Rating： 3.5
I bought Redmi Note 12 探索版 / Redmi Note 12 DISCOVERY EDITION.
Charges 10% – 100% in 11 minutes with 210W
The Redmi Note 12 DISCOVERY EDITION (Chinese name: Redmi Note 12 探索版, unofficial literal translation: Redmi Note 12 Explorer Edition) is a smartphone with MediaTek Dimensity 1080.
This model is based on the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ and supports 210W fast charging, and to my surprise, 210W charging is available in 100V regions too.
This review is done with version V13.0.6.0.SMOCNXM, 8GB+256GB edition.
- 210W charge for instant full charge
- OLED with 120Hz refresh rate support
- Bright display with 927 nits actual brightness
- 3.5mm earphone jack available
- High-quality glossy back
- IP53 water and dust resistance
- Camera performance is subtle for 200MP
- Easy to get fingerprints on the back
- Thick and heavy
| Redmi Note 12 DISCOVERY EDITION 22101316UC | |
|---|---|
| OS | Android 12 |
| RAM | 8GB / 12GB LPDDR4X |
| Storage | 256GB UFS 2.2 |
| SoC | MediaTek Dimensity 1080 |
| Display | 6.67inch FHD+ 2400 x 1080 Aspect ratio 20:9 120Hz AMOLED |
| Size | 162.9 × 76mm × 8.98mm |
| Weight | 207.5g |
| SIM | nano SIM + nano SIM |
| Rear Camera | 200MP (OIS / Samsung S5KHPX) + 8MP (Ultra-wide Samsung S5K4H7) + 2MP (Macro OV02B10) |
| Front Camera | 16MP (OV16A1Q) |
| Battery | 4300mAh |
| USB Port | USB Type-C (USB 2.0) |
| Bands | 5G：n1 / n3 / n5 / n8 / n28A / n38 / n41 / n77 / n78 4G：FDD-LTE：B1 / B3 / B5 / B8 / B19 TDD-LTE：B34 / B38 / B39 / B40 / B41 3G：WCDMA：B1 / B5 / B6 / B8 / B19; CDMA EVDO : BC0 2G：GSM：B3 / B5 / B8 ; CDMA 1X : BC0 |
Index
- 1 Charges 10% – 100% in 11 minutes with 210W
- 2 Mid-range but beautiful display
- 3 High-grade back
- 4 200MP camera cannot be utilized by MediaTek
- 5 Full charge in 11 minutes at actual measurement
- 6 With earphone jack
- 7 Fingerprint sensor on the side
- 8 Enough performance to be comfortable for everyday use
- 9 Conclusion
The box includes 210W charger, USB Type-C to C cable, protective case, and instructions.
This charger has one USB Type-C port.
The terminal is yellow to distinguish it from the 120W fast charger.
In the past, it has often been the case that fast charging standards were first adapted for 200V regions and 100V regions later, but now 210W charging can be used in 100V regions from the very beginning.
With 100V / 3A input, 20V / 10.5A = 210W output is possible.
Mid-range but beautiful display
The Redmi Note 12 DISCOVERY EDITION has a 6.67″ FHD+ resolution display.
Although not made by Samsung, the colors and viewing angles are good, allowing users to enjoy a beautiful mid-range display.
It is a diamond pixel array and appears to be made by TCL CSOT.
When measuring brightness with the LX-1336B during HDR video playback with automatic brightness adjustment on, it reached a maximum of 886 nits.
In high brightness mode, it reached 927 nits, which is easy to see even outdoors.
The total touch latency measured by the WALT Latency Timer was 38.1ms.
This is low latency for a mid-range device with a MediaTek SoC.
Refresh rate can be selected between 120Hz and 60Hz.
Automatic adjusts in 4 steps of 30 / 60 / 90 / 120 Hz.
Widevine L1 allows streaming in HD quality on Amazon Prime Video (beta) and others.
High-grade back
The back of the Redmi Note 12 DISCOVERY EDITION is glossy and has a luxurious look reminiscent of the Xiaomi MIX series.
On the other hand, it is susceptible to fingerprint smudges, and just a little touch makes it look dirty.
It weighs 209.5g.
It is heavy for a mid-range model, and its thickness of 8.98 mm, which is not thin, makes it feel heavy.
200MP camera cannot be utilized by MediaTek
The Redmi Note 12 DISCOVERY EDITION has a triple camera configuration with a 200MP camera as the main camera.
It was hoped that the camera would be able to take photos with better detail than the 108MP, but there was not much improvement in camera quality, perhaps because the ISP of the MediaTek SoC could not handle it.
All photos were taken hand-held and are stored here.
Saturation is not adjusted very high, and it is relatively easy to distinguish between red and magenta.
It takes beautiful pictures for a mid-range camera.
However, I am not sure if it was worth it to have a 200MP camera, because when I zoomed in and compared the photos I took with a phone equipped with a 50MP Sony IMX766, they were clearer and easier to see, and the detail was not much different.
In backlighting, the clouds in the sky are blown out and the overall image is dark.
This may be improved with more tuning on the software side, but for now the 200MP camera is just a gimmick.
The light source in the night view mode did not have much white out and the surroundings appeared brighter.
Full charge in 11 minutes at actual measurement
On the bottom is a USB Type-C port, speakers, and a SIM slot.
“Boost charging speed” can be set in the settings.
Charging time from 10% to 100% with ChargerLAB POWER-Z KM002C, which supports a maximum of 240W and 10A, at a room temperature of about 20°C was measured to be 11 minutes.
It is possible to fully charge the battery just by charging it a little before going out without charging it at night.
It is able to produce more than 175W at the beginning when the battery power is low, and it gradually drops down to about 120W.
It is very different from 120W charging, which becomes more restrictive as soon as it is charged, with a limitation of about 110W even after 60% and finally about 30W when it reaches 95%.
The battery power transition is almost vertical.
Despite the greater heat generation, the battery temperature is at most 45°C, which is not significantly different from other fast charging systems.
With earphone jack
It has a 3.5mm earphone jack on top, which is often eliminated in recent smartphones.
The speaker holes are on the sides of both the left and right sides, and are rather a little strong in bass.
Dolby Atmos supported.
Fingerprint sensor on the side
The Redmi Note 12 DISCOVERY EDITION has a power button and volume buttons with a built-in fingerprint sensor on the right side.
There is nothing special on the left side.
Enough performance to be comfortable for everyday use
The Redmi Note 12 DISCOVERY EDITION is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 1080.
It has enough performance to play heavy games without problems, so you will not feel any stress in everyday use.
In Geekbench 5, the Genshin disguised version had 483 single-core and 2120 multi-core, and the normal version had 765 single-core and 2288 multi-core.
It seems to be throttling by package name determination.
In the 3DMark Wild Life Stress Test, the score was 2265, with a temperature increase from 25°C to 32°C (7°C increase) and a battery consumption of 7%.
In PCMark Work 3.0, which measures performance in everyday use such as document manipulation, the score was 11315.
The GPU performance is not that great, but the CPU performance is high, making it suitable for those who want to use it comfortably for purposes other than game play.
Storage is UFS 2.2, so it is reasonably fast.
Playing Genshin at the highest quality and 60 FPS setting and measuring with WeTest PerfDog, the power consumption was 104.5 mW per FPS at an average of 41 FPS.
Although the frame rate is not exactly the same, the power efficiency is not bad.
In World of Tanks Blitz, when played at 120 FPS settings and all graphics settings at their highest values, the average was 90.1 FPS, with a power consumption of 50.5 mW per FPS.
Conclusion
- 210W charge for instant full charge
- OLED with 120Hz refresh rate support
- Bright display with 927 nits actual brightness
- 3.5mm earphone jack available
- High-quality glossy back
- IP53 water and dust resistance
- Camera performance is subtle for 200MP
- Easy to get fingerprints on the back
- Thick and heavy
The Redmi Note 12 DISCOVERY EDITION is perfect for those who just want to finish charging quickly.
But other than that, the 200MP camera is out of its element, and if you don’t need the world’s fastest charging speed, a lower-end model such as the Redmi Note 12 Pro will do just fine.
It is available on JD for 2399CNY and up.