Xiaomi Poco M5s

Build Quality

The Xiaomi Poco M5s, released on September 6, 2022, presents a reasonably sized form factor with dimensions of 160.5 mm in height, 74.5 mm in width, and 8.3 mm in depth. Weighing 178.8 grams, it feels fairly light and comfortable to hold. The phone features a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for biometric authentication. The device does not offer water resistance, but the screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The build quality is what one might expect from a low price offering.

Screen Quality

The Poco M5s boasts a 6.43-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels, resulting in a pixel density of 409 ppi. The screen has a 20:9 aspect ratio and is equipped with a hole-punch notch for the front-facing camera. The AMOLED panel delivers vibrant colors, deep blacks and has a contrast ratio of 4500000:1. The display offers typical brightness of 450 nits, with a high brightness mode of 700 nits and peak brightness of 1100 nits. It supports 84% NTSC color gamut and DCI-P3 color space, which enhances color accuracy. While the screen does not have HDR support, it does have TÜV Rheinland Eye Comfort Certification, 2.5D glass, and is scratch-resistant with multi-touch capability. The screen does not have a high refresh rate.

Camera Performance

The Xiaomi Poco M5s features a quad-camera setup on the rear. The main camera is a 64MP sensor (Omnivision OV64B) with an f/1.9 aperture, 0.70µm pixel size and 1/2" sensor size that can bin down to 16MP. It also has an 8MP wide-angle lens (Sony IMX355) with an f/2.2 aperture, 1.14µm pixel size, and a 1/2.8" sensor. Rounding out the quad set up are 2MP depth (GalaxyCore GC02M1) and 2MP macro (Omnivision OV02B10) sensors, each with f/2.4 apertures and 1.75µm pixel sizes with a 1/5" sensor size. For selfies, it sports a 13MP front camera (Omnivision OV13B10) with an f/2.4 aperture, 1.12µm pixel size, and a 1/3.06" sensor. The camera app offers features such as digital zoom, digital image stabilization, autofocus, touch focus, geotagging, HDR, face detection, and various shooting modes. Video recording is supported up to 4K at 30fps, with slow-motion recording at 720p@960fps.

Software Experience

The Poco M5s ships with Android 12. The user interface is typical for Xiaomi devices. The phone supports dual SIM functionality with dual standby. It offers standard sensors including an accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, and a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for security. Connectivity options are plentiful with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (Dual band, Wi-Fi Hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Display, Wi-Fi MiMO), Bluetooth 5.0 LE (A2DP, EDR, HID, LE) and GPS (GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo). NFC is present on this model. The phone is equipped with a USB Type-C 2.0 port that also supports OTG.

Battery Performance

Powering the device is a 5000 mAh Li-Polymer battery. It supports 33W fast charging and has the ability for reverse charging. The battery is non-removable.

Value for Money

The Xiaomi Poco M5s is categorized as a 'low-price' offering. It comes in several memory configurations, including 4GB/128GB, 6GB/128GB, and 8GB/256GB, which influence pricing. The 4GB/128GB version retails for around $137 to $170, while the 6GB/128GB ranges between $171 to $181. The higher end 8GB/256GB version costs approximately $107 to $210. The phone includes a Mediatek Helio G95 (12 nm) chipset and an Octa-core CPU with a Mali-G76 MC4 GPU. The Antutu v10 score for the device is 418,627. The phone offers UFS Storage 2.2 and has stereo speakers with Hi-Res audio and a cooling system. Considering its price bracket, the Poco M5s offers a compelling balance of features, especially the AMOLED display.