Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus 5G Review: Midrange smartphone with flagship-level hits, and few misses

Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus 5G Review: Xiaomi has begun 2023 with a bang and launched three mid-range smartphones in the popular Redmi Note category. There are three smartphones in the latest series and are branded as 'SuperNote'. They are - Redmi Note 12 5G, Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G, and Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus 5G. Leading the pack is the Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus 5G that I used for more than a month. The device costs less than Rs 30,000, depending on the discounts and offers. Is buying the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ 5G worth this price? Find the answer to this and much more in this article.

Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus 5G: Design

Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus 5G's design looks premium and the glass back makes the smartphone smudge-proof to a large extent. The rear panel is curved and ensures that the phone, which is thick and a bit heavy, feels comfortable even when held for a long time. The phone has a triple camera setup at the back. The protruding design will instantly catch your eye. While the entire rectangular camera setup bulges out, two of the three cameras are protruding even further.  We talked about other details of the smartphone's design in our unboxing and first impression copy. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT IT

Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus 5G: Display

Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus comes with a 6.67-inch full HD+ AMOLED display and offers a top refresh rate of 120 Hz. It is protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The bezels are thin and are not that noticeable even at the chin. There is a small punch-hole cutout at the top for the selfie camera.

The smartphone can display 1.07 billion colours and the viewing experience is enhanced with Dolby Atmos & Vision Support. I watched a couple of videos and movies on OTT platforms and the experience was good.

Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus 5G: Audio

The device has Dolby Atmos-supported dual speaker setup and the audio quality is good and enhances your overall experience of content consumption. I tried playing a few video games like Free Fire Max, Dead Target and Demon Hunter on this device and the experience was solid in terms of graphics, display and audio.

Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus 5G: Battery and Charger

The smartphone has a robust 4980mAh battery and supports 120W 'Hypercharge', which the company claims can charge the smartphone to a 100% in 19 minutes. While I was using the device, it took around 25 minutes to charge it from zero to 100 per cent. To be honest, even this is quite impressive.

Battery backup is good and can offer full-day backup even when the smartphone is used quite heavily. Upon moderate use, users can even get two days of battery life out of it.

Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus 5G: Performance

Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus 5G is powered by Mediatek Dimensity 1080 SoC - a 6 nm processor with clock speed as high as 2.6GHz. The phone handled day-to-day operations quite well. Thanks to the large vapour chamber I did not notice any overheating.

On the software front, Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus has an Android 12 operating system-based MIUI 13 interface. Xiaomi should have provided Android 13 and has not talked about the logic behind this miss. Also, the device comes with some bloatware, some of which can be removed, while other default Xiaomi apps cannot. 

Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus 5G: Camera

Now let's talk about the most highlighted feature of the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ 5G - the camera. This smartphone has a triple camera setup with 200-megapixel Samsung HPX primary camera with OIS or Optical Image Stabilisation. It also has an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera and a 2-megapixel macro sensor. For selfies, it has a 16-megapixel front camera sensor.

The main camera performance is quite good in both daylight and at night. The images are sharp but they could have been a little better. 

Here's how the same image looks when taken in ultra-wide mode.

One can easily notice some greenish lines around trees when taken in ultra-wide mode.

While images in well-lit conditions have great details, you will notice that images are a bit too bright when taken in Night Mode.

This is the outside view of my office and the image was taken in low-light conditions. The image quality is superb. Now have a look at the quality of the same image when taken in Night Mode.

Ultra-wide camera performance could have been better as they have distorted edges.

Also, all ultra-wide photos have a light pink hue - even in low-light conditions.

Now let's talk about the selfie camera. Images taken in day-light are perfect and those taken using night mode have quite good details even in low-light performance. Below is the image sample of the selfie camera in night-mode. 

Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus 5G: Verdict

Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus 5G is a good mid-range smartphone that offers some of the features available only in flagship phones. But considering its price, there is a bit of a let-down. Overall it is a good device for Redmi lovers who are not hesitant in spending Rs 29,999 for an 8GB+256GB variant or Rs 32,999 for a 12GB+256GB variant to get all the latest specifications.