The Realme 12 Pro 5G: A Stylish Smartphone with a Focus on Cameras and Design
The smartphone market is brimming with choices, and 2024 has brought a wave of new releases. Among them, the Realme 12 Pro 5G stands out with its bold design and impressive camera capabilities. While its performance might not be its strongest suit, its sleek aesthetics and camera prowess make it an intriguing option for those looking for a stylish phone with excellent picture-taking capabilities.
This in-depth review explores the Realme 12 Pro 5G from multiple angles, examining its design, specifications, performance, battery life, and camera performance. We’ll delve into what makes the phone stand out in a crowded market and discuss whether it’s the right choice for you.
Realme 12 Pro 5G: Price and Availability
The Realme 12 Pro 5G is available in India starting at Rs. 25,999 for the 8GB RAM + 128GB storage variant. The higher 8GB RAM + 256GB storage variant costs Rs. 26,999. You have two stylish color options: Navigator Beige and Submarine Blue.
Realme 12 Pro 5G: Design
The Realme 12 Pro 5G is a head-turner. Unlike the typical slab-like design of most phones, Realme has crafted a phone that feels different and undeniably stylish.
The Submarine Blue variant, with its vegan leather finish, is a real eye-catcher. The camera module, designed in collaboration with the French luxury watchmaker Ollivier Savéo, resembles a luxurious watch dial. The gold accents on the module and the sunburst dial inside add a touch of elegance.
The phone has a good weight (196g) and feels comfortable to hold. Both the display and the rear panel are curved, giving the phone a sleek profile despite being 8.75mm thick. The vegan leather finish ensures you won’t be battling fingerprints and smudges on the back.
The front boasts uniform thin bezels on the sides, giving a familiar vibe to the Realme 11 Pro. The curved display and the IP65 rating further enhance the phone’s appeal.
Realme 12 Pro 5G: Specifications and Software
The Realme 12 Pro 5G is equipped with a Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 processor coupled with the Adreno 710 GPU, 8GB RAM, and 256GB internal storage. You can’t expand the storage, however. The Dynamic RAM feature adds up to 8GB of additional VRAM, borrowed from the internal storage, giving you a little extra breathing room during demanding tasks.
Connectivity options include Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6 dual-band, and support for all the major GPS satellites. While the phone has excellent connectivity, it would have been great to see Wi-Fi 6E or a newer Bluetooth standard, especially considering the price range.
The Realme 12 Pro features an in-display fingerprint scanner placed at the bottom of the display. It works efficiently and unlocks the phone reliably.
The phone packs a 5,000mAh battery with a 67W fast charger included in the box. Given that the predecessor also sported the same battery and charging system, there are no major changes here.
Realme 12 Pro 5G: Software
The Realme 12 Pro runs on Realme UI 5.0, based on Android 14. The software experience is smooth and responsive, but it comes with its share of bloatware. You’ll find the usual Hot Apps, Hot Games folder, Glance lock screen, and various pre-installed apps. While you can disable some, you can’t completely remove them.
The phone also features useful features like File Dock, Smart image matting, and Phonelink. Realme promises 2 years of software updates and 3 years of security updates, giving you peace of mind about future support.
File Dock allows easy drag-and-drop file sharing. Smart image matting lets you separate a subject from a photo’s background. Phonelink connects your phone to a Windows computer for file sharing, message and notification syncing, and even screen phone calls.
Realme 12 Pro 5G: Performance
The Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chip delivers adequate performance for everyday tasks and even for gaming. While not designed for heavy-duty performance, it handles routine usage with ease.
The benchmark results, however, are a bit underwhelming compared to some rivals in the same price range. In AnTuTu, the phone managed a score of 5,90,047 points with performance mode enabled and 5,61,099 points with it disabled. Geekbench 6 yielded a Single-core score of 882 and a Multi-core score of 2693 with performance mode disabled. The scores didn’t significantly change with performance mode enabled.
While the benchmark numbers might not be stellar, I didn’t encounter noticeable lag during everyday tasks. Opening and closing apps, switching between background apps, launching games, and performing general browsing were all smooth. When the 8GB RAM began to struggle, the Dynamic RAM feature kicked in swiftly, providing additional VRAM and preventing significant performance dips.
Realme 12 Pro 5G: Display
The Realme 12 Pro boasts a 6.7-inch curved AMOLED panel with full-HD+ resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, a 240Hz touch sampling rate, and a maximum brightness of 800 nits. This results in a visually pleasing display with vibrant colors and good overall brightness. Even outdoors under direct sunlight, the display remains readable.
Color options include Vivid, Natural, Cinematic, and Brilliant, and you can manually adjust the screen color temperature. The O1 Video Color Boost engine converts SDR to HDR for a richer viewing experience, although this feature is limited to specific apps. The viewing angles are excellent, with minimal color shifting or washing out.
Realme 12 Pro 5G: Audio
The Realme 12 Pro features a dual-speaker setup that delivers loud and clear audio. You can also enjoy a decent amount of bass, and thanks to the speakers being placed at the top and bottom, there’s good separation between the channels. Audio during calls is also excellent, and the earpiece gets quite loud.
Realme 12 Pro 5G: Gaming
The phone is capable of gaming, albeit with some compromises. While you won’t get the highest graphics settings or frame rates, you can enjoy a decent gaming experience.
I played COD and BGMI on the phone, and performance was acceptable. The phone didn’t overheat excessively, although I did experience the occasional touch miss. I didn’t notice any major frame rate drops or lag during multiplayer games, although my gaming sessions were limited to 30 minutes at a time. The rear panel does warm up during extended play, but it doesn’t get uncomfortably hot.
Overall, the Realme 12 Pro can handle casual gaming sessions without major issues.
Realme 12 Pro 5G: Battery Life and Charging
The 5,000mAh battery on the Realme 12 Pro 5G easily lasts for a full day with intensive use, encompassing heavy gaming, camera usage, streaming, social media, and general browsing. If you’re not a heavy gamer, you can stretch the battery life to over a day. With light usage, you might even get two days of battery life on a single charge.
The 67W fast charger is a boon when it comes to recharging. Realme boasts a charging time of 48 minutes from 0 to 100 percent. In my testing, the phone charged from 10 to 100 percent in 43 minutes, and I’m sure the advertised 48-minute charging time is attainable if you start from 0 percent.
Realme 12 Pro 5G: Cameras
The camera system is a real highlight of the Realme 12 Pro 5G. While there are three real cameras, a fourth camera on the back is merely a dummy, a bit of a letdown.
Here’s a breakdown of the camera setup:
- 50-megapixel main camera with Sony IMX 882 sensor, OIS (Optical Image Stabilization), PDAF (Phase Detection Autofocus), 26mm focal length, and f/1.8 aperture.
- 32-megapixel telephoto camera with Sony IMX 709 sensor, 2x optical zoom, and 4x lossless in-sensor zoom.
- 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera.
This is a significant upgrade from the previous model, which featured a 100-megapixel main camera and a 2-megapixel depth sensor.
The camera interface is familiar and easy to navigate. All the modes are well-organized, and you have a "More" option that reveals a host of additional features such as Pro, Panorama, Hi-Res, Timelapse, Long Exposure, dual-view, Starry Mode, and more. The standard modes include Photo, Video, Portrait, Night, and Street.
In Photo mode, you have zoom options of 0.6x, 1x, 2x, and 4x. The image quality from the main camera in daylight is excellent, producing vibrant and detailed images. The 2x optical zoom also performs well. While colors can appear a bit oversaturated at times and there’s occasional minor artifacting, the overall picture quality is impressive. The 4x image does suffer a noticeable loss of detail and appears slightly washed out.
The ultra-wide camera captures good photos in daylight, although there’s a noticeable difference in color, detail, and HDR compared to the main camera.
In low-light scenarios, the camera performance takes a hit. While the main camera can still produce usable photos with decent detail if there’s sufficient ambient light, capturing night skies or landscapes results in images with limited detail. The high dynamic range and color accuracy also suffer in low light.
The 2x zoom and the ultra-wide camera struggle in low-light conditions, producing photos with excessive noise and washed-out details. Portrait shots in low light suffer from poor edge detection, although some detail is retained if there’s some light present.
The 16-megapixel front camera captures good selfies in daylight, delivering images rich in detail. However, the selfies become washed out and lack detail in low-light scenarios.
The phone records 4K videos at 30fps and takes full advantage of the OIS Stabilization in 1080p videos at 60fps. Realme refers to this stabilization mode as Ultra Steady, and the results are commendable. While some fringing is visible, the videos are perfectly suitable for social media. In 4K resolution, videos shot in daylight are rich in detail, but in low light, noticeable noise and artifacts become apparent.
Realme 12 Pro 5G: Verdict
Priced at Rs. 25,999, the Realme 12 Pro 5G has stiff competition from a variety of phones, such as the Redmi Note 13 Pro and the Poco X6 Pro.
The Realme 12 Pro 5G offers an impressive package, encompassing a unique design with a vegan leather finish, a good display with a 120Hz refresh rate, satisfactory performance for daily use and even some gaming, long battery life with fast charging, and excellent camera performance in daylight.
The phone’s strengths lie in its stylish design, camera performance, and overall user experience. However, its performance, particularly in benchmarks, might not be as impressive as its competitors.
If design and camera capabilities are your top priorities, the Realme 12 Pro 5G is a compelling choice. However, if performance takes center stage, the Poco X6 Pro might be a better fit. Ultimately, which phone suits you best depends on your individual needs and priorities.
