights of the street lamps there was a tendency to blend the whole scenario a bit, now the light beams are managed considerably better by the lenses of the POCO X5 Pro. Even the wide angle lens does its job well; owns a good 120 ° field of view and take good photos during the day, a little less at night. They are certainly not to be discarded, but neither are they a point of reference in the market segment.
As for the 16MP selfie camera, however, the fundamental prerequisite is to disable any filter or effect from the camera; once this is done, the shots are good and realistic. The flaw of Xiaomi home devices, for years now, remains that of enabling beauty filters and rejuvenation effects by default: be careful, you may not recognize yourself with modified connotations.
It also improves video recording this year reaches 4K 30 fps as maximum resolution; as usual to enjoy optimal stabilization we will be able to record videos maximum at 1080p 30fps. The overall quality is decent, but the stabilization didn't convince me 100%.
Autonomy
The battery remains identical to last year's model, despite the weight having dropped by more than 20 grams; we have a 5000 mAh unit available which guarantees a day of intense use and, in some cases, still a small residual percentage in the evening. MIUI is also well optimized on this front, probably again due to the tendency to kill background apps. Recharging, on the other hand, takes place via cable via the 67W packaged power supply, whose dimensions are also quite small.
Price and Considerations
But let's get to the sore point, but less sore than expected. Over the last few months we have seen smartphone launches that have raised the price bar more and more: POCO it is placed in the middle, because yes prices have increased but in a more sustained way than the competition. POCO X5 Pro 5G, in fact, officially arrives on the market at 349,99 for the 6/128 variant e 399,99 for the 8/256GB one.
On the occasion of the launch, the company has foreseen the usual initial discounts which include a cut of 50€ on both variants which, therefore, bring the introductory prices to 299,99 and 349,99. That said POCO The X5 Pro 5G is a smartphone which, at the launch price, I might not prefer among the many, but with a few tweaks of a few tens of euros it could become a truly excellent purchase.
