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There’s a certain symmetry to the top and bottom bezels, which is always nice to see in a cheaper phone. You still only get an IP53 rating, however, which is inferior to the likes of the Pixel 7a and the Samsung Galaxy A54. There’s Gorilla Glass 5 around front, which beats the Pixel 7a’s GG3 for toughness. The Poco F5 and Poco F5 Pro are expected to be aggressively priced to take on the competition in the mid-range smartphone market.
A lot of smartphone photography is handled by software magic these days, but whether that’s going on here or not, pictures just look oddly processed or noisy in my view. Natural light obviously helps a lot, but you can still pinch into your shots to see textures like animal fur, rough terrain, or leaves on trees look subpar and unrealistic. You’ll have to activate it in the Settings menu, however, and this iteration of Xiaomi’s MIUI doesn’t always seem to be particularly well prepared for it. The default camera widget doesn’t resize properly, as you can see from the pictures. It would have been a lot better to swap out the macro sensor with a telephoto shooter. Since this isn't the case, the phone crops in on the main camera when you're zooming in on a scene. This is generally fine on a bright sunny day, with a respectable level of detail, decent exposure, and a good dynamic range. However, images tend to become soft when the sky is overcast.Xiaomi is also keeping things the same with the camera on the POCO F5, which is the same setup as the POCO F4. It's also the same set of shooters for the F5 Pro, and while that's not entirely a bad thing, the auxiliary cameras are not quite the best on the market.
But really, you shouldn’t have to work that hard straight out of the box. Other mid-range phones, most notably the Pixel 7a and the Motorola Edge 40, don’t make you jump through so many hoops. Battery life It doubtless helps that my test model came with a generous 12GB RAM, which is the only spec available in the UK. You’ll get 256GB of storage in that sole model, too, which is similarly generous. It would have been nice to have a lower-capacity option (perhaps 8GB/128GB) at a cheaper starting point, though. The Xiaomi Poco F5 5G boasts an impressive technical sheet that makes its competitors tremble. Its 6.67-inch flat Amoled display occupies 93% of the front panel and benefits from a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz, compatible with HDR10+ and Dolby Vision formats. This is in addition to a Full HD+ resolution (2400 x 1080 pixels), infinite contrast thanks to OLED technology and a very low response time (44 ms), which translates into incredible fluidity when playing games or using applications. The panel's brightness doesn't disappoint either: its maximum brightness of 1000 nits ensures comfortable reading even in bright sunshine. Power at the Top of its RangeThe F5 Pro gets a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, but the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 in the Poco F5 actually outperforms it in many benchmarks. In everyday use, I did not feel any difference. Both phones can smoothly run games like Real Racing 3 and PUBG Mobile at a high frame rate, and the Pro kept its cool during a monster session of Kingdom Rush Vengeance. Beyond the quirks of Xiaomi’s user interface, MIUI 14, I had no issues jumping in and out of apps, scrolling the web, or using the camera. Paired with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage, this model really is a very well specced mid-ranger. There are 8GB/256GB and 12GB/512GB variants out there in some markets, but they’re not being sold in the UK. Ultimately, this is a camera system that struggles to compete with much more modestly priced phones like the Redmi Note 12 Pro (not even the Plus) and the OnePlus Nord 2T, both of which with their superior Sony IMX766 main sensor. Needless to say, the Pixel 6a camera runs rings around the Poco F5 Pro.
As for the selfie camera, it’s high-resolution at 16MP, and that translates to great shots in bright environments. At night, though, it gets very washed out, so you’ll need to fire up that blinding front flash. Poco F5 verdict Xiaomi has given the Poco F5 a 5000mAh battery, which is much larger than the Poco F4’s 4500mAh cell. Considering last year’s model was quite a bit heavier, that’s quite a feat. With rapid performance, a superb screen, and a mid-range price, something had to give. In Poco F-series world, that something is invariably the camera. That’s a welcome inclusion in light of the F5 Pro’s unusually sharp and bright WQHD+ display. I cranked the resolution right up from the beginning of my time with the phone, albeit with the option active to switch to a lower resolution where appropriate. I also flipped the refresh rate to the maximum 120Hz. Presumably, this will have placed considerable strain on the battery considering this isn’t a flexible LTPO panel that can smartly drop to 1Hz when appropriate. The 16Mp snapper is totally fine. A little warm with no alarmingly obvious “beauty” effects going on, which could either be a blessing or a curse, but it’s entirely useable.The POCO F5's battery life is so good, you'll be able to use it all day long and still have enough juice left to watch a movie before bed. That means you can finally stop worrying about your phone dying in the middle of a Netflix binge. I manage to squeeze out a respectable eight hours of screen-on time with some gaming, YouTube viewing, and social media scrolling. Not a record-breaking performance, but not a total snoozefest either. The triple lens cameras in the F5 and F5 Pro are identical, consisting of a 64-megapixel main lens, an 8-megapixel ultrawide, and a 2-megapixel macro lens. You also get a 16-megapixel selfie camera in each phone, and while you can dig into settings to snap a full 64-megapixel shot, I don’t advise it. Likewise, for extreme close-ups, you might dig into the menu to find the macro option, but you can expect woefully inferior shots. Thanks to its modern chipset, the POCO F5's performance is beyond reproach, and I am able to play PUBG Mobile on maxed-out settings with no annoying stutter. Titles like Genshin Impact and Call of Duty Mobile also deliver a fluid experience, with the frame rate set to 60 fps. Stutters are inevitable on occasion, though. Overall, the Poco F5’s camera is perfectly acceptable for the money, but it lags behind mid-range rivals such as the Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus and with its impressive 200MP main camera, as well as the Redmi Note 12 Pro and the OnePlus Nord 2T with their larger Sony IMX766 image sensor. Google’s Pixel 7a and Pixel 6a, of course, remain mid-range camera stars for the same or much less money respectively. Performance
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