Xiaomi 12: the best compact flagship of 2022

In Russia, new Xiaomi smartphones appeared on sale - models 12, 12X and 12 Pro. The first two are almost

differ from each other, and the latter is distinguished by a large screen diagonal with QHD resolution, a slightly more capacious battery, a 120 W charging adapter in the kit, and some other things.

The pricing policy in our country for thesedevice, to put it mildly, strange. The base model Xiaomi 12 in China costs about 35,000 rubles in terms of rubles, and in our country it costs from 100,000 rubles. Model 12X in China - about 26,000 rubles translated into rubles, and in our country - from 80,000 rubles. The version of the 12 Pro model is around 40,000 rubles, and with us - from 135,000 rubles. A little more expensive (than in China) these devices will cost on AliExpress. True, there are global versions.

Therefore, in their right mind, no one will buy Xiaomi 12 Pro for 135,000 rubles, when in the rest of the world it costs 3 (!) Times cheaper.

Separately, it should be noted that in Russia allcommunications with Xiaomi are still on pause, including with PR agencies. Therefore, unfortunately, it is not possible to get any device for review here and now.

I asked for a Xiaomi 12 device in the storeBigGeek. They turned out to be non-commercial (they also have commercial ones, but they are exclusively for sale). However, the main features, apparently, can still be assessed even by such a sample.

What needs to be highlighted in this device:

Compact dimensions
Top Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Processor
telemacro camera
Powerful 67 W charging
Ability to charge the battery wirelessly (50 W)
Two speakers

Once again about the cost.In Russia, without difficulty right today, a “gray” Xiaomi 12 smartphone can be bought from 60,000 rubles (well, or in the official store - from 100,000 rubles). For those who want to wait a month for the flight of a parcel from China to your home, but save money, on AliExpress - from 40,000 rubles.

The material is not a review in the classical sense, rather it is an extended first glance. As soon as it becomes possible to get a commercial smartphone, we will supplement the material or release a separate one.

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Specifications
Contents of delivery
Buttons and other elements
Vibration
Display
Autonomy
Memory, processor and performance
Cameras
About sound
Impression

Specifications

CPU: 3 GHz, octa-core, Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
Display: 6.28-inch AMOLED DotDisplay, 2400×1080 pixels; 120Hz refresh rate, 480Hz touch layer frequency; protective glass Corning Gorilla Glass Victus
Triple main camera: 50 MP (SONY IMX766, 1/1.56″), f/1.88, optical image stabilization + 5 MP (macro) + 13 MP (wide-angle, 123°), f/2.4; autofocus, support for 8K video shooting; backlight
Front-camera: 32 MP; support for Full HD (1080p/60 fps) video recording
Memory: 8/12 GB RAM (LPDDR5), 128/256 GB ROM (UFS 3.1)
Communication standards support: 5G (n1/n3/n5/n7/n8/n20/n28/n38/n40/n41/n66/n77/n78/n79); 4G/LTE 3G; GSM; two slots for SIM cards
Communications: Wi-Fi 6/6E; Bluetooth 5.2; USB Type-C; NFC IR port (remote control); GPS/A-GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NavIC
Battery: 4500 mAh, fast charge (67 W), QC4 +; wireless charging (50W), wireless reverse charging (10W)
Other: fingerprint scanner, accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity and light sensors, electronic compass
Platform: MIUI 13, Google Android 12
Sound: two SOUND BY Harman Kardon speakers
Dimensions: 152.7x69.9x8.16 mm
Weight: 180 g (metal, glass)

Contents of delivery

Xiaomi 12
Adapter
USB Type-C cable
SIM eject tool
Protective case
Quick Start Guide
Warranty card

Since the back side is glass, besideshas several layers of paint, the pale blue color in the light turns almost into a pale blue. The surface resembles pearls: a semi-glossy, translucent material that plays in the light. To the touch - silky, the structure does not feel rough.

Fingerprints on the back panel are invisible, but traces still remain. Washes quickly and easily.

Does not slip in the palm of your hand, even if your hands are wet.In general, the usability of this model is a separate issue, because Xiaomi 12 is a very pleasant and ergonomic smartphone in this regard. Even the more compact Asus Zenfone 8 is not as comfortable.

An excellent combination of materials and body shape, ergonomics and dimensions.

By the way, the width is 69 mm, which allowseasy to grab the phone with your hand. Weight is about 180 grams. It’s a bit too much for such a little one, but if Xiaomi 12 weighed less, it would feel like a toy. Thickness in the region of 8 mm is optimal: not thin, cutting into the palm, and not thick.

After a month of using Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra andvivo x70 Pro + device Xiaomi 12 turned out to be just an outlet: light, comfortable, fits in any pockets and, most importantly, does not delay them. In general, a really cool device for the summer.

The only negative that upsets me a little is the lack of protection against water and dust. The same Asus Zenfone 8 has a degree of protection IP68.

Buttons and other elements

Below are:

Speaker with the original form of a protective mesh
USB Type-C
Main microphone
Slot for two Nano SIM cards

On the right are two mechanical buttons: power and volume. There are no elements on the left.

On the top you'll find an infrared port, a second speaker with a similar grid design, the word "SOUND BY Harman Kardon" and a second microphone next to it.

On the reverse side - a medium-sized module withlenses. Decorated quite nicely, without any pretentious decorative moments. Its substrate at different angles plays either in a pale blue color, or in a pale green and even a pale purple hue.

The main lens protrudes slightly even above the common module. A strange decision: the “hump” is almost 2 mm, and also 1 mm is the lens of the main camera.

Vibration

Here is a linear motor. And this means that the vibration will be as precise as possible. Works across the system, which is nice.

Display

It is not very clear why, but Xiaomi designers decided to use a waterfall screen in Xiaomi 12. Almost.

Xiaomi smartphone 12 supports DCI-P3 color mode, it has 120Hz screen refresh rate and 480Hz touch layer sampling rate.

The brightness is declared at 1100 cd / m2. In reality, I did not succeed in squeezing out more than 700 cd / m2 at auto brightness. But in HDR mode, the brightness really reaches 1000 cd / m2.

Flicker elimination (PWM) only works in 60Hz mode, which is completely uninteresting: choosing a slow animation frequency for the sake of no PWM is so-so ...

In normal mode at maximum brightnessthe ripple factor is 17%, which is quite a lot. The maximum value of the KP in the region of 30% was reached by the screen at a brightness of about 20%. I repeat that I had a non-commercial sample on hand.

AOD mode is present and works either always or 5 seconds after touching the screen.

In general, the screen is excellent, but some users may be put off by the presence of PWM, which is eliminated only by switching the interface to 60 Hz.

Screens Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra and 12

Autonomy

The Xiaomi 12 smartphone is equipped with a 4500 mAh battery. It is quite normal for such a small device, but 4600 mAh is not normal for Xiaomi 12 Pro.

From wired charging at 67 W, the device charges in 40 minutes. In addition, it supports 50W wirelessly, charges in about an hour. And reverse charging gives up to 10 watts.

PC Mark battery test shows Xiaomi 12theoretically it can work up to 10 hours (screen glow) in active mode at automatic brightness. In my conditions, the gadget showed 6.5 hours of screen glow. As soon as there is a commercial sample, I will check it.

Memory, processor and performance

Xiaomi's official Russian website sellsso far only two options - 12/256 GB and 8/128 GB. But there is an even more adequate device - 8/256 GB. Adequate, because more RAM will not give you anything, but built-in memory is always needed. Therefore, it is better to save on RAM in this case.

I had the simplest version of 8/128 GB on my hands. The RAM speed is almost 30,000 MB / s, which is an excellent indicator. Built-in memory - 1400 MB / s for reading and 380 MB / s for writing.

Processor - the well-known Qualcomm Snapdragon 8Gen 1. A peculiar chip, frankly. On the one hand, it almost does not heat up and has more or less high performance, on the other hand, it shows decent throttling: 5 minutes after the start of the load, performance drops to 60%.

Antutu scores about 890,000 points. Apparently, here the performance is not blocked, so the device heats up to 47 degrees Celsius.

In general, the new chip is good, definitely more adequate than the Snapdragon 888. At least not such a “stove”.

The device works stably, I did not notice any lags or other problems with the system. It’s even somehow strange to see Xiaomi without UI friezes.

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Cameras

The novelty was equipped with an almost classic setCameras: main 50 MP with optical stabilization, wide-angle 13 MP and, oddly enough, telemacro camera 5 MP. I am sure that the latter appeared solely thanks to marketers. Using a complex zoom lens is expensive, and macro is always welcome.

I would not call an ultimatum set of cameras.Yes, the main camera can cope with any lighting conditions, showing a wide dynamic range, vivid juicy colors and accurate reproduction of facial skin tones.

Wide angle is much easier.There is no obvious soap, but there are light smudges in the corners. The dynamic range is slightly narrower than that of the main camera. Night shots lose a lot of detail. It's no wonder: f/1.88 versus f/2.4. By the way, note that the apertures are not that big either.

A telemacro camera is a cool thing, but literallyplay for a couple of hours. It has autofocus, but it would be better if it was turned off, because sometimes it can miss, especially if it's shooting a video. The resolution is small, the aperture is again f / 2.4. As I said above - pure marketing, so that people do not resent, they say, why does this device have only two cameras.

There are also questions about the video. For example, why can't "wide" be 60 frames, why does the front camera shoot only 1080p?

The main one is capable of producing video up to 8K 24 fps. The quality is magical: wide DD, high sharpness, excellent detail, optical stabilization.

The wide-angle camera also writes video well, but only 4K 30 fps, but the picture is very smooth and even. The picture is poor at night.

Telemacro videos are available in 1080p at 30 fps. There is also a mode when the device shoots both on the front camera and on the main one. Resolution 1080x1920 at 30 fps, the quality is so-so.

The front camera can even write HDR. It is undesirable to use 60 fps at night - dark.

In general, I'm more satisfied with the cameras than dissatisfied.They shoot well. And for its cost of 40,000 rubles - excellent. For 100,000 rubles (this is how much the device officially costs in Russia), the possibilities are weak: no zoom, no 60 fps at the “wide”, front camera without autofocus, without 4K, and so on.

Interface

Sample photos and videos

Original photos (zip, 130 MB) >>>
Sample video (MP4, 230 MB) >>>
Sample video (MP4, 265 MB) >>>
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Sample video (MP4, 265 MB) >>>
Sample video (MP4, 76 MB) >>>
Sample video (MP4, 39 MB) >>>

About sound

The Xiaomi 12 uses twostereo dynamics. They have the same characteristics. The volume is high, the quality is excellent. As usual, I lacked a little low frequencies. They play (plus or minus) like Mi 11 Ultra.

The set of Bluetooth codecs is complete - aptX, aptXHD, aptX adaptive, aptX TWS +, LDAC, LHDC, AAC and SBC.

Impression

If you have been looking for a compact smartphone with decent specifications for a long time, then Xiaomi 12 will definitely suit you. I would consider such a device to replace Asus Zenfone 8:

Less "hot" processor
Wireless and reverse charging
Support 67W power adapter
Slightly better camera
More work time

True, the dynamics of the Zenfone 8 are still cooler, the system is almost “naked” Google Android, the official Russian price is much lower.

Returning to Xiaomi 12.If we consider the cost in the region of 40,000 - 45,000 rubles, then there are no questions. Even for 60,000 rubles, the smartphone looks extremely attractive. But for 100,000 rubles - too much.

To find fault, I don’t like the sloping edges of the screen, the inability to record 4K 60 fps on the “width”, and the front camera is so-so. The rest of the smartphone is just gorgeous:

Powerful processor
fast memory
Compact dimensions
Fast charging, wireless, reverse
Good photo and video quality
Two speakers
NFC, Infrared, GLONASS/GPS, Wi-Fi 6, BT 5.2, 5G
Nice colors and body materials
Excellent screen matrix quality, 120 Hz refresh, 480 Hz touch
Linear vibration motor

Which competitors to bring is not very clear.There are almost no compact flagship devices. Well, maybe the Samsung Galaxy S22. In Russia, it costs about 90,000 rubles, on AliExpress - around 45,000 rubles.

The Asus Zenfone 8 is sold for about 70,000 rubles.

You can also look for Google Pixel 6

Apple iPhone 13 and 13 Pro devices todayI don't see much point in buying. In the current conditions, it will not be easy with them: on Android, at least you can put third-party applications in the APK video. However, the iPhone 13 starts at Rs 70,000 and the Pro version starts at Rs 90,000.

So, Xiaomi 12 when ordering from us is "gray" orwith AliExpress is the right decision at the moment. Even I myself wanted to update Zenfone 8. In general, Xiaomi 12 is definitely recommended for purchase!

The author expresses his gratitude to the friendliest gadget store BigGeek.ru for providing a sample device.

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