I’m a fan of phones that are good value for money, and with prices starting to come down for this model, especially during promotions, it was just too hard to resist. S$529 (before coupons) for a phone with Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1? It seems like a steal considering that other phones with the same chipset like the OPPO Reno10 Pro+ and Nothing Phone 2 both cost way more than that.
“At this price, it’s even cheaper than some of the imported options from China like the OnePlus Ace2, Realme GT5 Neo, iQOO Neo 7 Pro, and Moto X30 Pro. The only options that are cheaper with this chipset are probably the Lenovo Legion Y70 and the Redmi K60 (which is just the Poco F5 Pro just with CN MIUI ROM). But if you’re like me and care about having official local warranty here in Singapore, none of those are viable.”
I won’t go too in-depth into the phone since it has been out for a while now, and I already have a video review on the Poco F5 which is largely similar. You probably don’t need another person to tell you for the umpteenth time about specs differences that you can see on their own website. So I’m just going to talk about the thing that I care most about here. Is gaming performance for games like Genshin and Honkai Star Rail better than the Poco F5, or is it about the same?
I initially thought it would be pretty similar if I’m just playing the game at the same medium graphics, but I was wrong. There are 2 things here that made a difference in my opinion. The processor, and the display.
The Poco F5 Pro has a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, and while similar to the 7+ Gen 2 in the regular Poco F5, it does actually perform slightly better for me. I usually play those games on medium graphics 60FPS, and at that setting, the Poco F5 will still have some dips in the frame rate every now and then. But on the Poco F5 Pro, it’s able to maintain 60FPS a bit more consistently. To the point where it’s nearly as good as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 at these graphics settings (for higher graphics, the 8 Gen 2 is of course still noticeably better in terms of "smoothness"). The phone temperature throughout gaming feels about the same to me as well here and only got a bit warm.
The other thing that isn’t mentioned as much is the higher display touch sampling rate at 480Hz vs the 240Hz on the Poco F5. This might not be a big deal for Honkai Star Rail or the more casual Genshin overworld exploration, but for harder combat events, the touch response is noticeably worse on the Poco F5, and does affect my gaming experience.
Maybe it’s because I started playing Genshin on the RedMagic 7 Pro, which is a gaming device with a very high touch sampling rate, but whenever I use a device with a 240Hz touch sampling rate like on the Poco F5, Galaxy S23 Ultra, or Xiaomi 13, I really notice the slower touch response, especially when doing Spiral Abyss. It’s not really a big issue if that cycle isn’t too challenging, but for the harder cycles, it can be almost impossible (or just downright frustrating) to get a full 3* clear for Floor 12.
Back when the Poco F5 series first came out, I was only interested in the Poco F5 because I like the design better, the new Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 chipset seemed interesting (which many have said is very similar to the 8+ Gen 1), and it has a lower price tag.
But now that I’ve tried the Poco F5 Pro myself, I think for folks who plays Genshin and wants a better combat experience, you should definitely consider this over the Poco F5. I personally would still prefer playing Genshin with a controller (please add controller support for Android too Hoyoverse), but for times when I can't do so, having a phone that can still play the game well is pretty nice. So personally I'll pick the Poco F5 Pro over the Poco F5.
But of course, if you're not playing any games that would benefit from having a faster touch response, then perhaps the Poco F5 might provide better value for money, especially if you don't care about the few other extra stuff that the F5 Pro has to offer. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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