Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro review, a great gaming focused smartphone

Pro is a great gaming, focused smartphone that offers the gamer look without being too in your face, expect flagship level performance, ultra fast 120w charging and an improved camera setup, though joy ui, isnt, the most intuitive software around xiaomi owned black shark as one of the key Manufacturers of gaming phones in recent years with unique innovations like magnetic pop up triggers offering genuine innovation for keen mobile gamers, and that trend is set to continue with the black shark 5 pro. However, the impressive design and performance of the black shark 5 pro mean its more expensive than ever before and more expensive than key rival red magic, too. Has black shark done enough to justify a price thats etching ever closer to flagship smartphones, well design and build gamer aesthetic, but slightly toned down new camera bump on the rear, customizable led lighting on the rear, the black shark 5 pro like the rest of the collection Is a gaming phone through and through and thats very much reflected in its design, though it is arguably toned down a little this time around, while the phone still has all the quirks of a typical gamer aesthetic, including bold lines and icons donned across its rear. Its completely smooth to the touch with a nice matte finish that feels good in the hand and provides extra grip, thats a stark contrast to angular alternatives like the asus raj phone and its aluminium rear. But i like the more subtle gamer feel this time around the camera.

Housing has also been redesigned ditching, the horizontal camera bar for a more rectangular camera bump with beveled edges, helping disguise just how raised the bump is from the rest of the body, its not huge, but its, certainly there and, of course, what kind of gaming phone would It be without led lighting thats present on the rear, in the form of a small led window to the right of the camera bump, which changes colors and pulsates in different patterns to reflect different states incoming calls charging gaming and so on. It does look cool at a glance, but considering its on the rear of the phone, its more something that those around you will appreciate more than you elsewhere, its very much business as usual, with volume rockers and a power button with embedded fingerprint reader embedded into the Sides, a usbc port on the bottom, as well as two additional switches on the right side of the phone, but more on those a little later. The black shark. Five pro is available in new color options: stellar black and nebula white, with the former supplied for review boasting a blue white purple tint. In the light for added depth, display fast and responsive 144, hertz 6.6 inches display downgrade from a mold to oled technology bright enough for outdoor use. The black shark 5 pro 6.67 inches display is designed for gaming, with a high refresh rate and an even higher touch response rate designed for low lag buttery smooth gaming, the 144 hertz refresh rate may not be the fastest around.

That crown goes to the 165 hertz red magic 7, but the refresh rate is a traditional sweet spot for pc gamers. Arguably, who the phone is marketed to most its a similar story with the 720 hertz touch input its fast, but not quite the fastest? On the market, though, at some point it becomes much of a muchness that doesnt have a noticeable benefit to mobile gaming. Whats. Most interesting about the black shark 5 pros display is the technology, while the black shark 4s pro featured a super amoled display the latest model sports, an oled display there arent many differences between the two, but a mold is said to offer better power efficiency than oled. So its surprising to see black shark make the switch, especially when its battery is already of a lower capacity than competing gaming phones from asus and red magic display. Technology aside, the full hd plus 1080 by 2400 resolution 6.67 inches display, provides a crisp, vibrant experience, whether youre gaming or just scrolling, through tick tock, with the ability to tweak the displays color palette in the settings menu if its not to your taste. Its plenty bright too, with the maximum 496 candelas per meter 2 via manual brightness adjustment. More than enough for outdoor use performance and gaming snapdragon 8 general 1 offers top level game performance magnetic triggers vastly improve the mobile gaming experience. New magnetic cooler is poorly designed being a top end gaming phone. It should come as no surprise that the black shark 5 pro has top end internals to match that comes in the form of qualcomms top end snapdragon 8 general one coupled with either eight gigabytes.

Twelve gigabytes of sixteen gigabytes of speedy lpddr, five, six thousand four hundred megahertz ram and either two hundred fifty six gigabytes or five hundred twelve gigabytes of storage. Depending on the option you go for thats a big boost in performance compared to the regular black shark 5. With its snapdragon 870 and is in line with other gaming phones like the red magic 7 pro, as you might expect, those specs deliver an impressively fast and responsive smartphone experience, especially when, coupled with the 144 hertz 720 hertz touch sample rate of the display. Theres no noticeable lag or stuttering when scrolling through media heavy social media apps, the camera is responsive and the animations are buttery smooth thats. Just as true when gaming, the snapdragon 8 general 1 and adreno 730 make light work of even high end. Android games like gentian impact, call of duty, mobile and pubg new state. You can run titles with detailed graphics and still expect a solid 60 fps gaming experience or up to 144 hertz. If the game supports it, thats generally backed up by our benchmark results with impressive cpu and gpu performance that beats standard flagships that cost almost double the price and can compete with most high end gaming alternatives in 2022. When it comes to gaming, the black shark 5. Pro has a trick up its sleeve in the form of magnetic triggers embedded into the side of the phone accessible by flipping a switch at either end of the phone triggers pop out from its body, providing a more console, esque gaming experience without additional accessories.

There is a bit of setup with the triggers requiring manual remapping for most android titles, but its a simple process that only takes a few seconds, and it also means you can use them on titles that dont officially support controllers. Besides triggers the black shark 5, pro can also use other inputs, like shaking the phone to perform other actions making for a versatile gaming experience that gives you the edge in online competitive gameplay. Despite improved cooling on offer from the latest model, the black shark 5 pro can still get noticeably hot over prolonged periods of gameplay, and that can have a negative effect on performance. To get around. This black shark has released the optional black shark magnetic cooler that magnetically attaches to the rear of the phone to keep it cool. The problem is that the phone doesnt have built in magnets like the iphones magsafe system. Instead, you have to attach a magnetic sticker to the rear of the phone camera. Meaningful upgrades to 108 mp main rear camera, fixed focus 120 degree. Ultra wide is frustrating macro.