Poco M5 An affordable phone under Rs 15,000 in India and packed with essential features. The main attraction here is MediaTek’s Helio G99 processor, which was introduced in August and is the beating heart of the Poco M5. redmi 11 prime And this infinix note 12 pro, to name a few. Although the Poco M5 is a 4G phone, it hits all the bases with features like a 50-megapixel main camera, a massive 5,000mAh battery to boot, and a design that is unmatched in this price range. In this Poco M5 review, we will try to find out whether the Poco M5 4G is a good buy or should you go for a 5G phone instead.
Poco M5 Review: In the Box
In the retail box, you will get the Poco M5, a 22.5W charging adapter, a TPU protective case, Type-C cable, SIM ejector tool, and some paperwork.
Poco M5 Review: Key Specifications at a Glance
Price: ₹12,499 (4GB+64GB) | ₹14,499 (6GB+128GB)
Display: 6.5-inch LCD, FHD+, 90Hz refresh rate, Gorilla Glass 3
Thickness: 8.9mm
Weight: 201g
Platform: MediaTek Helio G99
RAM: 4GB/6GB LPDDR4X
Built-in Storage: 64GB/128GB UFS 2.2
Expandable Storage: Yes, up to 1TB
5G Support: No
USB-C: Yes
3.5mm jack: yes
OS: MIUI 13 based on Android 12
Rear camera: 50MP (f/1.8) + 2MP macro + 2MP depth sensor
Rear Camera Video: 1080p (30FPS)
Front Camera: 8MP (f/2.0)
Speaker: Single Speaker
Battery & Charging: 5,000mAh, 18W Wired
Colours: Poco Yellow, Power Black, Ice Blue
Poco M5 Review: Build and Design
Right out of the box, the Poco M5 looks nothing like an affordable smartphone as it sports a leather-like textured finish on the back panel which gives it a premium look and feel. Poco has tried to break away from ordinary smartphone design in the affordable segment and it has clearly succeeded in invoking that wow factor with the M5.
The Poco M5 is not the thinnest or lightest smartphone in this price range, yet it is one of the best looking phones you can get for under Rs 15,000. Even though it is largely made of plastic, the Poco M5 is durable for daily use and has a layer of Gorilla Glass 3 protection over the screen.
Poco M5 Review: Display
The Poco M5 has a decent display which is perfect for watching videos and more. It supports 90Hz refresh rate which makes every interaction smooth and helps while playing games. The M5 has a waterdrop notch and a wide chin, but it doesn’t come in the way of your viewing experience. The display is bright enough for both indoor and outdoor use but not readable in direct sunlight.
In our tests, the Poco M5’s display produced 360 nits of maximum brightness which is slightly lower than the claimed peak brightness of 400 nits. Being an LCD panel, the Poco M5’s display doesn’t offer pitch black levels but the minimum brightness we recorded was 2 nits. The display produces accurate colors and comes alive with crisp visuals which is good enough for most users but an AMOLED display here would have quadrupled the viewing experience.
Poco M5 Review: Performance
The MediaTek Helio G99 inside the Poco M5 doesn’t suffer in day-to-day performance and keeps on handling common tasks like browsing, social media apps, watching videos on YouTube or Netflix, Prime Video and more with ease. I didn’t face any lag and general animations were smooth during my use. It also helped that the display was always set to 90Hz as it made the overall experience snappier.
In benchmark tests, the Helio G99 delivered similar if not better CPU and GPU performance than the Helio G96, Snapdragon 695, 680, and Dimensity 810 chipsets. Thermal management has also improved on the Helio G99 from the G96 and this is visible when playing an intense game like COD Mobile continuously. Game Turbo 5.0 keeps games like CoD Mobile and Genshin Impact running, although with a few frame drops here and there, nothing is going to spoil your overall experience. We also ran a CPU throttling test where the Poco M5 delivered 94% of its maximum capacity in a 15-minute run and 92% in a 30-minute run. This proves that the Poco M5 is capable of handling daily tasks without compromising on thermal performance and battery life.
Poco M5 review: Battery life
The Poco M5 packs a massive and ample battery capacity of 5,000mAh to boot which should deliver long battery life. In my opinion, the battery life of Poco M5 is really great and a major plus point for the buyers as it can last for more than 2 days on casual usage. If you’re a power user, you’ll still be able to get almost a day of battery life on a single charge. Furthermore, the Poco M5’s battery offers phenomenal stand-by time, with the phone remaining inactive for up to 10 hours without the battery dropping to even one percent.
However, when it comes to charging the Poco M5 battery, most of your time will be spent waiting for it to charge! It took us an average of around 2 hours 45 minutes to charge the phone from 0-100%, which is an excruciating wait for a phone to charge in 2022. To make matters worse, Poco bundles a 22.5W fast charging adapter in the box. The Poco M5 only supports 18W charging speed which is a tad underwhelming.
Poco M5 Camera Review
Under adequate lighting conditions, the Poco M5 takes sharp and visually-pleasing pictures with its 50MP main camera. Images have a nice and natural depth of field and the camera app is quick to lock focus. Textures in subjects such as flowers or walls also processed well as it did not smooth out the pictures. Portrait mode works well, giving pictures a shallow depth of field effect but losing out a bit on textures and natural colours.
At night, pictures taken with the main camera tend to have a lot of grain and artefacts and switching on Night Mode can solve those issues as it reduces noise and boosts highlights and exposure levels. The macro camera takes decent close-up shots and nothing extraordinary as the sensor is of low resolution which is capable of capturing only so many details.
Poco M5 review: Verdict
The Poco M5 is one of the best looking phones that you can buy without emptying your pocket. It has a decent display for watching videos, the Helio G99 has a powerful processor that will go through your daily tasks with ease and a great primary camera. However, one of the key features of the Poco M5 is its long battery life, which is only eclipsed by the fact that it takes ages to fully charge. But when it is full, you can spend more than two days with the phone without worrying about the charging time. Starting at Rs 12,499 (available for as low as Rs 10,499 during the sale), the Poco M5 is a great value for money phone for students, casual phone users and people looking for a second phone who are constantly on the go. Lasts for several days.
