Xiaomi Redmi 12: Specs, Reviews, Prices and Rating

Xiaomi is one of the leading smartphone brands in Bangladesh and globally. They are known for offering feature-packed devices at aggressive price points. The Redmi series especially targets the budget and mid-range segments.

The latest addition to the Redmi lineup is the Xiaomi Redmi 12 – an affordable all-rounder phone launched in June 2023. This phone aims to continue Xiaomi’s legacy of offering excellent value-for-money devices.

The key highlights of the Redmi 12 include:

• Large 6.79-inch FHD+ IPS LCD display with 90Hz refresh rate
• Powerful MediaTek Helio G88 processor
• Versatile triple camera setup: 50MP main + 8MP ultrawide + 2MP macro
• Long-lasting 5000mAh battery with 18W fast charging support
• Modern design with glass back
• Side-mounted fingerprint scanner
• Dual SIM 5G connectivity

The Redmi 12 directly competes with phones like Realme 10 Pro, Poco M5, Samsung Galaxy M13 and other sub-20K phones. This blog post will take a detailed look at the Redmi 12’s specs, reviews, pricing and overall rating.

Pricing and Availability

The Xiaomi Redmi 12 comes in three storage variants for the Bangladesh market:

• 4GB RAM + 128GB storage: BDT 16,499
• 6GB RAM + 128GB storage: BDT 17,499
• 8GB RAM + 256GB storage: BDT 18,999

Though the official prices range from 16k to 19k BDT, the phone can be found for around 1k lower at some offline stores. The unofficial/street prices are:

• 4/128GB: BDT 15,499
• 8/256GB: BDT 17,999

Internationally, the indicative pricing is:

• USA: $144
• Europe: €133.69 / £156.49
• India: To be announced

The Xiaomi Redmi 12 was launched globally in June 2023. It is readily available for purchase both online and offline in Bangladesh. Stocks seem to be decent for now.

Some key purchasing options are:

• Xiaomi Authorized Reseller Stores
• E-Commerce: Daraz, Pickaboo, Othoba etc.
• Offline Mobile Markets: BCS Computer City, IDB, Supreme etc.

Design and Build

The Xiaomi Redmi 12 has a sleek and modern design with a glossy glass back panel. The overall dimensions of the phone are:

• Height: 168.6 mm
• Width: 76.3 mm
• Thickness: 8.2 mm
• Weight: 198.5 grams

The phone has a symmetrical design with the back panel curving smoothly to meet the aluminum frame on the sides. The fit and finish feels solidly premium for a budget smartphone.

On the rear, the triple camera module is housed in a rectangular hump along with an LED flash. The Xiaomi logo sits at the bottom.

The front is dominated by the large 6.79-inch display with a punch-hole cutout for the selfie camera. The bezels surrounding the display are relatively thin but not the slimmest out there.

On the right side are the volume rocker and power buttons. The left side houses the triple slot SIM tray. The bottom edge contains the USB-C port, primary microphone, 3.5mm audio jack and loudspeaker.

Some key aspects regarding build quality:

• Front and back made of toughened glass (Gorilla Glass protection)
• Plastic frame with metallic paint for rigidness
• Side-mounted fingerprint scanner integrated into power button
• IP53 rating for dust and water resistance

The Redmi 12 uses a hybrid dual-SIM slot meaning you can use either 2 SIMs or 1 SIM + 1 microSD card (up to 512GB) at once.

Overall, the phone feels very solid and usable in hand. The design can appeal to users of all age groups be it youngsters or the elderly.

Display

The Xiaomi Redmi 12 features a 6.79-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1080 x 2460 pixels. The pixel density amounts to 396 ppi which is quite sharp and enables crisp text and images.

Some key aspects of the display are:

• Aspect ratio: 20:9
• Screen-to-body ratio: ~85.1%
• Display type: IPS LCD
• Support for 16 million colors
• Peak brightness of 550 nits
• 90Hz refresh rate
• Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection

The large size combined with slim bezels provides an immersive viewing experience, especially for watching videos and gaming. The panel has good viewing angles thanks to IPS technology and gets adequately bright for outdoor legibility.

By default, the display is set to 60Hz refresh rate out of the box. You can switch it to 90Hz via Settings for a smoother scroll and animations. 90Hz helps in reducing eye strain during extended usage.

For protection against scratches, the display comes with Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 coating. This is a dated version of Gorilla Glass but still better than having no protection.

Overall, the Redmi 12’s display is one of its strong suits and adds great value considering its price segment. Consumers primarily watching content or playing games will appreciate the large FHD+ panel with 90Hz enabled.

Hardware and Performance

The Xiaomi Redmi 12 is powered by the MediaTek Helio G88 chipset built on a power-efficient 12nm manufacturing process. This octa-core chipset consists of:

• 2x Cortex-A75 performance cores clocked at 2.0GHz
• 6x Cortex-A55 efficiency cores clocked at 1.8GHz

For graphics handling, it has an Arm Mali-G52 MC2 GPU clocked at 1GHz.

Here is a quick rundown of the chipset’s key specs:

• 12nm process
• Octa-core CPU
• Up to 2GHz clock speed
• Mali-G52 MC2 GPU
• Supports up to 8GB RAM
• AI processing capabilities

The phone comes in three RAM/storage configurations:

• 4GB + 128GB
• 6GB + 128GB
• 8GB + 256GB

There is also a dedicated microSD card slot to further expand storage up to 512GB.

In terms of performance, the Helio G88 delivers fast and smooth day-to-day usage. Apps open quickly and multi-tasking is handled well. For basic users, the phone feels fluid thanks to sufficient RAM capacity and MIUI optimizations.

Gaming performance is also decent though heavy graphics games at max settings may cause some occasional frame drops. Casual games are handled well.

Benchmark tests put the Helio G88 slightly behind Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 680. But real world usage is optimized well by Xiaomi without any major lags or stutters. Overall, hardware performance is very solid for the price.

Software and Interface

The Xiaomi Redmi 12 comes with Android 13 out of the box. On top of Android, it runs Xiaomi’s custom MIUI interface in version 14.

MIUI 14 brings several optimizations such as:

• Faster animations and transitions
• Enhanced liquid layout engine for seamless experience on large screens
• Improved background process management for power efficiency
• New Super icons for cleaner aesthetics
• Widgets support on home screen

Some of the pre-installed apps on the Redmi 12 include:

• Camera: Gallery, Mi Video etc.
• Security: Mi Credit, Security, App Lock
• Utilities: Calculator, Recorder, Notes, Clock etc.
• File Manager, Mi Store, Themes
• Google Apps: Chrome, Gmail, Maps, YouTube etc.

Xiaomi offers a simple mode for first time smartphone users. Useful features like second space, Lite Mode, Game Turbo are also present.

Overall, MIUI 14 offers a feature-rich interface while maintaining Xiaomi’s core focus on smooth performance. Frequent software updates are provided including monthly security patches.

Rear Camera

The Xiaomi Redmi 12 features a versatile triple camera setup on the back consisting of:

• Primary: 50MP, f/1.8 aperture
• Ultrawide: 8MP, f/2.2 aperture, 120° FOV
• Macro: 2MP, f/2.4 aperture

The primary 50MP sensor utilizes 4-in-1 pixel binning to produce 12.5MP images with improved light sensitivity. Some key features of the rear camera setup are:

• Modes: Photo, Portrait, Night, Panorama, Pro, Macro, Documents, Slow Motion, Time Lapse, Dual Video
• LED flash for low light photography
• Up to 1080p 30fps video recording
• AI scene recognition and optimizations
• Dynamic range (HDR)
• Digital zoom up to 10x

Image Quality

The 50MP main camera captures good images in daylight with plenty of detail and accurate colors. Dynamic range is also decent. Close up shots retain a good amount of texture.

In low light, noise starts creeping in but Night mode helps improve the exposure. The 8MP ultrawide lens provides a wider perspective but has distortion around the edges.

Video Quality

Videos shot at 1080p 30fps have good stabilization with continuous autofocus. The quality is sufficient for social media purposes. There is no 4K recording support.

Overall, the rear camera setup of the Redmi 12 is very capable at its price point. Both the primary and ultrawide sensors perform well and provide a versatile shooting experience.

Front Camera

For selfies and video calling, the Xiaomi Redmi 12 has an 8MP front-facing camera with f/2.1 aperture. It is located in the punch-hole cutout at the top center of the display.

The selfie camera shoots decent looking images in daylight with natural skin tones. Some of the key features are:

• Modes: Photo, Portrait, Night, Short Video, Time Lapse Selfie
• AI Beautification
• HDR for backlit scenes
• Palm Shutter: Take shots with a gesture
• Face recognition

Portrait selfies have good edge detection around the subject but lack finer facial details. Low light performance is just average and selfies become soft.

The front camera can record up to 1080p 30fps videos which are sufficient for vlogging and social media purposes. Video stabilization works well.

Overall, the Redmi 12’s selfie camera output is serviceable but not extraordinary. Considering the phone’s affordable pricing, the performance is decent enough for capturing selfies and making video calls. But users looking for more polished selfie performance may be left wanting more.

Battery and Charging

The Xiaomi Redmi 12 packs a large 5,000 mAh battery which is quite big for a phone of this segment. The large capacity combined with power efficient hardware delivers excellent battery life.

With moderate to heavy use, the phone can deliver up to 1.5 days of usage on a single charge. Light users can stretch it to almost 2 days.

Battery endurance is one of the strong suits of the Redmi 12. Some useful battery features include:

• 18W fast charging support
• Reverse wired charging
• MIUI battery optimizations

The supplied 18W charger can charge the phone from 0 to 100% within 65-70 minutes which is decently quick. There is no support for wireless charging.

In battery benchmarks, the Redmi 12 achieves excellent runtime scores. For example, it lasts over 22 hours in the PCMark battery test. This ranks among the highest scores in its price segment.

All in all, the huge 5000mAh battery combined with MIUI’s battery management delivers fantastic battery life. The phone excels in day-long battery performance and screen-on times. For frugal users, the Redmi 12 is a battery champ.

Audio and Connectivity

The Xiaomi Redmi 12 comes equipped with a 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom for connecting wired headphones or earphones. The audio output quality via headphones is decent but not spectacular.

For loudspeaker playback, the phone has a single bottom-firing speaker. The speaker output is loud enough for alerts and media playback. But it lacks bass and stereo effect compared to dual speaker phones.

For wireless audio, the Redmi 12 supports Bluetooth 5.0. This enables connecting TWS earbuds or wireless headphones. Codec support includes AAC and SBC but no aptX.

Here is a rundown of other connectivity features offered:

• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band
• Bluetooth 5.0
• GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, QZSS, NavIC
• USB Type-C port
• Dual 4G VoLTE
• Wi-Fi Direct and Wi-Fi Display
• NFC (availability varies by region)
• Infrared blaster
• FM Radio

The phone supports dual 4G SIM cards and offers dedicated microSD card slot. Call quality and signal reception is excellent thanks to noise cancellation tech. Bluetoth range is standard at 10 meters without obstructions.

Overall, the Redmi 12 ticks all boxes in terms of connectivity. You get the latest 5G ready hardware minus 5G support. Realme and Poco edge out Xiaomi by offering 5G in this segment.

Security and Sensors

For unlocking the phone securely, the Xiaomi Redmi 12 offers a side mounted fingerprint scanner and face unlock feature.

The fingerprint scanner is embedded into the power button on the right side. It is ergonomically placed for seamless unlocking using your thumb. Fingerprint recognition is very fast and accurate. You can also use it for app locking besides unlocking.

Face unlock uses the selfie camera and IR sensor for scanning your face in various lighting conditions. It works quickly but is less secure than fingerprint.

There are several motion sensors as well for functions like auto-rotate, gaming, step counter etc. Here is a rundown of sensors present on the Redmi 12:

• Fingerprint scanner
• Accelerometer
• Proximity sensor
• Ambient light sensor
• Compass
• Gyroscope

The fingerprint scanner truly stands out providing reliable and fast biometric authentication. For privacy conscious users, it is more secure than the face unlock option.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Large 6.79″ FHD+ 90Hz display
• Powerful MediaTek Helio G88 processor
• Excellent triple rear camera setup
• Long lasting 5,000mAh battery
• Fast side fingerprint scanner
• IR blaster and FM Radio
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• Dedicated microSD card slot

Cons

• No 5G network support
• Dated Gorilla Glass 3 protection
• No 4K video recording
• No stereo speakers
• Macro camera lacks detail

Verdict

The Xiaomi Redmi 12 delivers a complete package covering all essential features at an aggressive price point. There are very few phones that can match the Redmi 12’s display, camera and battery life in the sub-20K category.

The 6.79-inch 90Hz LCD display is perfectly sized for immersive viewing and gaming. The 50MP triple camera takes great looking shots in daylight. Battery life exceeds 1.5 days of active use thanks to the huge 5,000mAh capacity. General performance is smooth and lag-free courtesy capable hardware.

While 5G is missing, the Redmi 12 makes up for it with excellent 4G connectivity and WiFi 6. The older Gorilla Glass 3 is a downer but the IPS LCD panel holds up well against scratches. Lack of stereo sound doesn’t really affect the intended audience.

For buyers on a tight budget wanting the best overall experience, the Redmi 12 is easy to recommend in 2023. It outclasses Realme and Samsung models in core aspects like display, camera and battery runtime.

Xiaomi has once again shown how to deliver maximum value without compromising on the features that matter. The Redmi 12 raises the bar in the ultra-competitive budget segment.