In-Depth Review of the Xiaomi Redmi 12 5G

Introduction

Xiaomi's Redmi 12 5G has emerged as the latest addition to their budget-friendly Redmi series, and it's important to note that this model shouldn't be confused with the Redmi 12, despite their somewhat perplexing names. The Redmi 12 5G occupies a higher tier and offers much more than just 5G connectivity.

In many aspects, both the Redmi 12 models share similarities. They both showcase a spacious 6.79-inch 90Hz display, which is the most expansive among all the primary Redmi phones. Additionally, they both adopt a nearly identical design, with a refreshed glass back panel. Moreover, both phones come equipped with a generous 5000mAh battery and boast a 50MP primary camera.

The main difference between the two phones is the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 chip on the Redmi 12 5G and the MediaTek Helio G88 on the Redmi 12 4G. The Snapdragon chip enables 5G connectivity, which of course gives the former its name. Oddly enough, however, the standard Redmi 12 has an ultrawide camera in addition to the 50MP main, something the more expensive Redmi 12 5G lacks.

Key Specifications of Xiaomi Redmi 12 5G:

• Dimensions: 168.6x76.3x8.2mm, Weight: 199g; Built with a Glass front (Gorilla Glass), plastic frame, and glass back (Gorilla Glass); IP53 rated for dust and splash resistance.
• Display: A generous 6.79" IPS LCD with a smooth 90Hz refresh rate, 550 nits brightness, 1080x2460px resolution, 20.5:9 aspect ratio, and 396ppi pixel density.
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 (4 nm) featuring an octa-core configuration (2x2.2 GHz Cortex-A78 & 6x Cortex-A55) and Adreno 613 GPU.
• Memory Options: Choose from 128GB with 4GB RAM, 128GB with 6GB RAM, or 256GB with 8GB RAM; Utilizes UFS 2.2 storage; microSDXC support via the shared SIM slot.
• Operating System/Software: Runs on Android 13 with MIUI 14.
• Camera Setup: Rear camera sports a 50 MP primary lens with f/1.8 aperture and PDAF, accompanied by a 2 MP depth sensor with f/2.4 aperture. The front camera is an 8 MP wide lens with f/2.0 aperture and 1.12µm pixel size.
• Video Capabilities: Rear camera captures video at 1080p@30fps, and the front camera is capable of 1080p@30fps video recording.
• Battery: Powered by a robust 5000mAh battery, supports 18W wired charging, and PD (Power Delivery).
• Connectivity Options: Features 5G connectivity, Hybrid Dual SIM support, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.3, Infrared port, and retains the 3.5mm headphone jack.
• Additional Features: Includes a side-mounted fingerprint reader and virtual proximity sensing.

Affordable Pricing

Both these smartphones continue Xiaomi's tradition of affordability, with the Redmi 12 starting at $120 and the Redmi 12 5G at $145. Today, we'll delve into the more advanced Redmi 12 5G and evaluate its performance.

Unboxing Experience

Upon unboxing, the Redmi 12 5G reveals its essentials thoughtfully packaged within. Included in the package is a 22.5W charger and a charging cable featuring a USB-A connector on one end. Additionally, users will find a handy clear soft silicone case, providing immediate protection for your device.

 Design

The Redmi 12 5G boasts an elegant and refined design, defying its budget-friendly pricing. Its front is dominated by a generously sized 6.79-inch display, the largest ever featured on a Redmi series device. While the display is framed by substantial bezels, they don't overly distract from the overall appeal. However, the slightly raised edges around the screen can be noticeable, grazing against your thumb during swipes.

The phone's frame is constructed from plastic, featuring a matte finish that almost mimics the appearance of aluminum. On the right side, you'll find the power button and volume rocker, with the power button also doubling as a fingerprint sensor. Despite limited space, the fingerprint sensor works efficiently.

The bottom of the device houses a single loudspeaker, a microphone, and a USB-C connector. On the top, you'll discover the inclusion of an IR blaster and a cherished headphone jack. Meanwhile, the left side accommodates the SIM tray.

Turning our attention to the rear, the phone sports a glass cover, imparting a premium feel and a pristine reflection devoid of the typical warping associated with plastic surfaces. This glass back should also offer greater resistance to scratches compared to glossy plastic, thanks to its enhanced durability.

The Redmi 12 5G is available in three distinct colors: a sleek glossy black, an iridescent silver, and a charming pastel blue, as depicted here.

At the top of the device, the camera lenses follow a familiar arrangement but lack any surrounding borders, contributing to a clean and contemporary look. Metallic rings adorn the camera lenses, providing a subtle yet stylish touch.

Constructed with durability in mind, the Redmi 12 5G feels robust in hand. The inclusion of Corning Gorilla Glass for both the front and back further enhances the perception of a high-quality product. Additionally, the phone carries an IP53 splash resistance rating, offering peace of mind against accidental splashes. However, it's worth noting that the device, due to its size, may feel somewhat hefty and unwieldy on occasion.

Vibrant Visuals

The Redmi 12 5G boasts a sizable 6.79-inch IPS LCD panel, offering a sharp 2460 x 1080 resolution. This display operates in 8-bit color and can smoothly refresh at a rate of up to 90Hz.

While the display may not cover an exceptionally broad color gamut, even in its default Vivid setting or the optional Saturated mode, it doesn't significantly enhance the vibrancy of colors compared to the Standard or sRGB mode. Notably, the Standard mode does present a better-calibrated white point, whereas Vivid and Standard modes tend to skew towards cooler, bluer tones.

In terms of contrast and black-level performance, the display impresses, considering it's an IPS panel. However, when viewed off-axis, the viewing angles aren't particularly forgiving, with the panel experiencing a noticeable dimming effect.

The display offers multiple refresh rate options, including 30Hz, 48Hz, 60Hz, and the default dynamic adjustment mode, which adapts the refresh rate based on on-screen content. Even when manually set to 90Hz, the screen may still adjust according to usage scenarios, with little discernible difference from the Default mode in most applications.

For the most part, the screen operates at 90Hz, dipping to 48Hz during periods of inactivity. During video playback, it shifts to 30Hz for content below 30fps and to 60Hz for content exceeding that frame rate. Interestingly, it doesn't refresh at 48Hz for 24fps or 48fps content, maintaining decent motion performance without distracting trailing artifacts behind moving objects.

However, the most significant drawback of the Redmi 12 5G's display is its peak brightness. Despite the advertised 550 nits, outdoor visibility under direct sunlight can be challenging, with occasional difficulty in discerning on-screen content.

Nonetheless, overall, the display on the Redmi 12 5G remains entirely serviceable and even commendable for a smartphone within this price range.

Efficient Charging

Equipped with a substantial 5000mAh battery, the Redmi 12 5G supports 18W fast charging. The package includes a 22.5W charger for your convenience.

Charging speeds on the Redmi 12 5G, while not quite as swift as some contemporary counterparts, align reasonably well with its price range. Utilizing the provided charger, the phone reaches a 50% charge within an hour. To achieve a full 100% charge, it requires 2 hours and 24 minutes. Given these charging times, it's advisable to plug in your device overnight for hassle-free replenishment.

Charging speed

Audio Output

The Redmi 12 5G is equipped with a single down-firing loudspeaker. As expected, when watching content in landscape mode, the sound experience can be a bit uneven. However, when viewing the growing array of portrait-oriented videos, the audio remains quite satisfactory.

In terms of speaker quality, it falls short of expectations. At lower volume levels, the speaker tends to sound somewhat muffled and congested. Increasing the volume doesn't improve matters; instead, it leads to an overlapping and jumbled audio experience. Additionally, the speaker's maximum volume level doesn't reach particularly high levels. Therefore, it's advisable to opt for headphones whenever possible to enhance your audio enjoyment.

Speaking of headphones, it's worth noting that the Redmi 12 5G preserves the traditional 3.5mm headphone jack—an increasingly rare feature in modern smartphones. What's more, it even includes an FM radio, a feature that has become somewhat uncommon these days. However, it's essential to be aware that Xiaomi integrates its audio processing through the Sound Effects option at all times, with seemingly no option to disable it, leaving users only with the ability to select different presets.

Software Experience

The Redmi 12 5G arrives with MIUI 14, which is based on Android 13. It's worth noting that our Indian review unit features the Indian version of MIUI, a variation of the global edition that lacks certain features present in the fully featured Chinese version. Additionally, the Redmi 12 5G has certain visual elements disabled, such as transparency effects, likely in an attempt to enhance performance.

However, the software experience on the Redmi 12 5G is somewhat lackluster. MIUI has remained relatively consistent over the past few years, and its design, inspired by iOS, is beginning to show its age. This design choice often leads to awkward clashes when native Android prompts appear on the screen.

Out of the box, the phone comes with a fair amount of pre-installed bloatware, although most of it can be removed. Unfortunately, you'll still find numerous redundant apps as Xiaomi tends to offer its own versions alongside Google's offerings. Consequently, you'll encounter two diallers, two SMS apps, two media gallery apps, and so on. In the software landscape, there are even two app stores, adding an unnecessary layer of complexity.

Ads and promoted content remain part of the Redmi experience. While you can disable most of these, they tend to bother you before you can do so. Moreover, several pre-installed Xiaomi apps may inundate you with notifications throughout the day, prompting you to disable them permanently.

Lack of polish is another noticeable aspect. Many text bubbles and icons appear as if they were never designed to accommodate the text they contain, highlighting a somewhat lacking localization effort. For instance, the Calendar icon struggles to fit the word 'Wednesday' without appearing cramped. Furthermore, adjusting display scaling isn't straightforward and often requires navigating deep into developer settings.

In summary, the UI of the Redmi 12 5G is in need of a significant overhaul. While MIUI may have once been innovative and groundbreaking, the landscape has evolved considerably. Competitors now offer equally capable, if not superior, user-friendly, and polished experiences that seamlessly integrate with the Android OS. An appreciation for users' time and patience would be welcomed, sparing them from excessive bloatware, promoted content, and notifications.

Processing Power

Powering the Redmi 12 5G is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 (SM4450), a chipset equipped with 2x 2.2GHz Cortex-A78-derived Kryo Gold cores and 6x 2.0GHz Cortex-A55-derived Kryo Silver cores. Complementing the CPU is the Adreno 613 GPU, running at a clock speed of 955MHz.

When it comes to memory, you have the choice of 4GB, 6GB, or 8GB options, with the ability to expand the available memory up to 8GB through a memory extension feature. However, it's essential to note that this additional memory is essentially a pagefile located on the storage, and it doesn't match the speed of LPDDR4X memory. Storage configurations for the Redmi 12 5G are available in either 128GB or 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage, with the option to further expand storage via microSD cards. Be aware that using a microSD card may require sacrificing your second SIM slot.

Unsurprisingly, the Redmi 12 5G falls into the category of moderately powerful smartphones. For everyday tasks like calling, messaging, web browsing, and media consumption (such as listening to music or watching videos), the device performs adequately. However, when multitasking or engaging in more demanding activities, such as gaming, the phone's performance can start to show some limitations. While simpler games run smoothly, more graphically intensive 3D titles may struggle to maintain playable frame rates at this resolution.

In reality, most users neither require power user capabilities nor identify as gamers, and for such individuals, the Redmi 12 5G delivers sufficient processing power to meet their needs. It's important to note, though, that the device's performance may degrade over time, especially if you opt for the 4GB or 6GB memory variants. We recommend considering the 8GB variant, as it should be better equipped to handle future OS and app updates, which often increase in size and complexity.

Camera Capabilities

The Redmi 12 5G is equipped with a dual-camera system on the back, comprising a 50MP f1.8 main camera and a 2MP depth sensor. On the front, you'll find a single fixed-focus 8MP f2.0 camera for selfies and video calls.

Navigating the camera app is straightforward, with various modes conveniently arranged at the bottom, easily accessible through swiping. A zoom button is also located at the bottom, although instead of providing quick zoom toggles, it opens a wheel that requires manual sliding. Additional options can be accessed at the top, and a simple swipe down anywhere on the viewfinder opens the menu.

One quirk with the camera app is that HDR is disabled by default and tends to turn off even when you enable HDR Auto mode (the only two available options). This can be a bit frustrating, as enabling HDR manually for each shot becomes tiresome, and most users may not bother, missing out on the benefits of HDR.

It's important to note that the camera exhibits a noticeable shutter delay. While this may not pose an issue for slower-paced photography, it can be a hindrance if you're in a hurry, especially since there's no burst capture mode.

In terms of image quality, the Redmi 12 5G's camera performs decently. Colors are often pleasing and true to life, boasting good white balance and saturation. However, dynamic range can occasionally be lacking, leading to blown-out highlights, and shadows may exhibit noise. Detail levels are satisfactory.

The phone lacks a telephoto camera, and while the digital zoom isn't outstanding, it remains usable for zoom levels up to 2x. Unfortunately, there's no ultrawide camera to compensate for this omission.

The 50MP mode essentially upscales the 12MP images but doesn't offer significantly improved fine detail.

When it comes to video recording, the Redmi 12 5G falls short of expectations. Even at its highest supported resolution and frame rate of 1080p 30fps, there's no stabilization available. This means that footage captured while in motion is often unstable and may require additional stabilization tools, such as a gimbal.

Final Thoughts

The Redmi 12 5G makes a compelling case with its generous display, respectable performance, and ample battery, all bundled into an affordable package. While the camera performance meets expectations for its price range, the software experience falls short in certain aspects. In conclusion, the Redmi 12 5G is a worthy consideration for budget-conscious shoppers, particularly those who don't require extensive performance demands.

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