Redmi note 12 : Unboxing and review

408

10.583

Published on Jul 27, 2023

About :

Ever since my pc developed a fault I've had to go back to using my mobile phone for most things again. My phone had issues for quite some time, but I didn't really focus on them thanks to my pc. Now that my pc is temporarily gone, my eyes were opened to the flaws of my phone, and I realized I couldn't cope anymore. Which was why I had to buy a new device.

Long before I was gifted my now previous phone (Huawei y9 2019), I'd been doing my research on redmi phones, and I had my eyes on the redmi note 10 pro. According to some reviews I saw online the note 10 pro is still better than the 11 series, and even competes with some of the latest versions. So I was ready to buy it, but then I couldn't find it anywhere. It was then someone recommended I buy the redmi note 12. I did my research, and I liked what I saw so I set out to get it. Apparently some say it's the budget king (meaning I get more for less)

I got mine for 135,000 naira (approx 180 dollars). It is the 8gb 128gb variant.

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/b0s/23tbREoadfKSsGzyuSnsFLq1mrjfW2mLAeRPZ5DB4jRPgi9K1U3x6qGyEsbyhtyT5ow7G.webp

In the box

In the box you get a clear phone case, sim ejector tool, the device, and a 33w charger and cable. Not much, but considering how some phones come nowadays (I'm looking at the phones), this is nice.

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/b0s/23tbREoadfKSsGzyuSnsFLq1mrjfW2mLAeRPZ5DB4jRPgi9K1U3x6qGyEsbyhtyT5ow7G.webp

The specs

it has a 5,000mAh battery, 8gb ram, 128gb rom, a 13mp selfie camera, a 50 mp main camera, an 8mp ultra wide camera and a 2mp all set up nicely at the back. It also has a finger print scanner, head phone jack, Ir blaster, loudspeakers. The screen is protected by gorilla glass 3, it has an amoled display which has a max refresh rate of 120Hz, and it has an ip53 dust and splash resistance rating. This is the 4g version. Mine is Onynx gray version (I'd have preferred the ice blue version but I couldn't find it).

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/b0s/23tbREoadfKSsGzyuSnsFLq1mrjfW2mLAeRPZ5DB4jRPgi9K1U3x6qGyEsbyhtyT5ow7G.webp

What I like about it

I have only been using this phone for a week and a day, but I have to say it has grown onto me and I have enjoyed using it so far.

The first thing I noticed when I got the phone was how fast it charges. Obviously I had to charge it before powering it up. When I plugged it in, it was 66 percent, and I timed it. Within 24 minutes it was fully charged. That's insanely fast speeds, and even now it's still that fast. Each time I check plug the phone to go do something, I'm always marvelled at how quickly it charges. And the cool thing is that the battery lasts long. Unless you're literally on a very power intensive game for 24 hours round the clock there is absolutely no reason this shouldn't last you the whole day. The battery is really good. And it's power efficiency is nice. You can also put it in power saving and ultra power saving to go even longer I guarantee it would probably last more than 2 days on ultra power saving mode if you're just using it moderately.

The refresh rate is something that was marketed so much. On all their ads I'm always seeing 120hz refresh rate, amoled display and all that. So I was excited to use it when I first got the phone I didn't notice the difference, so I put it on 60Hz cause it saves more power. But then recently I switched it to 120hz,and oh my God is was something else. Everything felt super smooth like butter. Scrolling felt super satisfying. I had to turn it back down to 60Hz though, I felt I wasn't ready to wield such power, 😂.

The next thing I love about it, is it's responsiveness. I got the 8gb ram version because I wanted the smoothest running I could get and so far I'm not dissapointed. You can extend the ram an extra 5gb using virtual ram from the storage space and I did that so I won't have any issues. So far there's been no lags whatsoever. I'm not afraid of opening any app at all because I know my device can handle it. And it does it so well.

Then we have the camera. The device takes pretty decent pictures and videos especially in sunlight. I wouldn't say it's spectacular, but it's great and you can take a lot of great shots with it. Soon when I get some photography skills I'll probably be using it to take some cover photos for my hive posts (bye bye stock images).

Here's a pic I took with it.

Another thing I love about it is it's customizations and little features that just make things convenient. Like how I put this little slider that opens a to-do list at the side of my phone, or how it makes sure you input your pin or password atleast once every 3 days so you don't forget it after getting used to using finherprint or face ID, or this cool feature that allows you to open apps in small boxes whenever you drag down notifications, just so you can see what's going on without having to stop what you're doing. Pretty great for multitasking if you ask me. And you can do it for multiple apps at once.

_{The todo list slider doesn't show in my screenshots}

Honestly I could go on and on about the things I love about it, but let me stop here. There are still some things I'm yet to try, like the Ir blaster. So can't say for those yet. Also I don't have the mind to test it's water resistance.

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/b0s/23tbREoadfKSsGzyuSnsFLq1mrjfW2mLAeRPZ5DB4jRPgi9K1U3x6qGyEsbyhtyT5ow7G.webp

Things I don't like

Honestly it's really hard picking out things I don't like because I have enjoyed using it so much, but I'll just try and reach deep a little.

Let's start with the camera. The camera is good in well lit conditions, but once there's little light it does poorly. For night photos it's not good enough. Then we have the macro camera. I'm not sure, maybe I'm the one who can't do macro photography, but it doesn't take great macro photos for me. At least not as effortlessly as the main and selfie camera.

The there's this paper at the back of the phone with a bunch of bar codes and ID. It just takes up a lot of space and reduces from the phone beauty (as you can see, I'm reaching a bit to find things I don't like).