Xiaomi Poco X5 Pro 5G

Nice phone for the money. Tough and good value – Mobile phones have been reviewed to death, so this will be a short one. I bought the Poco X5 Pro to replace the Poco X3 Pro that I gifted to a family member. Performance was a step backwards, but everything else was a step forward. The AMOLED display is good (a bit dull, but good) and the SD778G does a good job of keeping up. The camera setup… Read more

is vintage Poco; read: don't expect much. You'll get alright photos in good light from the primary and wide, but night photography and the macro are a waste of time. And I promise I'm not just being hard on macro cameras... the 2MP unit on this phone is pretty bad. I have upgraded to a phone that happens to have a 5MP macro that doesn't get super-noisy like the Poco, and it's surprisingly useful in tight spots where I work. Xiaomi's efforts macro-wise are pretty poor really, and they would be much better off just making the camera bump smaller.

Build is good. The plastic body takes a beating and means the device isn't too hefty despite its dimensions. There are little features that hardly anyone has, like an IR blaster... which sounds gimmicky and for 'boomers' but it's actually not bad to have the option of, even if with some devices 'on' or 'off' are the only reliable commands in Xiaomi's app. Still a nice option to have.

All in all it's good value, now that the X6 Pro is out you should be able to grab one cheap.