Redmi Note 12 Pro review: Jack of all trades

The Redmi Note series played a major role in establishing Xiaomi in India. So, it goes without saying that this Redmi Note 12 Pro is probably one of the most important phones of 2023 for the brand.

With its 120Hz OLED display and optically stabilised main camera, can it be the best lower mid-ranger?

Design

The Note 12 Pro's 6.67-inch display makes it a large smartphone. On top of that, the flat frame and back panel make it harder to grip. The phone's body is made of plastic, which is understandable given the price.

The volume rocker and power button are situated on the right side of the smartphone and are fairly tactile to use.

I, however, love this glacier blue colourway. It stands out without being overly flashy.

The front of this smartphone is quite nice looking thanks to slim display bezels and a reasonably small chin by this segment's standards. You also get a hole punch for the selfie camera.

Display

The 6.67-inch FHD+ AMOLED display on the Note 12 Pro has a refresh rate of 120Hz. The refresh rate is also variable, which is not very common on mid-range phones.

The quality of the screen is almost perfect, and it can hold its own against many more expensive phones. The colours are quite punchy, and the peak brightness in auto mode was high enough to avoid any visibility issues in sunlight.

Utility

The Redmi Note 12 Pro has most utilitarian features you could ask for - a headphone jack, stereo speakers, an IP53 rating, and even an IR blaster. The only oddity here is the lack of expandable storage.

Also, despite having an OLED panel, the fingerprint scanner is still embedded in the power button rather than being under the display. It unlocks the phone quickly, but the accuracy of this scanner is about average.

Performance & Software

Powering the Note 12 Pro is MediaTek’s new Dimensity 1080 SoC. Now that’s a major step up from the Helio G96 on the Note 11 Pro. Not only is the Dimensity 1080 more powerful and efficient than the Helio G96, but it also makes this phone 5G-enabled.

The Dimensity 1080 can also play graphic intense games at reasonably high settings, but you cannot game for extended sessions on it because, at the end of the day, it's still a mid-range chipset.

On the software front, the Note 12 Pro comes with MIUI 13 built on top of Android 12. While the Android version is outdated, the security patch on our review device was fairly recent.

MIUI 13 is a feature-rich Android interface that may be complicated for some users. While it may not be the fastest interface, it offers a good balance between functionality and smooth performance.

You also get up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage on this phone.

Cameras

This phone has 3 rear cameras which include a 50MP main sensor, an 8MP ultra wide sensor and 2MP macro sensor.

Let’s start with the optically stabilised 50MP Sony IMX 766 main sensor on this phone.

Considering the phone’s price tag, the camera performance is pretty good with a nice amount of detail and accurate colour representation. However, the HDR performance isn’t the best.

Nighttime photos also turn out to be fairly enhanced, with noise reduced and blown out highlights well taken care of.

Regarding videos, the amount of information captured is adequate by segment standards, and these videos will perform adequately on social media.

The OIS works well at 30 fps but I did not notice any considerable stabilisation at 60 fps. You can also shoot at up to 4k 30 fps with this phone.

There’s also an 8MP ultrawide camera on this phone. It produces some good shots that are colour consistent with the main camera as long as there is natural light. It does produce cooler and noisier shots in ambient light, however.

Although ultra wide videos appear to be fairly stable, they are noisier and have crushed shadows.

The 2MP macro camera may be useful in a few niche scenarios, but its output is pretty low-res.

Selfies from the 16MP front camera come out to be pretty good. I’m happy that, unlike some competing phones, there is no forced skin softening here.

Battery Life

The 5,000mAh battery on the Note 12 Pro is more or less the current industry standard. And it's a good standard to have, to say the least, as this phone can easily provide 7 hours of screen time with moderate to heavy use.

You can also fully charge it back in around an hour thanks to its 67W fast charging, which is always appreciated.

Verdict

The Redmi Note 12 Pro is a brilliant phone for the price. Its high quality AMOLED panel, capable Dimensity 1080 SoC and all-day battery life cement the fact that this is a solid mid-ranger.