Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 5G Review: Not the Obvious Choice

Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 12 line includes no fewer than eight different models, but only half of those have made it to Europe. 

The Note 12 5G is the second most affordable of these, even if the £279/€299 price tag makes it more expensive than your average budget phone. 

Compromises are still inevitable compared to the pricier Note 12 Pro and Pro+, with performance, cameras and charging taking the biggest hit. The Note 12 5G isn’t nearly as exciting as a result, but the core experience remains impressive. 

Is that enough to make it your next phone, though? That decision hinges on the flexibility of your budget and willingness to tolerate some key shortcomings. Here’s our full review. 

Design & build

• Plastic rather than glass back
• Lightweight yet durable
• IP53 & 3.5mm audio jack

The most obvious downgrade on the Note 12 5G is its design. Rather than the glass back of the 12 Pro and Pro+, you’ll have to make do with plastic here. 

It’s a shame to see the premium build sacrificed, even if it’s not unexpected on a phone at this price. Design was a key selling point of the more expensive Redmi Note 12 phones, but that’s not the case here.  

This isn’t a dealbreaker, although it means the Note 12 5G feels like a cheap phone when you’re using it. As soon as you pick it up, you’ll know this is a budget device. 

However, I will say that Xiaomi has managed to make the device look more expensive than it is. A matte coating avoids noticeable buildup of dirt and fingerprint smudges, but still allows the back to shimmer attractively when it catches the light. 

That’s particularly apparent on the Forest Green model I tested, which shifts between turquoise and dark green tones as the angle changes. It looks great in person, and helps the phone stand out from the crowd. But for something a little less eye-catching, Onyx Gray and Ice Blue models are also available.  

The finish is visible through the clear glass camera module, which only protrudes slightly from the back of the phone. It helps the Note 12 5G remain comfortable to hold, meaning you don’t necessarily need a case. There’s a transparent silicone one in the box, but it’s not particularly attractive or protective.

As soon as you pick it up, you’ll know this is a budget device

A case can also affect the fingerprint sensor, which is built into the power button. With the included one applied, I noticed a lot more failed attempts and accidental presses in my pocket. That was mostly eliminated without one, and it unlocks relatively quickly. 

Deciding against glass might compromise design, but it benefits durability. You don’t have to worry about the back of the phone shattering, and I’d be confident in it surviving most drops from 1-2 metres. The device doesn’t feel flimsy at all. 

Just don’t drop it in water, though. An IP53 rating means it can repel dust and splashes of water, but not submersion for any length of time. If you want to use it in the bath or by the pool, take extra care. 

It’s also worth mentioning haptics. Subtle clipped feedback can indicate when you’re unlocking the phone, receiving messages or even navigating apps. But the vibration motor in the Note 12 5G isn’t the most convincing, and there’s no way to customise its intensity. 

At 189g, the device is actually slightly heavier than the all-glass Note 12 Pro. But this is still lightweight by modern phone standards. 

There’s even still a 3.5mm audio jack. You might’ve switched to Bluetooth headphones and speakers by now, but it’s really nice to still have that wired option. 

Screen & speakers

• 6.67in Full HD+ OLED display
• 120Hz refresh rate
• Single downward-firing speaker

Unless you really want a curved screen, there are no real compromises when it comes to the Note 12 5G’s display. The 6.67in panel here is OLED and has a resolution of 1080×2400 – that’s the exact same as both more expensive Redmi Note 12 phones.

Some premium phones have 1440p screens, but it’s not a necessity on a device of this size. Everything looks clear and crisp, with OLED helping deliver deep blacks and great contrast. Colours are rich and vibrant, making it ideally suited for tasks such as web browsing, watching videos or scrolling social media.

The latter is particularly enjoyable when combined with the 120Hz refresh rate, which makes navigating the phone feel very fluid and responsive. Most flagship handsets don’t go higher than this, so it’s great to see it on such an affordable device. 

One premium feature you won’t find here is a dynamic refresh rate. That relies on LTPO tech that this display doesn’t have, so you have to choose between a fixed 60Hz or 120Hz. Unless you really need to conserve battery life, I’d recommend the higher setting. 

The likes of HDR10+ and Dolby Vision are also missing from the Note 12 5G’s display, but I didn’t notice. The display is excellent, and one of the very best you’ll find on a phone at this price. 

Outdoor visibility is also very good. The screen gets impressively bright, and there’s even a dedicated ‘sunlight mode’ which claims to help by boosting the screen brightness even higher when a sensor detects sunlight.

The display is excellent, and one of the very best you’ll find on a phone at this price

The display is housed within some slim bezels, with around 86% of the front panel taken up with screen. But there’s still an annoyingly large chin, and it doesn’t serve any particular purpose. 

Sadly, the audio experience isn’t nearly as impressive. There’s just a single downward-firing speaker, and it can easily be blocked by your fingers in landscape mode. 

It gets decently loud, but lacks bass and often sounds washed out. For casual listening it’s fine, but nothing more. 

Specs & performance

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 and 4GB RAM
• Decent performance, but not flawless
• 128GB of expandable storage

Many Redmi phones use MediaTek chips, but Xiaomi has opted for Qualcomm here instead. The Note 12 5G is powered by the Snapdragon 4 Gen 1, a 2022 chipset that’s specifically designed for mid-range handsets. As the name of the phone suggests, it has 5G built in. 

But don’t expect superb performance, especially with just 4GB of RAM on the only model in the UK and Europe. It’s fine for most everyday situations, but can’t handle demanding apps such as video editing software and advanced games. 

I used the Note 12 5G as my main phone for a couple of weeks, and the experience was … fine. Web browsing (with many tabs open), messaging apps, YouTube videos and taking photos are all well within reach, but it feels sluggish at times.  

There’s also often hesitation and stuttering when moving between apps, something extra RAM would help with. It’s only likely to get worse over time, so you’ll need to stay patient. 

But performance is by no means terrible. It’s right in line with what you’d expect from a phone at this price, albeit unable to compete with the best mid-range phones out there. 

Our usual graphical tests wouldn’t run on the Note 12 5G, but other benchmarks show how it compares to phones that are slightly more expensive: 

You’re limited to 128GB of internal storage outside China, but it’s not all bad news. The Note 12 5G supports expansion via microSD card, all the way up to 1TB. It’s an additional purchase, but they’re relatively inexpensive. 

Alongside 5G, the phone also has Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1. Neither are the latest standards, though connections via both were reliable during my testing time. 

Camera & video

• Triple rear cameras
• Hit-and-miss results
• Good selfie lens

Like so many phones these days, the Note 12 5G has triple rear cameras. But most of the time, you’ll want to take photos with the 48Mp, f/1.8 main lens. It’s much higher quality than the 8Mp ultrawide and 2Mp macro, and capable of some genuinely impressive results. 

The phone is particularly well suited to architecture, where it usually manages to keep the subject in focus without overexposing the background. On a cloudy day, I was able to take some moody shots that really captured the atmosphere of the scene.  

Colours are generally true to life in these examples, but that changed once the sun came out. In these brighter conditions, aggressive processing added a lot more contrast and saturation than was actually present. The resulting artificial shots are slightly more pleasing to look at, but highly unrealistic. 

The main lens does a decent job with landscape shots, handling shadows and details in the foreground well. However, dynamic range isn’t great, something which becomes very evident as soon as you start zooming in. 

With no telephoto lens, this zoom is entirely digital. It goes all the way up to 10x, but anything above 5x is very grainy and pretty much unusable. 

At the other end of the scale, the 8Mp ultrawide lens offers a 118-degree field of view. It’s great to have that extra flexibility, but the drop-off in quality is significant. Detail, colour accuracy and exposure are all compromised, to the extent that I preferred simply standing further back and using the main camera. 

However, it’s a different story with the 2Mp macro lens. Close-up shots, particularly of flowers and plants, keep the subject in detail while adding an attractive background blur.

It’s possible to get some great photos, but only if you’re willing to be patient and experiment with framing and angles

I was hoping for a similar story with portrait mode, which relies on software without a dedicated depth sensor. But edge detection is a big issue, so it requires a lot of trial and error to get a good result. 

The latter is reflective of the rear camera experience as a whole. It’s possible to get some great photos, but only if you’re willing to be patient and experiment with framing and angles. 

The 13Mp front-facing camera is surprisingly excellent. It produces vibrant, detailed selfies, avoiding the common tendency to blow out sky in the background. There’s even a portrait mode, which arguably does a better job than the main rear lens. 

As you can see from the gallery below, the cameras are a bit of a mixed bag: 

The Note 12 5G is limited to 1080p video at 30fps, but that’ll be fine for most. Footage looks decent, but no optical image stabilisation (OIS) means footage is shaky and often unusable with any significant movement. 

Battery & charging

• 5000mAh battery
• Comfortably lasts at least a full day
• Solid 33W charging

The Note 12 5G is equipped with a very respectable 5000mAh battery. That’s in line with many smartphones these days, although battery life is definitely above average. 

Even with the display set to 120Hz, brightness high and location on, I was consistently ending the day with charge to spare. You can confidently use this phone all day without ever needing to worry about where the nearest power outlet is. 

You can confidently use this phone all day without ever needing to worry about where the nearest power outlet is

On lighter days at home, I was able to stretch to more than 48 hours between charges. Now that’s impressive. 

The PCMark battery test doesn’t fully reflect that, although a time of 10 hours and 25 minutes is very decent. It simulates real-world tasks at a fairly typical 200 nits, but actual screen on time is around half of that.

When you do get round to charging, Xiaomi includes a 33W adapter in the box. It’s much slower than the Note 12 Pro (67W) and 12 Pro+ (120W), but still not bad at all. 

From dead, I recorded 30% charge in 15 minutes and 54% after half an hour. A full charge takes around 70 minutes. There’s no wireless charging, but that’s easy to excuse at this price point. 

Software & updates

• MIUI 14 over Android 12
• Lots of tweaks to user experience
• Three years of Android updates, four of security updates

The Note 12 5G runs Xiaomi’s MIUI 14 skin, but frustratingly it’s over…