Xiaomi 12 Pro Unboxing & Review


Using this device for a few days, I can assure  you that you are about to have your mind   blown by the Xiaomi 12 Pro. If you are new to the channel, welcome,  and if you are returning, welcome back;   I'd love it if you could hit that like  button so more people can see this review   and get informed. Alright, without  further ado, let us get into the video. UNBOXING As always, we'll start off with the unboxing  experience of Xiaomi's premium flagship.

I got this blacked-out box just before  launch with all of the unique features   of the Xiaomi 12 Pro on it. Sound by  Harman / Kardon and 5G inscription.   I have to say that 5G is pretty much a  requirement than a feature at this point.  Cutting off the tapes and opening the box  shows you a smaller box with a "Designed   by Xiaomi" inscription at the back. On opening  that, you get the SIM ejector tool. Inside it,   you get a silicone case, the 12 Pro's  starter guide in multiple languages,   the warranty card, and, lastly,  the safety information.  Next is the Xiaomi 12 Pro itself, with all the  highlighted features up-front, but we'll get to   it later. Taking the paper material out, you see  the rest of the accessories.

You get sizeable 120W   charging adapter. For context,  if you take 1,000 Naira bill,   this is what it looks like in comparison. This  is one of those things where you have to see it   for yourself to know how large and quite heavy  it is. We did test the charger in this video,   so do stick around until the end. You then get  the power cable. That is all that's in the box,   and I must comment Xiaomi, the paper materials  used within the packaging are recycled   but still have quality. Good one on the  environment and hey, we get a charger.  Getting to the device now, you see the highlighted  features, what Xiaomi calls Pro-grade triple 50MP   camera array. A 50MP Telephoto Lens and 50M  Ultra-wide Lens, How cool is that, guys. 50,  50, 50 and of course, the selfie camera is 32MP.  That is a lot of value right there if you ask me.  Even the Processor we get on here is a  very new one, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1,   4nm processor with 5G, WQHD Display with  120Hz that's also AMOLED. The Quad Speakers   and Sound by Harman Kardon and 120W Charging  capabilities plus 50W wireless turbocharging.  

(02:28) We will get into these features in this  video, so don't go anywhere. Let's get to it.  DESIGN Removing the recycled paper wrap and sticker  from the back, you see that the Xiaomi 12   Pro comes in a pretty neutral design overall,  nothing too over the top with this grey colour   that I got it in. Still, though, giving  a significant facelift to this design   is the triple camera set up on the back  of this device. I pretty much screamed in   shock when I saw this camera set up. Fun fact,  each camera on here is a 50-megapixel camera,   and you do not want to miss out on how they  perform in reality, so stick around for that. The Xiaomi 12 Pro is a sizeable  device, with ample screen real estate,   and the height of about 6.4 inches. That aside, we get nothing  on the left of this device.   You'll find the volume rockers and  the power button right underneath that   on the right side. On the bottom, we've  got a type-c charging port, the sim tray,   the bottom speaker grille, a microphone,  and, as you can see, no headphone ports.

At the top, there is another microphone and the  speaker grille. The Xiaomi 12 series actually   feature the Sound by Harman Kardon and the  audio experience we witnessed here at the studio   what that I’d describe as immersive. IT’s also  powered by Dolby Almost with some form of spatial   sound and realism. The Xiaomi 12 Pro has quad  speakers right here even as it’s 2 speaker   grilles. This comes in the form of two tweeters  and two woofers that have an interesting range. So, as I said, this is not the most  elaborate design. Nevertheless, I think   that the best things about this device are on  the inside of it, so let's get to it already. DISPLAY The massive, almost bezel-less display  on the front of the Xiaomi 12 Pro is a   Corning Gorilla Glass Victus screen  on the outside and a 6.73 1440p   WQHD AMOLED DotDisplay on the inside.  The display has a resolution of 3200 by   1440 and a refresh rate of 120Hz.  On the matter of refresh rates,   the display of this device is a Dynamic 120-hertz  LTPO, which means that the display varies at   refresh rates between 1 and 120 hertz.

Depending  on what you are doing with the device, the refresh   rate will automatically set itself to the most  suitable refresh rate per time. This is a great   way to enjoy using your display without  messing too much with your battery life.   Xiaomi also claims that the 12 Pro has a  touch sampling rate as high as 480 hertz. Looking at some specs, you'll find out that  this display also comes with Dolby Vision,   HDR 10+ support, a contrast ratio of 8,000,000  to 1, and 1,500 nits of peak brightness. Remember that I mentioned earlier that the screen  is a WQHD screen? Well, as another extra effort   to optimise battery life and keep your device  running for as long as possible, there is a   feature on the device that allows you to switch  between two different resolutions. There is a full   HD+ resolution and a WQHD+ resolution. Depending  on your battery life and personal preferences,   the device allows you to switch between  resolutions as you wish via the settings. There is a lot of stuff happening under the hood  to ensure that this display is as high quality as   possible. Whether you're watching videos, playing  games, and as funny as it might sound, scrolling,   you get to experience feeling quite  an incredible amount of smoothness   on this device. Honestly, scrolling was one of my  favourite things about using the Xiaomi 12 Pro.

When I scrolled through the phone both  on its interface and different apps,   the high refresh rate was evident, and it  made it fun to use the device as I swiped   from one app to the next. Although, it's not  among the display features of this device.   I must say that the haptic feedback on the  Xiaomi 12 Pro when typing was top tier. It   felt like something I would love typing on for  a while. I'm considering switching to this guy.  PERFORMANCE Everything that this device offers would all be utterly useless if it did not  have the proper performance features   to back it up. Well, Xiaomi already knew  this and placed some of the highest-end   features that you can find on the market and  similarly on all the latest flagship devices. The Xiaomi 12 Pro is powered by Qualcomm's  top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip.   As for RAM and ROM power, you get 12 gigs of base  RAM, an extra 3 gigs through memory fusion making   it 15GB of RAM, and 256 gigs of storage.

It also comes with Android 12 pre-installed   and MiUi version 13. Please note that this is  not the same as Android 13, and we do not yet   know how many android version  updates the device will be getting. Numbers aside, the Xiaomi 12 Pro flew right  through all the apps I used to run. As usual,   I tested out the power of this device by  playing graphic-intensive games like Asphalt,   PUBG, Call of Duty, and Need for Speed. As  a fun test, I played each of these games,   minimised and went on the next, and the  device did not budge by a single frame.   I also noticed that I could max out the frame  rate and graphics quality in Call of Duty,   which you can not find on most devices.  Just a fun fact I thought to mention.  I must commend how well this smartphone handled  graphic-intensive tasks. This device also is   complemented by its speed and all the performance  features. You get that game booster feature for   gaming, and 120Hz supported games run as smoothly  as they get on here. All of these make it a solid   choice for people who, of course, play  games, and if you're a big power user,   I think that this device is just powerful  enough to handle whatever you throw at it.

BATTERY/CHARGING Alright, all of the stuff we have discussed  so far is great, but what about battery life?   Well, the Xiaomi 4,600mAh battery capacity. And  while this is a decent battery size, I think I   would have preferred something bigger for  a flagship device with these many features. In reality, though, all the battery optimisation  features that you get on this device   play a pretty significant role in helping you  get the best out of this battery. Even though   I was not constantly on the phone, I used it  for long hours gaming, taking photos and 4K   videos. With its exciting features that we'll  get to in a bit and browsing different apps,   the device lasted me up to two days, but  that includes a lot of standby time and   running all the highest end features that  the device warns would drain more battery. If you decide to use this as your primary  device and have a lot of on-screen time,   you might want to adjust your settings  accordingly. With the correct settings,   you would never need to be looking for a  charger while you are out during the day. When it comes to charging, though, the Xiaomi 12  Pro is by far one of the fastest charging devices   I have reviewed. The 120-watt fast charger  that comes in the box, which Xiaomi calls   HyperCharge, definitely lives up to that name. Within the first 5 minutes of charging with the  fast charger, the device went from 0 to 18%.   By 15 minutes of charging, the  device was already more than   half full at 52%. After  about 30 minutes of charging,   the device was already 88%. It eventually got  to 100% after about 35 minutes of charging. So, 0 to 100 in 35 minutes. Wow. Like all the Xiaomi 12 Pro features, the charging  also comes with extras. This device is capable of   50-watt wireless turbocharging and  10-watt reverse wireless charging. CAMERAS Let us now get to the cameras on the Xiaomi  12 Pro.

With the new trend of having more than   one camera on the phone, most brands  put different lenses with low and high   megapixel cameras, but not on this device.  Xiaomi has placed 3 50-megapixel on this   device. Put together; you have 150 megapixels  sitting pretty on the back of your device. But before we dig down that rabbit hole,   the camera on the front of this  device is a 32Mp selfie camera. On the Xiaomi 12 Pro, there is a 50MP primary  wide-angle camera that does 8K recording, 4K HDR   10+, Motion tracking focus and Eye-tracking focus  like actual cameras, and portrait night mode. The   second camera is yet another 50-megapixel camera.  However, this ultra-wide camera goes as wide as   115 degrees. The last camera is a 50-megapixel  telephoto camera that can go up to 20X zoom. On the inside, what you can achieve with the  camera of the Xiaomi 12 Pro blew my mind. First off, you get all their regular  photo, video, and portrait mode   on the first screen that you see.  The pictures I took with the device   were sharp. The power of 50 megapixels is  evident in how the camera captures detail. As for the ultrawide angle and telephoto  lenses, they impress too. The ultra-wide   photos carried the usual ultrawide distortion  but still maintained sharpness and details.   As for the telephoto, it does a good zoom and the  processing shows you a sharper form of the image. Once you open the camera app, you get the standard  video, photo, and portrait mode.

The portrait   shots were also pretty good. The app lets you  adjust how blurred the background should be.  Increasing the blur adds very sharp edges  that make the image look over-processed. But,   when you reduce it, the processing  feels and looks more natural. The Pro Section and More are sections where  things get very interesting. In the More section,   you get the night mode, 50MP Ultra HD and  other modes, which we'll touch on soon. We   did take photos in the normal and 50MP mode and  there are nuances you can find here and there. The other modes in the more section include short  video mode, Panorama, Documents for scanning   documents, vlog, slow motion, Timelapse, movie  effects, long exposure, supermen, and dual video. These modes offer a wide range of creative options  for what you can achieve with the camera on this   device. They all come with preset effects that  can help you create exciting videos and photos. The "Pro" section is where I think the best  thing about the camera of the Xiaomi 12 Pro lies. Generally, with most Pro sections,   you only get the flexibility to manually  adjust settings like shutter speed, ISO,   and White Balance. Well, the Xiaomi 12 Pro does  that and takes the Pro thing to a whole new level.   You can switch between Pro Video and Pro Photo  by tapping on the button to the right side. They   even have a section where they explain every  thing to know about the Pro mode settings.

First, with the photo mode on the pro section,   you can adjust the picture mode to  create very flat images that allow   you enough flexibility for editing. It also  lets you shoot RAW, which is just amazing. Xiaomi still kills with its exposure verification  feature on the Pro video side of the matter. Focus   peaking highlights the area you have in focus  with a red color. Even as you pull focus from   one object to the other. Oh yes, you can adjust  the Focus point with a slider from one section   of your video to another. The video here  can shoot 720p at 30 frames per second,   1080 at 30 and 60 frames per second, 4K at  30 and 60 frames per second, and finally   8K at just 24 frames per second. I did record  in 8K as well so do tell us what you think. In reality, the video quality from this smartphone  was mind-blowing. The level of quality in footage   and features that it was able to pull off took  me off guard. Of everything I have talked about   so far, what was most interesting was how it could  shoot log video. One of the many problems with   using smartphones to record video is the already  processed image with contrast and colours.  

For filmmakers who want to shoot flat and  then colour-grade by themselves, this camera   comes with the option of capturing footage in  LOG. Which will go by default to 4k at 30 fps. I guess it does make sense that the tagline  for this device is Master every scene. The camera performance of this device  is impressive, especially for video,   a category that most brands have still  not figured out even in their flagship   devices. I would definitely recommend the  cameras on this device any day and any time.

OTHER FEATURES Now, let's talk security. The fingerprint  scanner on the Xiaomi 12 Pro is under the  display. Setting it up was pretty simple, and  it does take a few seconds to unlock after you   place your finger on the screen. The animation and  vibration that comes with unlocking and using the   fingerprint reader are pretty cool too. As I  mentioned earlier, the haptic feedback on this   is really well done. Facial recognition is  one of the fastest and easiest to set up.   In a matter of 3 to 5 seconds, I was  done setting up the facial recognition.   After the quick setup, I was a little sceptical  about how it would perform, but it did not   fall short at all. Unlocking the  device was as fast as a second. If you have the device set to "raise to wake"  and have "stay on Lock Screen after unlocking"   turned off, it will unlock itself once you  pick up your device and you are good to go. As for the built-in speakers on this device,  I was once again shocked by how it performed.   The way it handles bass is one of the best I've  heard from a smartphone. If you did a blind test,   you probably would not even guess it was from this  smartphone. I was playing music in the distance,   and I almost couldn't tell the difference  between this and my laptop that costs   thousands of dollars. Here's  a sample of how it sounds. The Xiaomi 12 Pro is one of the most impressive  flagship devices that have come out this year.  

I was kind of shocked by the level of  performance and features that it offers.   The price tag on this guy is $999 or in Nigeria,  according to the Xiaomi Nigeria Twitter handle,   it goes for 499,000 very close to 500,000  naira if you add 1k. This is for the 12GB RAM   and 256GB storage device, exactly the one I  have here and have used. Would I recommend   this guy! Well, if you’ve got the budget for  it, by all means, try it out at a store maybe,   cross reference with what I’ve said in this  review video. This is from me using this   phone for about 2 weeks now so I think it’s  a good buy if you’ve got the budget for it. Let me know your thoughts on this device. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Helping a child with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Healthy eating through the holidays

Behavioral weight loss programs are effective