Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 5G - Redmi Note 12 5G Price In India
Compared to last year's Redmi Note 11 or even the Note 11S ( review ), Xiaomi's latest Redmi Note 12 5G packs several upgrades. To begin with, the phone supports 5G thanks to the latest Qualcomm SoC, more base storage and a smoother display. However, all this comes at a price. Rs. 17,999 for the base variant, these upgrades don't sound particularly exciting considering that smartphones in this bracket (or even below) already have them.
And then there's the competition, with smartphones like the Realme 10 Pro 5G and Moto G82 5G (review) offering more value for the same price. Do the upgrades offered on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 5G add any real value and should you upgrade to it? I've been using it for a week and here's what I think.
Redmi Note 12 5G Design
At 7.9mm, the new Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 5G certainly looks slim but is moderately heavy at 188g. The frame and back panel are made of polycarbonate. The rear panel has a soft matte finish that gives it a classy look and feel, but it also attracts smudges easily. However, it is easy to wipe off. The sides are flat and the frame also has a matte finish which makes holding this large phone a chore as it is quite slippery. The design of the camera module has changed, which now looks like a block of polished glass that rises from the rear panel, giving it a modern look.
The display on the Redmi Note 12 5G has a hole-punch cutout for the selfie camera and is of the AMOLED type. The fingerprint scanner sits on the side, above the power button. The bezels around the left, top and right sides of the display are thin enough, but there's a noticeable chin at the bottom that takes away from its premium appeal.
The Redmi Note 12 5G has the usual IP53 rating for dust and water resistance, but despite all the cosmetic upgrades, it doesn't really stand out, nor is it as flashy as the Realme 10 Pro 5G in my opinion.
Redmi Note 12 5G Specifications
Although the design is not flashy, the Redmi Note 12 5G is convincingly equipped when it comes to hardware. It has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 SoC, LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.2 storage. The latter can be expanded up to 1TB using a microSD card in the hybrid dual-SIM tray. The phone supports eleven 5G bands with dual-5G standby. Communication standards include Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.1, USB Type-C port, IR sensor and 3.5mm headphone port. The latter can be used with the built-in FM radio app. The phone has a 5,000mAh battery and can be charged using the 33W charger provided in the box.
In 2023, it comes as little surprise to see Xiaomi release the Redmi Note 12 5G with Android 12. The phone runs MIUI 13, which comes with its own customizations, though it's not as advanced in terms of theming as Android 13-powered devices (regardless of the custom skin). You get the usual bloatware with Xiaomi branded and pre-installed third-party apps like Amazon, Facebook, Amazon Prime Video, Zili, to name a few. Apart from the daily spam notifications from the GetApps app, I thankfully did not receive any other spam notifications from other pre-installed apps.
Redmi Note 12 5G Performance And Battery Life
The software experience on the 6GB RAM variant of Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 5G was very smooth. Despite all the bloatware and pre-installed third-party apps, it ran smoothly whether I was multi-tasking, launching new apps or even retrieving recently used apps from memory. The phone supports Virtual RAM (allocated from internal storage) feature and I had it set to 5GB (maximum limit) during the review period. While day-to-day use was smooth, I noticed a random bug that locked apps to a certain orientation. Strangely, moving the phone seems to be really hard so this is a temporary fix.
The 6.67-inch, full-HD+ Super AMOLED panel on the Redmi Note 12 5G has a 120Hz refresh rate, but it's not optimized and has to be manually set to 60 or 120Hz. During the review period, I always had the display set to 120Hz. The screen gets very bright outdoors and produces vivid colors with the default color profile, but more natural-looking colors at the 'Standard' setting.
There is no HDR playback support for streaming apps but the Redmi Note 12 5G is Widevine L1 certified, which supports full-HD video playback. Videos look good with solid colors, but fall a little short when watching dark scenes.
In terms of benchmarks, the Redmi Note 12 5G performs as expected. The 6GB RAM variant of the Redmi Note 12 5G scores 3,63,352 points in AnTuTu and 626 and 1,696 points in Geekbench's single and multi-core tests respectively. These scores are fair compared to the more expensive Redmi Note 12 Pro+ 5G. In-game, Call of Duty: Mobile is playable at default settings ('High' graphics quality and framerate) but lags significantly at times.
The touch sampling rate on the Redmi Note 12 5G also seemed insufficient for first-person shooter (FPS) games. Asphalt 9 Legends also behaves similarly as the phone is unable to maintain a stable framerate while playing the game at default settings. The phone is better suited for more casual titles like Subway Surfers and the Lott. The single bottom-firing speaker, although loud, feels tinny when it comes to both watching movies and playing games and isn't very immersive.
The Redmi Note 12 5G managed to deliver around a day and a half of battery life on a single charge, even with heavy usage, which is pretty good. My usage also included some gaming and camera sampling. The phone managed to last 17 hours and 57 minutes in our HD Video Loop battery test, which is pretty good. Charging the 5,000mAh battery is also quick and the phone reaches 37 percent charge in 30 minutes and completes the charge in around 1 hour, 14 minutes.
Buy Now - Redmi Note 12 5G
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