Redmi Note 12 Review - What's The Catch ?
Intro
So a few weeks ago, I called the Spark 10 Pro the new Budget King. But I think this might be the new new Budget Kit: [Music] an AMOLED display, 120 Hertz refresh rate, Snapdragon 685, 33 watts of wired fast charging, and it's going for a hundred and seventeen thousand naira. It actually shouldn't be this affordable. So what's the catch?
Design
We're so used to phones being thick these days, but this one takes a different approach and that was the first thing I noticed when I picked this phone up. It's so thin, or at least by today's standards. But of course that's not a problem because the thinner the phone, the more comfortable it is to hold and this one is no different.
Design is actually my least favorite thing about this phone, primarily the camera module. It's too generic like I show this phone to my mom and she was like, why do they all look alive Like, no kidding, if you covered the bottom end of the phone, this could easily be an Infinix phone. a technophone, maybe even Oppo. It just looks meh. The color is nice though. this one's called ice blue. The red is matte and made of plastic. I like that they went with matte and not glossy like the pro version. Those are horrendous. Then again, design is subjective. I think when I even posted the unboxing of this phone, someone commented, oh my God. it's such a beautiful phone, so who knows. maybe it's not even bad because it's plastic.
I recommend using a case to avoid scratches, and thankfully Xiaomi includes one in the Box. He also added all accessories except wired earphones, which is not unusual. Another Not Unusual Xiaomi thing to do is to add an Ir blaster which you can find at the top of the phone next to a mic and also the headphone jack for those who still use one. At the bottom, you find the second mic, Usbc port, and the only speaker. It's pretty loud for a single speaker, but coming from the note 11, this is a downgrade. On the right, we've got the power button and above that the volume buttons and on the opposite end the tray that houses the micro Sd card and two 4G Nano Sims.
The phone's built solidly, no creaks or flexing when you try to bend. Like I said, solid and even the front of the phone looks nice with its whole punch cut out. It does have a silver ring around the camera, which I'm not the biggest fan of because it's not as stealth. Probably not a big issue, but overall design is like seven out of 10.
Display
1080p plus AMOLED feels too good to be true for this price point. It looks sharp and detailed because it's AMOLED, colors pop, blacks are blacks. It's actually just so pleasing to look at. I watched a lot of videos and of course I was impressed with the quality. For this price, you actually won't see anything better or even as good. And as if that wasn't already impressive, it also comes with a 120 Hertz refresh rate display. How is that even possible? At first I thought there was no way that's true, but when I compare the 60hz mode to the 120 Hertz mode, I could visibly see it for myself. but not all the time. For example, in the app drawer, it was noticeably smoother. but in apps like Youtube, I couldn't tell the difference. But being real, it's not that big a deal because again, at this price point, you're not even expecting.
120 Hertz with Amoled Comes and always on display, so you just want to to know what the time is. Maybe see your battery status. You just tap the screen, it slowly fades in and gives you that information. It looks really cool and it's also functional. There's not a lot to complain about.
yes, you might say. Oh, there's a thick chain on the bottom or maybe the off axis rainbow and you get when you tilt the screen. Or maybe you might not like that.
The display is bigger now. The note 11 was compact at 6.4 inches, but this is bigger at 6.7 inches. Like, even with my big hands, there's still a bit of gymnastics needed to reach the top corners of the screen. So if you have smaller hands, this is definitely a two-handed phone. but which phone isn't these days?
Lastly, I want to point out that this display is also bright. I used it outdoors and I could easily make out what was on my screen. Display is very, very solid and definitely one of the reasons to buy this phone.
This is running Android 13 on top of Miui 14.0.5 I've always been a fan of Miui.
Software
I really like how it looks and also the amount of customization options you get with it. It did take a little while for me to get used to some things though, like the recent tab. It's different from what we typically get from basically every other Android skin. It's different and I like different.
Like I said, it comes with tons of customization options. I remember when I first got the phone it asks what type of home screen I would like. Not just that, you can go further and adjust the backgrounds, app categories, the scroll bar change to system navigations from Boston to gestures. You can also choose what type of always on display you'd like. There are actually a lot of options, but if those aren't good enough, still, you can actually choose a custom image. But like I said, there's so much to customize here. But to my surprise, there is no form of material you on here. Like yeah sure they give you cool wallpapers, but still no material. You also on this this particular version of the note 12, you don't get dual apps or second space But if you get the six 128 gigabyte version, you get them. So second Space is really important to you, then you want to avoid the base version.
When I first booted up the phone, I was greeted with a lot of pre-installed apps. about five games Snapchats, Tick Tock Facebook, and a couple other apps, so that's a lot of bloatware. Thankfully, you can uninstall most of them and get your storage back. But yeah, it's not the cleanest of softwares. Meanwhile, is also known to have issues. I personally haven't noticed any major issues, so fingers crossed it stays this way.
As for software updates, it looks like it would be getting two to three years of major Android updates. They do take their time to get these updates, but at least you know they're coming.
Performance
It comes with the Snapdragon 685 processor. I don't think you'll find a better processor for the price. Currently the closest is The Helio G88 and a size for gaming the G88 can't really compete. This also comes with up to 8 gigabytes of RAM, but they all get 128 gigabytes of storage, which thankfully is expandable using an Sd card. I got the base version with 4 gigabytes of RAM, and so far it's been okay. I'm not the heaviest of users Max. I have three maybe four apps open at the same time and it handles it decently. There's a little bit of stutter when I leave an app and try to return back to it, it kind of goes blank a couple times, or should I call it a flicker. but the app does stay open and I continue from where I left off, so I don't know what's up with that.
In case you're wondering, this comes with virtual Ram as well. You can have up to three gigabytes.
Gaming is alright. I wouldn't say this is the best you can get at this budget in terms of like raw power because of the Spa 10 Pro, but as a not so serious gamer, I actually really like this majorly because of that display. Everything just looks clearer, sharper, crispier, more vibrant, and the performance isn't even far behind. I barely notice frame drops when I gamed and for most games you can probably play at medium graphic settings For most people. For the average users, especially those coming from a lesser phone, this would serve you very well. We've got a 15 megapixel main sensor and 8 megapixel Ultra wide and a 2 megapixel macro sensor.
Camera
The front-facing camera is 13 megapixels. I started out by taking selfies and I noticed that there was a bit of over smoothening going on and then I looked in the sad since and saw there was some beauty filter turned on so I turned off that and then I got more natural looking images.
The cameras are okay and typically what you get at this price point. The main camera is definitely better. I think on its own you really wouldn't have anything to complain about, but I plan on comparing this to the A14 from Samsung and even the Spark 10 Pro from Techno. Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss those.
For video, it shoots Max at 1080p. It doesn't seem to have Ois, but some sort of software stabilization and I think it does okay as long as you try to keep it hand stable. As far as quality goes, it's about what you'd expect under good lighting. You can expect some decent quality video. But of course do let me know your thoughts on the cameras. Down in the comments: Thousand milliamp hours and 33 watts of fast charging battery is solid on here.
Battery
Best in Class. I watched a movie for about an hour and a half and the battery went from 86 to 79, so a seven percent drop after about 100 minutes. That's pretty impressive. I've been using this phone for about a week now and I've only charged it twice now. Of course, yes it's my secondary device, so I don't use it as much, but I think that's still impressive. For most people, this would last for a whole day and then some. Charging is also pretty impressive as this comes with a 33 watt charger which took me an hour 10 minutes to go from zero percent to full battery. Like I said, best in its class. On paper, it's a very solid phone.
Verdict
Probably the best you can buy for 120k. Very impressive specs. Great Hardware, but not so great software. I think that's where you find the catch. It's supposed to be a 120 Hertz screen, but it only works in certain parts of the phone. I think that stands the software. It has the Snapdragon 685 processor, which in paper is better than the rest, but it's still jittery. and then those miui's not so great track record of being unstable after a couple software updates. Overall, it just feels like it needs a little bit of tweaking and polishing. But the good thing about software problems is that they could be fixed with software updates. now.
I would still recommend the Note 12 because of its display, battery, and value for money. I think no other phone can beat the Note 12 in those three categories if you own the Note 11. Should you upgrade? No. But if you're in need of a phone for around 120k and you don't mind that it still needs a bit of tweaking, then this is probably the best phone for you.
Thank you guys so much for watching! Stay tuned for the comparisons to come and I'll see you when you see me. [Music] Thank you.
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