Review of the POCO M5s: New Colors in an Age-Old Form Factor

POCO M5s is one of the two recently released new gadgets in the entry-level M series. POCO sent us a device that isn’t black or grey for the first time ever. That deserves a small celebration in and of itself, in my opinion. The unboxing process ought to be a little bit different with only a new hue, right?

BREAKDOWN OF THE POCO M5S

Although the box itself is a little slimmer than other POCO devices we have lately seen, the outside box is still yellow with black writing. You can see why after you open the box. The customary yellow insert has vanished. The POCO M5s, a thin yellow card paper, papers, a 33W charging brick, and a USB-C cord are all placed before the transparent TPU casing. Cleverly fastened to the card stock insert is the SIM tool.

A smaller package and potential material cost savings result from eliminating the customary insert. It will be fascinating to know what other expenses were saved on this apparatus. To some extent, I do believe that initial impressions matter.

Advertisement THE POCO M5S’S HARDWARE DESIGN IS CERTAINLY DERIVATIVE

Readers with keen eyes will notice that the main layout is incredibly recognizable despite the rear cover’s lovely white tone. And if you can rapidly flash back to the beginning of 2021, you can see that the POCO M5s resembles the Redmi Note 10 in terms of its physical dimensions, display, and camera module configuration.

Recycling used parts is not a new practice. The fruit stand from Cupertino, the most valuable corporation in the world, does this every year. It comes as no surprise that other manufacturers have followed suit.

Advertisement Despite being an older gadget, it has excellent weight distribution and is comfortable to hold in one hand. Additionally, it boasts clicky volume controls, polished rails, and a quick and responsive fingerprint scanner that is integrated into the power button. The haptic motor onboard is quite impressive given the price.

It also boasts a few features that are noticeably absent from the majority of contemporary smartphones, such a headphone port and a micro SD card slot.

Advertisement You get a dual-SIM slot, an IR blaster on the top rail, IP53 splash resistance, and a very sizable 6.43′′ AMOLED display up front. Grey, Blue, and White are the three hues that POCO M5s is offered in. It comes in three sizes with prices ranging from €209 for 4/64 GB to €229 for 4/128 GB to €249 for 6/128 GB.

A €209 smart phone’s 6.43-inch AMOLED display is fantastic.

According to the Poco M5s’ 6.43-inch display, it would appear that it is a little smartphone. But due to the reasonably large chin at the bottom, that is actually not the case. The display on the POCO M4 Pro LTE is actually the same size as this one. However, the wider chin on the more recent POCO M5s results in a lower screen-to-body ratio than the M4 Pro.

Advertisement The AMOLED display panel features an FHD screen resolution in addition to the larger chin. However, the display panel’s refresh rate is only 60Hz. The display’s specifications include a DCI-P3 broad color gamut and a maximum brightness of 1100 nits.

Although the display is more than good for the price range, it would have been nice if POCO had used the M4 Pro’s marginally superior display on the more recent POCO M5s. On top of the display is Gorilla Glass 3, and a screen protector film is also included in the box.

THE POCO M5S’S PERFORMANCE IS SUFFICIENT FOR DAILY TASKS.

Advertisement A MediaTek Helio G95 processor built on the 12nm manufacturing node powers the POCO M5s. Yes, the processor is a few years old, and POCO should have utilized the more recent MediaTek Helio G99 chip instead. For those who are interested, the Helio G99 is essentially the same as the Helio G95, except that it is produced using a 6nm technology.

In any case, the Geekbench results are consistent with what the Snapdragon 7 series offers. The multi-core score is 1842, and the single-core score is 517. Let’s contrast these results with those from my current everyday driving, a Pixel 5 smartphone. The Pixel 5 scored 590 on the single-core test and 1616 on the multi-core test. So you can see that, in terms of performance, playing games at, say, medium settings shouldn’t present any problems for you.

During the course of my review, I had no problems with regular streaming, gaming, or surfing. I have a POCO M5s review unit with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. If you require more memory, you can use software to increase the onboard RAM by 2GB.

Advertisement THE POCO LAUNCHER ON MIUI 13 PROVIDES AN EXCELLENT SOFTWARE EXPERIENCE. The POCO M5s review device is running MIUI 13 and the August 2022 security update. This is about the eleventh POCO/Xiaomi product that we have examined for AndroidHeadlines in 2022. So from a software standpoint, it is currently a little challenging to locate a new or amazing function. And since Android is now a fairly developed operating system and significant modifications are now rare, neither POCO nor Xiaomi are to blame.

The POCO launcher maintains things quite near to what you get on a Pixel handset, while MIUI is as quick and slick as always. Additionally, regardless of whether you choose a flagship or cheap product from POCO, MIUI comes with extra goodies in numerous settings menus.

This is the third least priced device in the POCO family, speaking about affordable gadgets. Ads thereby degrade the program experience. Therefore, remember to disable the annoying adverts. Here is a brief guide on how to reduce pop-up advertisements.

Advertisement A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO DISCONNECTING ADVERTISING Personalized Recommendations should be disabled during initial setup, per the manufacturer’s instructions. Go manually to the Themes, File Manager, Security, and Cleaner applications after setting up the phone and reaching the home screen. Turn off Recommendations/Ads in each of these specific apps’ settings after entering the app.

After following these instructions, you should be able to virtually eliminate advertising from appearing while using the website. An ad-free user experience is worth the extra five minutes of work.

BATTERY LIFE FOR THE POCO M5S IS ABOUT 4-5 HOURS SOT.

Large 5,000 mAh battery on POCO M5s is sufficient for a full day of moderate to heavy use. You might need the charger if you want to play video games for longer than an hour or so. The phone can be fully charged from zero with the included 33W charging brick in roughly an hour. You should be able to get through a light day of use with a charge of roughly 60% after 30 minutes.

Expect to receive a relatively average screen on time because the older 12nm Helio processor offsets the AMOLED screen’s power efficiency. Despite having a marginally weak signal in my region, I was routinely able to receive roughly 4-5 hours SoT during the review time. Your experience might be better (or different) than mine.

FOR THE PRICE, THE CAMERA PERFORMANCE IS GOOD

On the back of the POCO M5s is a triple camera module. And if you’re wondering whether the back cameras are a carryover from the M4 Pro like some other features, you’re right. The actual shape of the camera module, which is from the Redmi 10 series as we previously covered, is the only thing that is new.

A 64MP primary camera, an 8MP ultrawide camera, and a 2MP macro camera are all included on the triple camera module. The 13MP front-facing selfie camera is really a holdover from the Redmi Note 10 series.

It’s been a long since the camera app was updated. Swiping left and right gives you access to the app’s many modes. You may access 0.6X, 1X, and 2X digital zoom from Photo mode. You may access 64MP mode, Time-lapse, Slow motion, and Panorama in the More menu. Now, the main slider has a direct link to the Night Mode. Only the main 64MP camera supports Night Mode, which must be manually activated.

POCO M5s Camera Samples – Flickr Gallery

Check out more camera samples in our Flickr Gallery and the POCO M4 Pro review for more images, as the rear cameras on both of these smartphones are similar.

In conclusion, daytime photos taken with the primary and ultrawide cameras are excellent given their cost. The primary camera produces respectable nighttime images. I would avoid the macro camera because it is nothing more than a gimmick. I’m surprised that the selfie camera went from a 16MP to an older 13MP sensor, but I suppose that for the price it is adequate.

The best dual speakers in the budget smartphone category are found in the POCO M5S.

The dual audio speakers on this gadget are one area where it excels. The POCO M5s, in my opinion, offers the greatest speakers among low-cost smartphones. Although they are very loud, there is noticeable distortion after the slider reaches 80% power.

The Poco M5s even includes a very decent headphone connection and separate speaker grilles for top and bottom firing speakers! Both wired and wireless audio are top-notch. Every time I evaluate a phone with a headphone jack, I ponder why every manufacturer of smartphones chose to follow Apple’s lead and get away of something so practical and user-friendly.

AS USUAL, CONNECTIVITY IS GREAT WITH ANY POCO DEVICE.

On the T-Mobile network in Southern California, the Poco M5s received LTE or LTE signal right out of the box. My hometown has terrible data speeds, as I have already stated. The POCO M5’s download speeds were consequently subpar but unquestionably equivalent to those of my Pixel 5 on the T-Mobile network.

I had no problems making calls, messaging, updating apps, browsing the web, or watching videos during my review period. Additionally, because this is a POCO/Xiaomi device, MIUI offers a ton of fantastic connectivity options, including IR blaster, Mi Share, Nearby Share, and Screen Cast. NFC was present in my review unit, and for some strange reason, the constant NFC on notification has returned in the most recent MIUI 13 release. Google Pay’s contactless payments did, however, function without any problems.

ARE YOU SUITABLE FOR THE POCO M5S?

The Poco M5s has a bit of a mixed bag feel about it. On the one hand, it features high-quality specifications including an AMOLED display, a 5,000mAh battery with 33W charging, excellent dual speakers, expandable storage, and 64MP / 8MP main and ultrawide cameras. On the other hand, it only refreshes at 60Hz and is powered by a two-year-old 12nm MediaTek Helio G95 CPU.

Even if the form factor and hardware as a whole look pretty excellent, it still uses components from the Redmi Note 10 series from the beginning of 2021. A lower resolution selfie camera and a little larger dimension are two more rather bizarre downgrades from the fantastic POCO M4 Pro. The base MSRP of €209 is the only thing POCO has been able to maintain during this period of extremely significant inflation. Although it is a good smartphone for the money, too many concessions were made to get there. Consider doing a little more research or paying a little extra to obtain a better POCO smartphone instead.

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surfaced . You may notice a white box with the watch printed on the front if you look at the provided image above. The branding for “Fitbit” and the Google logo are both present here.

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