Redmi 12 Review: Eye-Catching Design, Excellent Performance, and Long Battery Life

On June 15th, Xiaomi officially launched the Redmi 12 in the Vietnamese market. The product is expected to become one of the national smartphones of Vietnamese users in the near future due to its eye-catching design, excellent performance, and long battery life. So what's special about the Redmi 12 design? How does the Redmi 12 perform? How long does the Redmi 12 battery last? Is the Redmi 12 camera capable of capturing beautiful photos? Let's review the Redmi 12 to learn more about this phone!

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Eye-Catching Design of Redmi 12, Large Screen for a Pleasing Experience

The Redmi 12 still features a design similar to many other budget smartphones from Xiaomi in recent times. Specifically, the device is crafted based on a square frame that feels familiar to look at. Additionally, the edges of the device are softly curved at the corners and sides, providing a comfortable grip for users.

However, the overall dimensions of the Redmi 12 are quite large, measuring 168.6 x 76.28 x 8.17 mm, so it feels somewhat bulky to hold. Nevertheless, with a weight of only 198.5 grams, it's not too heavy, allowing for comfortable usage. However, those with small hands, especially women, may find it slightly challenging to use the device single-handedly.

Moreover, Redmi 12 comes in attractive color options: Black, Silver, and Blue. Each color variant has its own beauty, but for me, the Gray version stands out in the Redmi 12 color lineup this time. Additionally, the flat back of the Redmi 12 is covered with a glossy glass layer, creating a captivating reflective effect. Not to mention, the device's camera module is raised on the back, providing a seamless and cohesive feel.

Regarding the display of the Redmi 12, the device features a familiar waterdrop notch display in the budget segment, with a size of 6.79 inches, operating on an IPS LCD panel and Full HD+ resolution. With these specifications, the Redmi 12 can deliver vivid and clear images. The screen bezels of the Redmi 12 are also well-optimized with uniform thinness, with only the bottom chin slightly thicker than the rest.

Moreover, the Redmi 12's screen is supported by a 90 Hz refresh rate. This is a relatively good refresh rate for a budget device and is fully capable of making your touch interactions smoother and more responsive.

Learn more: Hands-on with Redmi 12: Eye-catching design, Helio G88 chip, 5,000 mAh battery

Redmi 12's performance: Impressive with Helio G88

Before diving into details, let's summarize the specifications of Redmi 12 for your reference!

• Display: 6.79-inch size, IPS LCD panel, HD+ resolution, 90 Hz refresh rate.
• CPU: MediaTek Helio G88.
• RAM: 4 GB or 8 GB.
• Internal Storage: 128 GB (expandable up to 1 TB via MicroSD card).
• Rear Cameras: 50 MP + 8 MP + 2 MP.
• Front Camera: 8 MP.
• Battery: 5,000 mAh, 18 W fast charging.
• Operating System: MIUI 14.0.4 - Android 13.

Redmi 12 is equipped with the MediaTek Helio G88 processor - a familiar name that has appeared on many budget devices in recent years. This chip is built on advanced 12nm process technology with 8 performance cores and Mali-G52 MC2 GPU cores. With this chip, the device can efficiently meet the basic usage needs of users.

In addition, Redmi 12 comes in 2 configuration options: 4 GB RAM + 128 GB internal storage, 8 GB RAM + 128 GB internal storage. I rate these as good figures for the price range, ensuring smooth multitasking and minimal lag. Furthermore, you can expand the RAM by an additional 5 GB through the virtual RAM feature, improving device performance.

- Redmi 12 Performance Evaluation

To provide a clearer view of Redmi 12's performance, I'll evaluate its performance using specialized software like GeekBench 6, PCMark, and 3DMark. The conditions for evaluation are as follows:

• The device battery must be between 90 - 100% (battery below 90% may affect performance and results).
• Do not charge the battery while evaluating performance.
• Evaluate 3 times consecutively and take the average result after 3 evaluations.

The results I obtained are as follows:

- GeekBench 6:

• GPU Compute (graphics score): 555 points.
• Single/Multi-core Score: 436 points / 1,360 points.

- PCMark: 8,462 points.

- 3DMark Wild Life:

• Total Score: 707 points.
• Average FPS: 4.20.

- 3DMark Wild Life Stress Test:

• Highest Loop Score: 716 points.
• Lowest Loop Score: 708 points.
• Difference between Highest and Lowest Loop Scores: 8 points.
• Stability: 98.9%.

Overall, the scores achieved by Redmi 12 are at a good level, with high stability. The scores of Redmi 12 are significantly better than many other products in the same price range. One aspect that I found most satisfactory is that Redmi 12 only gets slightly warm and the battery does not drain quickly during the scoring process.

- Gaming Experience on Redmi 12

So, how does gaming on Redmi 12 fare? To answer this question, I've downloaded 4 popular games that are suitable for Redmi 12's configuration: Arena of Valor, Free Fire, PUBG Mobile, and Play Together. During gameplay, I've recorded all FPS data using the Perfdog software, and I'll present all related results here for your reference.

Speaking of my experience with the 4 games mentioned above, Redmi 12 is fully capable of meeting your gaming needs with reasonable graphics settings. Most of the FPS levels I received were consistent with the settings. However, there were occasional slight lags when receiving messages or notifications, but it returns to normal after 1 - 2 seconds. Therefore, this could be considered a minor downside that Xiaomi needs to address with additional software updates.

• Arena of Valor

• Free Fire

• Play Together

• PUBG Mobile

Overall, Redmi 12 with Helio G88 can meet the basic usage needs of users at a good level or above. While the device may not be perfect or outstanding compared to many devices in the same segment, I still commend Xiaomi for their efforts in optimizing both the hardware and software of Redmi 12.

Real-life Experience with Redmi 12

During real-world usage of Redmi 12, I acknowledge that the measured scores above are all very suitable. For basic tasks such as browsing Facebook, Messenger, gaming, etc., Redmi 12 performs well to meet my usage needs. However, the transition effects between apps are not very smooth when I perform multiple tasks at once. At these times, the device experiences slight lag for 1 - 2 seconds before returning to normal. This shows that for efficient use of the device, users should limit opening too many apps at once as well as running too many background processes.

Additionally, when I use Redmi 12 continuously for several hours, the device only slightly warms up on the back, indicating that the device's heat dissipation capability is also very good. Thanks to this, when playing Liên Quân Mobile for about 1 - 2 hours, I don't feel uncomfortable at all on my hands. However, due to the large screen of the device, many games are not optimized, resulting in black bars appearing on the top and bottom edges, which looks slightly aesthetically unpleasing. I think game developers should gradually optimize for products with large screens like Redmi 12.

Moreover, the Redmi 12 screen is very large, so sometimes when I want to make adjustments to Wi-Fi, brightness, etc., my hand has to reach up quite a bit. Therefore, I think for those with small hands, using this phone with one hand will be a bit difficult.

So, I've used shortcut gestures and adjusted the 'Double tap fingerprint sensor' to quickly perform the action of pulling down the notification bar. This helps avoid straining the hand to perform actions, and you can also do it for your convenience!

Redmi 12: 5,000 mAh Battery Lasting Over 8 Hours of Continuous Use

For a budget-friendly phone like the Redmi 12, battery life is one of the factors that the manufacturer focuses on. So, how long does the Redmi 12 last with its 5,000 mAh battery? To answer this question, let's conduct a battery test following the standards of The Gioi Di Dong!

Before starting the Redmi 12 battery test, I want to note that the results below are for reference only. The specific conditions are as follows:

• Experience 4 rotating tasks including: Playing Liên Quân Mobile (graphics settings as shown below), watching YouTube, browsing Facebook, and using Chrome.

• Each task runs for 1 hour.
• Screen brightness at 100%, refresh rate at 90 Hz.
• External speaker on at 50% volume.
• WiFi and social media notifications enabled.
• Battery saver, adaptive brightness, GPS, and Bluetooth off.
• Tested from 100% to 0% battery.

Below are the results of the continuous battery test on the Redmi 12:

Based on the test, Redmi 12 can continuously operate for 8 hours and 15 minutes. This result competes well with many other products with the same 5,000 mAh battery in the budget segment. The battery chart also indicates that the Helio G88 optimizes power consumption well, with minimal battery loss in the early timeframes, but more significant loss as the device warms up later.

In real-world usage scenarios, Redmi 12 can last for 1.5 days with a mix of various tasks such as web browsing, Facebook, checking messages, etc., with minimal gaming. Therefore, for those who use this phone for basic needs like texting, calling, browsing Facebook, TikTok, etc., it can achieve equivalent usage time.

Redmi 12 also comes with 18 W fast charging capability. The added bonus is that when you purchase Redmi 12, you receive a complimentary 22.5 W charger, ensuring the device always receives 18 W. So, how long does it take to fully charge the device from 0% to 100%? Check out the charging test results below!

The result is that it only takes 2 hours and 18 minutes to fully charge the battery from 0% to 100%. In my opinion, this time frame is not too long for charging a budget device. Note that you should not let the battery drain to the point of shutting down. This can cause the battery to enter a 'deep discharge' state, reducing its ability to hold charge. Continuously draining the battery to 0% will make the device's battery degrade faster.

Redmi 12's 50 MP camera delivers excellent image quality

Before delving into details, let's summarize the camera specifications of Redmi 12 for reference!

• Main Camera: 50 MP resolution, f/1.8 aperture, PDAF.
• Wide-angle Camera: 8 MP resolution, f/2.2 aperture, 120-degree field of view.
• Depth Sensor: 2 MP resolution, f/2.4 aperture.
• Selfie Camera: 8 MP resolution, f/2.1 aperture.

As seen above, despite being a budget device, Redmi 12 is equipped with a good camera setup in its price range, especially the 50 MP main lens. For photos taken in well-lit conditions and in auto mode, the main camera of Redmi 12 produces clear images, albeit with a slight graininess. The color balance in the photos is decent.

In the photo captured from the 8 MP ultra-wide camera on Redmi 12, the image quality is decent but not impressive. The dynamic range is relatively low, and the level of detail is not high. Just zooming in a bit reveals some graininess. This becomes more apparent when capturing in backlight conditions. However, we cannot expect too much about impressive balancing capability from a budget device.

As mentioned earlier, the main camera of Redmi 12 has a 50 MP resolution. Compared to the normal mode (auto), photos taken in 50 MP mode are sharper and more impressive. Especially, the colors are pushed higher, giving the photo good depth. Therefore, if you want to take high-quality photos with Redmi 12, the 50 MP mode is a reasonable choice.

Conclusion

I rate Redmi 12 as a good product, with high-quality finishing, well-optimized hardware and software, and long-lasting battery life. Redmi 12 will officially go on sale at Mytour with the following specific prices:

• 4 GB RAM, 128 GB internal storage version is priced at 4.29 million VND.
• 8 GB RAM, 128 GB internal storage version is priced at 4.79 million VND.

With what Redmi 12 is equipped with, I think the above prices are very suitable for the new Redmi model. So, what do you think about Redmi 12? Leave your comments below the article to let me know! Thank you for your interest and following my article.

In addition to Redmi 12, Mytour is also selling many Xiaomi products at attractive prices. You can place your order by clicking on the orange button below!

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See more: 

• Performance review of Redmi 12: Helio G88 excels in gaming, optimized battery
• Redmi 12 battery review: 5,000 mAh battery lasts over 8 hours continuously
• Xiaomi 13 Pro vs Xiaomi 12 Pro comparison: Worth upgrading every penny