Introduction
The Poco M5s that we have with us today are shown side-by-side with the Poco M5 – a sub-€250 model aimed at the EU market. The regular Poco M5 was also launched in India, but this Poco M5s didn’t make it there.
Simplifying this comparison, we’ll say that the Poco M5 has a 90Hz LCD screen, while the Poco M5s uses a 60Hz OLED and a better camera setup all round. That’s why we decided to focus our attention on the rich Poco M5s.
And yes, Xiaomi has done it again, surprisingly. The Poco M5s is actually a rebranded Redmi Note 10S that was released across the EU and Asia a year ago. And while India isn’t getting the M5s, it did get the Redmi Note 11 SE device in August, which is another twin device. You can see the three compared here or check out the specs below.
Xiaomi Poco M5s • Xiaomi Redmi Note 10S • Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 SE (India)
Now that we’ve cleared the latest Xiaomi branding nonsense, let’s examine this Poco M5s.
The M5s features a 6.43-inch 1080p OLED with premium brightness capabilities. Although the M5s has a more powerful chipset and a better panel than the M5 with a 90Hz LCD, the refresh rate is limited to 60Hz.
Speaking of hardware, the M5s is based on the Helio G95 with a 2+6 CPU and a quad-core Mali-G76 MC4 GPU, a platform that should perform well for gaming on the go. You can choose between 4GB and 6GB of RAM and 64GB and 128GB of expandable storage.
In addition to the bright OLED, the M5s beats the cheaper M5 in the camera department. Poco M5s offers four cameras on the back – 64MP primary, 8MP ultra-wide, 2MP macro and 2MP depth sensor. There is no UW camera on the M5, and the original resolution is 50MP.
The selfie camera is better on the M5s too, with a 13MP selfie camera compared to the 5MP selfie camera on the M5.
The Poco M5s offers a pretty rich connectivity package apart from 5G – dual-SIM with dual SIM slots, 4G LTE, dual-band Wi-Fi, NFC, FM Radio, 3.5mm Jack, IR port. The phone runs on Android 12 with MIUI 13.
The Poco M5s supports 33W fast wired charging for its large 5,000mAh battery, and the maker advertises a 64% charge in 30 minutes. We’ll see about that in a bit.
Finally, the Poco M5s is a splash-resistant device with an IP53 rating, and it’s definitely better than nothing.
Xiaomi Poco M5s specifications at a glance:
- Body: 160.5×74.5×8.3mm, 179g; Glass front, plastic frame, plastic back; IP53, dust and dust resistant.
- Demonstration: 6.43 inch AMOLED, 450 nits (Typ), 700 nits (HBM), 1100 nits (Max), 1080×2400 pixels resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 409 ppi.
- Chipset Mediatek Helio G95 (12 nm): Octa-core (2×2.05 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G76 MC4.
- Memory: 64GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 6GB RAM; UFS 2.2; microSDXC (dedicated slot).
- Operating System/Software: Android 12, MIUI 13.
- rear camera; wide (main): 64MP, f/1.8, 26mm, 1/1.97, 0.7µm, PDAF; Very wide angle: 8MP, f/2.2, 118˚, 1/4.0, 1.12µm; Macro: 2MP, f/2.4; Depth: 2 MP, f/2.4.
- Front camera: 13 MP, f/2.4, (wide), 1/3.06, 1.12µm
- Video recording: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, 720p@960fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps
- Battery: 5000mAh; Fast charging 33W, 64% in 30 minutes (promoted).
- Miscellaneous: Fingerprint reader (mounted on the side); NFC; FM radio; Infrared port: 3.5 mm jack; Stereo speakers: Virtual Proximity Survey.
Well, for a €210 phone, we can’t think of any essential feature missing. The M5s seems like a pretty good bang-for-the-buck device, so without further ado, let’s take this thing out of the box.
Unboxing the Poco M5s
The Poco M5s arrive in a large box painted in Poco’s signature yellow color. There are many accessories in it.
The M5s is bundled with a 33W charger and a 3A-rated USB-A-to-C cable. Then there is a soft transparent case for some extra protection and a SIM eject tool.
Finally, there is a thin protective film in the box, which you have to apply yourself. Other Xiaomi-made phones usually have this already implemented in the factory.
