Review-of-Xiaomi-12-smartphone-in-the-UAE
Xiaomi launched flagship mobiles in the Middle East which are Xiaomi 12 and Xiaomi 12 Pro on 24th March 2022 at The View at The Palm.
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As the lockdown got over and this was one of the Xiaomi events which took place in the UAE.
We had the opportunity to get the handset delivered by their PR agency and below are the details and the review.
Body & Specification
The Xiaomi 12 Smartphone has a dimension of 152.7mm X 69.9mm X 8.16mm and weighs 180 grams which includes a non-removal battery. It has an FHD+ AMOLED DotDisplay touchscreen and a size of 6.28 inches with a resolution of 2400x 1080 pixels with a screen 419 PPI density. It has an 89.2% screen-to-body ratio and a 20:9 body ratio. The body build has a metal frame with the front display protected with Gorilla Glass Victus and glass back (Gorilla Glass 5).
It comes with Android 12 with the MIUI 13 as the user interface. It uses Qualcomm SM8450 Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset + GPU Adreno 730 with 8 GB RAM and a 256 GB ROM for storage.
The device has a triple cameras on the rear camera one – 50 MP, f/1.9, 26mm (wide), 1/1.56″, 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS. Second camera – 13 MP, f/2.4, 12mm, 123˚ (ultra-wide), 1/3.06″, 1.12µm and third camera – 5 MP, f/2.4, 50mm (telephoto macro), AF. The front round shape camera has a single 32 MP, f/2.5, 26mm (wide), 0.7µm which is embedded into the display which is called an in-display selfie camera.
The main camera can shoot video at 8K@24fps (HDR), 4K@30/60fps (HDR10+), 1080p@30/120/240/960fps, 720p@1920fps, gyro-EIS and the front camera can shoot video at 1080p@30/60fps, 720p@120fps, HDR. Xiaomi 12 main camera features Dual-LED dual-tone flash and panorama, and HDR for both front and main cameras.
Xiaomi 12 frame has the power button and volume rockers on the right-hand side and on the left-hand side of the phone are clean. On the top side of the frame, you have the speaker, mic, infra-red port and printed mention of “Sound by Harmon / Kardon”. On the bottom of the frame, you have the slot which has 2 SIM Card Tray which support GSM / CDMA / HSPA / EVDO / LTE / 5G. The bottom of the phone has the USB Type- C super-charge input, speaker grills, and mic.
The FHD+ AMOLED DotDisplay is a touchscreen display with an in-screen fingerprint sensor with HDR10+, Dolby Vision and DisplayMate A+. The display supports 68 billion colours and colour gamut – DCI-P3.
The phone has with X-axis linear vibration motor, AI Face Unlock, NFC, Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6 / Wi-Fi 6E.
As for the audio, the device has got Dual speakers with Dolby Atmos and sound is provided by Harman Kardon.
The Review
The device which I have received for review is the purple back panel.
The box of the Xiaomi 12 is white colour matt finish with logo, 12 and other details embossed in gold and the details of the phone printed on the bottom side of the box. Once the box is opened, you will find the paper sleeve which has the protective case, quick start guide, warranty card and SIM ejector tool. Below the paper sleeve, you will find the Xiaomi 12 phone covered in a translucent covering. Below the phone, you have the USB Type-C cable and the big 67Watt supercharger adapter.
With the 89.2% screen-to-body ratio display, the bezel of the phone almost merges with the frame of the phone. The design of the frame is such that the front and back panel with Gorilla Glass Victus and glass back (Gorilla Glass 5) merge into the side of the frame making it look very slim and the back glass panel has matt silky finish which doesn’t leave any fingerprint or smudges.
The Xiaomi 12 Cameras
The front panel of the display houses the single 32 MP, f/2.5, 26mm (wide) lens which is embedded into the display. The FHD+ AMOLED DotDisplay is very vibrant and bright, even testing during the harsh daylight there was no issue viewing the screen. The in-screen fingerprint sensor was accurate and had a quick response. The transition from one screen to another was fast the smooth. The response time of switching ON/OFF of the apps was quick.
The main camera is housed in a rounded rectangle shape panel is a little protruding from the back panel, so it is better to use the protective phone casing to protect the cameras.
The main rear camera comes with triple cameras – 50 MP (wide), 13 MP (ultra-wide), and 5 MP (telephoto macro).
One of the unique features which I liked was the setting of the camera, where you can set up the basic camera mode as the PRO mode, so whenever you switch on the camera app, the camera mode will switch on as per your choice.
Some of the interesting features under the camera mode for selfies are Palm shutter, timed burst and movie frame. You can shoot selfies in 1:1, 3:4, 9:16 and full-frame. You can shoot selfies in HDR mode and capture video in 720 at 30FPS, 1080P at 30FPS and 60 FPS. The Xiaomi 12 has the effect option where you can add smoothing, tone, contour, and makeup and can little modify your face with a slender effect and highlight your eyes with a Big eyes effect and the same can be done with the nose, chin, lips and hairline in selfie mode. Under the additional camera mode for selfies, you can click your images in portrait mode which has the Bokeh effect and the same additional above effects. You can add cinematic effects to your images while clicking selfies.
The main/rear cameras have a lot of options for photos and videos, along with the above cinematic effects, you can use the AI camera mode which identifies the surround and objects and suggests tagging and colour effects to your images.
The basic modes available for you under the camera app are (L-R):- Pro, Video, Photo, Portrait and more mode. Under the more mode, you have the Night mode, 50MP, Short video, Panorama, Document mode, and Vlog mode- this mode has some ready presets by which you could create your videos with ready transition and effects.
Then you have slow-motion mode, time-lapse under switch you can choose 0.6x, 1x and 2x speed. Then you have the Movie effect mode by which you get ready presets like magic zoom, slow shutter, Time freeze and parallel world. There is a dedicated Long exposure mode under which you have ready preset options like moving crowd, neon trails, oil painting, lighting painting, starry sky and star trails.
There is a Dual camera mode by which you can capture the surrounding from the main camera and also have yourself part of the video. You can also increase or decrease the size of the screen and move it around the frame of the video as per your choice.
And the final interesting mode is the clone, in which you can be creative and can have a lot of fun with this camera model. Under this option, you get Photo mode, video mode and freeze-frame mode. Here is you can see an example where I have clicked a subject under the photo mode. What I liked about this mode, is the stitching of the multiple-image with the focus on the subject and background remaining static and making it look quite realistic.
Under the Pro mode, you can click photos or videos while controlling the white balance, focus, ISO, lens and more. You can also add additional options from the top of the frame like 50MP, effects, spot metering, Focus peaking, exposure verification, RAW format, separate focusing and exposure metering, shutter speed, exposure compensation and as mentioned Lenses where you can choose a particular lens from the 3 cameras in the phone.
The main camera supports 720p, 1080p, 4K and 8K video resolutions. You can shoot video at 24FPS for 8K video and 30FPS and 60FPS for 720P, 1080p and 4K. You can shoot super macro video in 30FPS for 720p and 1080p mode.
Even with the 0.3mm LiquidCool Technology (Super big VC + Multilayer graphite sheets+ BN film) in the Xiaomi 12. There was a little rise in the temperature on the smartphone while using the camera which was the first time experienced in the Xiaomi smartphone.
Operating System and Software
The Xiaomi 12 works on Android 12 OS and has MIUI 13 as the user interface. The Xiaomi 12 uses Qualcomm SM8450 Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset + GPU Adreno 730 with 8 GB RAM and a 256 GB ROM for storage.
Benchmark Testing
The Xiaomi 12 was tested with various benchmark testing Apps. On the PC Mark benchmark, it scored 12907. 3D Mark benchmark – Wildlife, it scored 8466. The Geek benchmark scored 1237 on single-core and 3554 on multi-core. Under the Device- AI, it scored 1024. Under the GFX benchmark, it scored high scored like Aztec Ruins OpenGl (High Tier) 2183px x 1080px – 3,690* frames (57FPS), 1440 Aztec Ruins OpenGl (High Tier) Off Screen 2560 x 1440px – 2453 Frames (38FPS), Aztec Ruins OpenGl (Normal) 1920 x 1080 – 5916* (92FPS).
While on benchmark testing the smartphone, the temperature of the body rose to 34°C and the CPU temperature rose to 55°C.
(Please note: Most of the smartphones while reviewing and testing had an average body temperature of 32°C to 37°C)
Sound & Audio
Xiaomi 12 has a dual speaker grill, so when you are holding the smartphone vertically the sound comes as a single audio channel as mono. When you hold the phone horizontally, you will have stereo sound from the dual speakers which are placed on the top and bottom of the frame.
The Xiaomi 12 sound is from Harman Kardon and you can see the logo is mentioned on the top of the frame.
The phone comes with Dolby Atmos sound, the trebles, mid-level was clear and bass was good for a smartphone. The volume is quite loud and clear. The device supports Hi-Res audio format.
The smartphone has Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic.
Xiaomi 12 was tested with various types of videos and different genres of music and it passed above average compared to other competitors in a similar price range.
(Please note: The smartphone was held at a distance of 1- 2 feet while testing the audio quality)
Connectivity & Battery
The smartphone has an in-screen fingerprint sensor, face detection, pattern, and pin for accessing the smartphone. The Smartphone supports Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6 or 6e, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot, Bluetooth 5.2, A2DP, LE, A-GPS. Up to tri-band: GLONASS (1), BDS (3), GALILEO (2), QZSS (2), NavIC. It has NFC, Infrared port. The smartphone comes with a non-removable Li-Po 4500 mAh battery which can last more than a day with average usage. The smartphone comes with USB Type- C charging input which can charge the phone at 67W wired fast charging and 50Watt wireless charging.
Conclusion
Xiaomi 12 is a very great smartphone for the price, the phone is the flagship with all the great features for gaming, and watching online entertainment. The built quality and colour make the phone very rich and stylish. With triple cameras with AI support makes this smartphone is one of the best on the market, as, for the selfies, the single 32MP lens can make difference with the Ai function which can give a very nice creamy Bokeh effect and focus on your face. It has a quick and sharp focus system. Additional features like the Clone mode, VLOG mode and more make this phone very desirable for the current generation and even for the corporate people. The camera experience was amazing and images and videos clicked on testing proved Xiaomi is providing great products for a reasonable price compared to the competitors.
With 8 GB RAM and a 256 GB ROM storage with the Dual Card SIM Tray, it is a good smartphone for the price and can run for the money with its competitors.
Price
The Xiaomi 12 launch price was at AED2499 and available on Xiaomi online store
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