Quick Review Verdict: The wait for the POCO F5 Pro is over, and it appears to be worth it with the major upgrades on the internals and display–though the software could be improved further.

Pros

• -Most affordable to have a WQHD+ display
• -Wireless charging

Cons

-Lots of bloatware

-Design is more on the safe side

After all the hype, the POCO F5 Pro is finally here in the Philippines–and it appears to be worth the wait. It has the familiar POCO formula of packing flagship features while having aggressive pricing. After using the POCO F5 Pro, we have praises for it–though there’s still room for improvement.

Design

Unlike the trend of phones having large circular bumps in the back, the POCO F5 Pro opts for a more normal rectangular camera module instead. The design is a bit on the safe side, but at least it’s not as polarizing. We wished POCO opted for a textured finish for the back panel though: Our review model in white has a glossy surface that makes the phone slippery at times and attracts fingerprints.

The button and port layout is typical of what you expect in a higher-end POCO device with the SIM card tray at the bottom, though the F5 Pro adds an IP53 rating for added peace of mind in case of accidental water splashes.

Display

One of the biggest selling points of the POCO F5 Pro is its OLED display. Despite having the same size as a number of mid-range Xiaomi phones (6.67 inches specifically), the POCO F5 Pro offers a WQHD+ resolution that is better than the Full HD+ resolution typically used on the majority of mid-range (and even budget flagship) phones.

Aside from having a class-leading display resolution, the POCO F5 Pro’s display has features you’d expect on a flagship like a 120hz refresh rate, in-display fingerprint scanner, Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and PWM dimming. It’s safe to say that the F5 Pro does live up to being the most premium POCO phone to date–as far as the display is concerned.

Cameras

While POCO devices are usually all about performance, the F5 Pro does have a fairly good set of cameras on paper: a 64-megapixel OV64B main camera with OIS, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide, and a 2-megapixel telemacro camera. It’s nice that the F5 Pro has OIS on board–ensuring you of blur-free shots and stable video footage. Since it packs a flagship Snapdragon 8-series chip–more on that later–the F5 Pro can shoot 8K video at 24FPS, along with 4K60 video.

Based on the photos we took with the F5 Pro, it surprisingly punches above its weight in terms of image quality in bright light, which is something we did not expect–again, POCO devices are more focused on performance and not on the cameras. Image quality takes somewhat of a hit in low light, but that’s understandable. Nevertheless, it’s still a pretty good camera in its own right.

We will take more photos and videos using the F5 Pro to see if it’s a decent performer in the camera department, so stay tuned for our verdict in the full review.

Internals and Battery

Other than the display, the F5 Pro’s main forte is its internals, where you get a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor that’s paired with up to 12GB RAM and up to 512GB internal storage. Taking care of thermals is POCO’s LiquidCool 2.0.

While the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is not the latest flagship processor, it is still a powerful choice for 2023–and has none of the thermal issues associated with its non-Plus sibling. The POCO F5 Pro is expected to run the most demanding titles in the market without any issues.

With all our praises for the POCO F5 Pro in this quick review, we think that there’s room for improvement with its software. The POCO comes with Android 13-based MIUI 14, and our concern is that MIUI installs a ton of bloatware upon first setup, which isn’t great, especially at the price point the phone is at. POCO devices (and by extension Xiaomi) still have this problem in 2023, and we hope that they follow Samsung’s approach with OneUI.

For the battery, the F5 Pro has a larger than usual 5160mAh cell that supports 67w wired and 30w wireless charging. The latter is a first for POCO, and it’s nice to have this feature on a budget flagship device.

Wrap-up and Quick Review conclusions

POCO’s F series is finally back, and the F5 Pro is a very promising budget flagship with its class-leading display and flagship internals. While we’re not done with the full review, the POCO F5 Pro is a solid offering for its Php 27k starting price.

POCO F5 Pro Philippines Specs:

• Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor
• 8GB/12GB LPDDR5 RAM
• 256GB/512GB UFS 3.1 storage
• 6.7-inch WQHD+ AMOLED display, 120hz refresh rate, 480hz touch sampling rate, support for HDR10+ and DCI-P3, 12-bit color
• 64-megapixel f/1.8 main camera with PDAF and OIS, 8-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle camera, 2-megapixel f/2.4 macro camera
• 16-megapixel selfie camera
• 4G, LTE, 5G
• WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC, in-display fingerprint scanner
• 5500mAh battery
• 67w wired charging, 30w wireless charging
• Android 13, MIUI 14

POCO F5 Pro Price Philippines

The POCO F5 Pro is priced at Php 26,999 for the 8GB/256GB, Php 28,999 for the 12GB/256GB, and Php 30,999 for the 12GB/512GB model in the Philippines.