Xiaomi 12 Review: Almost Perfect $700 Smartphone!

So if you were looking to buy a new flagship phone right now, which brands would you be considering im pretty sure, most peoples, top two choices would be apple and samsung? And despite such a dominant public mindset, companies like xiaomi have been coming up with some really interesting flagship phones as well. For instance, the xiaomi 12. Pro that i reviewed a while back is a pretty great example of a solid premium phone that i can actually recommend, and the standard xiaomi 12 right here is its take on a slightly more affordable device that retains most quality of its pro sibling, starting from 600. To 700, depending on the region, this thing goes up against the likes of the iphone 13 and the galaxy s22 for that money. The xiaomi 12 brings the top tier snapdragon 8101 chip inside so yeah its pretty needless to say that it can handle everything without so much as a hitch. Apps load real fast here, the multitasking experience is great and the phone just feels snappy. I can just fire up the phone and get to whatever it is. I want to do without being held back by a processor that could not keep up or an operating system. Thats not well optimized, plus its compact form factor, makes the experience even more enjoyable theres. Just nothing like it really, but its compact wear quality is not all sunshine and rainbows, especially when it comes to thermal management. Thats, because fitting in a large cooling solution here is physically impossible.

So xiaomi could either let the food overheat under a heavy load or it could prevent overheating by lowering the performance, and here xiaomi has decided to go with the latter to keep the device running cooler instead. Hence, when playing games like gentle impact on this phone at the max possible settings, the fps count hovers at just around 30 fps, mostly, but the poco f4 gt, which is a dedicated gaming phone powered by the same hn1. Chip, delivers much better and much smoother gameplay. Then again, playing relatively less resource. Intensive games like pubg or call of duty does not overheat. The xiaomi 12 pro as the peak surface temperature, never climbs above 41 degree celsius, and it also manages an easy 60 fps here, whereas something like critical ops is playable at a steady 120 fps too still. I think this is not a phone you would want to buy for gaming, not just the compromise cooling solution, but its physically compact size also means that gamers might have a difficult time adjusting their grip here. Okay performance aside, the big 4500 milliamp hour cell on the xiaomi 12 is also quite impressive for such a combat phone, but its battery endurance is not that spectacular, since you can easily burn it before the end of the day. I guess this average battery life is because the display does not use an ltpo panel, like other high end phones, so this screen can only switch between 60 to 120 hertz, which in result takes a toll on the battery.

On the charging front. The xiaomi 12 has tried to justify its flagship status with support for 50 watt wireless and 10 watt reverse wireless charging, but i guess most people will get by the 67 watt wire charging just fine and you get the charger inside the box itself. Here. The xiaomi 12 display also scores good numbers overall, its amoled panel is curved on the sides for that uh, premium, aesthetics and uh. For the most part, i find it as practical as it looks beautiful from launching miui sidebar to cruising through androids chester navigation. Such subtle curves makes using the phone a lot more effortless. I know accidental touches are always a concern with such curve displays, but i havent really faced such issues on this phone, even when using it without a protective case plus. I have also had a good time watching videos on this thing. This hdr10 plus certified 12 bit screen produces excellent, colors and inky blacks and theres no trouble with hdr playback, either and with 1100 nits of peak brightness. It stays visible even in the harshest lighting conditions. Similarly, the xiaomi 12 pro also has an excellent pair of harman kardon tuned stereo speakers that sound rich and get sufficiently loud when you need them to, but its um haptic feedback is a bit weaker than i would have liked, and i dont know why, but the Xiaomi 12 or the entire 12 series for that matter, still uses a virtual proximity sensor that is not 100 reliable.

Okay, finally, lets talk about its cameras. If you recall my review of the xiaomi 12 pro, then you know that i was quite impressed with its cameras and despite the relatively inferior camera hardware on the xiaomi 12, which also lacks a telephoto zoom lens. Its photos turn out. Quite alright, if you happen to like livelier colors, but with all the images i have taken, i think xiaomi could still dial down the contrast levels by a bit. However, the way its able to preserve details highlights and dynamic range from both the main and ultra wide angle. Camera is quite commendable. It can also handle human subjects in terms of hdr processing and exposure control in portrait. Shots is just fine. The selfies are decent too, as it does not mess up the skin tone or background exposure as xiaomis mid range phones are notorious for even during low light conditions. It captures the essence of the night with well lit and well detailed shots that are not that noisy. As for videos, even though xiaomi 12 recordings are not the most stable ones, ive seen, i think theyre easily passable across all the resolutions, especially if you intend to record with a gimbal or a stabilizer of some sort. All in all, i got to say that xiaomi 12 camera setup is consistent across the board when it comes to still images or videos, but does that mean that its ready to take on the industry leaders like apple and samsung well, not really as a stand alone? Camera phone: i dont think this is going to be a total deal breaker to anyone, but xiaomi still got to improve its imaging algorithm by a lot, especially along the lines of natural color processing.

Okay, lets wrap up this review now so, despite belonging to such a competitive smartphone space with a bunch of really compelling alternatives, i think the xiaomi 12 is an excellent flagship phone around the 700 price range. It has a great display, good compact form factor. It has top notch performance and acceptable cameras for a premium phone. The only things missing here are a dedicated zoom lens, a 4k selfie video recording option and an official ip68 rating, but i guess most people can live with those compromises as long as you dont want to spend more. However, if you can stretch your budget by a little, i think the competition throws xiaomis price advantage right out of the window. Take the iphone 13. For example, sure it lacks a 120 hertz display, but it has excellent everything else back in the android world. The galaxy s22 is another great option that gives you better peace of mind on almost all fronts, except for its smaller battery. So yeah, it all depends on whether you are comfortable extending your budget. A little on more mainstream flagships instead, but um overall whats crucial to understand here is that xiaomi is improving its flagship segment year over year and thats good news for us as consumers, because more competition means more innovation and more competitive pricing plus. I am also quite excited about the upcoming xiaomi 12 ultra, where the company is collaborating with legendary camera maker leica to improve its cameras so guys.

That was all for this video.