Xiaomi Redmi 12 5G Handson Review
Software
Redmi 12 5G comes with MIUI 14 based on Android 13. Our Indian review unit uses the Indian version of MIUI, which is an alternative to the global version and lacks many features compared to the full Chinese version. Apart from this, Redmi 12 5G also disables some visual performance features such as transparency effects.
The Redmi 12 5G software leaves a lot to be desired. MIUI hasn't changed much in recent years and it's starting to catch on. The iOS-inspired design isn't so great anymore and it strangely crashes whenever the native Android prompt appears on the screen.
Your phone comes with a number of malware pre-installed, most of which, fortunately, can be removed. Unfortunately, there are still a few apps left, as Xiaomi prefers to live alongside Google's version, so you now have two dialers, two SMS apps, two media gallery apps, two file managers, and more. There are also two app stores, why not?
MIUI14
Ads and promoted content also remain a part of Redmi. You can disable most of them, but not before they start to bother you. Speaking of annoyances, many of Xiaomi's pre-installed apps will send you notifications throughout the day until you tire of them and turn them off for good.
The absence of the police is usually evident. It seems that many text bubbles and icons never fit together, a testament to the impressive translation effort. The fact that the calendar icon can be changed to "Wednesday" without being cluttered is fantastic. Speaking of shiny stuff, there is still no easy way to change the display scale without accessing the developer options.
I could go on but suffice to say the UI is in desperate need of an overhaul. While MIUI may have been innovative and brilliant at a time when Android itself was in dire straits, things have changed substantially since then. The competitors now perform just as well, if not better, as they are easier to use, more polished, and compatible with the Android operating system. It would also be a good idea to value the user's time and patience so that they are not tempted to download as much additional software as possible to the device by collecting advertised content and notifications.
performance
Redmi 12 5G is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 or SM4450 processor with 2.2GHz Kryo Gold Cortex-A78 cores and 2.0GHz Kryo Silver Cortex-A55 cores paired with 5MHz Adreno 613 GPU.
Choose from 4 GB, 6 GB and 8 GB memory options, which can be expanded up to 8 GB using the memory expansion feature. However, this is a volume-based swap file and does not have the full speed of LPDDR4X memory. The storage capacity can be 128 GB or 256 GB with UFS 2.2. You can further expand the storage space with microSD cards, for which you have to sacrifice a second SIM card slot.
Unsurprisingly, the Redmi 12 5G is nothing short of a powerful smartphone. It's not really a problem for normal phone activities like calling or texting people. Browse the web, listen to music, watch videos, etc. These are activities that work well on the device. Only when you start multitasking can the phone slow down a bit.
This also extends to more demanding tasks like gaming. Easier games are fine, but more complex 3D games are too complex for the GPU to handle that kind of precision while maintaining playable frame rates.
In fact, most of the people are not power users or gamers and Redmi 12 5G has enough processing power to satisfy them. It will definitely get outdated over time and we don't recommend the 4GB and 6GB storage options as they greatly reduce the lifespan of the device, even if you're not a regular user. The 8GB version is the only one to consider as it should be able to handle future OS updates and apps that tend to get bigger.
