Infinix Note 12 Turbo: With an AMOLED screen and MediaTek Helio G96 on-paper, Infinix Note 12 Turbo tried to make its stand in the sub-15k market. But is it actually worth Rs. 14,999, find out here in our review.
While looking for a decent phone under Rs. 15000, we get a lot of options in Xiaomi, Redmi, Motorola, and Oppo to choose from. These brands offer satisfactory experience as well as a decent look. Infinix has been making waves here and with its Note 12 Turbo, it is another phone priced at the sweet spot of under ₹15,000. With some decent on-paper features, Infinix seems to stand against the likes of the Redmi Note 11, Realme 9i, Oppo K10 and a few others. But does it stand up to the expectations off-paper as well? Well! With an AMOLED screen, MediaTek Helio G96 processor and decent camera, it seems so. Is Infinix Note 12 Turbo a good option at its asking price of Rs. 14,999. Here’s what I have experienced after using it for weeks.
Infinix Note 12 Turbo: Design and display
Infinix has partnered with Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness for the Note 12 series, hence, it arrived in an exciting package with some goodies like customized stickers, a key chain, a t-shirt and a TPU case with a shoddily printed Tao mandala. But the sad part is it’s limited to the packaging only and you won’t get any customized theme and other functional changes.
Now, coming to the phone’s display and design, the Infinix Note 12 Turbo comes with a 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a water drop notch cutout for the selfie camera. The display also has a slight blue tint which gives a cooler color tone to all the elements and visuals. Its refresh rate is only 60Hz which is a bummer for gamers. Though it tried to manage with a 180Hz touch sampling rate, a thinnish bezels, Gorilla Glass 3 protection and Widevine L1 support, I would not say it’s a great display at this price point but it’s decent for daily use.
The Note 12 Turbo has a slim and lightweight measuring 8mm thickness and 185 grams. The phone has a plastic unibody build that doesn’t feel too good in the hands, especially in Force Black color. The Note 12 Turbo has flat edges which make for a comfortable feel and handy to use. The power button is embedded with the fingerprint sensor which works slow in some cases.
Infinix Note 12 Turbo battery and performance
Keeping in view its price point, the Infinix Note 12 Turbo does come with a decent Mediatek Helio G96 chipset paired with 8GB of RAM and 128 GB storage. For day to day performance, you can run most apps with ease on the Note 12 Turbo. I did not come across any lag while using basic apps like Whatsapp or YouTube or playing games like Subway Surfers and Temple Run. However, badly optimized and bloatware filled XOS 10.6, which is based on Android 12, is another major disappointment.
The 5000 mAh battery of Infinix Note 12 Turbo lives for upto a day and half. You can surf the internet, do audio and video calls, play games or watch movies for up to a day and a half on a single charge. The device also offers a 33W fast charging support which charges the battery upto 80% in nearly 50 minutes.
Infinix Note 12 Turbo camera
The cameras on the Note 12 Turbo features a main 50MP camera with f/1.6 aperture alongside a 2MP depth sensor and an AI lens. Though, it seems great on-paper but It’s not that impressive actually as compared to its rivals like Vivo T1 5g, Realme 9i and others. The photos are not so eye-pleasing and detailed. The camera isn’t able to bring out the textures perfectly. The portrait mode lends an artificial bokeh to the background that gives the natural depth of field effect but it washes away the skin tone of the subject. The camera app does come with loaded features like filters, Pro mode, Super Night mode, short video mode and others but they’re of no use as the color saturation looks unrealistic and over smoothens the skin textures by modifying skin tones. The selfie camera is also not up to the mark.
Click here to check the camera sample
Verdict
Infinix Note 12 Turbo is a decent choice for day-to-day use, however, given its asking price of Rs. 14,999, some certain misses bring down the overall experience. The performance and battery life of the Note 12 Turbo is great and enough for daily usage, but camera and software are major bummers. Since, the sub-15k sengement is largely dominated by Xiaomi, Realme and other brands, Infinix should have offered something extraordinary to disrupt this segment. They could have added some interesting themes and customization as a part of their Marvel Studios partnership but it was only limited to packaging. It is a missed opportunity for Infinix.
