Display
After a successful debut in 2020, the Poco F Pro line is back to offer premium features at an affordable price. The new Poco F5 is the latest in the series and maintains this ethos by offering a powerful processor, a large display, a good camera, and more. Both the standard POCO F5 and its Pro variant feature a 6.67-inch fullHD+ AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and 100 per cent DCI-P3 colour coverage. It also supports HDR and Dolby Vision for enhanced multimedia experience. The vanilla F5 has a FullHD+ resolution and 1000 nits peak brightness, while the Pro variant strikes at a WQHD+ resolution and higher touch sampling rate (480Hz versus 240Hz). The Pro variant also offers more features such as a 3.5mm headphone jack, stereo speakers, and a water-resistant design. Both phones are powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 2 SoC. The standard model does better in CPU benchmarks, while the Pro model scores high on GPU tests and offers excellent stability. This makes it an attractive choice for gamers who take performance seriously.
Camera
The POCO F5 Pro is the latest in Xiaomi's sub-brand's affordable flagship series, promising flagship performance and features for a more palatable price. Despite some familiar software pitfalls, it delivers on most of its promises. The phone's 64MP main camera is surprisingly capable in bright conditions, offering impressive detail and color accuracy. It also does a decent job in mixed lighting. The 8MP ultra-wide is a bit of a letdown, though, with poor white balance and pumped-up contrast compared to the main camera. In benchmark tests, the Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 2 SoC shows its power in tasks that demand high CPU and GPU performance. Our 3DMark Wild Life stress test saw a rock-solid 98.4% stability, meaning that long gaming sessions aren't a problem. The POCO F5 ships with Xiaomi's MIUI 14, a heavily-customised Android 13 skin, but it's optimised well enough to not be a major drag on performance. Some bloatware is present, including roughly half a dozen games and Facebook, TikTok, GetApps, WPS Office, and Xiaomi's pre-installed apps (community, music, feedback, and video). Most of these can be removed.
Performance
The Poco F5 offers a good balance of style and functionality at a fair price. It has a sleek design, a brilliant AMOLED screen and stacks of power under the hood. This year, Poco has upgraded its punch-hole display to an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate and Dolby Vision HDR10+ support. The new display also offers a more vibrant colour range and a higher maximum brightness. Its narrow bezels and chin contribute to an impressive 93.4 per cent screen-to-body ratio. On the software front, the handset runs Xiaomi’s customised MIUI 14 (as Poco is a sub-brand of the Chinese firm). The user interface has hints of both iOS and Android and has lots of customisation options. However, the bloatware is noticeable and many apps send unsolicited notifications. In terms of performance, the phone handles most tasks with ease and doesn't lag or slow down. It also plays graphically-demanding games at high settings and frame rates. Its score of 8 million points on AnTuTu and 3,841 on Geekbench's multi-core test is impressive. The 5,000mAh battery delivers good runtimes, and the ultra battery saver mode ekes out more than a day of usage on a single charge.
Battery
The POCO F5 uses a 5,000mAh battery, which is not the largest in its price range but still offers great performance. The phone can easily last a day on average use and it handles processor- and graphics-intensive workloads with ease. The battery also manages to stay cool even after extended periods of use, resulting in a snappy experience. The handset is able to keep up with competitors such as the Motorola Edge 30, Samsung Galaxy A23 5G and the Pixel 7a in terms of performance. The phone scores over 8,00,847 in AnTuTu and 3,841 in Geekbench's multi-core benchmark tests, which shows that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 chipset has some serious muscle to spare. The POCO F5 is a capable device for gamers and streamers with a splendid screen, powerful processor and excellent cameras. It's not as fast in the camera department as the Pixel 7a or other phones around this price, but it does provide a solid alternative for people looking to save money. It also offers fast wired charging via 67W that gets it up to 35% charge in 15 minutes and fully charges in under 50 minutes, which is impressive for a budget smartphone.
Software
The F5 Pro has a more traditional design compared to the standard POCO F5. Its backplate curves into the frame, it has flat sides and a flat display with a central camera hole. It also uses the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset, which isn't the latest flagship-grade processor, but it still performs well in CPU-related benchmarks. In the 3DMark Wild Life stress test, it scores a rock-solid 98.4% stability, meaning that long gaming sessions won't be an issue. It has a 6.67-inch full HD+ AMOLED display that supports HDR and offers up to 1000 nits peak brightness. It's a little less vibrant than the F4's panel, but it covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. The phone runs Android 13 with MIUI 14 on top, which is a heavily customized version of the software that offers lots of features and customization options. It comes pre-loaded with bloatware that includes a ton of games, Facebook, TikTok and WPS Office apps. Most of these can be removed, but you'll need to take the time to disable ads and a number of apps that send unsolicited notifications.
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