Redmi Note 12 Pro+ Initial Review: Low Price, High Resolution

The Redmi Note 12 Pro+ has finally arrived on our shores and it's easy to see why people are excited.

This phone is affordable but has some serious specs.

The most interesting feature, in our opinion, is the inclusion of a 200 megapixel main camera, the same camera that performs well on the expensive Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

The question is what kind of deal would have to be made to get such an outrageous price. We checked to find out.

Design

• Dimensions: 163.0 x 76.03 x 7.98 mm
• Weight: 187 grams
• Color: Midnight Black / Polar White / Sky Blue

Our review unit is sky blue and has a very bright finish. Depending on the viewing angle, the color changes from light to dark blue and always looks beautiful.

© Provided by Pocket-lint Redmi Note 12 Pro+ (11).

The back of the phone is silky smooth, with gently curved edges and feels great in the hand. It is also a common complaint with such a thin design, which is not very elegant.

Around the edges is a color-matched aluminum frame that leads to a flat screen covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 5.

The fingerprint scanner is located on the power button on the right side of the phone, next to the volume rocker. We found it responsive and fast, rarely experiencing phantom activation.

© Provided by Pocket-lint Redmi Note 12 Pro+ (16).

There's also a 3.5mm headphone jack, which we're always happy about, but there's no expandable storage on this model. However, 256GB normally isn't what you need unless you take a lot of 200MP photos.

Screen and speakers

• 6.67 inch FHD+ AMOLED 120Hz
• Dolby Vision spectrum support, HDR10+ and DCI-P3
• Dual stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support

The screen looks great, the 120Hz refresh rate makes the operating system smooth and responsive, and the colors are bright and vibrant as we've come to expect from an AMOLED panel.

© Provided by Pocket-lint Redmi Note 12 Pro+ (10).

It's a flat front design, which means no fancy side bumps and far fewer sudden bumps, which we love.

It supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+, as well as the ability to display in the sRGB or DCI-P3 color gamut. There are many color adjustments in the settings, so it's very easy to adjust it to your liking.

The speakers are amazing, great clarity and good sound levels. They're not the best we've heard, but they're certainly above average, and the stereo provides a decent image.

© Provided by Pocket-lint Redmi Note 12 Pro+ (14).

Of course, the phone has a headphone jack as well as Bluetooth 5.2 so you won't run out of options if you want to further improve your sound quality.

Performance and software

• Dimensions MediaTek 1080
• 8GB LPDDR4X RAM, 256GB UFS 2.2 storage
• 5000mAh battery, 120W Hypercharger
• MIUI 14 based on Android 12

The Redmi Note 12 Pro+ runs on the MediaTek Dimensity 1080 platform, just like the Samsung Galaxy A34 we saw recently.

© Provided by Pocket-lint Redmi Note 12 Pro+ (5).

For most of our daily activities like texting, watching YouTube, and using Waze, the phone is like a flagship. It was still crisp and responsive even during multitasking, and lags were few and far between.

It wasn't until we downloaded a few games that we could see the difference. For example, Genshin Impact should be set to 30fps on low graphics presets to prevent stuttering, which is not as effective as phones with flagship processors.

However, for daily use, it works perfectly and does not heat up in the process. So if you can live with a little graphical fidelity, this might suit your needs perfectly.

© Provided by Pocket-lint Redmi Note 12 Pro+ (21).

Battery life seems good on first impressions. We have yet to test it further, but we used the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ for a few days and it barely lasted a day.

It's also very fast thanks to the included 120W wall adapter.

Camera

• Primary: 200MP f/1.65 (Samsung Isocell HPX)
• Ultra wide: 8 MP f / 2.2
• Macro: 2MP f/2.4
• Selfies: 16MP f/2.45

The star of the show is the 200-megapixel main camera, with an impressive mid-range 8-megapixel wide-angle and 2-megapixel macro.

© Provided by Pocket-lint Redmi Note 12 Pro+ (4).

We haven't had a chance to fully explore the camera's capabilities yet, but we have high hopes given that the main camera hardware is the same as flagships like the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

One more camera might not seem like much, but we'll check it out, who knows.

On the front, you get a 16MP hole-punch selfie camera. It seems to have the same specs as last year's model, so we expected good edge definition with good results when shooting seriously. Let's hope.

carry

We've only known the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ for a few days, so we can't give a full verdict yet, but we can say that our first impressions are positive.

Here are the usual software features of Xiaomi, there are also many malware, and we can consider this as the biggest obstacle of such a device.

However, with such amazing hardware at a low price, these shortcomings can be forgiven.

If the camera quality lives up to our expectations, it could be a mid-range phone in 2023. We eagerly await the results.