POCO F5

August 9, 2023

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Creating a unique identity of its own from day one, POCO started with a bang in 2018. But after a bumpy ride for a couple of years, POCO has been back in action for some time with decent hardware. The latest to join was the F5, the brand’s premium offering for Rs 29,999. But is it worth it?
There is nothing fancy about the POCO F5, but at the same time, there is nothing disappointing about either. For the F5, POCO opted for a 6.67-inch screen at the front and a plastic glossy rear. My review unit was the one in Snowstorm White, which has a snowflake-like texture on the back panel that looked unique and garnered much interest whenever I was using it during meetings or catching up with friends and family. POCO has bundled a transparent TPU case with the smartphone, but it subdues the rear panel design. The edges are flat – housing volume and power buttons on the right, and the USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer is at the bottom. Interestingly, POCO has also
found space to embed a 3.5mm headphone jack, an IR blaster, and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. There isn’t any camera bump at the rear as the two lenses are flushed neatly within the back panel. This makes it easy to keep it on the table, as the F5 doesn’t wobble.
Overall, the design looks pleasing. Also, given the 6.7-inch screen size and the choice of material used, the F5 weighs 181 grams and is comfortable to hold for longer durations. It also comes with an IP53 rating, which can only withstand minor splashes of water, making it a good value addition at this price.

Features :

6.67-inch full HD+ AMOLED display
2400×1080 pixel resolution looks bright and vibrant.
120Hz refresh rate
Even the 1000 nits of peak brightness make the screen visible in bright conditions.
Gorilla Glass 5 protection.
Dolby Vision and HDR10+ playback, which makes video streaming a delight.
The multimedia experience is complemented by its dual-speaker setup.
The triple camera setup at the rear includes a 64-MP primary sensor with optical image stabilisation,
8MP ultra wide-angle sensor, and a 2MP macro sensor. The main sensor locks focus quickly.

there isnt any shutter lag when capturing images in well-lit environments. The images captured are sharp and bright, with no color saturation. During monsoons, there is an amalgamation of shades of yellow, orange, and blue in the evening sky, which is captured brilliantly. However, just like most smartphone cameras, low-light imaging has a longer shutter time, and there is a little bit of noise as well. The ultra-wide-angle sensor is good and captures decent images in daylight but not so good in low light. The 16MP front camera captures impressive selfie portraits and is good for video calls and capturing selfie videos too.
Running Android 13-based MIUI14, the interface is full of bloatware and ads. However, there wasnt much to complain about regarding the performance. Most apps loaded quickly were smooth to navigate around and were quick to multitask. Even with multiple apps running in the background and extensive use of power-hungry and graphic-heavy apps, there weren't any lag or thermal issues. There were instances of the device getting warm after extended usage, but it wasn't bothersome.
The performance is backed by solid battery backup that lasts over a day’s usage, including emails, browsing, photography, and video calls. Gaming does drain the battery a bit faster, but the same is compensated for by using the 67W fast wired charger that juices the battery to 100 per cent in just 50 minutes.

Overall, the F5 manages to live up to the POCO legacy of a performance-packed phone at an aggressive price of Rs 29,999. If you are looking for a midrange smartphone, the POCO F5 is worth considering as not many options are available from Xiaomi, OnePlus, or Realme in this price range.