Poco M5s review

Alternative offers

The Poco M5s turned out to be an excellent smartphone for its lower mid-range class. It has a great OLED screen, a gaming-friendly chipset, a versatile camera, one large battery with fast charging, and many fan-favorite features like an audio jack and a microSD slot. Everything is housed inside a no-nonsense splash-resistant body.

The 4/64 version of the Poco M5s launched at €210. And that's a price tag that's really hard to beat these days, especially with those constantly changing prices of everything.

The first phone that comes to mind is Poco's own M5 - an even cheaper model at €170, which has a faster 90Hz display and a more power-efficient Helio G99 chipset with a less powerful GPU. The M5 has fewer cameras with lower resolution, but it is an outstanding entry-level smartphone for its incredibly long battery life and snappy interface.

The Realme 9 5G can be found across retailers for €230-€270. It will offer a smooth 120Hz LCD display and 5G connectivity, but you lose the splash resistance, the ultrawide camera, and the stereo speakers.

Or you can opt for the Realme 9, also found across various markets within the same price bracket as the Realme 9 5G. The 4G model trumps the Poco M5s with a 90Hz OLED and a 108MP primary camera. It has inferior performance, no stereo speakers, and no splash resistance.

The Galaxy A33 5G is about €80 more expensive at retail stores, but if you get it with a carrier discount, it's a worthy smartphone. The A33 is IP67-rated for dust and water resistance, packs a 90Hz Super AMOLED and offers an even more powerful chipset. The primary camera has OIS, and the photo quality is far better on the A33. We do recommend getting this A33 if possible. If not, it seems the Poco M5s remains one of the best choices for its price.

Xiaomi Poco M5 • Realme 9 5G • Realme 9 • Samsung Galaxy A33 5G

Our verdict

The Poco M5s is an excellent all-around phone for its nearly entry-level pricing - splash-resistant design, AMOLED screen with high brightness, gaming-friendly chipset, versatile camera, and a large battery with fast charging.

There are some nice perks like stereo speakers, audio jack, IR blaster, FM radio, 3.5mm jack. And we were surprised by its good selfies and selfie portraits; even expensive Xiaomi phones cannot match these features. All these niceties for around €200 make the M5s a killer offer.

Of course, the Poco M5s is not perfect - it offers poor photo quality, and the 60Hz refresh rate for the display may be dealbreakers for many.

If we have to be honest - we can live with 60Hz - no need for an unnecessary strain on the hardware and the battery life, even if the Poco M5s can handle it.

The camera quality, on the other hand, depends on your needs - if you will be showing the photos and videos on the phone's display or sharing them on social networks - these will do just fine. But if you plan for more, like printing them for albums or use as wallpapers, or maybe sharing videos on YouTube - then you will need a more capable and more expensive phone.

And with these two imperfections, we still recommend the Poco M5s for being one of the most feature-rich smartphones within its price bracket. It just has a specs sheet that's really hard to beat, and, at the end of the day, it's a solid and reliable phone.

Pros

• No-nonsense design, IP53-rated.
• Bright OLED screen, small cutout, P3 support.
• Outstanding battery life, fast charging.
• Stereo speakers, good loudness and quality.
• Great performance for the class even though chipset is dated.
• Great selfies.
• NFC, microSD, IR blaster, FM radio, 3.5mm jack.

Cons

• Poor photo quality from all rear cameras, so-so video.
• No high screen refresh rate.