A variety of new smartphone launches have occurred in January 2024, with the Realme 12 Pro 5G series being one of the most recent. The Realme 12 Pro 5G and the Realme 12 Pro+ 5G are the two variants in the series, and they both include improved internals and changes to the rear panel.
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I’ve had the chance to carefully assess the Realme 12 Pro 5G’s numerous features after using it for more than a week. Here are my opinions about the gadget.
Realme 12 Pro Price in India: Get the Best Deal Now!
Priced at a minimum of Rs. 25,999 in India, the Realme 12 Pro comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage. Additionally, there is an 8GB RAM + 256GB storage variant available for Rs. 26,999. Navigator Beige and Submarine Blue are the two color options available to customers. We were provided the 256GB storage Submarine Blue model for assessment.
A high-speed 67W charger for quick battery charging of your smartphone is included with your order.
The unboxing experience of the Realme 12 Pro 5G is similar to that of other smartphones in its price range. All of the usual extras are there, including a 67W charger, a USB Type-A to Type-C cable, a phone cover, a SIM ejector tool, and the usual paperwork.
Review: Evaluating the Design of the Realme 12 Pro 5G
There aren’t many smartphones that make people ask, “What phone is that?” The Realme 12 Pro 5G is guaranteed to receive similar remarks. With the exception of foldables, the majority of smartphones currently share a similar design. However, Realme has worked hard to make its design stand out and be on trend.
I got the Submarine Blue version of the Realme 12 Pro and it appears impressive. The phone’s back cover is textured like vegan leather and has a camera arrangement that looks like a high-end watch face. Realme has partnered with Ollivier Savéo, a well-known French watchmaker with experience working with well-known companies like Breitling and Rolex.
The phone’s back panel is covered in vegan leather.
The main attraction of this gadget is the camera configuration, which has a sunburst design on the display and gold accents on the outside. The phone has a substantial weight (196g) and provides a comfortable grip. The curved design of both the screen and back panel creates an illusion of slimness, despite its actual thickness of 8.75mm. The Realme 12 Pro offers a pleasant tactile experience, and the vegan leather finish prevents any fingerprints or smudges on the rear.
The phone has a striking resemblance to the Realme 11 Pro thanks to its sleek and tiny bezels on either side of the front display. The gadget also includes a curved screen, contributing to its overall aesthetic appeal. Additionally, it has been developed with durability in mind, proven by its IP65 rating.
Review of the Realme 12 Pro’s specifications and software
A potent Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 processor, an Adreno 710 graphics processing unit (GPU), 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of internal storage are all featured in the Realme 12 Pro.
It also has Dynamic RAM, which allows it to allocate up to 8GB of additional VRAM from the storage, giving it a smooth performance boost. Regretfully, there is no way to increase the storage capacity.
Equipped with a USB Type-C port, a speaker, a microphone, and a SIM card tray that supports dual 5G SIM, the phone’s bottom is well-appointed. On top is a second speaker grille and a microphone; the power and volume buttons are conveniently located on the left edge of the gadget.
There are two speakers installed in the Realme 12 Pro 5G configuration.
In terms of connectivity, the device offers Bluetooth 5.2, dual-band Wi-Fi 6, and compatibility with all major GPS satellites. Given that other phones in the same price range have updated connectivity features, Realme could have added Wi-Fi 6E and a more recent Bluetooth standard.
The Realme smartphone features a fingerprint scanner embedded within the display. Positioned towards the lower part of the screen, it would have been preferable for it to be slightly higher. Still, the scanner works well enough, because I had no trouble unlocking the phone when I used it.
The Realme 12 Pro is equipped with a 5,000mAh battery and includes a 67W fast charger in the package, just like its previous version. There is nothing groundbreaking to note in this aspect.
There are software updates available for the Realme 12 Pro for two years.
Let’s discuss the software aspect now. Powered by Android 14, the Realme 12 Pro comes pre-installed with the most recent version of Realme UI 5.0.
During my time using the phone, I received two minor updates that aimed to enhance the camera’s performance. Realme UI 5.0 offers a seamless user experience, but it does come with a substantial volume of pre-installed programs, known as bloatware.
While you have the ability to disable some of these apps, you can’t totally erase them. However, Realme UI 5.0 does bring several useful features to the phone, including File Dock, Smart image matting, and Phonelink. Realme has committed to providing software updates for 2 years and security updates for 3 years for this phone.
You can utilize the Smart image matting functionality to distinguish the subject from the backdrop in a photograph. By using File Dock, you have the convenience of sharing files through a simple drag-and-drop method.
Additionally, Phonelink allows you to establish a connection with a Windows computer, enabling you to share files, messages, notifications, and even screen phone calls.
Realme 12 Pro Review: Performance
Under the hood, the Realme 12 Pro 5G is equipped with a Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chip that gives adequate performance for everyday work and gaming.
However, it’s not designed to be a powerhouse, as Realme has prioritized camera and design aspects. When put to the test, the phone’s benchmark results don’t quite measure up to others in the same price bracket.
In AnTuTu, the phone scored 5,90,047 points with performance mode enabled, and 5,61,099 points with it disabled. In Geekbench 6, the phone achieved 882 in Single-core and 2693 in Multi-core with performance mode turned off, and the scores didn’t vary much when the mode was turned on.
Despite this, the phone completed day-to-day operations without any serious difficulty, including as opening and closing apps, moving between background apps, and playing games. When 8GB of RAM wasn’t enough, the Dynamic RAM technology stepped in to compensate for the lack of physical RAM, guaranteeing a pleasant user experience.
The device features a 6.7-inch AMOLED screen that has a refresh rate of 120Hz.
In terms of the screen, the Realme 12 Pro is equipped with a curved 6.7-inch AMOLED display that offers full-HD+ quality. It has a refresh rate of 120Hz and a touch sampling rate of 240Hz.
With a maximum brightness of 800 nits, the display delivers vibrant colors and is sufficiently bright for indoor usage. Even under direct sunlight, the screen stays readable. The device offers various display color options such as Vivid, Natural, Cinematic, or Brilliant, allowing users to customize their viewing experience.
Additionally, users can manually adjust the screen’s color temperature. The O1 Video Color Boost engine, which Realme has integrated, can convert SDR content to HDR, though it’s only useful for certain apps. The phone’s viewing angles are impressive, without any noticeable washing out of colors.
The Realme 12 Pro 5G boasts a powerful dual speaker configuration that can produce high volumes, accompanied by noticeable bass and distinct separation due to the speakers’ placement at the top and bottom.
During calls, the audio quality is satisfactory, and the earpiece can get quite loud, making it suitable for hands-free conversations. The Realme 12 Pro 5G’s audio performance is still dependable and effective, even though it doesn’t innovate.
Is it possible to play games on the Realme 12 Pro? Absolutely, you can definitely do so. Although you may not experience the highest quality graphics or frame rates, the phone is certainly capable of gaming.
I personally tried out the phone with games like COD and BGMI, and it worked great. Moreover, the phone did not overheat significantly, although I did encounter occasional issues with touch sensitivity. I did not observe any significant drops in frame rates or lag during multiplayer games, but I should note that my gaming sessions were limited to a maximum of 30 minutes.
The back panel warms up, but not to the point where you have to wait for it to cool down. Furthermore, I did not experience any significant heating issues when operating the camera or performing daily duties. Additionally, the vegan leather finish effectively hides any heat-related problems.
The 5,000mAh battery of the Realme 12 Pro 5G offers remarkable usage and performance outcomes. With a mix of heavy gaming, camera usage, streaming, doom scrolling, and everyday tasks, the battery can easily last a full day.
Remove gaming from the mix, and the phone can stretch its battery life to over 24 hours. Additionally, charging the phone is quick and efficient, taking just 43 minutes to reach 100% using the provided 67W charger, which is even faster than the claimed 48 minutes.
Realme 12 Pro Review: Cameras
The primary selling point of the Realme 12 Pro is its innovative camera system. Although it appears to have four cameras at the back, one of them is unfortunately just for show.
The actual cameras comprise of a 50-megapixel primary Sony IMX 882 sensor with OIS, PDAF capability, 26mm focal length, and f/1.8 aperture. There’s also an 8-megapixel ultrawide sensor and a new 32-megapixel Sony IMX 709 telephoto sensor with 2x optical zoom and 4x lossless in-sensor zoom.
This is a significant upgrade from last year’s dual-camera setup, which consisted of a 100-megapixel main sensor and a 2-megapixel depth unit.
The phone comes with a 50-megapixel Sony IMX 882 primary sensor
The camera interface on the phone closely resembles those found on most Android smartphones. The various modes are arranged above the shutter button, with a More option that provides access to additional features such as Pro mode, Panorama, Hi-Res mode, Timelapse, Long Exposure, dual-view, Starry Mode, and more. The primary modes include Photo, Video, Portrait, Night, and Street.
In Photo mode, you have options for 0.6x, 1x, 2x, and 4x magnification. The primary rear camera offers high-quality photographs in daytime, with the 2x optical zoom also generating satisfactory results.
However, some photos may exhibit oversaturation of colors and rare instances of artifacting. The 4x image looks washed out and less detailed. The ultra-wide camera captures good photos in daylight, but differences in colours, detail, and HDR are noticeable when compared to the main sensor.
Top: Images taken in the daytime; Bottom: Lowlight with automatic night mode
As the sun sets, the cameras bid farewell to intricate details, but images captured using the primary sensor in lowlight conditions remain serviceable.
The main camera can still produce good pictures with reasonable details if there is some ambient light. However, photographs of the night sky or landscape will generally have limited details. Additionally, lowlight scenes often result in images with inaccurate color representation and contrast.
The 2x zoom lens struggles in lowlight, delivering shots with fuzzy details and considerable noise. The ultrawide camera also has difficulty in lowlight, capturing images with excessive noise and indistinct details. Although portrait photographs taken in lowlight may have inadequate edge detection, some features can be recognized if there is a source of illumination.
1x Portrait mode photos are taken using the main camera, 2x uses the telephoto sensor
The selfies captured by the Realme 12 Pro 5G’s front-facing 16-megapixel camera are of high quality. This camera has the ability to record videos at 1080p and 30 frames per second.
In well-lit conditions, the selfies have impressive details and are suitable for use. Nevertheless, the quality suffers and the images seem faded in poorly lit areas.
When it comes to videos, the smartphone has the capability to capture videos in 4K resolution at 30 frames per second (fps). Additionally, you may make the most of the OIS stabilization capability when recording videos in 1080p at 60fps.
Realme has named this stabilization mode as Ultra Steady, and the outcomes are fairly decent. Some fringing may be observed, but the videos can still be utilized on various social media platforms.
In daylight, videos recorded in 4K resolution exhibit a substantial amount of detail; however, in lowlight conditions, there is noticeable noise and peculiar artifacts.
