Xiaomi Redmi 12C review: Cost-effective budget phone

Though Xiaomi has slipped from the top three places in the Indian smartphone market, the brand is still great in the budget segment (under Rs 15,000 price range). The primary reason is that the build quality, particularly the Redmi series is top-class. While brands cut corners by using low-standard components to reduce costs, Xiaomi rarely compromises in this aspect.

. Xiaomi has released a feature-rich Redmi 12C with prices starting at Rs 8,799 n India. On paper, it promises to be a really good budget phone, but does it really deliver the goods? Let's check it out.

. Design, Build quality, and display Xiaomi's budget phone Redmi 12C is a solid phone. It has a sturdy rail around the edges and also the striped textured back panel offers a good grip for fingers to hold onto the device. Though the rear case is made of polycarbonate, it is made of really fine quality material and you can feel it when held in the hand.

. Also, the Redmi 12C comes with IP52 dust-and-water splash-resistant rating, which is really rare in any phone under Rs 10,000.

. One qualm is that the phone comes with an outdated micro-USB port. The company offers the cable and the charger adaptor with the retail box, but the user has to be really careful every time he/she puts the phone for charging. The micro-USB has to place the hook facing downwards and if tried placing it upside down, the user might end up damaging the socket in the phone.

. Another issue with the Redmi 12C is that the fingerprint sensor on the back is very close to the dual-camera module. In the first few days of the usage, I used to unintentionally touch the camera sensors and stain them with sweaty smudges. I had to clean the lens cover most often. But, after a point of time, the muscle memory of the fingers kicks in and avoids the camera lens.

. Our review unit is a mint green model and it looks great in the sunlight. As mentioned earlier, there is textured pattern on the back, which actually add value to the visual appeal. Redmi 12C also comes in three other colors— matte black, royal blue, and lavender purple. They too look good.

. I appreciate Xiaomi for incorporating triple slots, two for nano SIMs and one for microSD cards, unlike other brands, which offer hybrid dual-Slots, where users have to choose between having a second SIM and extra storage.

. Xiaomi's budget phone features a 6.71-inch HD+(1650 x 720p) display. The brightness is decent and pretty good indoors to consume multimedia content, but not so much when outdoors.

. Performance It comes packed with a 12nm class MediaTek Helio G85 octa-core processor, 1000MHz ARM Mali-G52 2EEMC2 GPU, 4GB/6GB RAM LPDDR4X RAM with 64GB/ 128GB eMMC 5.1 storage (expandable up to 1TB).

. The phone works smoothly with day-to-day activities without much fuss. You can play regular games such as Candy Crush and Angry Birds. But, I wouldn't recommend users to play big games such as BGMI, as it is not made to deliver the best gaming experience. For that, you can go for the ever-reliable Redmi Note 12 series.

. Other than that, users can just enjoy consuming multimedia content on OTT apps such as Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, SonyLiv and other OTT apps. Or scroll through the news feeds on social media platforms for hours with ease and the device won't show any overheating issues as such.

. Also, it supports Virtual RAM and users can expand the physical memory by an additional 5GB, provided there is enough storage. This will help in loading the apps faster and also switching between multiple apps smoother too.

. It runs Android-based MIUI 13 and comes with loads of customization, much more than vanilla Android offers.

. With normal usage, the phone can easily last two days of usage. With extreme usage too, users need not face any anxiety of battery draining before reaching home at night. However, with the 10W charger, the phone takes more than two and a half hours to fully charged.

. Photography It boasts a dual-camera module—50MP(f/1.8) + 2MP(f/2.4) depth sensor with LED flash on the back.

. It takes as good a picture in the sunlight as any budget phone in its class. The details are well captured when taken at close range. As you can see in the sample photos, the colours particularly the leaf and flower of the hibiscus bud have come good.

. Though it has no dedicated ultra-wide angle lens, the phone does a pretty good job of covering the wide area in the frame. You can see how well the Redmi 12C has managed to capture the wide agriculture field.

. In the Night mode, photo quality is decent, on par with most of the phones in the budget segment. On the compact screen of the phone, you may not see much noise, but on the PC, you can notice them.

. On the front, it comes with a 5MP sensor. The phone can take pretty good selfies outdoors with the sun shining bright.

. Final thoughts Xiaomi's latest Redmi 12C is a well-packaged budget phone. It is perfect for regular usage such as calling, messaging, surfing the internet, scrolling through the newsfeed on social media platforms, playing generic games such as Candy Crush, and Angry Birds, and consuming multimedia content for hours thanks to its big battery, it can go for hours without any issues of battery life anxiety.

. Even the camera is decent and is on par if not better than most of the phones under the Rs 10,000 price range.

. However, for obvious reasons, this phone is not made for extreme gaming, for that, customers can go for the Redmi Note series.

. As mentioned above, Redmi 12C comes in three configurations— 4GB RAM + 64GB storage, 4GB RAM + 128GB, and 6GB RAM + 128GB storage— for Rs 8,799, Rs 9,999 and Rs 10,799, respectively.

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Xiaomi Redmi 12C review: Cost-effective budget phone

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