2023-05-20 15:36:18
The Redmi series belongs to the middle tier – neither the cheapest nor the most powerful devices, in a good place in the middle. Even within the series itself there are several levels and recently the Hamilton group, a Xiaomi importer, brought to Israel the Redmi note 12 pro plus, the head of the foxes or the flagship device of the latest series. What else does the series include? “Just” Note, and also Note 12s, alongside Note pro (but not Pro Plus) and there is even a Note pro without 5G. confusing? Absolutely, so if one of them is relevant to you – pay attention to exactly which model it is.
Design and structure: massive but not bulky
As befits a flagship device, even if it is an intermediate model, the Redmi Note Pro Plus comes with a glass back, with Gorilla Glass 5 on the front. It doesn’t exude luxury, but it also doesn’t look and feel like a cheaper model – here, too, there is a good middle ground. There is at least one minus in the glass back: it quickly collects fingerprints. And there is also a solution for this – the device kit has a basic silicone protector. The phone feels resistant to drops, but it’s always good to have another layer of protection, and if it’s already provided to you at no extra charge, then why not.
In terms of protection standard, the Note Plus Pro meets the IP53 standard – which means it has reasonable protection against dust and partial protection against water spray, and it is not recommended to expose it to rain.
The device is large, with a 6.67-inch screen, and feels a bit massive and heavy, weighing 208 grams. On the back there are 3 lenses that protrude from the body of the device, the left side of the device remains empty and on the right side there are volume buttons and an off and on button, inside which there is also a fingerprint scanner.
The screen is flat, without convex edges, with thin margins and the selfie camera takes up minimal space, just a small circle at the top of the screen – similar to premium models from Xiaomi itself and its competitors.
Hardware: good screen and fast charging
To produce an intermediate model you have to compromise, and this means that the hardware will not be the most powerful and newest. The processor is Mediatek’s Dimensity 1080, along with 8 gigabytes of memory and 256 gigabytes of storage space. Through the settings menu, you can transfer up to 5 additional gigabytes to the benefit of the RAM, at the expense of the storage space.
The screen is very good and almost excellent. The display is not as spectacular as the more expensive models, but it shows a good image and successful colors. On YouTube, the videos are not displayed in full screen, which is a shame. Each video is displayed with a black border on the side, an issue that can be easily solved by manually enlarging the image or changing the settings on YouTube. And yet, it can be expected that Xiaomi will solve this matter from its side.
The brightness is not dazzling, but the screen is bright enough and readable even in daylight, and Redmi also had no difficulty running games and high quality videos. Face recognition works without problems and so does the fingerprint reader.
The Note Pro Plus is powered by a 5,000 mAh battery that easily lasts a day’s work. In addition, the device supports fast charging and its kit includes a suitable charger, with a power of 120 watts, which fills the battery from 0 to 50% in only 13 minutes and reaches 100% in about 28 minutes.
As usual with the cheaper Xiaomi models, there is an infrared light and a remote app for controlling a variety of devices, a standard headphone jack, two speakers (one on each end of the device), but no expansion slot for a memory card and no eSim support either.
Software and Interface: Out-of-date Android and app recommendations
Redmi Note Pro Plus was launched about six months ago in China and only two months ago it was released to the rest of the world. Xiaomi chose to launch it with Android 12, even though version 13 was already available at the time of the launch in China, and it also comes to us with the older version. Above it is Xiaomi’s MIUI interface in the latest version 14, which offers a variety of customization options, for those who like to dig through menus or who are already familiar with the Chinese manufacturer’s system.
I mentioned this in previous reviews and I will also mention here the problem with the notification curtain in the MIUI version – the indication of a new WhatsApp message or a new email appears in the upper right corner, but if you slide your finger down on the right side of the screen, the settings menu appears. If you want to see the notification you will have to swipe down from the left side at the top of the screen. When switching to English it works as it should, it’s just a matter of unsuccessful conversion that has not been resolved yet.
4 Viewing the gallery
There are pre-installed apps and also recommendations for additional apps
(Itay Shmoshkovitz)
Xiaomi allows itself to take over the real estate on your device and adds various applications to it, including useful tools such as the WPS office suite, but also Tiktok, a booking application and various games, along with offers or recommendations on other applications. This is another price to pay for the device and I I prefer not to have them determine for me what is installed on the device, but you can ignore the suggestions and remove the pre-installed apps.
Camera: Megapixels aren’t the whole story
The trick of many companies is similar, especially when it comes to cheaper phones – a main sensor with a large amount of megapixels, three-digit numbers, and next to it two more “modest” cameras, with a single-digit number of megapixels.
In my case, it is a 200 megapixel sensor, next to it is an 8 megapixel sensor for wide-angle photography and a 2 megapixel sensor for macro photography only. When switching to video mode, you can choose between shooting in 720 or 1080 pixels and also go up to 4K quality.
The results are good overall, and as with the device’s screen, the colors are good, but the images are not spectacular. In the macro shots, the images are not sharp, and in other cases, too, it was possible to find parts that were a bit smeared. There is of course a night shooting mode, but it didn’t add much beyond normal shooting.
In the end, the Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus lives up, by and large, to its definition – an intermediate device. It is not very impressive, and it has compromises and shortcomings, but it is also successful enough for the day-to-day needs of most consumers. The screen is good, the camera is not brilliant and is enough for basic use, the Android version is old but not too much and there is fast charging. The price for all this value is reasonable – NIS 1,850.
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