Xiaomi Black Shark 5 RS Smartphone Review – The Xiaomi Black Shark phones are leading brands in the gaming-centric segment after the Asus phones. They generally provide impressive specs, especially for gamers from overclocking to enhancing the interface according to the user’s needs. Recently, the company released the Black shark 5 series, which includes the basic Black Shark 5, while the higher variant Black Shark 5 Pro is also there.
For today’s review, we have the Black Shark 5 RS launched in March and is the most affordable smartphone in the Shark 5 lineup. The phone follows the legacy with major changes in the software as well as hardware parts. You are going to gain a next-level gameplay experience with these phones. So, without any further ado, let’s go to the in-depth review of the Xiaomi Black Shark 5 RS smartphone.
Table of Contents
Xiaomi Black Shark 5 RS Smartphone Review
Highlights
- The Black Shark 5 RS attains a pretty tall 6.67-inches AMOLED display that equips a 144Hz refresh rate.
- The entire hardware system is powered through the 5nm Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888/888+ 5G chipsets with Adreno 660 GPU.
- You will gain access to the latest Android 12 OS based on the Joy UI 12.8 custom interface.
- With this gaming-centric configuration, the phone offers a 64MP triple camera at the back, while a 20MP selfie at the front.
- As for the battery strength, the device brings a huge Li-Po 4500 mAh battery with 120W fast charging support.
Design and Display
From the context that the Black Shark 5 RS is a gaming-centric phone, you won’t get the standard design layout from this phone. Instead of that, it offers a pretty aesthetic-looking appearance with RGB lights support on the back panel. Although the camera module is presented in a straight line, that looks ok, if the company did something creative it could have appeared more attractive.
Anyway, design-wise, this phone is a great choice if you are a gamer, and choosing the yellow color variant would be an excellent choice as you will get a punchy color combination, while there’s also a classic black shade variant. Moreover, the side panel is loaded with a magnetic trigger that can be assigned for various gameplays, while you can also change the initiation sound according to your wish.
On the other hand, there’s no doubt that this handset has heavy built and thick sides. But it doesn’t affect the user experience as the company renders a 144Hz refresh rate 6.67-inches AMOLED display. On top of that, the touch response rate is also fabulous. The brightness nits can go up to 1300 nits, which consider quite superb.
Memory and Internal
The Xiaomi Black Shark 5 RS arrives with two different 5nm chipsets, Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888 and Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888+. Both chipsets are based on the 5-nm architectures and offer similar processing speeds for advanced-level gaming. But at the same time, they have some subtle differences too. For example, the Snapdragon 888+ variant offers SSD type 128GB internal storage with 12GB RAM support.
With this, you will attain better performance and software optimization. On the other hand, the Snapdragon 888 chipset variant provides 256GB UFS 3.1 internal space with 8GB RAM. This one is not that bad either, but you will get superior results from the SSD storage. Alongside this, the cooling system is available, so you won’t face overheating issues much on the Black Shark 5 RS.
But if you are playing a game for many hours, a heating issue will appear for sure. Now, let’s talk about the software end. The phone arrives with Android 12-based Joy UI 12.8 custom UI, which includes several customizations for your gameplay. Besides this, you can set different light formats for the back panel logo, and change the sound of triggers. All of this stuff is just the tip of the iceberg. There are numerous things that you can try in the interface.
Camera
Udoubutlely, the Black Shark 5 RS has a decent camera setup that can take impressive photos in daylight without any hassle. It’s true that most time, gaming-centric smartphones don’t have proper camera quality. But that is not the case with this phone. You can capture your life moment with the 64MP primary lens.
You can take images with fine details if you are taking photos in the daylight. The night mode photos are adequate. As for the ultra-wide pictures from the 8MP lens, they do have punchy colors, but the results are not appealing as the primary lens. For a close-up shot, there’s also a 5MP telephoto lens. Moreover, the phone also has a 20MP selfie lens.
The image processing quality is not the same as the main lens, but the selfies come out to be superb. In terms of video recording, the main camera setup will go up to 4K recording with HDR 10+ support, while the front camera will record up to 1080p videos in a hassle-free manner. Overall, the photos and videos are what you expect from a gaming phone.
Battery and Others
Gaming phones are useless when they don’t have sufficient battery life to support long gaming sessions. That’s why the smartphone companies focus on battery life optimization for better usage in intense sessions. Even though the Black Shark 5 RS has a Li-Po 4500 mAh battery, you won’t face any throttle issues, while the massive 120W fast charger will enhance the charging speed.
On the other hand, all you need is a 15-minutes to refuel the battery from flat to 100%. Following this, the battery optimization will provide long-lasting battery life too. So, you can enjoy all those exciting features of this phone without any problem. Aside from this, the sound experience is superb. Now, let’s talk about the price tag. The Xiaomi Black Shark 5 RS cost $501 (Rs. 39,590 in India) approx.
Xiaomi Black Shark 5 RS Pros and Cons
Xiaomi Black Shark 5 RS Specifications Detail
Down below you can see the full specifications of the Xiaomi Black Shark 5 RS smartphone.
| Specifications | Xiaomi Black Shark 5 RS |
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G |
| Announced | March 2022 |
| SIM | Dual SIM |
| Dimensions | 6.44 x 3.00 x 0.39 inches |
| Weight | 220 g |
| Size | 6.67 inches |
| Display | AMOLED 144Hz 1300 nits peak brightness 20:9 ratio ~395 PPI density |
| Protection/Others | Physical pop-up gaming triggers |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels |
| OS | Android 12, Joy UI 12.8 |
| Chipset | 5nm – Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888/888+ 5G |
| CPU | Octa-core 1×2.84/3.0 GHz Kryo 680 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 680 4×1.80 GHz Kryo 680 |
| GPU | Adreno 660 |
| Card slot | No |
| RAM | 8GB – Snapdragon 888 12GB – Snapdragon 888+ |
| Internal | 256GB UFS 3.1/SSD |
| Camera | 64 MP (wide), PDAF 8 MP (120Ëšultrawide) 5 MP (telephoto macro) LED flash, HDR, panorama Max – 4K@60fps, HDR10+ |
| Selfie | 20 MP (wide) HDR Max – 1080p@30fps |
| Loudspeaker | Yes (stereo speakers) |
| 3.5mm jack | Yes 24-bit/192kHz audio |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot |
| Bluetooth | 5.2, A2DP, LE, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, BDS |
| NFC | Yes |
| Infrared port | No |
| Radio | No |
| USB | USB Type-C 2.0 |
| Sensors | side-mounted fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro proximity, compass, barometer |
| Battery | Li-Po 4500 mAh Fast charging 120W |
| Colors | Black, Yellow |
| Expected Price | $519 (Rs 39,590 in India) approx |
Conclusions
The Xiaomi Black Shark 5RS is a great gaming-centric smartphone under a $510 price tag. It brings ample value to the users who are solely looking for a phone for only gaming. Although, it’s a common trait that the camera quality of this phone is average and will fewer years’ android updates. But still, we can’t overlook the positive sides of this phone.
It offers amazing hardware and software combinations that a gamer is looking forward to, while at the same time, you won’t be disappointed by the performance. Aside from this, if you are looking for different specs and more custom attributes, we highly recommend checking out the Poco F4 GT because it’s offering the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset but the final decision is in your hand.
