The Realme 12+ 5G: A Premium Look and Feel on a Budget?
Realme is known for its aggressive pricing and features-packed smartphones, and the new Realme 12+ 5G looks to continue this trend. It’s not just the price that makes this phone intriguing – the Realme 12+ 5G boasts a vegan leather finish, a primary rear camera with OIS, and a boxier design, all features typically found in more expensive phones. While the initial impressions are positive, only a full review can reveal if this phone truly delivers the premium experience at a budget price.
Design and Aesthetics: A Premium Package
The Realme 12+ 5G has a design that immediately grabs your attention. The vegan leather finish on the back is a luxurious touch, providing a soft feel and resisting fingerprints better than plastic or glass. Realme has kept the branding minimal, with only a simple Realme logo on the bottom left. This clean design allows the circular triple rear camera setup to stand out.
The rear camera design is reminiscent of the Realme 12 Pro series, but the golden ring around the camera is absent. The Realme 12+ 5G retains the watch-like sunburst dial and a golden line running through the center of the back panel, adding to its visual appeal.
What sets the Realme 12+ 5G apart is its flat-sided frame with rounded corners. This boxy design, although made of plastic, feels premium and exudes a sense of robustness. The sides are highly reflective and leave a positive impression compared to the curved edges of the Realme 12 Pro series.
The button placement is intuitive, with volume and power buttons on the right side and the bottom housing the USB Type-C port, speaker grille, microphone, and SIM tray. The top edge houses a 3.5mm headphone jack, another microphone, and a second speaker, another welcome inclusion in this price segment. The IP54 rating for water and dust resistance further elevates its practicality and makes it a reliable choice for everyday use.
Display and Performance: A Vibrant Visual Experience and Speedy Performance
On the front, the Realme 12+ 5G boasts a large 6.67-inch AMOLED display with slim bezels on three sides and a slightly thicker chin. This display is vibrant and offers HDR 10+ support, a 120Hz refresh rate, and full-HD+ resolution, ensuring a smooth and immersive visual experience. Realme also highlights its Rainwater Smart Touch feature, offering touchscreen responsiveness even in rain or with wet hands – a feature that will be interesting to test out in the full review. An in-display fingerprint scanner adds convenience and security.
Under the hood, the Realme 12+ 5G is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7050 SoC, which promises snappy performance. The initial impressions are positive, but extensive testing with benchmarks and games will be crucial to assess its performance under stress. It comes with up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage, further enhancing its functionality. The phone also supports RAM expansion and microSD card expansion, providing additional storage flexibility.
Camera: A Big Boost with OIS
The Realme 12+ 5G‘s primary selling point is undoubtedly its camera setup. It’s one of the few phones in this price range to feature a Sony LYT-600 50-megapixel sensor with OIS, which is likely to produce high-quality images, especially in low-light conditions. Initial observations reveal that the software might be a bit aggressive in saturating the photos.
In addition to the main camera, there’s an 8-megapixel ultra-wide unit and a 2-megapixel depth sensor for versatility. For selfies, it has a 16-megapixel front camera that performs decently in reasonable lighting conditions.
Battery and Software: A Long-Lasting Battery and Familiar Software
The Realme 12+ 5G is equipped with a 5,000mAh battery and supports 67W fast charging, with the charger included in the box. Realme claims a full charge can be achieved in just 48 minutes, but real-world usage will be needed to verify this.
The phone runs Android 14-based Realme UI 5.0 out of the box. While Realme UI is a familiar interface, the presence of bloatware might be a concern for some users. Realme promises two years of Android OS upgrades and three years of security patches, ensuring a longer lifespan for the phone’s update support.
Early Verdict: A Promising Budget Phone
With a starting price of ₹20,999, the Realme 12+ 5G seems to be a compelling option in the budget phone market. Its premium design, OPIS-enabled camera, and speedy performance are all appealing factors.
However, a full review is necessary to assess its true capabilities, especially regarding its camera performance, software experience, and battery life. It will face stiff competition from other budget phones, like the Nothing Phone 2a, which has also received positive reception.
The Realme 12+ 5G has the potential to be a top contender in the budget market, but its ultimate success will rely on its ability to deliver on its promises and showcase a truly premium experience at an affordable price.
