realme 12+ 5G Review – After a Month as a Daily Driver

realme recently launched its latest addition to their popular Number Series, here’s my in-depth realme 12+ 5G review.

What it comes with Out-of-the-Box

Before we go straight into the my realme 12+ 5G review, let’s first see what accessories you can expect out-of-the-box. Along with the device, it also comes with a USB type-A to type-C cable and its charger. It also includes a SIM ejector tool, the user guide, safety guide, and a clear case. Basically the usual stuff that comes with realme devices. You can check out my unboxing and first impressions video of the realme 12+ 5G below.

Premium Build and Design

At first glance, it looks exactly like the previous realme 11 Pro series. But upon closer inspection there a few differences. One example is the rear camera grid. I’m not really complaining about the similarities. After all, I really like the back’s design. It has similar design elements you would find in luxury watches.

The back is premium vegan leather, which feels really good to the touch. It also has flat sides which is plated in gold. It’s not as comfortable as curved sides but it does let you have a firm grip on it. A free clear rubber case is included in the package. But I think it would be a waste to cover its back though.

Build quality is what you’d expect from their number series. It feels pretty hefty, sturdy, and premium. I think it can withstand a few accidental drops but scratches would appear.

AMOLED Display

For maximum viewing experience, the realme 12+ 5g sports a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with narrow bezels. It features vivid colors and sharp images, perfect for enjoying different kinds of content. It also has an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz. This ensures that the screen is smooth and snappy, whether playing games or just browsing the internet.

I was also surprised to see that the images looked good no matter what environment I was in, whether in the dark on under direct sunlight. I was later told that the device had a Sunlight Display feature. Basically, it automatically adjusts not just the brightness on the screen, but also its dynamic contrast depending on the light quality of the environment. This was helpful when checking my photos on the beach, where the sun was bright.

Dual Speakers

To complement its display, the device also has dual surround speakers. This not only made its audio louder, but also more enjoyable when watching videos and listening to music. Its volume doesn’t go beyond 100%, unlike some of the previous models. But I think it doesn’t really need it, the dual firing speakers are more than enough to fill the room. You can also take advantage of the OReality Audio feature, since it is best enjoyed with surround speakers.

For private listening, it does still have an audio jack located at the top of the device. I would have liked it to be at the bottom though, it’s much more unobtrusive. Of course, you can also use wireless buds which would be preferable.

Performance and Gaming

During the duration of my realme 12+ 5G review, I’ve used it as a daily driver. And so far it performed superbly on my day to day tasks. This mainly involved calls and texts, browsing and posting on social media, taking photos and videos, as well as editing said photos and videos. Having 5G connectivity also lets you enjoy ultra-fast internet.

Now I haven’t really been gaming for a long time now, but I did want to try the new Solo Leveling mobile game and thought I’d test the device on the game. So far it did perform really well without any lag whatsoever. And it’s all in the game’s highest graphic settings. I didn’t feel so hot when using normally for a long time, but it did get so hot when gaming for a long period of time. The heat got a bit uncomfortable. What’s more, it feels hotter on the left hand side, the part closest to the cameras.

Since I’ve been daily driving the device, I often connect it to my car’s infotainment system for Android Auto. And for some reason it won’t connect (wired) properly. It would connect for a few seconds then immediately disconnect. Sometimes it just won’t connect entirely. It still charges normally though. I’m not sure if this is just on my unit or this also apply to other units as well, but it’s still important to keep in mind.

If you’re curious about the realme 12+ 5G’s benchmark scores, you can check out the numbers below.

• AnTuTu: Benchmark = 481,148; Storage Test = 65,435
• Geekbench: Single-Core = 618; Multi-Core = 2,124; OpenCL = 2,889; Vulkan = 2,907
• PCMark: Work 3.0 = 14,065; Storage 2.0 = 33,204
• 3DMark: Wild Life = 2,276; Wild Life Extreme = 633; Sling Shot = 5,056; Sling Shot Extreme = 5,092

Battery Life and Charging

Battery life is pretty decent. It has a 5000mAh battery which powered the device for about 2 days of my normal use. Surprisingly, the battery doesn’t drain fast even when gaming. I was able to play for hours without having to charge it again. It also has 67W SUPERVOOC Charge support to juice it up real quick. It can fully charge the device to 100% in just under 50 minutes. It’s also good to note that the included fast charger is PD-compatible. This means you can use it to charge your other devices that supports fast charging.

Camera Quality

Marketed as the Portrait Master, the device sports a triple camera setup as its rear shooters. It’s composed of a 50MP Sony LYT600 sensor main, 8MP wide angle, and 2MP macro. Together they can capture clear and vivid photos, especially the main camera. It’s able to capture sharp details with natural colors. It does have a habit of oversaturating the sky on daytime shots though.

Night shots also looks great, which is actually not surprising since the brand has been always been improving on it. And like other realme devices, it also has a Street shooting mode which is fun to experiment on in street photography. Lastly, the selfie camera can also shoot crisp self-portraits. Below are some of the shots I took with the realme 12+ 5G.

I’ve also taken the device to shoot some night photos on the B2B Carshow in Davao, here are some of the shots I took.

Other Features

During the process of this realme 12+ 5G review, I’ve also found some ease-of-life features. First of is the in-display fingerprint sensor, it’s very useful as it’s a bigger sensor that the side-mounted ones. Plus it’s very cool to have, especially at this price point.

Another feature I found very useful is the quick QR scan. You basically just double-tap the back of the device, and it automatically tries to scan the QR code via the rear cameras. Lastly, I found Air Gestures to be fun and helpful. It basically let you scroll through supported apps like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook by just waving your hand. I found this helpful when I was washing dishes while watching some TikTok videos. My hands were wet so it let me scroll through videos without touching the device.

I would also like to share that it supports dual SIMs. It also supports MicroSD storage expansion, but it occupies the second SIM slot. This means you can’t expand its storage if you are using dual SIM cards. So do keep that in mind.

realme 12+ 5G Specifications

The realme 12+ 5G comes in two RAM variants: 8GB+256GB, and 12GB+256GB. It’s priced at PHP 17,999 and PHP 19,999 respectively. If you’re interested in getting the device, you can find the link below.