Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus Review – All-Rounder At Higher Price

Redmi Note series has always offered the best price to performance smartphones in India. That is what Xiaomi plans to offer with its latest Note 12 series launched in India. When it comes to specifications, Redmi has gone over the top as usual.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus 5G has been launched in India in two variants. The base variant comes at a price of Rs. 29,999 with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage while the top variant costs Rs. 32,999 for 12GB RAM and 256GB storage.

The phone is available in three different colour options: Arctic White, Iceberg Blue and Obsidian Black. You can buy the phone online from Mi.com, Flipkart, Amazon and offline retail stores starting from January 11th.

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The Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus packs the following items inside the box:

• Handset
• 120 W Charger
• USB Type-C Cable
• SIM Eject Tool
• Protective Case
• Quick Start Guide
• Warranty Card

Before we talk in detail about the Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus review, let’s see what the on-paper specs look like:

• Display: 6.67 inches OLED
• Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 1080
• RAM & ROM: 8GB RAM 256GB Storage, 12GB RAM 256 GB Storage
• Software: Android v12
• Rear camera: 200MP + 8MP + 2MP
• Selfie camera: 16 MP
• Battery: 4980 mAh
• Weight: 208.4 grams
• Dimensions: 162.9 x 76.03 x 8.9 mm

The Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus offers a standard design that one would expect in a mid-range smartphone. It’s a big and bulky phone with a typical design that appears to be very simple. It doesn’t have anything special or intriguing, but it still has a nice appearance. I have the blue colour variants of the Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus which comes in a frosty matte finish.

The phone is available in two other colour options as well: White and Black. The black variant also comes with a matte finish while the white variant offers a more glossy look. It has a solid feel to it and the flat edges offer a good grip on hands. On the other hand, it weighs on the heavier side, about 208 grams.

You will notice the big camera island on the back which houses the three camera lenses. It protrudes significantly and hence I suggest using a case so that it doesn’t wobble on a flat surface. The back panel is made of glass and as I said it comes with a matte finish so it doesn’t really attract fingerprint smudges. It’s also protected by Gorilla Glass 5 on both the front and back.

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The phone is quite slippery and that adds another reason to use a phone case. Overall, the build quality of the phone is really good and I feel it can take some drops. The phone comes with an IP53 rating for water and dust resistance.

The button placement is really nice and they have good tactile feedback. The right side holds the volume rockers along with the power button which doubles as the fingerprint scanner. The left side is totally clean. The top has a 3.5mm audio jack, IR blaster, secondary mic and speaker grille. Lastly, the bottom side houses the SIM card slot, type-C port, secondary mic and speaker grille.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus features a triple camera setup on the back. This includes a 200MP main camera, an 8MP ultra-wide lens and a 2MP macro sensor. The punch hole cut-out on the front houses a 16MP selfie camera. Yes, we are seeing a 2MP camera holding up beside a 200MP camera. I just have one thing to ask…why Xiaomi?

Anyways, starting with the 200MP main camera, it takes really good pictures in daylight conditions. The details level is great and the images had a wide dynamic range. The colours looked punchy and had sharp contrast. The portrait shots were on point and super good looking.

The low-light images were also good. The detailing was decent with good colour accuracy. The OIS helps to take a nice shot at night with less noise. There’s also a dedicated 200MP mode that captures images that look pretty much the same as with the default mode but has much more details.

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The ultra-wide camera takes decent shots in outdoor lighting. The detail level is much less than the main camera due to the low-resolution camera. However, the images are usable. Things get bad as the light drops. The low-light ultra-wide images were full of noise and grains.

As I have said many times earlier, that 2MP lens is just trash. Maybe good for a 10K phone, but seeing the same sensor on a 30K phone makes me think if Xiaomi has access to unlimited 2MP camera lenses.

The front camera took some really good selfies. The selfies were sharp and packed with details when taken outdoors. The skin tones also looked close to natural.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus can record 4K videos at 30 fps from the main camera while the front camera can only record 1080p videos at 60 fps. The 4K footage comes out to be great in terms of details and clarity. The OIS helps to stabilize the overall video.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus packs an odd 4980 mAh battery. I mean why simply not a 5000 mAh battery? Anyways, the phone offers a good battery backup. You can easily get a full day of battery backup even with heavy use. Now if you are a light user like me, you can even push the phone to the second day.

I got about 6-7 hours of battery life. My usage involved taking pictures, playing games and watching videos on YouTube along with some Instagram scrolling. After using the phone for the past couple of days, I can confidently say that Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus offers a solid battery life. You also get the typical battery saver feature which further extends the battery life.

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But trust me, that’s not the real highlight of the phone. What amazes me more than the good battery life is its 120W fast charging support. The fast here means really fast. The 120W charger takes just about 25 minutes to fully charge the phone from 0 to 100 per cent.

A quick charge of just 10 minutes juices the battery to about 60 per cent which is crazy fast. What I like more is that Xiaomi is kind enough to provide the charger in the box.

The Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus has a stunning display that offers a great viewing experience. It features an FHD+ 6.67-inch AMOLED panel with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels. You get a 120Hz refers rate with a peak brightness of 900 nits.

It’s not the brightest display ever but is still usable outdoors. Indoor visibility is superb though you might struggle to use the phone under direct sunlight.

Talking about the quality, the display is crisp and vibrant. The colours look really punchy with deep blacks. Moreover, the viewing angles are great. The bezels are really thin on all sides with a small punch hole cut-out on the top that doesn’t distract while consuming content.

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Not to forget the 120Hz refresh rate adds to the overall display experience as it makes everything extra smooth. Be it scrolling through the UI or switching between apps, everything looked seamless.

The display has Widevine L1 support, so you can watch high-quality content on OTT platforms like Netflix. But wait there’s more. You also get HDR10+ support and Dolby Vision support. All of this together makes up for an excellent display for content consumption. The display is shielded by Gorilla Glass 5 which protects it from minor scratches.

The Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 1080 chipset which is paired with up to 12GB RAM and 256GB of internal storage. The phone glides through everyday tasks without any issues. There were no lags or shutters while I was using the phone.

I could do multitasking without any worries. The switching between apps was seamless. The phone can handle even the intensive apps like Instagram and video editing apps with ease. Moreover, the 120Hz refresh rate really helps to improve the overall experience.

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If we talk about gaming, it was able to handle the graphic demanding games like Apex Legends Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile. However, it’s not made for gaming on top graphic settings. You need to keep the graphic settings on low to medium in order to enjoy the heavy games.

One thing to note is that the phone gets warm while gaming for long durations. While Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus is not the best phone in its price as far as performance goes, it is more than enough to perform your daily activities.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus runs on MIUI 13 skin which is based on Android 12. I really feel that for a phone launching in 2023, it should really come with Android 13 out of the box. Although you would be getting an update soon, it just feels like using a new device with old software.

Keeping that aside, I love MIUI and it’s still one of the skin out there if you like to customise your phone as per your taste. With MIUI 13, you get a bunch of customisation and personalisation options. You get tons of themes and wallpapers to choose from.

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It’s more clean than before and looks like Xiaomi has reduced the amount of crap in the UI. There is still bloatware but not as much as before. The whole UI is pretty simple and easy to navigate. All in all, I really liked the MIUI 13 on the Note 12 Pro Plus and did not notice any bugs in the software.

We know how Xiaomi works in the updates department…really slow. The company promises two years of major software updates and four years of security updates.

Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus comes with dual stereo speakers along with Hi-Res audio certification. The audio output is loud and clear. You also get a 3.5mm audio jack so you can plug in your wired earphones and get the benefit of that Hi-Res audio certification. All in all, the audio experience is really good and enhances the overall multimedia usage.

The Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus comes with 5G connectivity and support for 10 5G bands. These include n1, n3, n5, n8, n28a, n38, n40, n41, n77, and n78. Other connectivity options include Wifi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS and IR blaster.

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The phone features a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. For some reason, Xiaomi didn’t go for the in-display fingerprint sensor. Anyways, the side-mounted fingerprint scanner works pretty well and unlocks the phone instantly. You can also use the face unlock feature which works great as well.