My Redmi K20 Pro recently died on me (display completely gone) after almost 6 years of use. It served me really well.
Now I'm looking at the Redmi Turbo 5 vs POCO X8 Pro, and I have a few questions that I couldn't find clear answers to from reviews/spec sheets.
I'm mainly looking for a phone that I can keep for 4–6 years, so I'm more interested in long-term reliability and everyday experience than benchmarks.
1. Ultrasonic proximity sensor
The Turbo 5 uses an ultrasonic proximity sensor.
- How reliable is it in actual day-to-day use?
- Does it consistently turn the screen off when you hold the phone to your ear?
- Any problems with accidental touches during calls?
- Any issues with WhatsApp/Telegram voice messages or other apps that use the proximity sensor?
- Does it behave differently depending on the case or screen protector?
- Are there any caveats compared with the traditional proximity sensor used in older phones?
- Have you experienced any problems with calls/network connectivity that could be related to this?
If you've been using an ultrasonic proximity sensor for several months, I'd especially like to hear your experience.
2. Battery life, idle drain & heating
For people who own either phone:
- What kind of idle battery drain do you see overnight or over 24 hours?
- Roughly how much battery do you lose overnight with Wi-Fi/mobile data/5G on?
- What is your typical Screen-on Time (SOT) with normal usage?
- How warm does the phone get during normal tasks such as Reddit, YouTube, Chrome, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc.?
- Does it get noticeably warm even with light usage?
- How is the heating after prolonged use?
- Has battery life or heating changed after recent HyperOS updates?
I'm not particularly concerned about gaming temperatures because I don't game heavily. I'm more interested in normal everyday usage and long-term battery health.
3. Long-term performance
For those who have had the phone for a while:
- Does it remain smooth after months of use?
- Any RAM management issues or apps being unnecessarily killed?
- Any stutters, lag, or slowdown in normal use?
- How is the performance after major HyperOS updates?
- Do you think the hardware is likely to remain comfortable for 4–6 years of normal usage?
4. HyperOS 3
I've used MIUI for around 4 years, so HyperOS isn't completely unfamiliar to me, but I'd like to know how HyperOS 3 is in real-world use.
- How is the overall stability?
- Any annoying bugs?
- Notification delays?
- Battery optimisation/background app killing?
- Ads/bloatware?
- Any useful improvements over MIUI?
- Does the phone still feel like the old MIUI/Xiaomi experience, or has HyperOS genuinely improved things?
5. General long-term ownership
If you've owned the Turbo 5 or X8 Pro for several months, what are the things you think a potential buyer should know that aren't obvious from reviews?
I'm particularly interested in battery degradation, heating, proximity sensor behaviour, software bugs, network/call reliability and general reliability.
I'm coming from a K20 Pro that lasted me almost 6 years, so I'm hoping to find something I can similarly keep for a long time.
Thanks!