REVIEW: realme 12 Pro+ 5G packs a punch in mobile photography and performance

My realme 3 has seen better days but it has been my companion throughout the lockdown and quarantine years, playing Marvel Future Fight constantly with it to combat boredom, and listening to Spaces discussions on Twitter, now X, where I gave people relationship advice online as if I knew better.

But while I have migrated my mobile games to other review units I received as a blogger, I still use my realme 3 for my digital wallet and banking app, partly because I forgot my passwords and yes, they still work on the five-year-old phone.

That phone has stayed longer with me than my two exes throughout that period—and that’s telling enough—not of my Parker luck in romance, but how durable realme’s early units are. Now, the realme brand has come a long way, birthing new units every six months, and continuously evolving to avoid going the way of the dodo.

Case in point is the new realme 12 Pro+ 5G, a sleek-looking phone whose housing has been compared to a fluted Bezel Rolex watch. For me, its circular camera layout makes it look like a Power Rangers Morpher you can brandish to appear cool amid a sea of white mobile phone users. Priced at P25,999, I expected the submarine blue phone to also pack a punch when it comes to processing and taking photos, and it did not disappoint.

Top-notch camera capability

It makes good on its promise to be a “Portrait Master”. Mobile photography nerds will experience geekgasm when using its 50-megapixel (MP) main shooter with a Sony IMX890, one of the most capable camera sensors that can capture more details and light in every shot. Completing the triple rear camera is a 64MP periscope portrait camera that uses an OmniVision OV64B sensor, and an 8MP ultrawide. Meanwhile, the front camera is a 32MP selfie shooter.

Nowadays, a megapixel count does not automatically mean better photos. It just informs you how big a portion of the image you can crop or enlarge without them looking pixellated. The best thing about realme 12 Pro+ 5G is the powerful sensor for the main cam, Sony IMX890, which won’t fail you when doing night photography or capturing low-lighted images.

Just check out the photos taken in a low-light environment—inside a cinema—with and without a flash. When I took selfies in a dark room, it still showed my face inside a circle on the screen, which some budget phones cannot do for their front-camera shots. Some phones flash a plain beige color on screen leaving you clueless whether you already got the shot. With realme 12 Pro+ 5G, there’s no need for some guesswork on getting bad selfies in a poor-lighted room.

Front camera, low-light (without flash vs. with flash)

Main camera, low-light (without flash vs. with flash)

Generally, the videos have the same quality as the images. If you have shaky hands and are still saving up for a gimbal, simply turn on the Ultra Steady function. It can shoot 1080p and 4K videos but fair warning, they tend to have visible noise at night or low-light.

Powerful and reliable phone

realme12 Pro+ runs on the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset, which boosts the performance of most midrange phones, and was only launched in September 2023. This is good news for those who have experienced background apps crashing. You know my worst experience with midrange phones with a weaker processor? Editing videos on TikTok for about 15 minutes then the app suddenly crashes.

I tried editing my vlog for a streaming platform on this phone and was a bit worried I would lose all the work so I only added an intro and an extro voiceover. Much to my relief, it did not crash. I am also surprised that the video quality is better than when I used my other phone’s videos which tend to have poor resolutions when uploaded.

While editing the videos, the mobile game Invincible: Guarding the Globe is also active and operating properly. Thanks to its Hyperboost Gaming Engine, the phone does all the fixes for me to make my gaming smoother and more responsive. The interface is also rendered in desktop quality, attributed to the aforementioned chipset’s Adreno GPU.

real me pro + gameplay

Despite having a powerful chipset, the phone does not leech off too much power. Charging is also fast. I left the realme 12 Pro+ 5G at 80% battery, plugged it in for 15 minutes, and then went to the restroom for my skincare ritual—this one takes a lot of steps! Not only did I go back moisturized, but learning that a mid-range phone can go full batt (capacity: 5000 mAH – TYP) in a few minutes also put me in a good mood.

However, the phone does not have a microSD slot so you might be wary of its storage limits. realme 12 Pro+ 5G has 12GB of LPDDR5 Random Access Memory (RAM), which can be expanded by an additional 12GB; and 512GB of Universal Flash Storage (UFS).

Verdict

realme 12 Pro+ 5G is a perfect example of flair equating with functionality. It does not only look premium but it also exceeds the expectations of how a midrange phone should be.

Now, excuse me as I try to end my Parker luck for the nth time, take a selfie, and update my Tinder profile.

This article REVIEW: realme 12 Pro+ 5G packs a punch in mobile photography and performance was originally published in PhilSTAR L!fe