The Indian smartphone market has seen a lot of activity recently in the sub-Rs. 30,000 category. Most of the new launches have generally been successors of phones which were available last year in and around the Rs. 20,000 mark. The price hike of new launches can be attributed to various factors such as the rising cost of components and raw materials, weakening Rupee against the dollar, and so on. Poco, a company known to offer value-for-money hardware in the mainstream and mid-range segment, has now
Shot on Poco X5 Pro 5G: (Top to bottom) Photo Mode, Photo Mode, Night Mode, Night Mode
Images taken using the ultra-wide camera had good colours but were generally soft. The dynamic range performance was also decent. The 2-megapixel macro camera captured poor images and is best not used. Instead, capturing images in the 108-megapixel mode and cropping out your subject should yield better results.
Ultra-wide camera samples shot on Poco X5 Pro 5G
The 16-megapixel front camera captures good details and facial tones. When using portrait mode, edge detection is mostly on point but the software smoothens the skin too much. This happens to a certain extent even when beauty mode is disabled.
Poco X5 Pro 5G front camera samples: (top to bottom) Photo mode, Portrait mode
The rear camera can capture 4K 30 fps videos, and for the price, the quality is quite good. The colours are close to natural and the dynamic range performance is also quite good. The front camera can shoot 1080p 60fps videos and it does a decent job.
Verdict
The Poco X5 Pro 5G offers a great multimedia experience, solid performance, and good battery life. The design is subjective and if you ask me, I’m not a big fan of the way it looks. However, the lightweight and slim design might attract many buyers. The primary rear camera and the front camera do a good job but the other two have some room for improvement.
What I did not like is not having Android 13 out of the box, which is a big disappointment. The saving grace is that the software has less bloatware and is feature-rich.
All in all, if you want a phone that offers good performance and is a decent overall package, the Poco X5 Pro 5G can certainly be considered. In fact, I would also recommend this over the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G which did not offer a very good software experience, despite it being on Android 13. There is also the X5 Pro 5G’s cousin, the Redmi Note 12 Pro (First Impressions), which offers a similar software experience and features but with OIS for the main camera.
