Black Shark is among the manufacturers of affordable gaming devices, competing with brands like ROG Phone. This year they come with two new devices namely Black Shark 5 and Black Shark 5 Pro. The presence in the Malaysian market is quite fast compared to the previous Black Shark 4. Black Shark 5 Pro is the most powerful and premium version with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip. While Black Shark 5 is the initial version by recycling Black Shark 4 chip which is Snapdragon 870.
Our experience with Black Shark 5 Pro was quite satisfying. But after using the Black Shark 5, it turns out that the Snapdragon 870 is still a powerful chip to this day. This is because the experience of using this device also gave me an unexpected satisfaction. In this article, I share my usage experience over almost a month.
Specifications And Designs
Black Shark 5
6.67 inch screen, AMOLED, 144Hz, 1080 x 2400, (~ 395 ppi)
Snapdragon 870 (7nm) processor
1 x 3.2 GHz Kryo 585 Prime chip
3 x 2.42 GHz Kryo 585 Gold
4 x 1.8 GHz Kryo 585 Silver
Adreno 650 Graphics Chip
RAM 8/12 GB LPDDR5
Internal Capacity 128/256 GB UFS 3.1
64+13+5 Megapixel Main Camera
f/1.79+f/2.2+f/2.4
4K 30FPS, Clone mode, VLOG mode, AI camera
20 Megapixel Selfie Camera
f/2.45
4650 mAh battery
120W fast charging
SIM/nano SIM Dual Phone
NFC Ada
Stereo Audio, Dolby Atmos
Waterproof None
Scanning System Scan the finger on the side
Selling Price RM2299 (8/128 GB)
RM2699 (12/256 GB)
The design of the device undeniably looks a bit boring. It continues to sink in with the Pro version that looks neater, threatening and pleasing to the eye. But the basic design on this device with not much use of flamboyant design - makes it comfortable to use as an everyday device. Overall, the shape of the device is still more or less the same as the Black Shark 4 and I don’t feel there are many unique or different changes.
Only the camera design looks beautiful and different. Giving a futuristic element as well as the first element to tell people it is a gaming device and not just a regular device. A mechanical shoulder button that can be controlled manually, where the slider can be used as a shortcut access to various functions and the shoulder button can also be used for additional controls in addition to the control in the first. Every physical button on this device is also nicely pressed and the shoulder button also gives me a more immersive first -person playing experience.
The Black Shark 5 also has an RGB lighting system on a small logo on the back of the device. It can be controlled by the user and can also be a notification light. The device also comes with a thin bezel screen, except on a slightly thicker chin. The screen size is a 6.67-inch AMOLED 144Hz, which is beautiful and fast enough. The brightness is also good enough for both outdoor and indoor use. Throughout the use I was also satisfied to stream YouTube and Netflix content.
The device screen also never has a snagging problem and is always smooth and fast for every scroll. Open and close the application does not give any interruption and the application exchange is also very fast so I myself was surprised is it true the performance of the Snapdragon 870?
The memory on this device is 8GB RAM with a choice of 12GB RAM as well as 128GB UFS 3.1 or 256GB internal storage. The device’s camera is better than the Black Shark 4 and 4s, which are 64+13+5 Megapixels, with a 20 Megapixel selfie camera. The device is also loaded with Dolby Atmos -tuned stereo speakers, a built -in fingerprint scan on the power button still has an infrared sensor and is loaded with a 4650mAh battery capacity with 120W fast charging support.
Usage And Software
As I said earlier, it’s been almost a month since I used this device as my daily device. Throughout the use no serious annoying problems occurred to me and I am very satisfied with the performance of this device. I already talked about the screen in the previous paragraph. A beautiful screen with good brightness control or smooth high refresh rate support can all be because of the software.
In the beginning, Black Shark only ran the MIUI operating system with a gaming theme. They then came with JoyUI which is similar to AOSP, empty and only with the application to play first and then reuse MIUI but it has been modified to become a separate operating system with the name JoyUI. Users of Xiaomi devices will not feel alienated using Black Shark.
While it looks the same, a lot of changes have been made. What is certain is that the experience of using the AOSP version is no more. In JoyUI on system settings there is a Performance Manager option to view CPU usage, WiFi quality, memory usage and monitor battery. JoyUI also has a Light Effect system app to control the RGB lights on the back of the device in a user -friendly and more convenient interface. Lastly most importantly, the system settings also have a special section controlling Shark Space.
Other uses are similar to using Xiaomi, Redmi or Poco devices. Although JoyUI is built based on MIUI, Black Shark does not experience other MIUI problems. Examples of notification problems do not occur on this device. Inefficient memory usage also does not occur on devices if the information in the Performance Manager is accurate.
JoyUI gives me the best MIUI device usage experience. Just go to Xiaomi theme warehouse, change the theme to regular MIUI icon set, JoyUI will resemble MIUI. I don’t understand why Black Shark can do it successfully, but Poco and Redmi can’t?
Shark Chan
In JoyUI, apart from the built -in Google Assistant digital assistant - it also has other digital assistants of its own. Shark Chan is a virtual character that can assist users in controlling notifications or giving cheers of enthusiasm to play first.
Shark Chan can notify incoming messages in Shark Chan when the play session is active. Shark Chan can also remain active on the lock screen to interact with users. It’s a bit weird and annoying, but a pretty unique feature that isn’t there on other gaming devices.
Bench mark
The Snapdragon 870 is a rebranded Snapdragon 865+ chip. Not sure why the Black Shark 5 still uses the same chip on the Black Shark 4, but it’s a smart choice as the use of the two devices doesn’t feel much different other than the ability to change the settings in the first. The Snapdragon 870 has also proven to be a powerful chip with no heating issues.
I compared the Black Shark 5 with the Poco X4 GT and Realme GT Neo 3 which use the Dimensity 8100 chip because it has more or less the same capabilities. Dimensity obviously has a higher score if the memory is larger. But 8GB of RAM with 3GB of virtual RAM is enough.
AnTuTu 3D
Black Shark 5: 718,873
Poco X4 GT: 751,720
Realme GT Neo 3: 742,992
Geekbench 5
Black Shark 5: 897/2,855
Poco X4 GT: 905/3,536
Realme GT Neo 3: 963/4,008
I've tested the first PUBG Mobile as well as the Asphalt 9. Black Shark 5 provides an immersive first gaming experience until I forgot that this device is not powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip and only a Snapdragopn 870. The nearly hour-long session on both firsts doesn't make the device feeling hot, not even warm. It’s pretty cool and normal like not playing the first one and only streaming video for a few hours.
After a benchmark test session and some preliminaries, the device also operated properly without any system outages or time delays.
Telephones And GPS
This device has no problems with the network either telephony or even GPS. My mobile data usage is aware of always being stable and being able to provide 4G+ or VoLTE access all the time. If the network bar is weak, the device can still connect to the Internet properly. Phone calls are also clearly audible, only if the app relies on the Internet like an audio call - it can get stuck a bit but is still acceptable.
The use of map and GPS applications is also smooth always. Traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Seremban and back again is able to provide good intricacies and lock the location accurately. Waze or Google Maps, this device is capable of providing the best performance.
Camera
The camera app on JoyUI is Xiaomi Camera only. Even if you want to install version 4.3, Leica features can also be used without any problems. The camera app is easy to use and similar only to Xiaomi, but on the settings there are additional settings to control the camera with a physical shoulder button.
The quality of the Black Shark 5 camera is not the best in the market. Even devices like the Redmi Note 11 Pro have better camera performance in my usage experience. Cameras on gaming devices rarely give satisfactory results because they are not the main and most important feature for them to focus on.
On this Black Shark 5, the 64MP camera is seen to be able to provide quite bright image results with good details. But it doesn’t have a nice focus system to make sure the subject stands out more in the picture. Ultra wide angle mode, on the other hand, has a lot of noise effects with overly obvious distortion effects.
The night mode on this device is disappointing with inconsistent performance. Auto mode with HDR and AI is also erratic with sometimes giving sharp, bright and beautiful colors - but sometimes faded color results are also displayed. Overall the Black Shark 5 camera, it’s a basic camera that’s just there and good enough to capture important moments happening in life while first being played.
Audio
Usually if a gaming device, the Asus ROG Phone will have nice and great speakers. This time, I feel the Black Shark 5 has solid audio quality. It has a deep bass, the majority of the music played is quite melodious as well as it is loud and powerful enough to give an immersive music listening experience or video streaming experience. The audio is also fairly balanced, there are no parts that feel weird or have obvious shortcomings. The speakers of this device have managed to be in the category of premium speakers that will definitely not disappoint users.
Battery
The 4650mAh battery for gaming devices is not the best. But for light use, this device is not a problem to have a durability of up to 8 hours SOT with extreme use around 5-6 hours SOT. The power consumption on this device is obviously efficient as the device can run normally without any battery issues quickly running out even though many apps are running in the background.
The Black Shark 5 also supports 120W fast charging which is too fast, so that in less than 30 minutes the 0% battery can be fully charged to 100%. Depending on the condition of the device, sometimes even 0% -100% can be reached in about 15 minutes.
Conclusion
Gaming devices with Snapdragon 870 are still worth owning. It is a chip that is proven to be powerful enough for mobile gaming sessions that will satisfy users. It's fast and won't get hot. But for the Black Shark 5, it is a device for those who have never owned a Black Shark brand device and have never used a gaming device with a physical button on the shoulder for first control.
The Black Shark 5 is an almost perfect basic gaming device. It offers a complete package for use as a portable video game player, for use as a regular device, as well as for pretty good productivity use.
The Black Shark 5 is a powerful device for those who just want to try out devices powered by Snapdragon 8xx series chips or aren’t ready to try Snapdragon 8/8+ Gen 1. The Black Shark 5 is a hard device to give any negative comments because that’s what you want it all offered in affordable packages.
Pro
Steady performance and unexpectedly fast
Great immersive audio
Super fast charging
The price is not torn from the pocket
User -friendly JoyUI
There are additional physical buttons for easy control
Cons
The design is too ordinary
Netflix does not support HDR10+
The camera is unsatisfactory