Analysis of the Xiaomi 12T Pro in depth and opinion

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Don’t have time to read the full review? Go directly to the Conclusions section to find out what I liked the most and what I liked the least about the Xiaomi 12T Pro. Last October, Xiaomi presented its Xiaomi 12 family of smartphones consisting of the

Xiaomi 12T and Xiaomi 12T Pro models.

The Xiaomi 12T Pro has a 6.7″ AMOLED screen up to 120 Hz, Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, 8/12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM, 256 GB of UFS 3.1 storage, wide-angle rear cameras (200MP f/1.7) + ultra wide angle (8MP f/2.2) + macro (2MP f/2.4), front camera (20MP f/2.2) and 5,000 mAh battery with 120W fast charging.

The Xiaomi 12T Pro is for sale at a price of €799.99 (8GB/256GB) and €849.99 (12GB/256GB).

I have had the opportunity to test the Xiaomi 12T Pro for a few weeks, which has allowed me to get to know the device in depth. Next, I tell you my impressions.

Sections of the analysis

  1. Design
  2. Screen
  3. Hardware
  4. connectivity
  5. Biometrics
  6. Drums
  7. Software
  8. Multimedia
  9. Camera
  10. calls
  11. Precio
  12. conclusions
  13. The best and the worst

 

Design

The Xiaomi 12T Pro has an elegant design, but perhaps also a bit bland . There are no flashy color options, no light-reflecting textures, no color schemes on the rear, and nothing that would make you notice this phone for looks.

Now this is not necessarily a bad thing and in fact the design of the Xiaomi 12T Pro is modern. Its front is dominated by a large 6.7″ screen surrounded by symmetrical and rather narrow frames.

Xiaomi has opted for a completely flat front , so the side frames are not as hidden as in other phones with curved screens on the sides.

For many, this is an advantage, since curved screens tend to produce reflections and color changes at the edges — problems that the Xiaomi 12T Pro does not experience.

In general, the Xiaomi 12T Pro makes great use of the front , around 87% according to GSMArena data .

Xiaomi has opted for a perforated front camera in the center of the upper area, with a fairly small size. Other smartphones place the perforated camera in the upper left corner and, in my opinion, that is where it goes most unnoticed, both in daily use and when watching videos or playing horizontally.

The phone uses Gorilla Glass 5 reinforced glass on the front. This is a step back from the Xiaomi 11T Pro, which used the latest (and resistant) Gorilla Glass Victus.

The back is also made of curved glass on the sides. Xiaomi has not indicated that it has Gorilla Glass protection, so it can be assumed that it does not have this reinforcement. Therefore, be careful with falls or contact with metallic objects that may scratch its surface.

Both front and rear windows are joined by a plastic chassis. Again, I would have preferred to see aluminum or something sturdier than plastic, but it’s an understandable sacrifice that, for many users, will go unnoticed.

The phone is available in three color variants — silver, blue, and black — with the black color being the one I’ve tested. Its matte finish prevents fingerprints from being marked, which is a plus for those of us who hate carrying dirty phones.

Xiaomi has included a rectangular module to house the rear cameras in the corner. The module protrudes from the surface of the phone by about 1 millimeter and, in turn, the main camera protrudes another millimeter, so the phone dances when the screen is touched while resting on a table.

 

With a thickness of 8.6 mm and a weight of 205 grams , the Xiaomi 12T Pro is not exactly a small or light phone. In fact, in the hand it feels like a blunt phone, but without being a brick .

Measurements (mm.) Weight (g) Screen Screen to body ratio (*)
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 163 × 78 × 8,9 228 6,8″ 90%
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 165 × 76 × 8,9 227 6,8″ 90%
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
164 × 75 × 8,4 234 6,8″ 91%
Xiaomi Mi 11
164 × 75 × 8,1 196 6,8″ 91%
Huawei Mate 40 Pro 163 × 76 × 9,1 212 6,8″ 94%
ASUS ROG Phone 5s
173 × 77 × 9,9 238 6,8″ 82%
HONOR 70
161 × 73 × 7,9 178 6,7″ 91%
Xiaomi 12 Pro
164 × 75 × 8,2 204 6,7″ 90%
⏩ Xiaomi 12T Pro
163 × 76 × 8,6 205 6,7″ 87%
iPhone 14 Pro Max
161 × 78 × 7,9 240 6,7″ 88%
iPhone 14 Plus
161 × 78 × 7,8 203 6,7″ 87%
iPhone 13 Pro Max 161 × 78 × 7,7 240 6,7″ 87%
POCO F4 GT
163 × 77 × 8,5 210 6,7″ 86%
Samsung Galaxy S21+ 162 × 76 × 7,8 200 6,7″ 88%
OPPO Find X5 Pro
164 × 74 × 8.5 218 6,7″ 90%
OPPO Find X3 Pro 164 × 74 × 8,3 193 6,7″ 90%
OnePlus 9T
163 × 74 × 8,7 197 6,7″ 90%
LITTLE F4
163 × 76 × 7,7 195 6,7″ 87%
POCO X4 Pro
164 × 76 × 8,1 205 6,7″ 86%
Pixel 6 Pro
164 × 76 × 8.9 210 6,7″ 89%
OnePlus 10 Pro
163 × 74 × 8.6 201 6,7″ 90%
OnePlus 9
160 × 74 × 8,7 192 6,6″ 88%
Xiaomi 12 Lite
159 × 74 × 7,3 173 6,6″ 88%
Huawei P40 Pro+ 159 × 73 × 9,0 226 6,6″ 92%
Huawei P40 Pro 158 × 73 × 9,0 209 6,6″ 92%
I live X60 Pro
159 × 73 × 7,6 179 6,6″ 90%
Samsung Galaxy S22+
155 × 76 × 7,6 195 6,6″ 88%
OPPO Find X5
160 × 73 × 8.7 196 6,6″ 89%
Nothing Phone (1)
159 × 76 × 8,3 194 6,6″ 86%
Sony Xperia 1 IV
165 × 71 × 8.2 185 6,5″ 84%
Sony Xperia 1 III 165 × 71 × 8.2 186 6,5″ 84%
LITTLE M4 Pro
160 × 74 × 8.1 180 6,4″ 85%
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE
156 × 75 × 7,9 177 6,4″ 85%
Pixel 6 159 × 75 × 8.9 207 6,4″ 83%
Samsung Galaxy S21 152 × 71 × 7,9 169 6,2″ 87%
Samsung Galaxy S22
146 × 71 × 7,6 167 6,1″ 87%
iPhone 14 Pro
148 × 72 × 7,9 206 6,1″ 87%
iPhone 14
147 × 72 × 7,8 172 6,1″ 86%
iPhone 13 Pro 147 × 72 × 7,7 204 6,1″ 86%
iPhone 13 147 × 72 × 7,7 174 6,1″ 86%
Sony Xperia 5 III
157 × 68 × 8,2 168 6,1″ 85%
Huawei P40 149 × 71 × 8,5 175 6,1″ 86%
Pixel 6a
152 × 72 × 8.9 178 6,1″ 83%
Pixel 5 145 × 70 × 8,0 151 6,0″ 86%
iPhone 13 mini
132 × 64 × 7,7 141 5,4″ 85%

(*) Screen-to-body ratio data obtained from GSMArena

Next, we are going to review the four sides of the smartphone to review the buttons and connectors it incorporates. On the right side, we find the power button and next to it, an elongated volume button. Both buttons are well distinguished by touch, so we have no problem clicking on one or the other without looking at it.

The left side is free of any element.

The top of the phone houses the noise-canceling microphone, an infrared blaster, and a speaker.

The bottom of the phone has the USB Type-C connector, another speaker and the SIM card tray.

Xiaomi has not given the phone IP6x certification for resistance to water and dust, so you must be careful not to take a dip as it could be damaged.

In fact, the SIM card tray does include a rubber protector that is supposed to keep water out, but without official certification, we can’t be sure how good it is against liquid immersion.

Screen

The Xiaomi 12T Pro has a 6.67″ AMOLED screen with a resolution higher than Full HD+ (1,220 × 2,712 pixels) and an elongated aspect ratio (20:9), which translates into a high pixel density of 446 dpi. The sub-pixel array is of the PenTile type , as is usual for OLED panels. This means that the sub-pixels are placed in a diamond shape with more green sub-pixels than red or blue. Therefore, the effective resolution of the panel is lower than the nominal when the screen displays blue or red colors.

The LCD screens that other phones have have RGB matrices, where the sub-pixels are placed one after the other, in red-green-blue (RGB) rows, so the advertised resolution applies equally to the sub-pixels. of each colour. In any case, with such a high pixel density, this is not a problem.

Xiaomi has incorporated a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz. This higher rate translates into greater smoothness when scrolling through the interface, scrolling vertically in the application drawer, the web browser, the forum gallery or in your social network feeds like Twitter , Facebook or Instagram .

While some phones have an LTPO panel with an adaptive refresh rate that can drop down to 10Hz (or even 1Hz on some phones), the Xiaomi 12T Pro has a conventional panel that only allows you to switch between 30, 60, 90 or 120 Hz. This means that battery consumption will be higher than those that can reduce the refresh rate when viewing a static image or displaying the always-on screen.

In the default refresh rate mode, the phone displays the interface at 120 Hz, but drops to 60 Hz if we stay for a few seconds with the screen fixed. It also intelligently switches to 60Hz when performing certain tasks, like watching a video. In my tests, I have not found any situation where the refresh rate drops to 30 Hz.

On the other hand, the Xiaomi 12T Pro panel performs touch sampling up to 480 Hz , so the response to your keystrokes is instantaneous. This is especially interesting in action games, where it is important that the screen responds quickly.

In addition to having a high refresh rate, the Xiaomi 12T Pro screen offers a wide range of colors, being able to cover 100% of the DCI-P3 gamut.

Color spaces. Source: AVS Forum

If you’re not familiar with color spaces, all high-end smartphones more than cover the standard Android color space: Rec. 709 / sRGB.

The most advanced try to comply with the DCI-P3 space used in the film industry, and a few point towards the even wider Rec. 2020 color space , which covers 76 percent of the visible spectrum.

No current panel is capable of displaying the full Rec. 2020 color space, but many panels do cover the DCI-P3 space.

On the other hand, HDR technology increases the dynamic range of color tones displayed on the screen. The Xiaomi 12T Pro panel is compatible with HDR10+ and also with Dolby Vision (few smartphones offer compatibility with this format), so we can enjoy compatible content from Netflix and other sources.

To analyze the quality of the screen we have carried out various tests with the professional software CalMAN Ultimate and an X-Rite i1Display Pro colorimeter .

The Xiaomi 12T Pro offers a screen setting called Color Scheme that allows you to control the color gamut that the screen points to and the color temperature of the screen. Xiaomi offers three modes: Vivid, Saturated, and Original Color.

Xiaomi also offers an Advanced Settings mode within Color Scheme that allows you to choose between three color gamuts: original (identifies the color gamut automatically through color calibration), P3 (displays all screen content in the color gamut) . P3 color gamut) and sRGB (displays all screen content in the sRGB color gamut).

By default, the Xiaomi 12T Pro comes set to Vivid color mode , which targets the DCI P3 color space offering somewhat more realistic colors than saturated mode. In Vivid mode, the display offers good but room for improvement in color fidelity, with an average error against the DCI P3 color space of 3.1 dE and a maximum error of 5.5 dE. In this mode, the phone covers 100% of the sRGB color mode and 100% of the DCI-P3 color space used in the film industry. The white color has a color temperature of 7,160ºK, above the reference level of 6,500ºK, so the screen has a certain bluish tint.

 

In the saturated color mode , which is the one that offers the most striking colors, the Xiaomi 12T Pro offers good color fidelity, since the average error against the DCI P3 space turns out to be 2.8 dE with a maximum error of 5.4 dE.

The display’s color gamut covers 100% of the sRGB color space and 100% of the wider DCI-P3 color space . As for the color temperature, we find ourselves with 7,201ºK, which is above the reference value, which means that the screen has a bluish tint here too.

 

Results in saturated color mode

In original color mode , color fidelity is excellent as the average error is 1.1 dE (a value below 4 dE is considered excellent and above 9 dE is considered unacceptable) and the maximum error is 2.6 dE. In this mode, the display covers 100% of the sRGB color mode and falls within 73% of the DCI-P3 color space. The white color has a color temperature of 6,263ºK, quite close to the reference value.

 

Results in original color mode

According to my own measurements, the maximum screen brightness is around 487 nits in manual brightness mode. It temporarily increases up to 860 nits when we activate the automatic brightness adjustment and we are under bright light such as sunlight, since the HBM (High Brightness Mode) mode comes into operation. This value is close to the 900 nits that Xiaomi indicates on its website in relation to HBM mode.

The maximum brightness is high, on par with the best flagships of the moment, so you won’t have any problem using the phone in bright sunlight. The black color is very deep , to the point that my colorimeter has been unable to measure any level of gloss. This means that it is really black and that the contrast is theoretically infinite (5,000,000:1 according to Xiaomi).

OLED screens have a peculiar behavior when viewed from an angle. On the one hand, the light emitters are closer to the surface, and this causes the contrast and brightness to vary less when moving relative to the center, but on the other hand, the Pentile matrix causes the colors to be distorted.

In the case of the Xiaomi 12T Pro, the viewing angles are wide and the colors are hardly altered when looking at the screen from an angle.

With the phone locked with the screen off, we can turn it on by double tapping on the screen or by lifting it from the table . The screen also turns on automatically when we receive a notification or, if we prefer, we can make only edges light up or an animation of stars appear.

Xiaomi offers the Always On Display functionality that allows you to permanently display the clock, date, time, battery, app icons with notifications, and other items. Xiaomi allows you to customize the design by showing watches of different styles, kaleidoscope-like figures, drawings or signatures in monochrome or multicolor options. Since this functionality increases power consumption, it is possible to choose if it should be displayed permanently, only for 5 seconds after touching, or at certain times. It is also possible to disable it when the Battery Saver mode is active.

Always Active Screen of the Xiaomi 12T Pro

The Xiaomi 12T Pro has a functionality called reading mode , which is a blue light filter that reduces eye fatigue by limiting the amount of blue light emitted by the screen.

It is possible to choose a classic setting (warmer colors) or paper (warmer colors with a paper texture), in both cases it is possible to adjust the color temperature. You can also program the automatic ignition at certain times or coinciding with the sunset. Xiaomi has included a feature called Adaptive Colors , which adjusts the colors on the screen to the ambient lighting. It’s similar to the True Tone functionality on the iPhone, which adjusts the white balance to the lighting in your environment to simulate the color of a sheet of paper.

Another cool feature is the ability to artificially increase video frames using MEMC. To make use of this functionality, it is necessary to activate the video toolbox.

MEMC (or Motion Estimation and Compensation) is an interpolation technique that inserts frames into videos to make them look smoother. Most movies and TV shows are recorded at 24, 25, or 30 fps, but with MEMC, they can be played back at 48, 50, or 60 fps respectively.

Also present is a feature called Super Resolution , which rescales the resolution of videos to increase it, AI Image Enhance , which identifies objects (plants, animals, buildings) in Gallery images and dynamically adjusts display effects, and AI HDR enhancement that processes SDR videos with HDR effects to bring out more details.

These effects increase battery consumption and, in general, their effect goes almost unnoticed, so my recommendation is that you leave them disabled — that’s how they are by default.

Xiaomi has included high-frequency PWM dimming at 1920 Hz , which is a superior technology to DC Dimming as it prevents screen flickering at low brightness levels while maintaining color fidelity. If you’re a person sensitive to screen flickering, this is good news.

One of the biggest problems that users attribute to Xiaomi is the usual use of a virtual proximity sensor. Experience tells us that these types of sensors have not always worked correctly, which is not acceptable in a smartphone of a certain price.

Luckily, the Xiaomi 12T Pro has a hardware proximity sensor , which is located in a small area of ​​the upper frame of the screen, to the right of the front camera.

Another interesting aspect is that it has two ambient light sensors, one on the front and one on the back, for a more accurate adjustment of the brightness of the screen depending on the environment.

 

hardware and performance

The Xiaomi 12T Pro has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 mobile platform, Qualcomm ‘s most powerful to date.


ℹ️ Info: This is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen1 is a SoC chip manufactured at 4 nm by TSMC. It integrates a “Prime Core” based on the ARM Cortex-X2 architecture up to 3.2 GHz, three performance cores based on the Cortex-A710 up to 2.5 GHz and four energy-efficient cores based on the ARM Cortex-A510 architecture up to 1.8 GHz. All cores can use the 6 MB shared L3 cache.

Compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, the SoC is produced on TSMC’s 4nm process, which is more power-efficient and offers higher-speed CPU and GPU cores (with lower power consumption, according to Qualcomm ).

The built-in AI engine can deliver up to 4x faster AI performance thanks to the larger Tensor engine. The Spectra 18-Bit ISP has also undergone major improvements and is now called the Snapdragon Sight.

The integrated Adreno 730 GPU offers a 30% graphics boost compared to the previous Adreno 660.

The integrated Snapdragon X65 5G modem is also new and offers faster transfer speeds (up to 10 Gbps download and 3 Gbps upload). FastConnect 6900 offers support for the current Wifi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.


The Xiaomi 12T Pro comes with 8 or 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM , the fastest we can find in a smartphone, and adds a feature called memory extension that allows you to add an additional 3 GB using the storage space. I just don’t see much use for this functionality that has become so fashionable lately, but it shouldn’t hurt to have it either.

It has 256GB of storage , which should be enough for most users — which is lucky because it doesn’t support a microSD card to expand capacity. Only a few manufacturers like Sony and Huawei offer space for a microSD card in their high-end devices.

SEE ALSO  Apple will facilitate the migration from iOS to Android due to the new European law

Not all is good news in the hardware, since the USB-C port is USB 2.0 type, which is insufficient if you want to transfer large amounts of data. Other flagships incorporate much faster USB 3.2 type ports when it comes to moving or copying videos or other content between the smartphone and a PC or an external drive. To get an idea, USB 2.0 is limited to 480 Mb/s, while USB 3.1 can reach 20 Gb/s.

The port is OTG compatible, so you can plug in a USB-C dongle and access it like external storage. You can also connect other peripherals. However, it does not support DisplayPort over USB-C to view the screen on a TV or monitor.

I’ve put the Xiaomi 12T Pro through some benchmark tests to see how it fares against other high-end phones, and below are the results of each test.

In the AnTuTu v9 benchmark , it has achieved a result of 1,044,374 points , a very high score that surpasses the best flagships.

In the Geekbench 5 benchmark focused on processor performance, it has achieved 1,246/3,919 points in the single/multi-core tests, which are again very high results.

In the PCMark 3.0 general performance test that measures performance when performing everyday tasks, it has obtained a score of 12,987 points , a high value, but which does not quite surpass certain smartphones with supposedly less powerful chips.

In terms of storage, the phone scores highly in AndroBench ‘s read and write speed tests.

Next, we are going to see the results in various graphic tests to check the expected performance in games.

In the GFXBench test with traditional APIs, the phone has achieved good results.

In GFXBench tests based on modern low-level and high-efficiency APIs (Metal/OpenGL and Vulkan), the phone achieves high results, although not as high as other high-end smartphones.

In the new 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited test , the phone has also achieved a very high result, tied with the iPhone 13 (it is not usual to see an Android smartphone competing equally against a last generation iPhone in graphics performance).

To check the graphics performance on a day-to-day basis, I’ve tried several demanding 3D games — Real Racing 3, Asphalt 9 and Call of Duty Mobile .

Using the GameBench software , I have been able to measure various performance parameters in these games in real world play.


Do you know GameBench Pro? GameBench Pro is the industry’s leading tool for measuring gaming performance on Android and iOS smartphones. If you want to know more, you can visit their website .


Games get a stable rate around 59 FPS in Asphalt 9, 60 FPS in Call of Duty and 121 FPS in Real Racing 3.  These are good values, which show how powerful this smartphone is.

Play FPS (mediana) FPS stability FPS Min.-Max. %CPU / %GPU
Asphalt 9 59 100% 50-61 8% / 69%
Real Racing 3
121 100% 110-122 6% / 72%
Call of Duty 60 100% 54-62 10% / 37%

(*) Game quality settings:

Asphalt 9: Graphics quality set to “high”
Real Racing 3: Graphics quality by default
Call of Duty Mobile: Graphics quality “very high” and frames per second at “high” speed by default

In general, the Xiaomi 12T Pro has achieved spectacular results in the benchmarks, as expected given that it is one of the few smartphones with Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. On a day-to-day basis, I have not experienced any signs of lag when moving around . the interface, open applications or switch between tasks.

In addition to point performance, it is important to know if the phone is capable of sustaining this performance over time or if it is reduced by the increase in processor temperature.

Xiaomi claims that the Xiaomi 12T Pro has a cooling system with the largest vapor chamber of the Xiaomi T series, with a size of .3725 mm². In addition, it has an area of ​​more than 30,000 mm² for heat dissipation. This reduces processor temperature even during times of heavy use.

In the CPU Throttling test that measures the drop in CPU performance after 15 minutes of sustained load, the phone did quite well, with performance after 15 minutes only dropping to 88 percent.

The 3DMark Wild Life Stress Test measures the variation in graphics performance after 20 minutes of running the test.

The phone has achieved a fairly good result here too of 89%, which means that the graphics performance hardly deteriorates after a long period of use.

In practice, it’s rare that you run into overheating issues. Qualcomm has clearly done a good job with the Snapdragon 8+ Gen1, improving on the much better thermal performance offered by its predecessor, the Snapdragon 8 Gen1.

 

connectivity

The Xiaomi 12T Pro supports Bluetooth 5.2 and WiFi 6 . However, it does not support WiFi 6E, the new protocol for WiFi networks that makes use of the 6 GHz band for better performance, in those regions where it is allowed.

The Xiaomi 12T Pro is compatible with 5G networks and supports the band below 6 GHz (Sub-6) but not the mmWave band which, on the other hand, is not yet used in our country.


ℹ️Info: Difference between 5G connectivity type Sub-6 vs. mmWave

The spectrum used for 5G is divided into two bands: below 6 GHz (Sub-6) and above 24 GHz (mmWave).

The main difference between the two is speed and coverage. The Sub-6 band provides better coverage, but top speeds are only 20 percent faster than 4G LTE, so it’s not nearly as impressive.

The mmWave band offers a very high download speed (up to 10 Gbps) but the coverage is much worse, around 200 meters, so it can happen that your phone spends more time connected to 4G than to 5G, especially when you are inside a building.

This type of technology is designed for open spaces or areas with a high density of users where many antennas are installed. The lower coverage of mmWave is the reason why operators want to fill cities with 5G antennas, so that there is always one with which you have direct vision.

In Spain, the only band that is available for 5G is sub-6GHz, so having a smartphone with 5G mmWave connectivity is useless today — at least until the corresponding frequency band is put out to tender.

In the United States, however, some operators have deployed these networks, and this is the reason why some smartphones offer access to 5G millimeter wave (mmWave) networks.


It is possible to adjust the priority of data traffic intelligently , setting the foreground application to have priority over the use of network resources. This can be useful for games and other apps that require good connectivity, but can cause background apps not to update.

It is also possible to configure Smart Network Acceleration , which allows you to use mobile data to increase connection speeds, and Dual Band WiFi Speed ​​Boost , which connects simultaneously to 5 and 2.4 GHz networks to improve speed .

The SIM compartment offers space to insert two nano SIM cards and also supports eSIM, so you can use the Dual SIM functionality using nano SIM + nano SIM or nano SIM + eSIM

Xiaomi offers the possibility of making calls using WiFi , being possible to configure the preference: mobile networks or Wi-Fi. Logically it is necessary that the operator offers this functionality.

In the tests that I have carried out, the network speed for both Wi-Fi and cellular connection has been good.

The Xiaomi 12T Pro has reached 300 Mbps download and upload on Wi-Fi 5 with a 300 Mbps fiber optic connection. In the cellular connectivity test, 56 Mbps download and 36 Mbps upload were reached with a Movistar’s 5G connection, which we already know is not the fastest.

Xiaomi has included compatibility with a good number of positioning systems: GPS, Glonass, Galileo, Beidou and NavIC. In addition, it supports dual-frequency GPS (L1 + L5) , which means that it achieves more precision when locating the phone.

In my tests, the Xiaomi 12T Pro quickly connects to satellites outdoors, and while it takes a bit longer indoors, the accuracy is just as good.

Finally, Xiaomi has incorporated an infrared emitter in case you want to use the phone to control one of your household appliances.

 

Biometrics

Xiaomi has incorporated an optical fingerprint reader under the screen, which allows you to unlock the phone comfortably by resting your finger on an area of ​​the screen. While flagships, such as the Galaxy S22 family, have their ultrasonic sensor that creates a 3D image of the finger using sound waves, the Xiaomi 12T Pro includes an optical sensor that generates 2D images , so it is not as reliable or secure. .

For example, if your fingers are wet, the Xiaomi 12T Pro scanner may have trouble identifying your fingerprint. In my tests, the fingerprint reader of the Xiaomi 12T Pro has worked quite well and only on a few occasions is it necessary to place the finger twice for recognition to take place.

Xiaomi has placed the fingerprint reading area in an area close to the bottom edge, so it is not particularly comfortable to reach with your finger. The Xiaomi 12T Pro has the Always On Screen functionality and, although the fingerprint area does not appear permanently marked, just place your finger on the reading area to unlock the phone without having to turn on the screen first.

The fingerprint reader of the Xiaomi 12T Pro is integrated under the screen

Xiaomi has also added a 2D facial unlocking system that works quite well, although it is less secure than fingerprints since, as the company itself warns, it can be fooled by a photograph. As a curiosity, the phone includes a functionality for reading the heart rate in the fingerprint sensor, which can be useful on occasion.

 

heart rate reading

 

Drums

The Xiaomi 12T Pro battery is made up of a single cell that offers a capacity of 5,000 mAh , a respectable amount for this screen size.

To check the autonomy, I have carried out the battery test of the well-known PCMark test: Work 3.0.


ℹ️Info: A reflection on autonomy tests

Given the importance of the screen in the consumption of the battery, it is important to calibrate with a colorimeter (or a similar instrument) the screens at the same absolute level of brightness (it is not valid to set it to 50%) if you want to obtain comparable autonomy results. between devices.

Otherwise, the results may be greatly affected by the brightness level of each smartphone’s screen and are therefore not comparable. I mention this here because not all analyzes take this into account and in this test you sometimes see absurd values.

In the case of PCMark: Work 3.0, the test itself indicates that the test must be carried out with the screen calibrated at 200 nits so that the results are comparable. This is how we perform autonomy tests on smartphones.


PCMark Work tests the autonomy of the terminal when carrying out a mixture of daily and demanding tasks, since the test simulates browsing web pages, writing texts and inserting images, applying filters to photos, editing videos and data manipulation. Given the impact that the refresh rate has on the autonomy of smartphones, I have carried out this test twice: once with the refresh rate at 60 Hz and once with the frequency at 120 Hz.

In the test with the screen set to 60 Hz I have obtained a result of 13 hours and 5 minutes, which is a higher value than many other high-end smartphones. If we adjust the refresh rate to an adaptive frequency up to 120 Hz , the autonomy is reduced to  9 hours and 33 minutes , which is a quite significant drop of around 27%. It’s a good value, but it doesn’t stand out from other smartphones.

If you activate the dynamic refresh rate, you can expect to move between values, so you should get a good autonomy. In practice, the autonomy of the Xiaomi 12T Pro is solid and you will have no problem reaching the end of the day, even if you use it quite intensely.

MIUI limits battery consumption for those applications that you don’t use regularly. You can select for each app whether or not you want it to run in the background without restrictions, or whether you want the phone to apply battery saver based on the type of app — for example, if it identifies a messaging or media player app , it will not stop it from running in the background.

Another interesting option if we are running low on battery life is Battery Saver , which restricts the activity of system apps, freezes apps in the background, clears the cache when the device is locked, and disables flat services (synchronization, 5G connectivity, raise to wake or show the fingerprint icon when the screen is off) to save battery. Optionally, you can block the screen from waking with notifications and the always-on screen functionality.

We can schedule this functionality to turn on and off, as well as make it automatically deactivate when the battery charge is above 60 percent again.

In addition, there is an Extreme Battery Saver functionality, which restricts the most power-hungry functions and keeps only basic functions (for example, calls, SMS and certain applications). This mode activates a dark mode, restricts background activity, and restricts power-hungry activities (syncing, GPS, vibration, always-on screen, etc.).

We can allow some selected applications to work normally, as well as have this mode automatically deactivate when the battery charge is above 50 percent again.

We also have a Battery Optimization feature that proposes to close apps with excessive battery usage and suggests certain settings such as turning on Dark mode, turning off Always-on display, lowering the screen refresh rate to 60Hz, clearing memory 10 minutes after locking the device, turning off location services, turning off haptic feedback, etc.

 

The Xiaomi 12T Pro has a 120W HyperCharge fast charge and, luckily, the company includes a charger of this power (5V/3A, 9V/3A, 11V/6A and 20V/6A outputs), as well as a certified cable to transport such a high current.

It is a huge power. If you are concerned that fast charging may deteriorate the battery, Xiaomi claims that it will maintain 80 percent capacity after 800 charging cycles, that is, just over two years. However, some manufacturers such as OPPO double the time until a similar degradation.

Xiaomi offers an option to increase the charging speed or, in other words, under normal conditions it charges more slowly and only if we activate that option are the 120 watts used.

Unfortunately, Xiaomi’s HyperCharge technology is proprietary and does not follow the USB PD (Power Delivery) standard, instead using its own communication protocol between the phone and the charger, which is done via a USB Type-A charging cable. to Type-C also included in the box. Please note that you will only achieve maximum speed if you use this cable, which includes additional pins.

In my tests, with the included charger, the entire charging process took only 19 minutes . In just 7 minutes, you get more than 50 percent battery charge. It is worth noting that the charging speed at 120 watts is only achieved if the phone is with the screen off.

Unfortunately, Xiaomi has not equipped the 12T Pro with wireless charging , so you will not be able to use this type of charging, but only by cable.

 

Software

The Xiaomi 12T Pro arrives with the MIUI Global 13 customization layer , which in this case is based on Android 12 . At the time of this analysis, it runs MIUI 13.0.9 with the September patch from Google.

At this point it is worth noting the company’s policy regarding updates, since the Xiaomi 12T Pro will receive 3 main updates to the operating system and 4 years of security patches.


What news does MIUI 13 bring?

The main novelties of MIUI 13 are in better management of the use of the processor, RAM and storage.

For example, MIUI 13 is supposed to keep track of current processor and RAM usage and suspend any unnecessary tasks to free up resources and offer smoother performance. Xiaomi promises an increase in the efficiency of background processes of up to 40%.

Xiaomi claims that on most phones, storage performance halves in 36 months due to inefficient storage management. MIUI 13 offers 60% more efficient defragmentation than MIUI 12 and other customization layers, so the drop in storage performance in 36 months should be 5% according to the company.

Another optimization of MIUI 13 is power management since, according to the company, the new version of MIUI consumes 10% less battery compared to MIUI 12.

Other news from MIUI 13 such as dynamic widgets, science beauty wallpapers, the customizable Xiao AI virtual assistant or the My Magic Center do not seem to have reached the global version of MIUI.


Xiaomi’s customization layer gives the possibility to use an application drawer or, if you prefer, skip it and have all installed apps placed on the desktop.

It is not possible to hide an icon, so we must be a bit orderly when placing the apps on the desktop.

The icons of the apps that Xiaomi incorporates are simple and colorful, with a mix between flat designs (gallery, music) and designs with shadows (phone, messages).

Some system icons present animations when the app is closed and returned to the desktop. For example, the gallery icon shows the sun rising.

If we pinch inwards with our fingers, we access three options at the bottom: Wallpaper, Widgets and Settings .

Within Settings we can choose the transition effects, set a screen as default, modify the grid of the home screen (4 × 6 or 5 × 6) and activate a couple of options to fill gaps in uninstalled applications and lock the design of the home screen.

By clicking on a More button we access additional options, among which is the possibility of activating Google Discover. 

Xiaomi also offers a section of wallpapers that gives us access to a large number of images organized by category that we can easily download and apply to our device.

Xiaomi offers two behaviors for the control center : the traditional way, which displays a single sheet with the control center and another with notifications, and a new way that offers the control center sheet and the notifications sheet separately .

Dragging down the screen from the right side reveals the control center sheet that contains, first of all, four large buttons to activate mobile data, WiFi network, Bluetooth and flashlight. Along below we see eight shortcuts and then the brightness control.

If we drag the screen down from the left side, we can see the notification sheet.

The lock screen shows the time and offers quick access to the camera by dragging the screen from the top right corner upwards.

It is also possible to show news and, if we drag to the right on the lock screen, we access a carousel of wallpapers.

With the screen turned off or in Always On Display mode, you can set the screen to turn on or show an animation when you receive a notification.

With the screen off, we have the option to enable power on with a double tap on the screen. This functionality is very useful when the phone is resting on a table.

In the same way, we can activate the screen to turn on when you pick up the phone , which is also interesting.

Xiaomi offers many customization options for the Always On Display screen , and we can choose between many designs or even opt for an inspiring phrase that we can write ourselves.

An interesting novelty that MIUI 12 introduced is Dark mode 2.0, which not only changes the color scheme but also dims the color of the wallpaper gradually as daylight changes to night.

Xiaomi also adjusts the way text is displayed when users switch between Normal and Dark modes. In Dark mode, it automatically adjusts the font thickness and intensity, as well as the font contrast depending on the user’s environment.

MIUI 13 offers quite a few privacy features . For example, you can choose to grant permissions to apps just once or only while you’re using them. Permissions will be revoked once you’re done using an app.

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Sharing photos is also more secure. Private information, such as device details or the location where the photo was taken, can be optionally removed from image files before you share them with anyone.

MIUI 13 offers gestures. For example, you can swipe down on an incoming notification to make it expand into a small window , which you can then freely drag around the screen for a floating window effect.

Xiaomi offers its own content synchronization service in the cloud. Every Mi Cloud account gets 5GB of free storage to back up system settings (home screen layout, wallpapers, time/alarms/clock/notification settings and more), photo gallery, recorder, notes , WiFi, calendar, browser, etc.

Also, by logging in to i.mi.com you can locate, lock, or wipe your device if you lose it. If the amount of cloud storage is insufficient, you can purchase additional packages of 50, 200 and 1024 GB for 3, 6 and 12 months.

Premium users also have some additional features such as a trash can in My Cloud that keeps deleted items for up to 60 days, including contacts, faster facial recognition in photos and daily phone backup.

An interesting MIUI option is Second space , which allows you to create a separate space on the phone, protected by password, where we can store contacts, images, files and applications that are not accessible from the main space.

In addition, depending on what password we enter on the lock screen or what finger we use to unlock by fingerprint, we access one space or another automatically.

A functionality related to the previous one is Application lock , which allows you to restrict access to certain apps by fingerprint or pattern. Access to apps is blocked when the phone is locked and optionally also when exiting the locked app (immediately after or after 1 minute).

Second Space and App Lock

Another privacy feature is Hidden Apps , which allows you to hide certain desktop icons and even your notifications. To access the hidden apps, you need to spread your fingers on the screen, and after entering your app lock password, you will see the folder with the hidden apps.

Also useful is Dual Apps which allows you to clone an app like WhatsApp, Facebook or Facebook Messenger to set up multiple accounts.

Xiaomi allows you to associate gestures and button presses with certain actions such as opening the camera, taking a screenshot, starting Google Assistant, turning off the screen, turning on the flashlight, closing the current app, opening the split screen or showing the menu.

MIUI incorporates Game Turbo , which improves the smartphone’s performance in games. For example, it prioritizes the game’s network connection to reduce Wi-Fi network lag, increases touch feedback and screen sensitivity, and improves audio and reduces background noise in conversations.

We can also enable hands-free call answering, disable full-screen buttons and gestures during games, and restrict some features during games: disable automatic brightness, disable reading mode, restrict screenshot gestures, and don’t open the bar. of notifications.

For each individual game we can set the level of swipe response, the sensitivity to continuous touches, the precision when aiming and the stability of touch. It’s also possible to reduce touch sensitivity near the edges to avoid activating touch controls and increase contrast and improve detail for gaming.

In addition, MIUI allows you to display in-game shortcuts by swiping from the top left edge of the screen. Among the options we find are deactivating floating notifications, changing the voice (so that it sounds like a child, woman, man, robot or cartoon), changing the screen display between bright and/or saturated, activating wireless transmission to a screen, or turn off the screen while keeping the game in the background.

We can open certain apps like WhatsApp, Facebook or the browser in a floating window above the game, free up RAM, take a screenshot or record the game. A section called Increase performance frees up memory, frees up storage space and monitors performance.

Game Turbo functionality adds gaming functionality

MIUI offers a functionality called ShareMe for file sharing that supports fast sending and receiving of files to and from OPPO, Realme, Xiaomi, Vivo, OnePlus, Meizu and Black Shark devices. This functionality is less useful since Google rolled out Nearby Sharing to all Android smartphones.

Xiaomi has made the sharing panel scroll horizontally instead of vertically, which can make sharing content annoying if you have a lot of apps installed.

The Xiaomi 12T Pro arrives with the MIUI browser pre- installed, which incorporates some improvements compared to Chrome, such as a night mode, which inverts the wallpaper and the colors of the letters, a reading mode that eliminates unnecessary elements from the web page and enlarges the letters to make it easier to read, an incognito mode to browse without leaving a trace, a data consumption reduction mode to save mobile data, a desktop mode to access web pages in its computer version.

Recently, Xiaomi has added to its browser a function to download videos and photos from social networks, a WhatsApp status grabber to save images and videos, and the ability to manage downloaded files and make them private.

Xiaomi has integrated the File Manager application , which allows you to manage the files stored on the phone. The manager has an option called Deep Cleaning that allows you to remove cached files, obsolete files, rarely used applications, etc.

MIUI incorporates a file viewer that allows you to open documents with .doc, .docx, .ppt, .pptx, .xls, .xlsx, .psd, .wps and .txt extensions.

Another of the apps that it incorporates is Security, which offers a multitude of functions such as:

  • Cleaner , which allows you to delete cached, obsolete files, etc.
  • Security scan , which looks for viruses and risks on the phone
  • Battery , which allows to reduce battery consumption
  • Data usage, which allows you to restrict data usage to certain apps and obtain usage statistics.
  • Block list , which allows you to block phone numbers for SMS and calls
  • Manage apps , which allows you to control which apps start automatically when you turn on your phone and what permissions the apps have
  • Game Turbo , which allows you to configure various parameters when playing games such as setting priority in the data connection for the game, restricting background synchronization, clearing cache, automatically answering hands-free calls, etc.
  • Deep cleaning , which performs a scan to free up space
  • Application lock , which allows you to protect access to an app
  • Dual apps, which clones apps that don’t support multi-account
  • Hidden apps, which hides apps from prying eyes
  • Second space, which generates a private space on the phone
  • Troubleshoot , which looks for problems on the smartphone and proposes solutions
  • Privacy protection, which allows you to see how apps are using certain sensitive permissions
  • Restrict the use of data , which allows you to control the use of WiFi and Mobile networks for each application

MIUI 13 Security Tool

Among the apps installed, My Remote is an app that allows you to use the smartphone’s infrared emitter to control household appliances; Services and comments allows Xiaomi to send incidents that we have with the phone; y Notes is an app that allows you to create voice and text/image notes, as well as record pending tasks.

Xiaomi has included its own application store called Mi Picks from which we can download applications. Now, I can’t think of any reason to use this store versus the Play Store.

Xiaomi has included quite a few bloatware -like apps as the phone comes with several pre-installed apps like Amazon Shopping, Facebook, TikTok, Spotify, WPS Office, Booking, LinkedIn, Goboo, Agoda, Snapchat, and Spotify . It has also included the games Tile Fun, Bubble Shooter And Friends , and Genshin Impact.

The MIUI layer is very complete, but it can be somewhat complex since it is not easy to move through the options . For example, some of the functions found in the Security application are also accessible in the phone’s Settings, and locating where the option you are looking for is not always easy.

Fortunately, I have not come across advertising in the system apps — something that has happened to me on other Xiaomi smartphones.

 

Multimedia

The Xiaomi 12T Pro has dual speakers,  so it offers stereo sound.

Xiaomi has placed the speakers on the sides, but while one is on top, the other is on the bottom when held horizontally. This means that if you hold your phone up to watch a video or play a game, you will most likely cover one of the two speakers.

The sound is tuned by Harman Kardon , the legendary company specializing in audio equipment, and offers Dolby Atmos sound.

Interestingly, these two speakers are aided by the in-ear earpiece , which also outputs sound and contributes to the stereo setup. The headset does not output just one channel of the stereo configuration, but both.

In practice, the Xiaomi 12T Pro offers good nuanced sound, although I would not recommend enjoying music using these speakers. However, it is a good companion when watching videos or playing games on mobile.

The Xiaomi 12T Pro does not include a 3.5 mm connector , so if you are used to listening to music with headphones you will have to resort to a USB-C to 3.5 mm adapter, headphones with a USB-C connector or with a Bluetooth connection.

In this respect, the Xiaomi 12T Pro is compatible with SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, AptX TWS+, LDAC and LDHC codecs.

Focusing on the software, the music player app has several tabs: Recent, Favorites and Playlists. We can also show the music by songs, artists, albums and folders , as well as order the songs by date, name or number of reproductions.

It is possible to hide short or small audio files (which are usually notification tones or app sounds) and filter folders. It is also possible to apply sound effects thanks to an equalizer and it has presets for certain types of headphones.

In addition, it includes four sound modes : dynamic, music, video and voice.

Music app

The Xiaomi 12T Pro arrives with a Gallery app that displays two tabs: Photos and Albums . Within the Photos tab are all the photos and videos followed, while in the Albums tab we find all the photo albums,

Within the Albums section, if we drag the screen down we can access a private album protected by password or fingerprint so that we can store our most private images.

By clicking on a photo we can share it through other apps, project it on a screen, set it as a background or contact photo, add it to an album, etc. As we have previously mentioned, MIUI allows secure sharing, that is, without location and/or device information.

The integrated editor offers different image effects, cropping tools, and light adjustments to touch up our photos.

An interesting functionality is that the app identifies similar photos and marks the one that it considers to be the best shot. This is quite useful if you are an easy shooter and are used to taking several practically the same photos.

Gallery app

The Gallery application incorporates a video editing functionality that allows you to modify the video resolution, so that, for example, if you have recorded an 8K video, you can generate a 4K or 1080p video that is easier to share with other people.

The playback of videos stored on the phone is good thanks to its screen that, as we have mentioned, offers high brightness and good color fidelity.

Of course, we can enjoy video from streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon or others and, in addition, the Xiaomi 12T Pro has the Widevine L1 library, so it is possible to view content from these streaming services in HD.

In addition, since the screen is compatible with HDR, including Dolby Vision, we can play Netflix content encoded with this format.

 

cameras

The Xiaomi 12T Pro comes with three rear cameras with the following characteristics:

  • Wide-angle camera (85º) with 200 MP (1/1.22″, 0.64μm) Samsung ISOCELL HP1 sensor, 16-in-1 SuperPixel, f/1.69 aperture, ProFocus focus, optical stabilization (OIS).
  • Ultra wide angle camera (120°) with Samsung S5K4H7 8MP (1/4″, 1.12μm) sensor and 5P lens with f/2.2 aperture.
  • Macro camera with 2MP (1/5″, 1.75μm) GalaxyCore GC02 sensor and f/2.4 aperture lens

It also incorporates a front camera:

  • Wide-angle camera with Sony IMX596 sensor (1/3.47″, 0.8μm) with f/2.2 aperture lens with fixed focus.

Unlike other high-end smartphones, it does not have a telephoto camera, so we cannot get close to distant objects or take portraits at a distance so that the face is not deformed.

Xiaomi has included its ProFocus functionality , which offers motion and eye tracking focus to ensure that the elements we want to capture always look sharp. If you’re a certain distance away, the phone displays a frame over your face, but if you get closer, the frame shrinks and is centered over your eye.

An interesting feature of the Camera app is that it is possible to save photos in HEIF format, which take up 40% less space, although some applications do not support this format. Similarly, it is possible to save videos in HEVC (H.265) format, which is more efficient. In fact, videos recorded in 8K are always saved in this format.

If you are an advanced user, you will be happy to know that Xiaomi includes a Pro mode for photography and video that is available with all three cameras and allows you to manually adjust parameters such as ISO sensitivity, focus point (separate from exposure point), white balance, exposure time and more.

In this mode, we can also save images in JPEG and RAW format for later editing, and show visual guides to know the focus point and under/over-exposed areas.

Wide-angle camera (main)

Starting with the wide-angle camera , its huge Samsung ISOCELL HP1 sensor has a very high resolution of 200MP. By default, photos are taken at 12 MP using pixel binning technology that combines 16 pixels into 1 to reduce noise.

However, it is possible to activate a super high resolution mode in which the captures are made at 50 or 200.

Next, we can see some cuts of the same scene taken with resolutions of 12, 50 and 200 MP. The 200 MP image offers a little more detail when enlarged, but we must take into account that the resulting file occupies much more: 5 MB (12MP) vs. 16MB (50MP) vs. 57MB (200MP). In general, 50MP should be enough.

Crops of images taken in normal mode (12MP) and super resolution (50MP and 200MP)

If you take captures in 200 MP, Xiaomi offers a functionality called ProCut . It is a set of algorithms that, from a photograph, generates several cuts that, thanks to the high resolution of the original image, continue to maintain a high sharpness.

In my opinion, it’s more of a curiosity than a useful functionality. Next, we can see a couple of examples.

First of all, I wanted to analyze the quality of the image (always in 12MP) in abundant light conditions . In the following images we can see that the main camera offers a good level of detail, vivid colors (maybe too much?) and a wide dynamic range.

Photos taken in bright light with the main camera

As for low-light photography, it has a reasonable aperture (f/1.7) and optical stabilization, so good performance in night photography can be expected.

The phone incorporates a Night mode that allows you to take pictures with long exposure handheld, without the need to use a tripod. In fact, it is possible to activate an option so that photos are taken in Night mode automatically when we are in low light conditions, and identical results are obtained.

At this point it is worth noting that the Night mode of the Xiaomi 12T Pro is one of the fastest I have seen. You don’t have to wait 3-4 seconds like other smartphones, but it’s almost instantaneous. Another interesting aspect is that it is quite true to life, unlike other phones that try to make night seem like day.

As we can see in the following images, the quality of the image captured by the main camera is quite good in low light conditions.

Photos taken in low light with the main camera

Xiaomi has incorporated an AI scene recognition system that, if you don’t like it, you can deactivate it on the fly by clicking on the icon that marks the scene it has detected. In general, increase saturation and contrast to make images more eye-catching.

ultra wide angle camera

The ultra-wide-angle camera has an 8MP resolution sensor and the lens has a narrower f /2.2 aperture.

It lacks optical stabilization (although this is common for this type of camera), it does not have autofocus (which limits some creative possibilities when taking close-up photos), and it automatically corrects the typical distortion of these lenses.

An ultra-wide-angle camera provides great versatility when it comes to capturing landscape or architectural photos. I personally find the ultra wide angle camera very useful as it allows you to take more interesting pictures.

Below we can see some examples of photos taken with the ultra wide angle lens. In good light the images are very good, as can be seen in these examples, although they do not stand out especially for their sharpness given the 8MP resolution.

Photos taken with the ultra-wide camera in good light conditions

In low-light conditions, the ultra-wide-angle camera also holds up quite well thanks to Night mode, although noise does make an appearance and sharpness suffers quite a bit.

Photos taken with the Ultra Wide Camera in low light conditions

macro camera

The macro camera has a sensor of only 2 MP, so you can not expect great quality from this camera. In fact, in my opinion, it is a completely expendable camera, since its usefulness is limited and, in general, it contributes very little to the whole.

Next, we can see some examples of captures taken by the macro camera, which do not stand out especially for their sharpness or color.

Photos taken with the macro camera

Portrait mode

The Xiaomi 12T Pro is capable of taking photos in Portrait mode by detecting the outline of the person we want to photograph and blurring the background of the image to produce the well-known bokeh effect .

The ideal lens for taking a portrait is one with a focal length of about 50-70mm, which is equivalent to a 2-3x zoom, so phones that have a telephoto lens usually use it to take portraits. However, the Xiaomi 12T Pro does not have a telephoto lens, so portraits must be taken with the wide-angle camera.

What Xiaomi has done is force the 2x zoom by software when switching to Portrait mode, taking advantage of the fact that the wide-angle camera has a very high resolution. It is the same approach that Apple has followed with the iPhone 14 Pro, which also uses the wide-angle camera with 2x zoom by cutting out the center of the image captured by the sensor.h

One aspect that I like about Xiaomi’s Portrait mode is that it allows you to adjust the depth of field both during capture and afterward in the Gallery , which gives you the possibility to adjust the blur to your liking or even discard the blur if detected. of the contour has not been carried out correctly.

The hair clipping is sometimes a bit abrupt and the degree of background blur is quite high, sometimes resulting in a considerable “goop” effect. Normally, it is enough to reduce the background blur afterwards to make the result look more natural.

Below we can see some images taken with Portrait mode. In abundant light, the quality is good, but it suffers a lot when the light is low, probably because we are not taking advantage of the entire sensor, but only the central cutout, and we have less information to reduce noise.

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Photos taken in Portrait mode

In addition to editing the degree of blur, Xiaomi allows you to adjust the shape of the blur (circles, hearts, diamonds, etc.) and apply cinematic effects that add artistic bands of color to the photo. In any case, I think it’s best to stick with the original photograph.

Frontal camera

The front camera has a 20MP sensor and is accompanied by a lens with an f / 2.2 aperture , but it does not have autofocus, so you will have to adjust the distance between the camera and your face to, approximately, an arm, so that you can see it. see correctly focused.

The front camera allows you to smooth the skin, slim the face, make the eyes larger, resize the nose, chin and lips, and lower the hair to reduce the forehead. It is also possible to apply makeup effects (eyebrows, eyeliner, lip gloss, eye glitter, blush) and image filters.

Here we can see some selfies captured with the front camera. Selfies, in good light conditions, have a good quality and offer great sharpness due to the high resolution of the sensor.

Selfies taken with the front camera

The front camera can also take Portrait mode selfies, as we can see in these examples, and the result is quite good. However, when you activate Portrait mode with the front camera, HDR seems to reduce its effect, so the sky in the background tends to look white.

Selfies taken in Portrait mode with the front camera

Video recording

The wide-angle camera of the Xiaomi 12T Pro is capable of recording video in 8K resolution (7680×4320) with HDR10 at 24 fps, a video mode that many users will not take advantage of at the moment since 8K televisions are not widespread. A maximum of 6 minutes can be recorded at this resolution.

The wide angle camera can record video up to [email protected], while the ultra wide angle camera is limited to [email protected] On the other hand, the front camera can record videos in Full HD/1080p at 30/60 fps and HD formats. /720p at 30 fps — but no 4K recording.

It is possible to switch between the wide-angle and ultra-wide cameras while you are recording a video, but the transition from one to the other is not smooth, since there is a perceived change in the way color is reproduced. It is not possible to switch between the rear cameras and the front camera.

In addition, the Xiaomi 12T Pro allows you to record HDR10 + video at 4K for greater contrast and colour, although you will need a screen like the 12T Pro or a modern television to appreciate the difference.

Xiaomi offers a motion tracking focus functionality , which allows moving people to be automatically kept in focus.

To focus on a specific object, simply double-tap the object with your finger and the phone will lock onto the subject and maintain focus on that point, even if it’s temporarily obscured or out of frame. The Xiaomi 12T Pro will recognize and track the subject you previously touched when it returns to the frame.

Below, we can see some examples of videos recorded with the Xiaomi 12T Pro at [email protected] and [email protected] During the day, the image quality is good and the electronic video stabilization (EIS) works well.

Videos recorded with the Xiaomi 12T Pro during the day

I have also shot some videos at night, in low light conditions, at [email protected] and [email protected] resolutions. As usual, videos shot at night at 60fps look quite dark.

Videos recorded with the Xiaomi 12T Pro at night

When recording video, the Xiaomi 12T Pro offers a Steady Video mode that reduces the field of view to achieve a more stable image, but it is only possible to record at 1080p resolution with 30 FPS.

It is also possible to apply filters during video recording, both to change the color and to apply a beauty effect or even bokeh (background blur). If you wish, it is possible to record video in 2.35:1 format as if it were a movie.

Xiaomi offers a video recording mode to [email protected] called VLOG that consists of recording small fragments of videos and later joining them into a single video with music and quite striking effects.

It is possible to choose between 19 different types, each with its own characteristics.

Xiaomi has added some movie effect video recording modes : back in time, magic zoom, slow shutter, motion freeze, night time lapse, and parallel world.

When recording video in Pro mode, it is possible to see a histogram in real time, as well as the sound levels picked up by the microphones.

Finally, there is a Dual video recording mode that allows you to record with the front and rear cameras at the same time, dividing the screen in two.

 

voice calls

In the tests I have carried out, the voice quality is correct and we have been able to perfectly hold conversations in moderately noisy environments without difficulties.

The calls application and the contacts application are the same , although they have two different tabs. On the desktop you will find two shortcuts to Phone and Contacts that take you directly to each of the tabs.

The Xiaomi 12T Pro offers the possibility to configure quick responses, progressively increase the volume of the ringtone, silence the first ring for calls from unknown numbers, silence the ringer if you turn the phone over or pick it up, and turn on the flash when it is ringing. , among other.

Another interesting option is that you can set the phone to alert you that you have missed calls every five minutes for a number of times.

 

Precio

The Xiaomi 12T Pro is for sale at a price of €799.99 (8GB/256GB) and €849.99 (12GB/256GB).

The natural alternative is the Xiaomi 12T ( €589.99 ), which has a 6.7″ AMOLED screen at 120 Hz, Mediatek Dimensity 8100-Ultra chip, 8GB of RAM, 128/256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, large rear camera wide angle (108MP, f/1.7) + ultra wide angle (8MP, f/2.2) + macro (2MP, f/2.4), front camera (20MP, f/2.2), 5,000 mAh battery with 120W fast charge

On the market, there are several interesting alternatives for a similar price, such as the Samsung Galaxy S22+, Pixel 7 Pro, OnePlus 10 Pro, OPPO Find X5, Huawei P50 Pro or even the POCO F4 GT.

The Samsung Galaxy S22+ ( €899 ) has a 6.6″ Dynamic AMOLED screen up to 120 Hz, Exynos 2200 processor (or Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in certain regions), 8 GB of LPDDR5 RAM, 128/256 GB of UFS 3.1 storage, wide angle rear camera (50MP, f/1.8) + ultra wide angle (12MP, f/2.2) + 3x telephoto lens (10MP, f/2.4), front camera (10MP, f/2.2) and 4,500 mAh battery with fast charging at 45W.

The Pixel 7 Pro ( €899 ) is a smartphone with a 6.7″ AMOLED screen at 120Hz, Google Tensor 2 processor, 8/12GB of RAM, 128/256/512 GB of UFS 3.1 storage, wide-angle rear camera (50MP, f /1.9) + ultra wide angle (12MP, f/2.2) + 5x telephoto lens (48MP, f/3.5), front camera (11MP, f/2.2), and 5,000 mAh battery with 30W fast charging.

The OnePlus 10 Pro ( €889 ) offers a 6.7″ 120Hz Fluid AMOLED LTPO2 screen, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, 8/12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM, 128/256 GB of UFS 3.1 storage, 48MP f/ rear camera 1.8 (wide angle) + 50MP f/2.2 (ultra wide angle) + 8MP f/2.4 (telephoto lens), 32MP f/2.2 front camera and 5,000 mAh battery with 80W fast charging and 50W wireless charging.

The OPPO Find X5 ( €999 ) has a 6.55″ AMOLED screen with HDR10+ support and 120 Hz, Snapdragon 888 processor, 8 GB of LPDDR5 RAM, 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, wide-angle triple rear camera (50MP, f/1.8) + 2x telephoto lens (13MP, f/2.4) + ultra wide angle (50MP, f/2.2), front camera (32MP, f/2.4) and 4,800 mAh battery with 80W fast charging.

The Huawei P50 Pro ( €802 ) has a 6.6″ OLED screen, Snapdragon 888 4G (without 5G support), 8/12 GB of RAM, 128/256/512 GB of storage, wide-angle rear camera (50MP, f /1.8) + ultra wide angle (13MP, f/2.2) + 3.5x telephoto (64MP, f/3.5) + monochrome (40MP, f/1.6), front camera (13MP, f/2.4), 4,360 mAh battery with fast charge at 66W. It lacks Google services.

If we lower the bar, the POCO F4 GT ( €489 ) offers a 6.7″ FullHD+ AMOLED screen at 120 Hz, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, 8/12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM, 128/256 GB of UFS 3.1 storage, rear cameras wide angle (64MP f/1.9) + ultra wide angle (8MP f/2.2) + macro (2MP f/2.2), front camera (20MP f/2.4), pop-up buttons and 4,700 mAh battery with 120W fast charging.

 

conclusions

The Xiaomi 12T Pro has a sleek but somewhat bland design , with a glass front and back joined by a plastic (rather than aluminum, like other smartphones) chassis.

The phone is available in three inconspicuous colorsblack, blue, and silver — and, at least on the black model I’ve tested, fingerprints are barely visible thanks to its matte finish. The camera module protrudes, causing the phone to wobble slightly when used while sitting on a table.

Xiaomi has included a large 6.7″ screen surrounded by narrow and symmetrical frames. The front camera is located in a hole right in the center, so it can be slightly annoying when watching movies or playing games horizontally, but it is quite small.

The screen is completely flat, so the side frames are not as hidden as in other smartphones with curved screens. In return, there are no color changes or annoying reflections in the curved area.

The screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 5 , which is not the latest version of Corning’s coating, so the resistance to bumps and scratches is not that good. The back, also made of curved glass on both sides, apparently does not have any protection, so you have to be careful.

With a thickness of 8.6 mm and a weight of 205 grams , the Xiaomi 12T Pro is not exactly a thin or light smartphone, but I have not found it uncomfortable in the hand. Xiaomi has not given the device official water resistance certification, although we do see some sealing in the SIM card tray that makes us optimistic about a possible dip.

The phone has a 6.7″ AMOLED panel with a resolution higher than Full HD+ , which translates into a high pixel density of 446 ppi.

According to my measurements, the screen reaches a maximum brightness of around 860 nits when under bright light such as the sun (Xiaomi talks about 900 nits in its spec sheet). It is a high value, on a par with other high-end smartphones, so you will not have any problems using the phone outdoors.

The color gamut is wide as it covers 100% of the wide DCI-P3 space, which only high-end smartphones cover. It is compatible with HDR10 + and, surprisingly, also with Dolby Vision, so you can play very high-quality content on services like Netflix.

Of the three color modes it offers, the original mode offers excellent color fidelity, but most people will prefer the default vivid mode as it displays more vivid (albeit less realistic) colors.

The screen offers a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz, which translates into greater fluidity when scrolling or moving through the interface.

Possible refresh rates are limited to 30, 60, 90, or 120 Hz , so you can’t go down to 10 or even 1 Hz to save battery life by displaying static content like other smartphones do. This is because it does not have an LTPO panel.

Of course, the Always On Display is present , so we can see the time/date, battery level and notifications at all times.

Xiaomi has integrated an optical fingerprint reader under the screen that unlocks the phone quickly, although for my taste it is located too low, so it is not so easy to reach. It also offers 2D facial recognition, which is not as secure as the iPhone’s 3D recognition but is very comfortable.

The Xiaomi 12T Pro has a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor which, to this day, is the most powerful you can find in an Android smartphone. Accompanying this chip we find 8 or 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256 GB of UFS 3.1 storage with no option to expand via micro-SD.

In the benchmark tests that I have carried out, the performance of the smartphone has been excellent , as expected given the hardware that it incorporates. The phone’s heat dissipation has also been improved, with performance only slightly affected after long periods of use.

On a day-to-day basis, the Xiaomi 12T Pro moves very fluently and at no time have I suffered significant stoppages. 3D games run smoothly and I’ve measured stable rates of 60 FPS in titles like Call Of Duty or Asphalt 9, reaching 120 Hz in Real Racing 3 .

The Xiaomi 12T Pro arrives with a 5,000 mAh battery which, on paper, seems sufficient for such a large screen. On a day-to-day basis, we are faced with a solid autonomy, which stands out compared to other high-end smartphones, especially with the 60 Hz screen.

The phone features 120W fast wired charging (using Xiaomi’s protocol, not the USB PD standard), and in my tests, it fully charged in just 19 minutes, which is extremely short. Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer wireless charging and, of course, reverse wireless charging.

In terms of connectivity, it offers WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, infrared and NFC but does not have an FM radio. It is compatible with 5G networks (in the Sub-6GHz band) and includes a space for a second SIM card (Dual SIM), as well as support for eSIM.

One aspect for improvement is the transfer speed of the USB port, which is only USB 2.0 , while its higher-end rivals are usually USB 3.2. It also does not support video output, in case you want to connect it to a TV.

The Xiaomi 12T Pro comes with three rear cameras that allow you to take wide-angle, ultra-wide angle and macro photos.

The main camera features a huge 200 MP Samsung ISOCELL HP1 sensor and an f /1.7 aperture lens with optical stabilization. This camera combines, by default, 16 pixels in 1 to generate 12 MP images with less noise, but it is also possible to take super resolution shots of 50 MP or even 200 MP with greater sharpness.

In good light conditions, the image quality of the main camera is excellent and, when the light is low, it automatically activates the Night mode that, without having to wait long, produces images with contained noise and a quality comparable to what we obtain on other flagships.

The ultra-wide-angle camera has an 8MP sensor and a slow one with an f/2.2 aperture. It provides a different perspective when photographing large objects such as buildings or monuments.

It is a useful camera during the day and, although its aperture is more limited and it does not have optical stabilization, it maintains its type at night, although noise is noticeable and sharpness suffers considerably.

Finally, the macro camera with 2MP resolution is, in my opinion, dispensable, since it hardly adds anything to the whole. Its resolution is limited and its quality is, to put it mildly, improvable.

The Xiaomi 12T Pro allows you to capture photos in Portrait mode , but, since it does not have a telephoto lens, it uses a 2X zoom by cropping the image captured by the wide-angle camera. It’s a good idea to avoid distortion at close range from wide-angle cameras.

The hair clipping is sometimes a bit abrupt and the degree of background blur can be too high, so the image doesn’t always look natural (there’s a bit of goop ). Luckily, we can adjust the degree of blur afterwards to improve the image.

The main camera is capable of recording video up to 8K resolution at 24fps and 4K at 60fps, as well as HDR10+ video . The ultra-wide camera stays at 1080p at 30fps, while the front-facing camera can record video up to 1080p at 60fps.

In the videos that I have recorded, the image quality has been good. Xiaomi also offers a Stabilization mode, although at the cost of reducing the field of vision.

An interesting functionality that Xiaomi includes is the motion tracking focus, which allows you to focus on a person (or pet) even if they move. This functionality not only detects the face, but at close distances, it can also track the eye to ensure more precise focus.

As for the front camera , its 20MP resolution is high and, in general, it offers good image quality. It is possible to take selfies in Portrait mode, with a quite successful result although, in this case, the functionality of HDR suffers and the sky tends to look almost white.

The Xiaomi 12T Pro offers good sound through Harman Kardon-tuned stereo speakers that deliver good sound and are helped by the in-ear earpiece, which also pumps out sound. The layout of the speakers means that when held horizontally, it’s easy to cover one of the speakers, regardless of the orientation of the phone.

Xiaomi incorporates the MIUI 13 customization layer based on Android 12 in this phone. Most of the improvements that MIUI 13 brings are internal, since it optimizes power consumption, storage performance degradation and background process execution .

MIUI incorporates interesting features to control battery consumption, clone applications that do not support multi-account, create a second private space, protect access to apps with passwords, protect access to private photos, hide apps from the desktop, etc.

In addition, it incorporates some features that we do not usually find in other smartphones, such as an improved Dark mode that dims the wallpaper and adapts the font, Quick Responses to notifications without leaving the app, the Game Turbo tool to improve the gaming experience, Safe Sharing to remove device and location data from photos before sharing, etc.

MIUI is quite a heavy layer and offers a somewhat complex interface. It sometimes calls the same thing different names depending on where you are, and sometimes uses confusing names for certain functionality.

The Xiaomi 12T Pro is for sale at a price of €799.99 (8GB/256GB) and €849.99 (12GB/256GB). It is, therefore, a step below what the flagships of the moment cost, although it is true that it makes sacrifices in some aspects.

Is the Xiaomi 12T Pro worth it? If you are looking for a smartphone with a good screen, the best performance, good autonomy and competent cameras (without a telephoto lens, yes), the Xiaomi 12T Pro is a good choice.

The best and the worst

The best:

  • Front design with narrow frames surrounding the screen. Rear design in a matte finish that prevents fingerprints from being marked.
  • Screen with high pixel density, excellent maximum brightness, wide color range, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support, high color fidelity and refresh rate up to 120 Hz.
  • Always -On Screen functionality , double-tap screen wake-up, and momentary-on when a notification arrives.
  • Fingerprint reader integrated into the screen and 2D facial recognition.
  • High performance thanks to the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, 8/12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256 GB of UFS 3.1 storage.
  • WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, infrared and 5G connectivity with Sub-6 support. Dual SIM support through second SIM and eSIM.
  • MIUI 13 customization layer with many added features: control of battery consumption and mobile data by app, app cloning, app access protection, second space, gesture management, Game Turbo, deletion of private data on photos before sending them , improved Dark mode, etc.
  • Stereo speakers that offer good sound quality.
  • Main rear camera with good overall performance even at night thanks to the automatic Night mode.
  • Front camera with good sharpness and Portrait mode (although with worse HDR in this mode).
  • High resolution video recording (up to [email protected]) with the main camera and HDR10+ support for video recording.
  • Good autonomy thanks to its 5,000 mAh battery and the optimization of the Snapdragon 8+ Gen1 chip.
  • Very fast charging by cable (120W), which exceeds any other smartphone sold in Europe. 120W fast charger included.

 

Worst:

  • Gorilla Glass 5 protection on the front, less advanced than other flagships, and plastic chassis.
  • Screen with adaptive refresh rate but does not drop to 1 or 10 Hz to reduce battery consumption.
  • USB 2.0 port (slower than USB 3.2 on other smartphones) and no video output.
  • No telephoto camera and an expendable macro camera.
  • No wireless charging.
  • Without official certification (IP67/IP68) against water and dust.