January 2024 has been Jan-packed with new smartphone launches and one of them was the new Realme 12 Pro 5G series. The latest number series from Realme includes the
Top: Daylight photos; Bottom: Lowlight with auto Night Mode
When the sun goes down, the cameras say bye to details, but pictures taken in lowlight using the main sensor is still usable. The main camera can take good pictures with decent details if there’s some lighting around. Taking pictures of the night sky or landscape will result in photos with not a lot of details. The high dynamic range and colours are also off in lowlight scenarios. The 2x zoom isn’t great in lowlight and the photos mostly have washed details and noise. It’s the same with the ultrawide camera, which also shoots photos with a lot of noise and washed out details. Portrait shots in lowlight have bad edge detection, but you do get some details if there’s some light.
1x Portrait mode shots are taken with the main camera, 2x uses the telephoto sensor
Selfie photos taken from the Realme 12 Pro 5G are good. The phone gets a 16-megapixel front camera that can take 1080p videos at 30fps. You get good enough usable selfies that have good details in daylight, but things get washed out in lowlight.
Coming to videos, the phone can take 4K resolution videos at 30fps, but you can also take full advantage of the OIS stabilisation in videos shot in 1080p at 60fps. Realme calls the stabilisation mode Ultra Steady and the results are not bad. There is some fringing, but you can totally use the videos on social media. Videos shot in 4K resolution do have plenty of details in daylight, but there’s noticeable noise and weird artifacts in lowlight.
Realme 12 Pro Review: Verdict
With a starting price of Rs. 25,999, the Realme 12 Pro 5G has plenty of phones to compete with. Some of the recently launched phones that come to mind are the Redmi Note 13 Pro and the Poco X6 Pro (Review).
The Realme 12 Pro 5G is a good looking smartphone with several things going for it. You get a unique design with vegan leather finish, good display with 120Hz refresh rate, the performance is good enough for daily use and some gaming, the battery lasts long and you can top it up quickly, and the cameras offer very good results in daylight. There’s not a lot you’re missing out on. It’s a great phone for the price, but the only question is, would I recommend it over phones like the Poco X6 Pro? If cameras and design are more important for you, then you should buy the Realme 12 Pro, if performance is more important, then I’d say go for the Poco.
