Xiaomi has achieved an almost cult following in India with just one sub-brand, the Redmi Note series. Built on the pillars of performance, camera and design, his Redmi Note series has come to offer segment-first features on a mid-range budget over the past eight years, selling over 70 million units in India alone. for sale.
The latest Redmi Note 12 Pro+ 5G is no exception, boasting an all-new 200-megapixel sensor, super-fast wired charging and great performance at an all-new price point. This moves the Series 12 Note north of the Rs 25,000 mark. Will this 2023 Midranger appeal to Note enthusiasts, or will the sticker shock deter potential buyers?
The Redmi Note 12 series consists of three smartphones, Redmi Note 12, Redmi Note 12 Pro and Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus, all with 5G support. Pro+ has two storage options. The base model with 8GB of memory and 256GB of storage (Rs 29,999) and the 12GB memory variant (Rs 32,999). Bank offers and loyalty exchange bonuses make the price slightly more attractive at Rs 25,999/Rs 28,999.
With a design somewhat reminiscent of last year’s Redmi K50i, the Note 12 Pro+ feels premium and elegant in the hand. This is mostly due to the rear glass panel curving towards the flat plastic frame. This is a gentle reminder of the budget realm in which Redmi operates. At 208g, it feels heavy in the hand, but the weight is well distributed. IP53 splash protection is also a welcome addition to this model. The almost Redmi-signature infrared blaster comes with a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, but it’s hard to shake off the feeling that you’ve seen all this somewhere before. It’s a feeling. I wish it stood out more than his other Redmi phones in the past. Besides the Arctic White I had for review, there are Obsidian Black and Iceberg Blue color variations. But the more sophisticated Stardust Purple colorway is for the Redmi Note 12 Pro, not the Note 12 Pro+. The stereo speaker setup is good and produces plenty of volume, although it distorts slightly at higher volumes.
Up front, the Note 12 Pro+ retains the same 6.67-inch Full HD+ resolution AMOLED display as last year’s model. This time it includes support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+ content. The panel adaptively updates the screen based on its content between 30Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz and 120Hz. It’s also great for using content in games and streaming services. The dual speaker setup is suitable for indoor use, and there’s also a hi-res headphone jack. The display has Gorilla Glass 5 protection, unlike the back panel where Xiaomi doesn’t reveal which tempered glass is used. Good for consumption and gaming. The only drawback I’ve noticed is that the display isn’t as bright outdoors as the 11 Pro+, dropping from 1200 nits to 900 nits, but this only matters on the brightest days.
At launch, the new 200-megapixel Samsung ISOCELL HPX sensor with optical image stabilization made the biggest headlines. The 200-megapixel camera glows in the sun by pixel-binning regular photos to a resolution of 12.5 megapixels, capturing more detail in each shot than you would normally expect. Impressively, the low-light performance is a huge benefit as well. All dimly lit toy and driveway images were shot handheld (no night mode). In terms of detail, the color and mood of the images are excellent for this category. Night mode is useful in low light situations. However, it tends to raise exposure levels to somewhat unrealistic levels. You can always switch to 200 million pixel mode if the lighting conditions are good. This tends to capture very detailed images. This will give you back about 30MB of storage. It’s nice that all variants of this phone come with 256 GB of storage.
The downside of all the attention given to the primary shooter is that the 8MP wide angle pales in detail (the color consistency matches the primary shooter well) and 2MP macro. Better
With a MediaTek Dimensity 1080 currently powering the Redmi Note 12 Pro+, day-to-day performance was surprisingly good.Games like Asphalt 9 and Call of Duty: Mobile played smoothly on the device. A large vapor cooling chamber also seems to play a role in keeping the phone cool in the strangely warm Bengaluru winters. It continues to work well past a day, even for heavy workload tasks. This time, the phone borrows 120W fast-charging tech from his HyperCharge model last year, and can charge the device in just under 30 minutes (although he switches to 120W charging by switching boost mode in battery settings). ). Yes there is a charger in the box.
5G support is a table stake for smartphones launching in 2023, with the Note 12 Pro+ supporting 10 5G bands in India along with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. This is a phone that ticks every box except the software. MIUI 13 is feature-rich, highly customizable and bloatware slim, but still based on Android 12. Meanwhile, competitors offer Android 13 on similarly priced products. There is also no clear timeline for MIUI 14 based on the rollout of Android 13 to this device. The only saving grace is two major Android updates and his four years of security support.
This is the phone that will rightfully carry on the Redmi Note name in 2023. It ticks all the boxes in a powerful phone under Rs 30,000 without any real compromises (except the software situation). , but at this price point, how much do you want a headlining 200MP camera and 120W charging when the similarly featured but less flashy Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G can do most of what this phone can do It’s pretty cheap. It’s a solid phone, but I can’t recommend it as easily as the Redmi Notes of the past.
Redmi Note 12 Pro+ 5G
Pros: Great primary camera performance, premium (if a bit generic) design, IP53 rating, great display, super fast charging, great performance
Cons: It has Android 12, average haptics, subpar macro camera.
Rating: 8/10
Price: Rs 29,999 / Rs 32,999
(Tushar Kanwar is a tech columnist and commentator who tweets at @2shar.)
