Realme 12 Pro+ 5G review: a smartphone that attracts attention

Realme smartphones are interesting for their mid-range smartphones due to their good performance for adequate money, as well as interesting design. Therefore, the editorial team of gg has prepared a review of the new realme 12 Pro+ 5G, which also has many features and advantages. First of all, the smartphone stands out for its very stylish and original design with an eco-leather back cover and a rear camera that resembles an expensive watch. In addition, the smartphone pleases with a good AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 120 Hz and rich colours, a convenient and fast realme UI 5.0 shell, and a long battery life. Separately, it is worth noting a good universal set of three rear cameras, each of which is capable of taking good photos. Compared to the realme 11 Pro+, the new realme 12 Pro+ 5G has IP65 protection, but for some reason has a slower charging speed. The performance of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s processor is quite enough for comfortable use of the smartphone, but there are models with more powerful chips in this price range, which can be critical for mobile game lovers. These are mostly young people, who are precisely the target audience for the realme 12 Pro+ 5G.

There are many interesting competitors in this range. For example, Xiaomi 13T has a more powerful processor, a higher resolution screen, and protection according to the IP68standard. But it loses in terms of appearance and has a more modest telephoto camera. For those who like originality, you can now buy a clamshell Motorola Razr 40for a similar amount. And for game lovers, there is POCO F5 Pro with a more powerful processor but a simpler camera and design.

5 reasons to buy realme 12 Pro+ 5G:

• original stylish design, eco-leather back cover;
• AMOLED display with rich colours and 120Hz refresh rate;
• versatile set of cameras that take good photos;
• long battery life;
• IP65 protection.

2 reasons not to buy the realme 12 Pro+ 5G:

• there are competitors with more efficient processors;
• slower charging speed compared to the previous model and no wireless charging.

Fast forward:

1. What does the realme 12 Pro+ 5G come with?
2. What does the realme 12 Pro+ 5G look like?
3. How good is the screen on the realme 12 Pro+ 5G?
4. What are the ways to unlock the realme 12 Pro+ 5G?
5. What about the performance, memory, sound, and battery life of the realme 12 Pro+ 5G?
6. How user-friendly is the realme 12 Pro+ 5G interface?
7. How good are the realme 12 Pro+ 5G cameras?
8. In the end,

What does the realme 12 Pro+ 5G come with?

realme 12 Pro+ 5G comes in the brand's usual bright yellow box. In addition to the smartphone itself, the package includes a 67W power adapter, Type-C cable, screen protector, transparent silicone case, tray tool, and documentation. It's quite surprising that the company decided to reduce the charging speed compared to the previous realme 11 Pro+ model, which supported 100W. The case is simple, but it fulfils its function. And it does not cover the design of the smartphone itself.

What does the realme 12 Pro+ 5G look like?

realme has repeatedly proved that it knows how to design smartphones, is not afraid of experiments and involves various masters of their craft in the development. The overall style of the realme 12 Pro+ 5G is reminiscent of the previous realme 11 Pro+ model, but there are differences. This year, the company has engaged Olivier Saveau, a Swiss craftsman who works on premium watches. Therefore, some elements reminiscent of expensive mechanical watches are used in the design elements. The back cover is made of imitation leather and has pleasant curves for a better position in the hand. Vertically, the cover is divided in half by a golden band with three-dimensional patterns. In addition to the aesthetic aspect, artificial leather also has a practical benefit: the smartphone is not slippery and will be extremely difficult to drop. In addition to beige, there are also blue and red variants.

The rear camera unit is made in the form of a large round washer with a grooved rim, which, again, reminds us of a mechanical watch. The camera unit is completely symmetrical and looks interesting and original. But it protrudes quite strongly above the back cover.

From the front, the realme 12 Pro+ 5G is very similar to its predecessor, and in general to many modern smartphones in the mid-range or top segments. It has a large 6.7-inch display with curved side edges, a front camera in a round hole and a barely noticeable speaker slot.

The plastic frame spoils the overall impression of the realme 12 Pro+ 5G a little. High-quality plastic is used, but metal always feels more expensive. The frame is golden and has a streamlined shape. The volume and power buttons are located on the right side of the smartphone. They are conveniently located, you don't have to reach for them.

On the top edge of the realme 12 Pro+ 5G there is an additional microphone, as well as earpiece speaker holes for stereo sound.

Below is the main speaker, microphone, Type-C connector and SIM card tray.

You can install two physical SIM cardsin your smartphone. Unfortunately, there is no support for eSIM .

In addition to its interesting appearance and pleasant materials, the smartphone turned out to be surprisingly comfortable, especially given the large display. Its dimensions are 161.5x74x8.8 mm, and it weighs 196 g, which is quite typical for modern smartphones. However, thanks to its successful shape, it is convenient to use even with one hand. realme 12 Pro+ 5G has been protected against dust and water according to the IP65standard. So you should not immerse it, but the smartphone will withstand the rain.

How good is the screen of the realme 12 Pro+ 5G?

realme 12 Pro+ 5G is equipped with a 6.7-inch curved AMOLED display . Resolution 2412x1080 (aspect ratio 20:9), pixel density is about 394 ppi. A 10-bit matrix is used, capable of displaying more than a billion shades of colour. The manufacturer promises colour coverage of 100% of the DCI-P3 space and a local peak brightness of 950 cd/m². The display supports the HDR10+standard. The maximum refresh rate is 120 Hz, and the sensor readout is 240 Hz. The frequency of PWM operation is 2160 Hz. It is claimed that due to this, people who are sensitive to flicker will not get tired of their eyes. In the settings, you can adjust the brightness, dark and light themes (with the ability to switch by schedule), the scale of the interface and text, the refresh rate (adaptive, 60 and 120 Hz), the eye comfort mode (warmer shades, or black and white mode with the ability to work by schedule) and colour display modes. There is a bright, natural mode, as well as additional "professional" modes. The latter, according to the results of hardware measurements, practically do not differ from the two basic ones. It is possible to adjust the colour temperature.

The display is of high quality, with very rich, saturated colours and excellent viewing angles. The traditional greenish tint for AMOLED is noticeable at certain angles, but not critical. The brightness level is slightly lower than that of current top smartphones. But they also cost significantly more. Hardware measurements showed that mthe maximum brightness in Bright mode was 447.879 cd/m², and the colour gamut is much higher than sRGB. But the picture has a rather noticeable emphasis on cold shades.

In Natural mode, the colour gamut is close to sRGB, but the brightness is slightly lower: 428.542 cd/m². But the colour reproduction is much closer to the reference values:

Comparison with other models:

What are the ways to unlock the realme 12 Pro+ 5G?

The fingerprint scanner is an under-screen optical type. Remember that such scanners highlight the fingerprint during scanning and do not work well with wet fingers. In realme 12 Pro+ 5G, the scanner works well: the recognition speed is high, although not record-breaking. But comparing it to flagships with twice the price is not very correct. There were no problems with accuracy during use. Face recognition is implemented as standard, the front camera is used, and there are no additional sensors. It works quickly in sufficient light. There are functions to increase the brightness of the display when recognising in the dark, as well as to prevent unlocking with closed eyes.

What about the performance, memory, sound and battery life of the realme 12 Pro+ 5G?

The realme 12 Pro+ 5G uses a fairly recent processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 2. It was announced last autumn. The processor is aimed at smartphones in the mid-range and mid-budget category, in terms of performance, it is slightly inferior to its neighbours in the 7th line without the letter s in the name. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 is manufactured using the 4nm process technology, includes 4 cores ARM Cortex-A78 with a frequency of up to 2.4 GHz and 4 cores Cortex-A55 at 1.95 GHz. Graphics accelerator Adreno 710. The smartphone has 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM with the possibility of expanding it with a 4/8/12 GB storage. Our version of the smartphone had a 512 GB storage device UFS 3.1, and there are also 256 GB and 128 GB variants. The latter option is no longer very relevant today, especially since there is no memory card slot.

Realme 12 Pro+ 5G performance tests

In synthetic tests, the smartphone demonstrates results that are quite appropriate for a mid-range smartphone. In general, this is not bad, and in real life, the performance of realme 12 Pro+ 5G is quite enough for fast operation of the interface and applications, as well as most games, although not at maximum graphics settings. But, given the price of the smartphone, there are competitors with more powerful components.

Stability and heating of the realme 12 Pro+ 5G

An evaporative cooling chamber is used for cooling. The CPU Throttling Test stress test showed that the smartphone's performance is mostly kept at around 80%. Not the best indicator, but nothing critical either. At the same time, the case itself hardly heats up.

Realme 12 Pro+ 5G performance in games

Games on the smartphone run well, although the hardware does not allow you to set the highest graphics settings. Call of duty Mobile with high settings runs at a fairly stable 60 FPS. Diablo Immortal does not have a 60 FPS mode. But 30 FPS is available with almost no dropouts. The in-game app offers a fairly standard set of settings, including different performance modes, notification blocking, brightness fixation, screenshot tools, and more. One of the less familiar settings is the so-called 4D vibration. Although in practice, I did not understand the effect of it.

Communications realme 12 Pro+ 5G

realme 12 Pro+ 5G is equipped with dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, Bluetooth 5.2 LE with codecs aptX, aptX HD, LDAC. There is a NFC module for contactless payment. Global positioning systems are supported GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS, QZSS.

Sound quality of realme 12 Pro+ 5G

The smartphone reproduces stereo sound using the main and earpiece speakers. There are additional holes on the top edge for the latter. The sound is quite loud and well balanced. The difference between the main and earpiece speakers is almost imperceptible when playing stereo sound. In terms of quality, there is nothing extraordinary: there are very few low frequencies, especially at high volume. As with most mid-range smartphones. There is support for virtual surround sound Dolby Atmos with several settings for different types of content. The sound settings also include the O-Haptics haptic feedback function. In general, it feels really more interesting than the standard vibration feedback.

Realme 12 Pro+ 5G battery

The battery of the realme 12 Pro+ 5G remains unchanged. Like the realme 11 Pro+, it has a capacity of 5000 mAh. But for some reason, they decided to reduce the charging speed from 100W to 67W. It's a rather strange decision, although with this charger the smartphone charges quite quickly. 50% in about 20 minutes, and it takes about an hour to fully charge. The smartphone turned out to be quite durable. With very active use: all the daily functions plus performance tests, games and active use of the camera, the smartphone works for a day. If you exclude benchmarks and games, you can get a day and a half. In the settings, in addition to various energy-saving options, there are also functions to extend battery life, as well as three smartphone performance modes.

How user-friendly is the realme 12 Pro+ 5G interface?

realme 12 Pro+ 5G runs on Android 14 with the proprietary realme UI 5.0 shell. In general, everything is familiar from pure Android, the main differences are rather visual. There are modes with a separate application menu, or only desktops. The curtain looks close to the standard one. There are many customisation options, including themes, icons, grid and font settings, etc.

realme decided to diversify the options for user interaction with the smartphone as much as possible. Of course, there are the standard gesture and button navigation options. But there are also many additional gestures: switching to a split screen with three fingers, a one-handed mode, quick launch of applications from a fingerprint scanner, gestures on a locked screen, a floating navigation button, and much more.

The Open Application Manager has a standard horizontal card carousel view. In addition to the usual dual-window mode, you can open the application in a window.

There is also a separate interesting section in the settings called Realme Lab. It has two functions so far. Dual audio playback mode: playback simultaneously on Bluetooth and wired headphones. And heart rate measurement using a fingerprint scanner.

A set of proprietary apps: a tool for transferring data from an old to a new smartphone, a file manager, a voice recorder, a calculator, a compass, and notes. Among the unusual applications, there is only Zen Space, which should help the owner concentrate on work or study (notifications are turned off for a while, etc.).

How good are the realme 12 Pro+ 5G cameras?

The camera set of the realme 12 Pro+ 5G has changed significantly compared to the realme 11 Pro+. Out of the three rear cameras, only one ultra-wide-angle camera remained unchanged. Now the main camera has a resolution of 50 MP, f/1.8 aperture, 24 mm EFP, 1/1.56" matrix size, 1.0µm pixel. It has multi-directional phase detection autofocus and optical stabilisation. The Sony IMX890 module is used. The inefficient 2 MP macro module has disappeared. Instead, there is a 64 MP periscopic camera with f/2.8 aperture, 71 mm, 1/2.0", 0.7µm. It has phase detection autofocus, optical stabilisation and 3x optical zoom. It is claimed that the smartphone can take pictures without reducing the quality with a 6x zoom, due to the dill. The maximum digital zoom is 120x, although this will obviously be ineffective, especially without a tripod. There is also an auto zoom function that recognises the subject, automatically zooms in and tries to keep it in the centre of the frame. Ultra-wide-angle camera - 8 MP f/2.2, 16mm, 1/4.0", 1.12µm. The viewing angle is 112˚, there is no autofocus. The smartphone is able to record videos with a resolution of up to 4K@30fps, FullHD@30/60fps. The front camera is 32 MP, f/2.5, 22 mm.

The app is quite user-friendly. The usual carousel of modes, a separate section with additional modes, and a set of basic settings right on the screen (flash, zoom, format, etc.). Additional settings are in the drop-down menu:

The main camera is capable of taking good pictures in the vast majority of cases. Colour reproduction during the day is very close to natural, with lots of detail. In the evening, the detail drops a little, not quite natural shades appear, but overall the quality is good.

The ultra-wide-angle camera is generally weaker in terms of detail and dynamic range. This is quite typical for all modern smartphones. But the photos are good both during the day and at night:

2x zoom - crop from the main camera, so the photos are mostly good, although the evening ones have some noticeable artefacts from the processing algorithms:

The periscopic camera with 3x zoom takes great photos during the day. Good detail, fairly natural colours. In the evening, the detail drops a little, blurred areas appear in some places and there are halos around light sources:

The 6x zoom works well in good light, photos are clear and detailed. In the evening, noise and blurring are already quite noticeable:

Electronic video stabilisation is available only at resolutions up to FullHD 60 FPS. It works quite well, the picture almost does not shake, the jelly effect is minimal, although the detail suffers a little:

4K 30 FPS video is jerky due to the lack of stabilisation:

To sum up: four things you need to know about realme 12 Pro+ 5G.

• realme 12 Pro+ 5G is a mid-range smartphone with an original design and an eco-leather back cover.
• It is equipped with a high-quality 6.7-inch AMOLED screen with a refresh rate of 120 Hz.
• It has a good set of cameras that take high-quality photos.
• It works for a long time on a single battery charge.

Go Deeper:

• AI at its best: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review
• Realme C67 review
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G review
• Samsung Galaxy S23 FE review
• The Vibe that's always with you: a review of the realme 11 Pro+ smartphone with an unusual design