Xiaomi Poco M5

The Xiaomi Poco M5, launched on September 13, 2022, enters the medium price range with a focus on providing solid performance. This review will delve into its key aspects.

Build Quality The Poco M5 measures 164mm in height, 76.1mm in width, and 8.9mm in depth, weighing 201 grams. The phone is constructed with a focus on durability, though specific materials are not detailed. It does feature a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for security. The device is available in Black, Yellow, and Green color options.

Screen Quality The device features a 6.58-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 2408 x 1080 pixels (FHD+) and a pixel density of 401 ppi. The screen boasts a 90Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 500 nits (HBM). The 20:9 aspect ratio display also includes a waterdrop notch design. The screen has a 1500:1 contrast ratio, touch sampling rate of 240 Hz, and 70% NTSC color coverage. It is protected with Corning Gorilla Glass and a 2.5D curved glass screen, adding to its durability. The display also is capacitive, multi-touch, and frameless.

Camera Performance The rear camera system is a triple-lens setup. The primary camera is a 50MP Samsung S5KJN1 ISOCELL sensor with an f/1.8 aperture, 0.64µm pixel size, and 1-4 pixel binning. The secondary lenses are a 2MP depth sensor and a 2MP macro lens, both with f/2.4 apertures. The main camera can record 1080p video at 30fps. The camera setup includes a range of features, such as 4K video recording, digital zoom, digital image stabilization, autofocus, touch focus, manual focus, phase detection autofocus, geotagging, HDR, face detection, and various modes like night mode. The selfie camera is a 5MP CMOS sensor with an f/2.2 aperture. Front flash is also available.

Software Experience The Poco M5 runs on Android 12 out of the box, with plans for an update to Android 14. Specific details about the custom skin are not provided.

Battery Performance The device houses a 5000mAh Li-Polymer battery, supporting 18W fast charging through its USB Type-C port. The battery is non-removable.

Connectivity The Poco M5 includes dual SIM Dual Standby capability with two Nano SIM slots. It supports a wide array of 4G LTE, 3G, and 2G network bands. It supports Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac with features like Dual Band, Wi-Fi Hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Display, and Wi-Fi MiMO. Bluetooth 5.3 with A2DP, EDR, HID, and LE profiles is present, as is NFC. GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, and Galileo are included for location services. It has a USB Type-C 2.0 port with OTG support.

Hardware and Performance The phone is powered by the Mediatek Helio G99 (6 nm) chipset with an Octa-core CPU (2x2.2 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55) and a Mali-G57 MC2 GPU. The device is available in several configurations, including 4GB or 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 64GB or 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage. It achieved an Antutu v10 score of around 414500. The phone has several sensors: fingerprint, proximity, light sensor, accelerometer, and compass. It lacks a cooling system, notification LED, and gaming buttons.

Value for Money The Poco M5 aims to provide a balance between price and performance, placing it in the "medium price" category. The 4GB/128GB variant has price variations ranging from approximately $117.02 to $183.90, while the 6GB/128GB models are priced from around $164.99 to $173.37 across different regions and retailers.