Xiaomi announced quite a few Redmi phones globally not long ago. I am, of course, talking about the Redmi Note 12 series. We’re here to review the two most powerful phones from the lineup, the Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G and Redmi Note 12 Pro+ 5G. I’ll refer to them both without the ‘5G’ part from now on, just to keep things simpler. ‘5G’ is, however, included in their official names.
Considering that the Redmi Note 12 Pro and Pro+ are very similar in many ways, we’ve decided to review them both in the same article. These two phones are literally identical in the display, processor, RAM (some variants), and some other categories. Heck, even three out of four cameras on each phone are identical. There are some differences, though. There’s a reason the more powerful unit has the ‘+’ moniker attached to its name. Having said that, let’s dive in, shall we?
Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G & Pro+ 5G Review: Hardware / Design
The Redmi Note 12 Pro and Pro+ look basically the same, at least at first glance. There are some differences to note here. The Redmi Note 12 Pro has a flat glass back, while the one on the ‘+’ model is slightly curved towards the sides. The frame is flat on the sides, of both phones. You will find a glass back on both phones, while their frames are made out of plastic, though that’s not something you’ll actually notice. I had to look it up, as it didn’t feel like it upon first use. Both phones feel really good in the hand, actually, and not cheap at all.
They have thin bezels, and a side-facing fingerprint scanner which works great
You’ll notice that they both have very thin bezels, and a centered display camera hole up top. They include flat displays, and all of their physical buttons are on the right-hand side. You’ll notice that the volume up and down buttons sit above the power/lock key. Speaking of which, that power/lock key doubles as a fingerprint scanner, which works really well on both phones. A camera island with three sensors is included on the back of each phone. They do look very similar, but a different main camera is in use here. More on that later on in the review.
They’re very similar-looking
You’ll also notice the ‘Redmi’ logo on the back of each phone. They are very similar design-wise, and that’s not a bad thing. They even have a similar in-hand feel, actually, though you’ll notice the extra heft of the Pro+ model. It weighs 208 grams, compared to 187 grams of the Redmi Note 12 Pro. They are almost identical in terms of height, width, and thickness. The Pro+ model is slightly thicker, less than a millimeter. It’s also worth noting that they’re both IP53 splash and dust resistant.
Accessories
You will find a case in the box with each of these phones. Xiaomi includes a regular gel/silicone case in there, which is see-through. Quite honestly, that’s a nice inclusion, and a great first-hand solution, until you find a case that suits your style a bit more. Some people do prefer these gel cases, so if that’s the case, these ones are not bad at all.
Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G & Pro+ 5G Review: Display
These two phones utilize the exact same display. You’ll find a 6.67-inch fullHD+ (2400 x 1080) OLED panel on each of the two phones. That display is flat, and it offers a 120Hz refresh rate. Dolby Vision is also supported, as is HDR10+ content. The display gets up to 900 nits of peak brightness. That is okay, but it’s nowhere near the brightest flagship smartphones out there, and it could be a problem if you use your phone in direct sunlight often.
Both displays also have the same protection, the Gorilla Glass 5 lies on the front. That is not the most modern solution, but a good solution nonetheless. I’ve had great experiences with Gorilla Glass 5 throughout the years, as it’s a lot less scratch-resistant than the Gorilla Glass 3 that OEMs love to include in budget phones. So, you shouldn’t really be worried about Gorilla Glass 5, not at all.
The displays are vivid, sharp, and overall quite good
This display can jump between 30 and 120Hz refresh rate as needed, and it supports a 240Hz touch sampling rate. The display is actually good. It’s not great, mainly due to its brightness, but it’s what you’d expect at this price range, maybe even better than what you’d expect. The colors are vivid, and the viewing angles are not bad either. The touch response is also quite good, and so on. You really can’t fault it for many things, that’s for sure. There are even manual controls for it, within the software.
Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G & Pro+ 5G Review: Performance
When it comes to performance, it’s identical between these two phones, at least in our experience. That is not surprising, as they’re both fueled by the MediaTek Dimensity 1080 SoC. That’s a 6nm processor, it’s backed by LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.2 flash storage. Both of our units include 12GB of RAM, by the way, which is the upper level of offered variants. The Redmi Note 12 Pro also comes with 6GB and 8GB of RAM, while the Pro+ model is offered in an 8GB RAM variant, on top of the 12GB RAM one.
Benchmark-wise, they do offer similar performance
In terms of benchmarks, both phones had similar performance, which is also not surprising, considering the specs. They’re right in line with the Galaxy A54, and similar mid-tier phones. That’s not a bad thing, not at all. The Redmi Note 12 Pro and Pro+ actually offered really, really good performance. That goes for general use and gaming alike. They’re very responsive, and great even when you’re juggling between several apps. There was a stutter here and there, but not something worth noting, to be quite honest. Overall, the performance was very fluid, I was even a bit surprised. This chip does bring a number of improvements over what the Redmi Note 11 series offered, especially in the gaming department, so I guess that’s not a major surprise.
They didn’t get too hot at any point, not even during gaming
Even when I was testing out some games, the two phones never got hot. They did get warm, but not hot. Truth be said, I did not play games for hours, but I did try out some more graphically-intensive titles just to see how will things go. I even left the screen on for a period of time, to see how the phones react. That did not really mess with the performance at all, nor the heat. I have to say I was a bit impressed in that regard. The software also played a role in the performance, but we’ll talk about that later on.
Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G & Pro+ 5G Review: Battery
In addition to various other identical components, both of these phones also include the same batteries. You’ll find a 5,000mAh battery inside each of them. You’d assume the battery life is also identical, on the account of the same display, SoC, RAM, and storage, right? Well, no, not really. It is comparable, but the Redmi Note 12 Pro had more juice during our testing. It offered around 15% better battery life. Use cases were very similar with both, by the way. Most of you don’t need to worry about running out of juice before the end of the day, though, on either phone. The battery life is really good overall, even with some light gaming. Getting over 6-7 hours shouldn’t be a problem, depending on your usage, signal, and so on, of course. Just do note that these two phones don’t do all that great on standby. They have above average battery drain.
The Redmi Note 12 Pro+ offers considerably faster charging
Now, they do differ in the charging department. The Redmi Note 12 Pro supports 67W charging, while the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ 5G comes with 120W charging support. Both include the necessary charging bricks, and neither supports wireless charging. When it comes to the charging speed, the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ can reach a full charge in half an hour. In that same time, the Redmi Note 12 Pro reached 77% charge in our testing. Charging it to 100% will take you around 55 minutes, so almost twice as much as the Redmi Note 12 Pro+. Still, that’s not bad at all.
Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G & Pro+ 5G Review: Camera
These two phones have the same ultrawide, macro, and selfie cameras. They do differ in the main camera sector, though. The Redmi Note 12 Pro has a 50-megapixel main camera (f/1.9 aperture, OIS, PDAF, 1.0um pixel size), while the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ includes a 200-megapixel main snapper (f/1.7 aperture, OIS, 0.56um pixel size, PDAF). Both phones include an 8-megapixel ultrawide unit (120-degree FoV), and a 2-megapixel macro camera on the back. A single 16-megapixel camera sits on the front.
The Redmi Note 12 Pro daytime shots are above average
By default, the Redmi Note 12 Pro provides 12.5-megapixel images out of that 50-megapixel sensor. During the day, the photos look good. There’s plenty of detail in them, and they’re quite contrasty and vivid. Maybe even a bit too vivid at times, and the optional AI mode boosts that even further at times. We’ve used that mode too, in some shots, though most of them are shot without it. The photos can look a bit overprocessed, but let’s not nitpick. For a mid-range phone, this is great.
Low light shots are not bad either
In low light, the phone will decide on its own when to turn on the Night Mode. That goes for the main camera only, though. For a mid-range camera, this phone does a great job in low light. It has good exposure, preserves enough detail, and even keeps the noise in check. Even the dynamic range is not bad, which is also surprising. If you opt to use the dedicated night mode, you’ll get brighter shots.
The 2x shots are okay, but not as good as the shots taken with the main camera. The same goes for portrait shots, they’re okay, but the edge detection is not great. The ultrawide camera does a good job in good lighting, which managed to surprise me considering the hardware on offer. Still, they look even more artificial than the photos from the main camera. Still, they’re good enough. In terms of the 2-megapixel macro camera, well… I don’t appreciate OEMs using them at all. Those sensors are simply too tiny. Still, those images can be useful, at times, but only if there’s enough light in the scene.
Redmi Note 12 Pro camera samples:
The Redmi Note 12 Pro+ has great daytime shots
The Redmi Note 12 Pro+ provides 12-megapixel images by default, from its 200-megapixel camera. This camera also does a great job in good lighting. It provides plenty of detail, and only the foliage can look a bit oversharpened. The photos look less artificial than what the Redmi Note 12 Pro offers. They do lean on the higher contrast side of things, but that’s not exactly a bad thing, in my opinion.
The 2x photos look good, but are not as sharp as the ones provided by the main camera. You can get similar results by cropping the main photo, though slightly worse, truth be said. The ultrawide camera does a good job in good lighting. It keeps the noise out of the picture for the most part, and the dynamic range is also okay. They’re not as detailed as shots from the main camera, but that is to be expected. The macro shots are very similar to the ones from the Redmi Note 12 Pro, which is to say they look surprisingly good for a 2-megapixel camera, as long as you take them during the daytime. The portrait mode performance is similar to what the Redmi Note 12 offers.
The phone holds its own in low light too, even matches some flagship devices
These low-light photos look even better than the ones on the Redmi Note 12 Pro. The dynamic range is great, and the exposure is also good. The colors look nice in low light shots, and the photos are detailed enough. It can even stand side-by-side with some flagships, but only those that don’t have top-of-the-line cameras. Keep in mind this is a mid-range phone, and we’re observing photo quality with that in mind. Auto night mode is supported, but only on the main camera.
Video recording on both phones is okay, but nothing to write home about. It cannot really compete with flagship smartphones, but it’s more than usable, good even. That goes for both the stabilization and the footage itself.
Redmi Note 12 Pro+ camera samples:
Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G & Pro+ 5G Review: Software
The software experience is basically the same across these two phones. They both come with Android 12, on top of which you’ll find MIUI 14. Yes, you read that right, Android 13 is not included here, but you’re getting the latest version of MIUI still. Xiaomi has a special approach to updates, so… you’re essentially getting the best the company has to offer, but not on the latest version of Android. MIUI likes to take a different approach to things, as many of you already know.
Only 8 apps can’t be removed
Speaking of approach, many of you are probably wondering what’s the situation with bloatware. Well, good, actually. There are only 8 apps that you cannot remove. Needless to say, that’s great, as in previous versions, there were plenty of them that had to sit there and basically be in the way. Speaking of unused apps, Xiaomi did present a rather interesting feature in MIUI 14. This version includes automatic compression for apps that you’re not using.
Some MIUI 14 features are still missing
Now, MIUI 14 did get a ton of polish over MIUI 13, mostly performance-related. It does work really well, to be quite honest, but some features are still not there. I was trying to find the animated character widgets, but they’re not there. The same goes for the duplicate file merger, and a number of other features. Still, the vast majority of features you’d expect are here, including the enlarged folders many OEMs are utilizing these days.
MIUI 14 is truly customizable
MIUI 14 is filled with customization. For example, the notification shade is split from the notification shade by default, but you can change that. You can get a more regular Android experience with ease. There are a lot of such options in the settings, actually. There are even customization options for the recent apps screen. Yes, you can also launch floating windows in MIUI 14, and a useful Sidebar is also included in the OS.
Xiaomi also includes its own image editing and video editing tools, which are feature-rich. The Security app the company provides also has a ton of features, and it can help you clean up your phone, or set some boundaries. There is also the remote app to utilize in collaboration with an IR blaster up top, and so on. All in all, the experience was great for us, even though we did stumble upon a bug or two. The OS froze at one point on the Redmi Note 12 Pro, but went back to normal two seconds later. On the Redmi Note 12 Pro+, the notification shade refused to lower for a couple of seconds. That happened only once across our usage, though, so… it’s odd, but not that annoying by any means. Overall, MIUI is much better than it was before.
Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G & Pro+ 5G Review: Should you buy either of them?
Xiaomi’s Redmi sub-brand is well-known for offering great value, and these two phones are no exception. They do offer a lot of the asking price, and with everything considered, it’s not difficult to recommend them. The Redmi Note 12 Pro+ is the better phone of the two, but the difference is really not big. So, you can easily get away with getting the Redmi Note 12 Pro and calling it a day. You’ll be saving some cash, and getting a phone which is truly capable. If you do need a brighter display and a bit different camera experience, however, the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ is a great choice.
You should buy the Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G & Pro+ 5G if:
- You don’t want to break the bank, but still want value
- You need good performance
- You love taking pictures, and are looking for an affordable phone to do that with
- You need an IR blaster
- You appreciate having a good screen on a phone
- You want truly fast charging in a mid-range device
- You appreciate good speakers
You shouldn’t buy the Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G & Pro+ 5G if:
- You need wireless charging
- You want the very latest version of Android
- You appreciate stock Android experience
2023-04-14 15:06:35