Introduction
In the ever-evolving world of smartphones, realme has established a niche with feature-packed devices at affordable prices. The realme 12 Plus 5G is one the latest additions to its popular number series, offering a stylish design, impressive camera setup, and powerful performance, this smartphone aims to cater to the needs of a wide range of users.
Design and Build Quality
Like its Pro Plus sibling, realme 12 Plus 5G is a true head-turner, thanks to its collaboration with renowned luxury watch designer Ollivier Savéo. Its design is inspired by a high-end timepiece, featuring the polished sunburst dial, a golden fluted bezel, and a 3D Jubilee bracelet-like finish. The deep green shade, known as “Pioneer Green,” adds an extra touch of sophistication and elegance.
Along with its premium aesthetics, the realme 12 Plus 5G is surprisingly lightweight at only 190 grams and is also incredibly thin at 7.87mm. This makes it more comfortable to operate with one hand, a feature that will appeal to users who value portability and ease of use.
The device also boasts IP54 dust and water resistance certification, ensuring that it can withstand accidental water sprays and exposure to dust without compromising its functionality. realme claims that the device has undergone rigorous testing, including over 320 stringent tests, ensuring its durability and longevity.
While the Pro Plus has a curved display and sides, the realme 12 Plus 5G offers a flat design, with flat sides and a flat display which I personally prefer. It can feel a bit sharp when not used with a case. You also get a headphone jack which is becoming less and less common these days.
Speaking of which, the realme 12 Plus 5G sports a 6.67-inch E4 AMOLED FHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, and up to 2000 nits of peak brightness, and HDR10+ support. Additionally, the screen also supports Rainwater Smart Touch, which means it will remain responsive even when there are drops of water on it.
Camera
Heading the realme 12 Plus 5G’s camera system is a 50MP Sony LYT 600 Portrait Camera bolstered with OIS and up to 2x In-Sensor Zoom, promising to deliver well-lit, and detailed photographs, even in challenging lighting conditions.
Alongside the main camera is an 8MP wide-angle unit and a 2MP macro lens that allows users to explore the fascinating world of close-up photography.
Quality-wise, you do get sharp and detailed photos in daytime. Both the main and ultra-wide unit deliver good exposure, though photos from the latter are slightly darker, along with good color accuracy.
It does not have the periscope camera of the Pro Plus, but even at around 5x and even 10x zoom, you still get decent to good amounts detail.
The device is also able to capture nice portraits with a convincing depth of field effect and good amounts of detail and decent edge detection.
The main camera can record up to 4K 30fps videos, while both the ultra-wide and front camera maxes out at 1080p 30fps. The quality from the main camera is good with decent amounts of detail, while the ultra-wide unit does well.
Performance
The realme 12 Plus 5G packs a MediaTek Dimensity 7050 octa-core processor. Yes, the same chip that was in the realme 11 Pro Plus 5G. Along with up to 12GB of RAM, this smartphone should fare well on all fronts, from typical day to day multitasking and gaming.
Additionally, realme’s Dynamic RAM Expansion technology allows the device to utilize up to an additional 4G of virtual RAM, providing a seamless multitasking experience.
To ensure sustained performance even during intensive usage, the realme 12 Plus 5G is equipped with a Vapor Chamber Cooling System to dissipate heat effectively and maintaining stable performance during extended gaming sessions or demanding workloads.
As you can see the device can handle popular games like MLBB and Farlight 84 with no issues. For this test, the former was set to Super + Ultra, while the latter was set to HDR + Extreme. For Diablo Immortal, you’ll have to settle for Medium to High resolution + Low Quality preset for a decent experience. As for Honkai: Star Rail, you’ll get away with Medium preset and 60 fps enabled. I did run into occassional fps drops, but nothing that ruins the experience.
Battery
For longevity, the realme 12 Plus 5G has a 5,000mAh battery, battery endurance, with realme claiming up to 473 hours of standby time, 29 hours of voice calls, 17 hours of YouTube streaming, and even up to 77 hours of continuous music playback.
The device did deliver. To be exact, around 14.5 hours in PCMark’s Work 3.0 benchmark, which simulates a number of tasks including web browsing, as well as simple photo and video editing.
Like the Pro Plus, the realme 12 Plus 5G also supports 67W SUPERVOOC charging technology, which means the battery can be charged from 0% to 50% in just 19 minutes, and a full charge in under an hour. What is even better is that the in-box charger is PD-compatible, which means it can accommodate various charging technologies and wattages, from 18W Quick Charge to 67W SUPERVOOC.
Audio and Connectivity
The realme 12 Plus 5G delivers an immersive audio experience with its dual stereo speakers that support Hi-Res audio. Whether you’re watching movies, listening to music, or enjoying gaming sessions, the device’s audio output promises to be rich, detailed, and engaging. You get good volume, decent bass, clear vocals, and a nice sparkle on the treble without sounding harsh.
In terms of connectivity, the realme 12 Plus 5G is well-equipped ensures fast download and upload speeds for seamless streaming, browsing, and online gaming. Additionally, the device features Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and NFC capabilities, enabling reliable wireless connectivity and contactless payments.
The Antenna Array Matrix System ensures that the device maintains a strong signal regardless of how it is held or positioned, reducing the likelihood of dropped calls or interrupted data connections.
Software
The realme 12 Plus 5G runs realme UI 5.0 on top of Android 14. This UI interface offers a clean and intuitive experience, with a decent range of customization options and features tailored for security, personalization, and performance.
realme UI 5.0 runs smooth, snappy and also offers responsive optimized system animations and improved multitasking capabilities. You get the usual features that you’d expect such as an Always-On Display for a quick glance at your notifications, the Smart Sidebar for quick access to apps, Floating Windows, and Split Screen.
The only issue I have is again, the amount of pre-loaded shortcuts, and the ads that you get when opening some of realme’s own apps. Wish they were just optional when setting up the phone.
realme 12 Plus 5G: Verdict
The realme 12 Plus 5G is a compelling mid-range device that manages to strike a great balance of premium design, good performance, and capable optics. The overall aesthetic that’s inspired by high-end timepieces, capable hardware, and feature-rich camera system, should allow this smartphone to captivate a wide range of users.
On the other end, its generally limited video capabilities make it a less compelling option for more serious content creators looking at shooting vlogs. The amount of pre-loaded apps on the UI and in-app ads also need a cleanup.
In general though, even with its downsides, I still think that it’s one of the better phones in the price range that you can get, especially if you love taking photos. It’s priced at PHP
Emman has been writing technical and feature articles since 2010. Prior to this, he became one of the instructors at Asia Pacific College in 2008, and eventually landed a job as Business Analyst and Technical Writer at Integrated Open Source Solutions for almost 3 years.
