For its big comeback in France, Realme is making a big splash with its 12+ 5G, a smartphone for less than 300 euros with a premium design that stands out for its extraordinary battery life. An attractive model for classic use.

For its big comeback in France, Realme is doing strong with its 12+ 5G, a smartphone for less than 300 euros with a premium design that stands out for its extraordinary autonomy. An attractive model for classic use.

After a tiptoe return to the French market with the C67, an entry-level mobile, the Chinese brand Realme begins a journey of seduction and goes up a notch. The Realme 12+ 5G that we are testing here looks like a high-end smartphone… which it is not. For 359 euros at the official price (it can already be found below 300 euros at several online retailers), the 12+ 5G plays the card of versatility for an affordable price. But in this area, the brand must face fierce competition, well established and with a strong strike force embodied by Xiaomi and its Redmi Note but also Samsung with its Galaxy A. We were able to test this Reame 12+ 5G for several weeks, here is our verdict.

Realme 12+ 5G: a neat design with a premium appearance

Just because it’s not expensive doesn’t mean it has to be ugly. This is a bit like Realme’s philosophy retained for this 12+ 5G model. The device thus sports an unusual design for a mid-range model. The back of the device benefits from special care. It is covered in faux leather (today called vegan leather). Our cream-colored test model (there is also a duck green color) is adorned in the center with a gold border that is quite elegant although a little bling-bling.

Realme’s trademark, the slightly disproportionate photo island takes place in the upper central part with its four modules arranged in a square. It also has a neat appearance. The edges of the device, also gold in color, remain very flat and pleasant in the hands. Note that the upper edge houses a jack for connecting wired headphones.

The whole thing is very successful, with this design inspired by luxury watches. The smartphone fits well in the hand and its size remains quite correct. Its thickness, despite the presence of a jack socket, is even lower than certain more high-end models with 7.87 mm. Good game. Be careful though. The 12+ 5G benefits from IP54 certification only. It is therefore somewhat resistant to dust but poorly to humidity.

Realme 12+ 5G: a comfortable screen

At this price, Realme has managed to equip its smartphone with a good screen. It is a 6.67-inch FHD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels) Amoled panel. No LTPO technology here but refreshment at 60 or 120 Hz all the same. In terms of brightness, it’s all good with a peak at 2000 nits. The screen remains easily readable outdoors in the sun. The color calibration seemed very correct to us even in the default mode (Vive).

Realme 12+ 5G: passable performance

Technical sheet

A mid-range smartphone, Realme has turned to an SoC worthy of the price. The 12+ 5G is thus powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7050 supported on our version by 12 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage space. The MediaTek chip is not a racing car but it does its job well on a daily basis. We did not notice any latency when using the interface or when taking photos. With our usual range of benchmarks, however, it’s not a party. The Realme 12+ 5G quickly shows its limits, especially in gaming. The Mali-G68 MC4 GPU is not the best companion for this activity. With our reference title Genshin Impact, you should not hope to climb to more than 30 frames per second with a level of detail set to low. And again, when the screen becomes a little too animated, slowdowns occur. No problem, however, with less demanding casual games.

Realme 12+ 5G: an interface overloaded with apps

This is one of the well-known flaws of affordable smartphones: the integration of third-party apps. The process allows the manufacturer to sell space to publishers on its smartphone to lower the cost for the end user. The practice affects all manufacturers, even Samsung on its entry-level models. But here, we must recognize that Realme is going strong. We counted no less than 26 preinstalled applications (mainly games but also online stores or utilities) which are added to the in-house apps and those from Google. Suffice to say that you will spend some time uninstalling everything. Not to mention that requests to download new content through notifications are very frequent.

This Realme 12+ 5G runs on Android 14 and the Realme UI software overlay in version 5. This strongly resembles what we find at OnePlus (which belongs to the same company). Disappointment, however: Realme only plans two years of major updates and three years of security updates. It’s way too short, even for a smartphone at this price.

Realme 12+ 5G: decent photos but not in all respects

The photo aspect is one of the decisive criteria for purchasing a smartphone. If mid-range models generally benefit from a just correct configuration, Realme is trying to push the envelope a little further. The brand indicates that its 12+ 5G is in fact the first smartphone in its segment to integrate an optical image stabilization system (OIS) and a 50 Mpx Sony LYT-600 sensor (f/1.88). It is supported by an 8 Mpx ultra wide-angle module (f/2.2) and an anecdotal 2 Mpx macro module (f/2.4). On the front, the selfie camera benefits from a 16 Mpx sensor (f/2.45).

During the day, the main wide-angle module is satisfactory. He delivers shots with good sharpness. The level of detail is not huge but very correct. When the scene is well lit, the results are very clean and the Realme 12+ 5G has nothing to envy of its competitors. Furthermore, the optical stabilization works very well.

However, it is best not to stray too far from the topic. The 2x lossless zoom is up to the task, but beyond this level of magnification (the camera goes up to 20x), the photos lose a lot of detail.

The ultra-wide-angle, for its part, delivers decent shots overall but the images suffer from pronounced distortion at the edges. Furthermore, it is quite common at this price level, the colors suffer a washed out effect.

In portrait, the Realme 12+ 5G doesn’t do too badly. As long as we manage to obtain it (which is not always easy), the bokeh effect is quite well rendered even if the clipping sometimes lacks precision. The selfie camera has a slightly heavier hand on the bokeh which is established much more obediently.

When the light weakens, however, the photos lose sharpness. Automatically switching the camera to night mode obviously causes longer exposure times but the optical stabilization struggles to manage. There are many vaguenesses.

Realme 12+ 5G: a very durable device and fast charging

This is one of the advantages of MediaTek’s Dimensity 7050 SoC: while it’s not a racing beast, it does consume very little. And it shows. Armed with a 5000 mAh battery, the Realme 12+ holds up well. With our PC Mark benchmark, the smartphone stopped after 16 hours with 20% battery left in reserve. It took us another good hour of intensive use to completely drain the battery. Translated into real-world use, you can count on two days of battery life. That’s very comfortable. And by pushing it a little further (video streaming, gaming, photos), a day and a half of battery life is almost guaranteed. Not bad.

On the recharge side too, it’s a nice surprise. The device is compatible with 67 W SuperVooc fast charging (also found at Oppo). And no need to go back to checkout: the charger is provided in the box. Thus equipped, 30 minutes allows you to regain 77% of the battery. It took us 50 minutes to reach a full charge (Samsung should follow suit). It’s very comfortable.

Realme 12+ 5G: should you go for the elegant and durable mid-range from Realme?

With 12+ 5G, Realme is not chasing performance and leaving the work to its competitors. However, this smartphone is not affected by slowdowns or latency times and its daily handling does not suffer from any difficulty. The device also has other significant advantages. Its unusual look gives it a premium appearance without looking cheap. It’s a great success. We also really appreciated his endurance. Being able to last two days without going to the recharge box is not given to everyone today. And the full recharge in less than an hour also remains an advantage at this price level. What hurts the most? Photo quality. But again, for everyday photos, the Realme 12+ 5G does it easily and even for slightly more technical images. What we regret is the astronomical quality of pre-installed third-party applications. Of course, it’s a good way to lower costs, but still. The monitoring of updates is also worth pointing out since it only takes two years. However, at less than 300 euros currently, this Realme 12+ 5G presents very good value for money.