Realme 12+ 5G revisited: Value champ that made sense

Less than five months back, Realme launched the Realme 12+, which I feel was one of the most promising smartphones for its discounted price. While Realme has now launched its successor, the Realme 13+, the Realme 12+ still is one of my favourite value devices from Realme, and in this guide, I’ll tell my experience with the phone for the said period. Also Read: 5 OnePlus Nord CE4 alternatives you can buy in India

Here’s my experience with the Realme 12+ 5G

For starters, the Realme 12+ has an impressive design for the price. The device has a vegan leather back that makes it easier to grip. There’s also a vertical stitch pattern that adds a unique look to the phone. It also has a circular camera island with four camera holes, although there are only three cameras and the last hole is just a placeholder. With such a design, anyone can notice from a distance that it’s a Realme phone, and many of my friends said the same. Also Read: Realme Holi Sale: Top deals on Realme 12, Narzo, and C series phones

The device boasts a 6.67-inch HDR-ready AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling, and guess what, the scrolling was indeed smooth as the software surprisingly didn’t hinder the experience. The screen is sharp and just as saturated as it should be. Viewing content on this screen was also a pleasure and I was able to binge-watch True Detective all night, thanks to the good-looking panel. And yes, it has Widevine L1 so watching HD and HDR content was no problem.

Coming to the cameras, which I felt was one of its prowesses. The device has a triple-rear camera system on the back with a 50MP lens that supports Optical Image Stabilization. This sensor offered good photos and decent videos for the price. The ultrawide wasn’t that impressive, but it still has one which is a big deal for the price. There’s also a macro sensor, which helped me take decent close-up shots. The selfie camera is a 16MP sensor with 1080p video recording support, which is sub-par. By the way, the device has 4K video recording and it’s just fine.

Although now we have many MediaTek Dimensity 7050-powered phones, Realme was one of the first brands to utilize this chipset. The successor Realme 13+ has an improved Dimensity 7300 chipset, which is slightly more powerful on paper. But overall, I had no issues using the phone for moderately heavy tasks.

For gaming, it’s a decent phone as it can let you play BGMI or Free Fire Max, but in medium settings, as that way, you can get an enjoyable experience. I guess the 8GB RAM helped here. It also has 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, which is fast and more than enough.

The smartphone packs a 5,000mAh battery, which offered me a day’s usage and charging it up was bliss with the 80W adapter. However, one complaint I have is that the charging adapter is too chunky so it doesn’t let me plug another charging adapter into the next socket.

Surprisingly, the software was fluid enough with a few hiccups here and there. But there was some bloatware, and the Hot Apps and Hot Games folder bugged me. One thing to mention is that the under-display fingerprint scanner was quick, but it was unresponsive at times.

Overall, the Realme 12+ 5G was a good offering by Realme, with a good screen and decent cameras and performance for the price. However, Realme could have worked on the software a bit more, but I hope it did with its successor, the Realme 12+ 5G.

Note: I haven’t tested the Realme 13+ yet, so I can’t comment on its performance yet. But on paper, it looks like a slight upgrade. But don’t buy it until you see Techlusive’s take on the device.