The Black Shark 5 Pro is great for gaming, but a few weaknesses make it less reliable as an everyday smartphone.
If you’re reading this Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro review, we’re under the assumption that it’s because you’re in the market for a gaming phone. If you’re not looking for such a device, which comes with additional software and hardware tricks to make gaming a blast, then we advise you to look elsewhere. This is because the Black Shark, like many other of the best gaming handsets, is great for playing mobile titles but suffers issues when used as an everyday smartphone. While this is a compromise that we’ve become used to, it’s best to avoid such devices if gaming isn’t a regular part of your life. This is the most powerful member of the fifth generation of Black Shark phones. They’re manufactured by Xiaomi, although both the Chinese tech giant and its gaming sub-brand downplay the relationship between the two. There’s a standard Black Shark 5, too, offering a lower-res main camera, slightly weaker chipset and lower storage and RAM configurations; but it costs less as a result. As is the case with most gaming phones, the Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro’s performance power is its main selling point, since this ensures it can run top-end titles at their highest graphics settings without breaking a sweat. At the heart of the device sits a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, supported by up to 12GB of RAM – a combination that, in our experience, delivered outstanding gaming performance. This is helped by the presence of pop-up physical triggers along the right edge of the phone, which can be assigned a function for your game, to turn your smartphone into a device that more resembles a gaming controller. This setup delivers quite an advantage in games. The pop-up triggers return from the Black Shark 4 Pro, but what didn’t ascend generations is the 3.5mm jack for wired audio. That’s a shame, since wired headphones and microphones can offer better latency and audio quality for gaming over wireless units. However, buy a USB-C adapter and you’ll still be able to plug in a set via the sole remaining port. Our mention earlier that the phone doesn’t break a sweat was with reference to the fact we experience no lag or stuttering. However, the Black Shark 5 Pro does suffer a few issues during intensive gaming. The main one is that, like other Snapdragon 8 phones, the device becomes incredibly hot – clearly, the built-in cooling system that Black Shark has gone with here isn’t sufficient to cope with the demands of intensive play. In addition, there’s significant battery drain from this top-end chipset; although the Black Shark Pro 5 didn’t last as long as we’d hoped for even with regular use. So, the battery life on the Black Shark 5 Pro isn’t up to snuff; but there is a feature – another carry-over from the previous version – that makes up for it in part. This is 120W fast charging, which delivers the capability to power up the phone to full in just 15 minutes – which is incredibly impressive. As we’ve alluded to in this two-minute review, the Black Shark 5 Pro is quite similar to its predecessor in a number of ways, but it does come with a few minor changes that we’d be remiss to ignore. The new model sports a more understated, less “game-centric” design, as well as a better main camera, an improved macro camera and cleaner software – although there are some notable and curious downgrades, too, such as the 5 Pro’s use of an OLED display over the 4 Pro’s Super AMOLED and better range of storage and RAM options. So if you already own Xiaomi’s previous Black Shark gaming device, the 5 Pro doesn’t offer much of an upgrade – and if you can find the previous model for a decent price, it’s definitely worth considering. But for everyone else in the market for a gaming device, you’d do well to check out the Black Shark 5 Pro. The Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro launched globally on June 8, with its sale date just one day after. The handset starts at $799 / £639 — that’s for 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. There are two other configurations: 12GB/256GB, which costs $899 / £729, and 16GB/256GB, which is priced at $999 / £809. We tested the middling option. Given that the Black Shark 5 starts at just $549 / £439 for 8GB/128GB, and its max option of 12GB/256GB is just $649 / £529, we can’t help but feel that’s a better deal, since it has all the most important specs of its pricier sibling. For context the Black Shark 4 Pro started at $579/£489 — a lot cheaper — while the Nubia Red Magic 7 started at $629 / £529 / AU$900. So the Black Shark is pricier than several other contemporary gaming phones. With every passing year, the new Black Shark phones have become less garish, with angular designs, LED patterns and hard edges making way for more understated features. The Black Shark 5 Pro is the next step in this evolution. In fact, remove the rear decal and the small LED panel and you’d have what looks like a standard mid-range Android phone, with a raised rectangular camera bump on the back, volume rocker on the left, power button and fingerprint scanner combo on the right, and an USB-C port exactly in the same spot as it is on every other phone.
