POCO X5 5G Review with Pros, Cons, and Verdict

As I have said earlier, smartphones under Rs 20,000 are not as good as they use to be and the recently launched POCO X5 5G is a prime example of it.

The phone has lots of flaws which is not acceptable for a 19k price tag, so let’s see whether it’s worth buying or if it’s just another re-brand of Redmi.

POCO X5 5G Price

POCO X5 5G Price in India Starts from Rs 18,999 ($200) for 6GB of Ram and 128GB storage while the 8GB of Ram and 256GB variant is priced at Rs 20,999.

The device comes in Jaguar Black, Wildcat Blue, and Supernova Green color options and it will go for sale on March 21st, 2023 at noon via Flipkart.

POCO X5 5G Review

Yes, POCO X5 5G is worth buying, however, it’s not the best smartphone available under Rs 20,000 because the phone has a single speaker, still runs on Android 12, has a plastic unibody, average cameras, and on top of that, POCO already has the POCO X4 Pro 5G at 19k, so it doesn’t make any sense to pay the same money for POCO X5 5G.

Lately, POCO devices are having quality issues whether it’s POCO X3 Pro or even POCO F4. So, it’s a bit hard to recommend the POCO device even if its a sub-brand of Xiaomi.

Related: 5 Best Smartphones Under Rs 20,000

Also, POCO doesn’t have a good record of updating their smartphones. So if you’re buying POCO X5 5G then keep in mind that, you will have to wait a long to get a new OS update while the fact that, POCO X5 still runs on Android 12 which says something about their past record.

POCO X5 5G Pros and Cons

PROS	CONS
Rock Solid Battery Life	No in-display Fingerprint Sensor
Light Weight Build	Only Single Speaker
120Hz sAMOLED Display	Plastic Uni-Body
Super Bright 1200nits Panel	Still Runs on Android 12
7 5G Bands	Missing FM Radio
Present 3.5mm Audio Jack	Not the best for Heavy Gaming
	Average Front and Rear Cameras
	Videography Needs Huge Improvement

Display

The POCO X5 5G comes with a 6.67-inches 120Hz sAMOLED display with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels and a pick brightness of 1200 nits. The phone also has widevine L1 support and even IP53, dust and splash resistant.

Now, the display quality is superb, you will fall in love with it. It’s a super bright panel, so you won’t face any kind of problems while using your smartphone outdoors.

Also, as the phone has an sAMOLED panel, the picture quality is the best.

On the front, POCO has used Corning Gorilla Glass 3 to protect the display whereas it has a plastic frame and back which doesn’t look or feel good from any angle.

It would have been better if the phone had an aluminum frame but now, that’s just a dream.

Related: Best Smartphones Under Rs 25,000

By the way, POCO has added a side-mounted fingerprint sensor which is another cost-cut because the phone has an AMOLED panel, so it would have been easy to add an in-display fingerprint sensor.

Apart from the build, the POCO X5 5G has the best display quality under Rs 20,000. You will be more than happy with it whether you want to play games or watch movies.

Performance

Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 is an old SoC and yet POCO has added the same on POCO X5 5G. Now, the processor is well-balanced, so there won’t be any sort of problems while playing games but it’s not built for heavy gaming.

You will have a good time while playing games like BGMI Mobile, COD Mobile, or even PUBG State at Medium graphics with 50fps.

Again, as I have said, this is not a powerful processor. So don’t expect too much from it.

Problems with Software

Google has announced a developer preview of Android 14 and still, POCO is like, oh, we don’t care…

The POCO X5 5G runs on MIUI 13 based on Android 12 and there is no confirmation from POCO about future OS updates.

Also, POCO is very bad when it comes to OS updates, so whatever news comes from POCO, take that news with peace of salt.

Now, MIUI 13 was very bad when it comes to stability and it hasn’t been fixed. For example, when installing any new app from Play Store, the screen might freeze for a second.

I have only pointed out one of the problems, there are tons that you will experience if you buy POCO X5 5G. The issue wasn’t only with MIUI 13 but it was also with Android 12 as well, so I’m hoping that POCO updates this device soon.

Related: 5 Best Smartphones Under Rs 30000

By the way, like Redmi Devices, the POCO X5 5G doesn’t come with ads but it does come with a few pre-installed apps along with Hot app and Hot games.

Again, when using a smartphone with a 120Hz refresh rate, you will see frame drops here and there, this is a bug within the MIUI 13 and also, the Snapdragon 695 is not powerful, so it adds up to it.

Overall, Android 13 has been out for about a year and it would have been better if the POCO X5 5G was running on Android 13 instant of Android 12.

Cameras

Get Ready to hear, the POCO X5 5G has a world-class 48MP primary sensor, 8MP ultra-wide lens, and 2MP macro sensor while there 13MP selfie shooter on the front.

Both the rear as well as front cameras can shoot videos at 1080p@30fps.

The quality of the video is not good at all. Let’s say, you’re shooting videos under sunlight then the sensor will try to add a bit of white and saturated colors along with that, sometime, it does have dynamic range issues.

The front camera is worst when shooting videos in daylight or even at night, so don’t try to vlog or shoot videos with the front camera unless and until you want to shoot yourself (get it)…

All in all, the phone doesn’t shoot videos whether at night or day.

That 48MP primary sensor is kind of okay, it tries to take natural images as it can, and because of that, some images come with a yellow tint. This doesn’t happen every single time but it happens and I’m hoping that POCO will fix this issue.

The portrait mode is kind of meh, it misses out on edge detection every single time, especially, when you’re taking images of a girl and if that girl has lots of hair.

The 8MP ultra-wide lens is average, it’s just an add-on like 2MP macro sensor.

Back to the 13MP selfie shooter, this is a good sensor for those who love to post their photos on Social media because there won’t be any need to edit the selfies as they will come out white.

By the way, I don’t like it when my photos come out white by default. At least give me the option to take selfies the way I look. Now, I’m okay with a little bit of processing but too much processing is not what I prefer.

Overall, the POCO X5 5G takes average images with below-average videos, it can be improved with updates but in the end, it all depends on the POCO whether they want to work on the software or want to launch a new smartphone.

Check out the camera samples of POCO X5 5G (raw images – Gdrive)

Audio

Your ears might explode after hearing music from the POCO X5 5G speaker because it has a top-class single-bottom firing speaker.

This is a 19k device and yet, it has only a single speaker and the fact is, the single speaker is also not good. The speaker is not as loud as other smartphones and the clear is not too good.

By the way, yes, the phone has Carrier Aggregation which again is a good add-on for calling. Also, the Carrier Aggregation does support 5G as well.

Yes, the POCO X5 5G is a 5G Smartphone and it has 7 5G Bands which include SA: N1, N3, N5, N8, N28, N40, N78, and NSA: N1, N3, N40, N78.

Battery Life

The 5,000mAh battery lasts for the day without any problems whether you’re a heavy user or normal. The Snapdragon 695 SoC takes care of everything.

Now, of course, if you use the POCO X5 5G all day long then you will have to use the 33W charger which comes with the box and it will take about 60 minutes to charge from 0% to 100%.

POCO X5 5G Review

POCO X5 5G Full Specifications

Price	6GB Ram + 128GB storage: Rs 18,999 ($200) 8GB Ram + 256GB storage: Rs 20,999
Available From	March 21st, 2023 at noon via Flipkart
Display	6.67-inches FHD+ Super AMOLED Panel 120Hz Screen Refresh Rate 240Hz Touch Sampling rate 1200nits pick the brightness DCI-P3 Wide Color Gamut 395 PPI density 85% screen-to-body ratio
Resolution	1080 x 2400 pixels resolution
Dimensions	165.9 x 76.2 x 8 mm
Build	Glass front (Corning Gorilla Glass 3) Plastic Frame Plastic back IP53, dust and splash resistant
OS	Android 12 – MIUI 13
Chipset	Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 (6 nm) GPU: Adreno 619 CPU: Octa-core (2×2.2 GHz Kryo 660 Gold & 6×1.7 GHz Kryo 660 Silver)
Performance Score	AnTuTu: 400895 (v9) GeekBench: 2088 (v5.1)
Storage Options	6GB Ram + 128GB Storage 8GB Ram + 256GB Storage LPDDR4x Ram UFS 2.2 Storage
SD-Card Slot	Hybrid Sim Slot
Rear Cameras	48MP Primary Sensor (f/1.9) 8MP Ultra-Wide (f/2.2) 2MP Macro (f/2.4) Video 1080p@30fps
Front Camera	13MP Selfie Shooter (f/2.5) Video 1080p@30fps
3.5mm Jack	Yes
Stereo Speakers	No
Carrier Aggregation	Yes, 4 x 4 MIMO.
Bluetooth Version	5.1
Wi-Fi Version	6.0 Supports 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Dual Band
FM Radio	No
NFC	No
5G Support	Yes, 7 5G Bands SA: N1, N3, N5, N8, N28, N40, and N78 NSA: N1, N3, N40, and N78
Sensors	Fingerprint (side), Ambient Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, E-Compass
Fingerprint Sensor	Side-Mounted Fingerprint Sensor
Battery	5,000mAh (non-removable) 33W Wired Fast Charging 0% to 100% in 60 Minutes
Colors	Jaguar Black, Wildcat Blue, and Supernova Green
Weight	189 Gram
Model Number	MZB0DCMIN
SAR Value	SAR Limit: 1.6 W/kg, Head SAR: 0.842 W/kg, Body SAR: 0.682 W/kg

*Image Credit: Perfect Gadget