POCO F5 is the newest entry within the model’s fashionable F collection of smartphones. This is likely one of the first telephones to launch with the newest Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 processor and guarantees to dwell as much as the legacy of the legendary POCO F1 when it comes to price-to-performance ratio. It additionally considerably upgrades different corners during the last yr’s mannequin. After utilizing this telephone for a while, I’ll share my in-depth expertise with the system on this evaluation of the POCO F5 5G.
POCO F5 5G Overview
The POCO F5 5G appears to be the worldwide model of the Xiaomi Redmi Notice 12 Turbo that was solely launched in China. In India, POCO F5 begins at Rs 29,999 for the 8GB RAM and Rs 33,999 for the 12GB RAM model. Each include 256 GB of storage and can be found in three shade variants: Snowstorm White, Electrical Blue, and Carbon Black. The system we will likely be reviewing is the Snowstorm White model with 12GB of RAM.
Field Contents
Earlier than shifting ahead with the evaluation, allow us to peek at the whole lot you get contained in the field of the POCO F5.
- POCO F5 5G Smartphone
- Plastic Protecting Case
- 67 Watt Charger
- USB-A to USB-C cable
- SIM ejector device
- Fast Begin Information
- Guarantee Card
POCO F5: Construct And Design
POCO F5 is likely one of the better-looking telephones within the F collection. It has a boxy design with flat sides and a slight curve on the again. This makes it simpler to carry the telephone but in addition provides to its general look.
The telephone has a slim profile coming at simply 7.9mm in thickness. The again is product of polycarbonate and has completely different design patterns relying on the colour you purchase. The plastic again additionally helps to maintain the load to a manageable 181 grams.
Going via the system, you will discover the signature Xiaomi IR blaster, secondary microphone, and speaker grill, adopted by a headphone jack on the high.
The underside is dwelling to the SIM card tray that may home 2 SIM playing cards with no possibility for reminiscence growth. There may be additionally the first microphone, USB kind C port, and speaker grill.
On the appropriate, you will discover the amount and the ability button. The facility button sits flush with the body and doubles because the fingerprint scanner. The left of the telephone is empty.
One can find the triple digicam setup within the again, with the dual-tone flash and the POCO 5G branding. The POCO F5 5G is IP53 rated for primary safety in opposition to mud and water droplets.
I favor the design of the POCO F5 because it feels strong in hand although the plastic again does dampen the premium enchantment. The glass again could be extra relevant for this worth phase. One factor I missed was the shortage of an in-display fingerprint sensor. Nonetheless, together with a headphone jack is a welcome addition, as a number of different units within the midrange class normally skip it.
POCO F5: Show
The show is among the many largest highlights of the POCO F5 5G. The telephone has a big 6.67-inch FHD+ show. The bezels are fairly slim and uniform from all sides, making the show come out.
POCO did not go away any stone unturned, because the show comes with all of the bells and whistles one would need. It is an AMOLED panel that helps HDR10+ and Dolby Imaginative and prescient in streaming apps like Netflix and Amazon Prime.
The system is reported to come back with a 12-bit panel that may reproduce over 68 billion colours. Xiaomi makes use of software program trickery so as to add the additional two bits to the ten Bit panel basically making it a ten+2 Bit show.
Based mostly on ongoing utilization, the telephone helps a 120HZ refresh charge and may change between 60HZ and 120HZ. You may change this to maintain the telephone at 120HZ on a regular basis beneath Show settings.
I did not face or discover any points with its viewing angles. The complete show is roofed by Corning Gorilla Glass 5, which protects the entrance glass from minor scratches.
POCO F5’s show can attain 1000 nits, however its brightness falls quick open air.
I’ve to say that the staff at Xiaomi and POCO did a commendable job with the show. It’s among the many greatest show in its class. It’s a little saturated for my style, however as soon as can modify it to supply extra pure colours through settings.
POCO F5: Efficiency
POCO caters to those that need the very best specs the worth can provide. That is why the POCO F5 5G comes with the brand new Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 chipset. It’s coupled with the newest LPDDR5 RAM and quick UFS 3.1 storage.
The 7 branding right here is deceptive, because the processor can ship flagship efficiency. However that doesn’t imply it sips via your battery, as it’s fairly power environment friendly. The heating points seen in different Snapdragon processors are additionally dealt with right here. POCO has added a 725 mm2 Massive Vapor chamber for cooling.
Benchmark Assessments
Benchmarks are usually not a great way to calculate the uncooked efficiency of the system and the way a lot it may be pushed. Seeing all of the hype surrounding the 7+ Gen 2 chipset, I simply needed to see the way it does in benchmarks.
CPU Throttling and Heating Check: The CPU throttling check exhibits how a lot the CPU throttles beneath steady stress and the way a lot the telephone heats throughout this course of. We ran the check twice for quarter-hour every, and listed here are the check outcomes.
The telephone did throttle a bit, dipping into yellow and even pink at occasions. Nonetheless, the CPU did handle to deal with itself fairly nicely. The telephone did get heat however didn’t warmth up.
GeekBench Check: GeekBench exhibits the single-core and multicore efficiency of the CPU. The Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 within the POCO F5 is predicated on the identical structure because the flagship 8+ Gen 1, so we are able to anticipate it to carry out someplace in that ballpark.
As you’ll be able to choose for your self, the system scores 1608 in Single-core efficiency and 4193 in Multi-core efficiency. That is par with different 8+ Gen 1 units just like the OnePlus 11R (evaluation), a midrange flagship smartphone.
Antutu 3D Benchmark Outcomes: Lastly, we ran the Antutu 3D benchmark to get an general POCO F5 5Gs efficiency rating. The telephone crossed the a million mark, scoring 1115952, which places the system face to face with another flagship telephones of 2023.
Nonetheless, operating the check for the second time gave us 969,540, nonetheless a decent rating.
Gaming Efficiency
Transferring in direction of gaming, POCO F5 can simply deal with any recreation with the best settings. I attempted Genshin Influence, and it had no points enjoying it at Excessive graphic settings at 60FPS. I had no points, and the gameplay was clean. The FPS didn’t drop beneath 54, even after enjoying for an hour.
First-person video games like COD Cell ran nicely. I performed for one and a half hours constantly on the highest settings. The telephone might simply deal with the demanding necessities of the sport. I didn’t encounter any stutters as soon as throughout my playthrough. The telephone did not even get sizzling, due to its vapor cooling chamber.
Lastly, I performed Asphalt 9, however the recreation doesn’t have the help for 60 FPS for the chipset for the time being, so my playthrough was restricted to 30 FPS solely. This would possibly get fastened with an replace. As for my expertise, the gameplay was good, and the system had no points working across the excessive graphics requirement of the sport.
Day-to-Day Utilization
POCO F5 delivers efficiency that may simply deal with any activity thrown its means. Whether or not multitasking or intense gaming classes, the telephone breezes previous the whole lot with out breaking a sweat. It flies previous day-to-day utilization and multitasking, and juggling apps or video games with ease. Not as soon as in my time with the POCO F5 did I discover any stutters, hiccups, or lags.
POCO F5: Software program and UI
Coming to the software program facet of issues, POCO F5 5G ships with MIUI 14 primarily based on high of Android 13. Your traditional MIUI expertise is bundled with the POCO launcher with round icon shapes. There are some preinstalled bloatware apps, however you’ll be able to simply uninstall them. The excellent news is that in my time, I didn’t encounter any adverts that plagued MIUI earlier than.
MIUI customers will likely be glad to study that this smartphone comes with the MIUI dialer and messaging app as an alternative of the Google dialer. This implies you’ll be able to document calls with none warning bulletins.
POCO guarantees two years of main Android updates and as much as three years of safety patches. POCO can be providing two years of guarantee on this system.
The consumer’s expertise is snappy as MIUI appears optimized for this system. The animations did not lag; the apps opened instantly whereas the telephone was capable of hold a number of video games operating in reminiscence together with apps on the similar time. One ought to notice that Xiaomi’s observe document for updates has not been up to speed, however hopefully, this may change quickly.
POCO F5: Sound and Haptics
POCO has bundled stereo audio system with the F5 5G, which output sufficient loud sound, nevertheless it appears flat and lacks depth within the music. It ought to suffice for gaming, telephone calls, and different listening necessities.
The telephone has help for Dolby in addition to Excessive Res Audio. You will have to attach your headphones to reap the benefits of both of these.
There are additionally options like Digital Immersive Sound and Observe head motion, offering an extra immersive listening expertise whereas utilizing headphones.
The X-Shocker haptics on this system are fairly good. The vibrations really feel crisp and tight, outshining a number of different equally priced units. You may really feel the haptic vibrations everytime you change brightness, modify audio or navigate via the UI.
POCO F5: Digital camera
POCO F5 has a triple digicam setup on the again and a punch-hole selfie digicam on the entrance. The triple digicam array features a 64 MP sensor with OIS, 8 MP ultra-wide, and a 2 MP macro lens. The selfie digicam is 16 MP. The telephone can document 1080p movies at 60 fps and 4k movies at 30 fps. Whereas the selfie digicam can document as much as 1080p 60 fps.
Coming to digicam efficiency, the first 64 MP lens captures good footage with ample element in all eventualities.
The dynamic vary can be respectable as you’ll be able to choose from the pictures beneath. However the photographs clicked in indoor circumstances are gentle and lack sharpness.
Generally the digicam auto-saturates the colours. The telephone stored boosting the colours even after turning off the AI mode.
The leaves within the above photographs had been initially orangish, however the digicam turned them pink. This exhibits that the digicam software program wants enhancements to maintain the colour tone pure.
Moreover that, different photographs had been good. The OIS helped seize respectable evening photographs. The digicam didn’t battle at evening, as the pictures got here out sharp. You may need to regulate the publicity for some evening pictures, and the digicam can deal with the remaining.
Speaking concerning the ultra-wide and macro digicam, the 8 MP ultra-wide digicam produced good photographs. I favored that there was no shade shift when switching between lenses. The picture readability with the ultra-wide lens was respectable.
Then again, the macro sensor can take good photographs supplied you make investments time because it struggles to concentrate on an object. You may check out the macro samples beneath.
As for the selfie digicam, it may ship good photographs, though it does battle with managing publicity in brilliant conditions. The digicam did soften my pores and skin, nevertheless it wasn’t as aggressive because it was.
The portrait mode works nicely right here; you’ll be able to modify the depth of subject later after taking the photograph.
The digicam has been Achilles’ heel for POCO telephones. This time there have been some enhancements in direction of post-processing and pictures captured from the first digicam, however there’s nonetheless a lot room for enchancment.
POCO F5: Connectivity
As apparent from the title, POCO F5 is a 5G smartphone with help for 12 5G bands. I used the system with my JIO sim and confronted zero issues with the community.
I might obtain 5G speeds of upwards of 500 Mbps consistently. The decision high quality was additionally good; the opposite particular person might hear my voice.
The telephone additionally helps the newest WiFi 6/6E and Bluetooth 5.3 requirements. I had points connecting the system with a few of my Bluetooth peripherals, however that was fastened with an replace.
The IR blaster obtainable on the high permits you to management the TV, set-top field, soundbars, AC, and different units.
POCO F5: Battery and Charging
The 5000 mAh battery has turn into a staple of the POCO smartphones as most up-to-date releases include the identical capability battery. This battery is adequate to final you all through the day, with nonetheless some juice left within the tank.
I might shortly get via the day even after pushing the telephone through a number of hour-long gaming classes coupled with streaming exhibits on Netflix, listening to music, and browsing social media over a 5G community.
The telephone has a quick 67 Watt charger to high up this large battery. It acquired charged from 16% to 100% throughout my testing in simply over one hour. The telephone acquired barely heat throughout quick charging however nothing to the extent of alarming ranges.
POCO F5: Execs and Cons
After going via all of the points of the POCO F5 and discussing them intimately, I’ve compiled an inventory of professionals and cons for the system to summarize my evaluation.
Execs:
- A shocking show that helps HDR 10+ and Dolby Imaginative and prescient
- Good haptic suggestions
- Distinctive efficiency
- It comes with help for all the newest requirements and options
- Captures good particulars in low mild circumstances
- It affords nice worth for its worth
Cons:
- Increase the colours of photographs in particular eventualities
- The macro digicam struggles to focus
- Images captured lack sharpness, and colours look saturated
- Twin speaker output is flat
- Lack of an in-display fingerprint sensor
POCO F5 5G Overview: Closing Verdict
There’s a time period referred to as “Sleeper” for financial system vehicles fitted with high-performance engines, suspension, and breaks. These vehicles are able to going head-to-head with the likes {of professional} racing vehicles. The identical will be stated for POCO F5 5G.
It punches means above its class with regards to pure efficiency. POCO, in its advertising and marketing, describes the F5 because the “Return of the King,” and I agree with this assertion. The F5 holds as much as the legacy of the legendary POCO F1 whereas making obligatory compromises the place it ought to.
That stated, vigilant customers ought to do not forget that Xiaomi shouldn’t be doing so nicely when delivering software program updates. To not overlook the bricked motherboard and digicam saga that POCO remains to be attempting to dig out of. In case you are a gamer or need a value-for-money smartphone from POCO, you’ll not be disillusioned by the POCO F5 5G.
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