Content

1. Video review
2. Specifications
3. Appearance and equipment
4. Software
5. cameras
6. Performance and Benchmarks
7. findings

Last year, Poco X3 Pro ( review ) was able to pleasantly surprise the market with flagship performance for a very pleasant price. Today we will talk about the Poco X4 Pro 5G, which surprised us in a not very pleasant sense of the word. Details further in the text.

Video review 

Specifications 

	Specifications Poco X4 Pro 5G
Network	2G, 3G, 4G, 5G
Firmware	MIUI 13 on Android 11
Screen	6.67″, 20:9, 2400 x 1080 pixels, AMOLED DotDisplay, 120Hz, 360Hz touch, Corning Gorilla Glass 5, 1200 nits (peak), DCI-P3
Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 GPU: Adreno 619
RAM	6/8 GB LPDDR4X
ROM	128/256 GB UFS 2.2
SIM and memory card	nanoSIM + nanoSIM/microSD
Camera	Primary: Samsung S5KHM2, 108 MP, f/1.9, 0.7 µm, 1/1.52”, PDAF Wide angle: Sony IMX355 8MP, f/2.2, 118° Macro: 2 MP, f/2.4
Selfie	OmniVision OV16A1Q, 16MP, f/2.4
Battery	5000 mAh
Charger	USB-C 67W
Wireless interfaces	Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, 2.4/5 GHz Bluetooth 5.1 GPS L1, GLONASS G1, BDS B1, Galileo E1 IR emitter
NFC	There is
Biometrics	Fingerprint scanner at the end
Sound	Stereo, 3.5mm
Waterproof	IP53
Dimensions and weight	164.19 x 76.1 x 8.12mm 205 g

Appearance and equipment 

The Poco X4 Pro 5G comes with a 67W power adapter, clear silicone case, USB-A to USB-C cable, SIM eject tool, and documentation. The complete cover is equipped with protruding corners on the front side and a significant bumper around the photoblock. True, as in the case of the related Poco M4 Pro ( review ), this cutout is almost a quarter of the entire cover.

Case materials include a glass cover, a plastic frame, and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on the front. The lid is not rounded, which is not very ergonomic. As for me, the M4 Pro mentioned above lies in the hand much more comfortably. There is not the most reliable, but still IP53 dust and moisture protection certification.

Of the interfaces, you should pay attention to:

• The presence of a 3.5 mm audio jack in the upper end (it would be better in the lower, but as it is).
• Asymmetrical arrangement of stereo speakers. The very fact of their presence pleases, and they sound good, but due to the peculiarities of the location, one of them is often blocked by the hand with a horizontal grip.
• The presence of an IR emitter to control equipment.
• Fingerprint sensor built into the power button. The sensor itself works quickly and accurately, but the system wake-up speed does not keep up with it.

An important upgrade of the devices compared to the Poco X3 Pro was the display. Instead of an IPS matrix, a 6.67 ”AMOLED DotDisplay with a resolution of 2400 by 1080 pixels, DCI-P3 color gamut and a refresh rate of as much as 120 Hz is installed here. The display is good, but it has its own nuances. Users sensitive to PWM are unlikely to appreciate local performance (see screenshots below), although it is noticeably lower than that of the Poco M4 Pro. In addition, periodic micro-lags of the system, which are clearly evident at high hertz. Finally, it is not clear why it was necessary to limit the AoD function to ten seconds after touching (aka ALWAYS! – “always, constantly”).

Software 

Poco X4 Pro 5G runs on Android 11 in the MIUI 13 shell. The system “pleases” with a huge number of garbage recommendations, ads in its own applications and not the most stable work. During testing, we happened to encounter a crash from the Camera app when switching the zoom and frequent micro-lags.

MIUI 13

cameras 

The Poco X4 Pro has four cameras at its disposal: the main Samsung S5HM2 as much as 108 megapixels with phase detection autofocus, the wide-angle Sony IMX355 at 8 megapixels, the front OmniVision OV16A1Q at 16 megapixels and the macro plug at 2 megapixels.

In the standard shooting mode on the main camera, pixels are combined 9 into 1, so that 108 megapixels turn into 12 megapixels. The result is moderately detailed frames with noise in the shadows and not the widest range. Portrait mode tends to paint the face and wash the edges of the subject. With sufficient lighting, you can get quite good photos.

Main camera: standard and portrait modes

Main camera: zoom example

Shirik demonstrates a much larger capture angle, but suffers from a lack of detail and an excess of noise. At the same time, both sensors periodically “float” in colors, rolling into warm shades.

Main and wide-angle cameras

In night shooting, acceptable shots can only be obtained by getting confused with the “Pro” mode. The photos below are presented in the following order:

1. Shirik in standard mode.
2. Width in Pro mode (15s, ISO 50, the rest is auto, without a tripod, but with an emphasis).
3. Main in standard mode.
4. Main in Night mode.

Main and wide-angle cameras: night examples

Front camera: standard and portrait modes

Video recording is limited to the extremely unimpressive 1080p@30fps mode for all cameras. Switching between cameras while shooting is not available. Electronic stabilization does not cope well with shaking while shooting on the go. Of the conditional pluses, I note natural colors. You can check out the video footage for yourself at the link below. Who knows, maybe I just lost my perception after the Samsung S22 Ultra ( review , video tutorial ).

Camera app

Performance and Benchmarks 

The Snapdragon 695 chipset is responsible for the performance of the device. Yes, not the most powerful, but stable. It is echoed by 6/8 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128/256 GB of permanent UFS 2.2. There is a technology for transferring 2 GB of permanent memory at the expense of operational memory.

In order to squeeze out as much of the available performance as possible, you need to put the smartphone into performance mode in the “Battery” settings section and launch the application through the game launcher. In this case, there is almost no drop in performance under load. The screenshots below correspond to the standard launch and launch with the indicated manipulations.

Throttling test

Graphic stress test 3DMark

AnTuTu in performance mode

In the gaming field, the device demonstrates smooth fps at low-medium settings in most modern projects.

• COD Mobile doesn’t let you choose graphics above average, but it runs at a stable 60 fps.
• Tacticool at ultra settings produces ≈60-80 fps “cold”, then warms up to 49 ° and drops to ≈40-60 fps on average. On low it goes over 100 fps.
• Demanding Genshin Impact at launch shows 40-50 fps (with drops) in the fields and 30-50 (with drops) in the city. After half an hour of play, the numbers change to ≈30-45 fps in the fields, ≈25 fps with drawdowns in the city and drops to 16 fps during battles. It’s uncomfortable to play.

Of the positive points, I note the absence of serious heating of the case and a responsive touch: the declared 360 Hz work in all tested games and even in the interface (the latter, by the way, could have been cut).

Screenshots of games with fps graph

The moderate performance of mobile technology is often offset by long autonomy. Poco X4 Pro 5G is equipped with a capacious 5000 mAh battery, which allows it to live a couple of days with not too active use. If we talk about measurements, this is a discharge on:

• 6% for 60 minutes YouTube (Wi-Fi, 50% brightness, 1080p).
• 10% in 30 minutes Tacticool (Wi-Fi, 60% brightness, ultra settings).

It is proposed to charge the smartphone with a complete 67 W power adapter (5-20 V, 6.2-3.25 A). The charge timings are as follows: 15 minutes – 44%, 30 – 76%, 45 – 97% and 49 minutes to reach 100%. Quickly!

findings 

For its price, the Poco X4 Pro 5G offers not the most powerful, but economical filling, long battery life, fast charging, stereo, a decent main camera, a large 120 Hz AMOLED display and all sorts of little things. There are a number of factors that make this set difficult to enjoy.

Firstly, local hardware periodically cannot cope with the processing of MIUI at those same 120 Hz. Twitching animations and moments of “thoughtfulness”, coupled with the questionable aesthetics of the system itself, can spoil the pleasure of operation. Secondly, the poor video shooting capabilities look wild against the background of the official (especially the release) cost.

All this is especially strange to see against the background of its predecessor – Poco X3 Pro ( review ). Let me remind you that the Snapdragon 860 chipset is installed in it, which showed ≈three times more points in the graphic stress test, a more modern type of UFS 3.1 permanent memory, and video recording is also implemented in 2160p@30fps format.

How so? What happened? Why is the new Poco X4 Pro 5G inferior to its predecessor in such critical moments? It seems to me that this is one of the clear results of a whole streak of crises in recent years. One way or another, I recommend that everyone interested pay attention to Poco X4 Pro 5G only at significant discounts, but it’s better to think twice and look at neighboring devices from Xiaomi ( our article on how not to get confused in them ) and other manufacturers.

© Dmitry Pivnev. mobile phone