We are at a time, when smartphone companies are competing to bring out the most innovative designs and use cases. When it comes to design, especially, the smartphone industry seems to have hit stagnation, with only a handful of brands trying to come up with something that is truly unique.
Chinese smartphone giant Realme is among the few names that is offering some novel designs on its budget smartphone category. Recently, I had the opportunity to get my hands on the realme 12+, that stands out with its premium finish.
I have been testing the realme 12+ 5G for the last two weeks as my daily driver, and here is what I have learned so far about Realme’s latest budget offering.
A design that helps the device stand out from the crowd
We usually identify a device by looking at the rear, as most phones look almost identical from the front side. The realme 12+ is a clear example of that. As soon as I unboxed it, it was evident that this is indeed a realme smartphone, thanks to its large circular camera island and leather back panel, reminiscent of the realme 12 Pro (review) series I recently tested. The Pioneer Green variant that I have been testing ushers a sense of elegance, which not only makes the phone look premium but also makes the device resistant to smudges and fingerprints.
The presence of a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD card slot also makes realme 12+ a highly practical smartphone for everyday usage. Despite its bigger battery, the phone weighs less than 200 grams.
The flat and shiny frame of the realme 12+ reminded me of my iPhone 12 Pro. However, unlike the iPhone 12 Pro (review), realme’s offering includes a plastic frame. It isn’t very comfortable to hold though because the sharp edges dig into your palms with extended use. Still, the realme 12+ is a device that blends both fashion and practicality, making it a balanced budget 5G smartphone.
Fantastic display for gamers and content consumers
The 6.67-inch AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate on the realme 12+ is ideal for gamers and content consumers. Thanks to the capabilities of an OLED panel, the display offers fantastic dynamic range and deeper blacks. I was also surprised with its sunlight legibility thanks to 1,200 nits of peak brightness.
While the bezels across the display on this phone aren’t as uniform as some other smartphones like the Redmi Note 13, they will not hamper the content consumption or gaming experience in any way. There is even an in-display fingerprint sensor, which is fast and accurate. The phone even comes with a pre-installed screen protector.
The display is tuned to be on the vibrant side, which makes everything look a bit more saturated than it actually is, and most users are likely to appreciate the same. If you are someone who prefers a display with natural or slightly muted colours, you can change the screen colour mode from vivid to natural.
This phone captures great photos
Most phones of this class skimp on camera performance and the realme 12+ is a deviation from that. This phone, with its brand new 50 MP Sony LYT-600 sensor with optical image stabilisation takes good photos in most lighting situations, even at the 2x mode, achieved using in-sensor zoom. The additional 8 MP ultra-wide angle lens also does a good job, however, it mostly works well in brightly lit environments. Lastly, a 2 MP portrait camera isn’t of much use for most.
Check out some camera samples from the realme 12+:
Adequately powerful, but not the best
The realme 12+ is based on the Mediatek Dimensity 7050 5G SoC, an octa-core processor with two high-performance cores with up to 2.6GHz and six efficiency cores with up to 2.0GHz clock speed. The smartphone offers 8 GB of RAM and 128/256 GB of internal storage.
While this is not exactly a phone that’s meant for gaming, it can handle most games, albeit, at medium graphics settings without any issue. I tested COD: Mobile and BGMI on the Realme 12+, and I have to say, the gameplay was very stable, and I also did not notice any heating.
In terms of benchmarks, the Realme 12+ scored almost six lakh (5,96,485) points, and on the CPU-throttle test, the max performance of the CPU was throttled down to 82 per cent in 15 minutes. Overall, this phone serves well for casual gamers.
The device does ship with the latest Android 14 with realmeUI 5 skin on top. However, it does come with quite a lot of bloatware, which includes the infamous “hot app” and “hot games.” Most of the third-party apps can be quickly uninstalled, and the overall software does look polished with a lot of customisation options.
Excellent connectivity and good battery life
The connectivity options on the realme 12+ 5G are as good as any modern smartphone of 2024. There is 5G support, Wi-Fi 5, and Bluetooth 5.2 support. From 5G connectivity to call quality, the networking performance of this device is satisfactory. The 5,000 mAh battery is also good enough and easily offers over six hours of screen-on-time, and it supports 67W fast charging, which can fully charge the battery in under 40 minutes.
A budget phone that gets a lot of things right
The realme 12+ is an affordable 5G smartphone that offers a good core smartphone experience at a decent price. From its 120Hz display to the excellent primary camera, it is a pretty balanced device, and its premium finish makes it a one good-looking smartphone. If you are looking for a smartphone under Rs 20,000 that has a great display, camera, performance, and battery life, the Realme 12+ is a good choice, which only seems to compromise with its bloatware-filled software experience.
