The Poco F5 is an ambitious attempt by Poco to push the boundaries of mid-range smartphones, providing a compelling set of specs that put it comfortably ahead of competitors at the same price. However, while the hardware is impressive, the software experience is still lagging behind. It features a custom version of MIUI10, but there are still plenty of stability issues that unfortunately hold it back. Additionally, going through the extra steps to access Google’s services is a bit of a hassle. While the Poco F5 has a lot of potential, its software experience does need refinement before it can truly compete with the best.