We are experiencing what we could easily define as a mass invasion of smartphones “halfway” , those that float in the limbo of the so-called mid-range of the market. Not a week goes by in which at least one of the various producers on the market does not decide to churn out a new product between 300 and 500 euros , so much so that now we also struggle to remember them all. One Plus Nord CE 2, Oppo Find X5 Lite, Redmi Note 11 Pro, an unspecified number of Realme and so on: all solutions with a price that is often very similar and “okay but doesn’t stand out” specifications.
The new Xiaomi 12 Lite has recently dived into this sea of ​​products which, as mentioned above, offers many good features and a satisfactory user experience; so much so that it can be defined as a reliable and concrete product , albeit not astonishing. But I will not go into other considerations, let’s go to the point and see how it behaves in practice.
SUMMARY
- DESIGN AND MATERIALS
- DISPLAY E AUDIO
- SOFTWARE
- EXPERIENCE OF USE
- DATA SHEET
- CAMERAS
- CONSIDERATIONS
DESIGN AND MATERIALS
I start by talking to you about what first catches the eye when we open the package and take this smartphone in our hands for the first time. Xiaomi 12 Lite is a product that does its duty , without frills, and does it well. Even if with some sacrifices in terms of materials, the construction still appears solid and you never have the feeling of having a cheap solution in your hands . It is not to be taken for granted; in this market segment, between chromed edges and glossy covers, it often happens to fall into the trap of the “I wish but I can’t” look.
The plastic frames of this Xiaomi are however of good quality and are paired with the frosted glass of the back cover which gives it a more premium look and a certain sobriety at the same time. Maybe it will be our gray coloring a little flat but, in my view, what it lacks is some style accent that tears it a little out of anonymity.
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| Xiaomi 12 Lite 73.7 x 159.3 x 7.3 mm | Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G 75.72 x 160.53 x 6.81 mm | Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 75.73 x 160.53 x 6.81 mm |
The display is instead protected by a Gorilla Glass that promises a certain degree of protection from scratches and breakages. I can confidently tell you that after ten days of use, including a short vacation in the mountains where he couldn’t avoid a couple of flights without a parachute, there are no obvious signs of wear . Of course it is not the case to take it with a hammer but for what is normal use, it should be sufficiently resistant. Enough to give a damn about the cover? I leave the choice to you, Xiaomi still puts it in the package, so as not to be mistaken.
Coming for a moment to the measures we are talking about 173 grams of weight and 7.3 mm of thickness . To understand, it weighs a gram less than the iPhone 13 and is a millimeter thinner than the same. Translated, we are talking about a smartphone that is absolutely manageable and usable without too many complications at an ergonomic level, even with one hand.
In terms of sensors and ports, we have no surprises; the USB-C on the bottom is a 2.0 without video output , there is the infrared sensor, typical of Xiaomi smartphones but absolutely not obvious. Next to the USB we find the speaker and on the other side the trolley for the SIM, indeed for the double nanoSIM. On the back the cameras are slightly protruding, not at the level of the highest models in the range but still enough to make it uncomfortable to use with the smartphone resting on the table.
Finally , there is no certification against water infiltration but, from personal experience, I can tell you that a few drops of water do not create problems. Sure, I’d avoid diving but if you end up in a summer downpour (done!) You don’t have to worry too much about it.
DISPLAY E AUDIO
And we are talking about the display, that of the Xiaomi 12 Lite is a 6.5-inch diagonal AMOLED with a resolution of 2400×1080 pixels , a fullHD + with a pixel density of 402 ppi, I would say more than enough for any use. We are therefore faced with a good display, perhaps among the best in its category for yield and visibility in all light conditions. The maximum luminance reaches a peak of 950 nits when playing HDR content, while it drops to around 600 nits in standard conditions, however sufficient to guarantee reading even under the sun.
The anti-reflection treatment was also sufficient, I saw better but also much worse solutions, while the oleophobic one did not disappoint. Let’s say that some footprints still remain, as is normal, but it is not that smartphone that you will rub on the shirt every 20 minutes to remove the dirt. Good then the reactivity of the brightness sensor.
It is not an impacting detail in terms of user experience but I must tell you that since it is not an LTPO display, the refresh rate, which reaches 120Hz, is not adaptive. You can vary between 60 and 120 Hz but, once the setting has been chosen, it will remain fixed at the set frequency.
I have already mentioned the speaker on the bottom of the smartphone that is paired with the speaker of the ear capsule to convey the audio in stereo configuration . The yield is decent, the volume is not very high but the quality compensates with good sharpness, especially on mids and highs. Obviously, as on all smartphones, bass is missing, but we know that this is a limit mainly due to the size of the drivers. The audio is also good on call, both as regards the capsule and hands-free.
SOFTWARE
Speaking of Xiaomi, the software always deserves a separate chapter because it is a topic that divides the opinions of users enough. Obviously we are talking about MIUI, here in version 13 , which as always I have greatly appreciated for some things and I have yet to digest for others.
There is certainly the great possibility of customization to be appreciated. If you are a lover of these things and you like to spend time changing icons, themes, background and color combinations, Xiaomi with its MIUI truly offers an almost infinite number of options . But not only that, even the settings menu is very complete and allows you to control every aspect of the smartphone in detail, as only a few other companies allow to do.
And then in general it is a software that does not make you miss a more or less updated version of Android. Updates on which instead you have to work on the security patch side, especially for what concerns consistency and timing.
What I would like to see, especially from a company that is now a global giant, is certainly a little less “inspiration” and a little more initiative. The toggle curtain separated from that of notifications is a detail of clear fruitarian derivation (apples in particular), but which honestly still struggle to digest in everyday use even though I often use iPhone. Ok, you can modify it and restore it to the origins but many users could be confused at the first use.
Finally, I just can’t swallow even the presence of a not too limited series of bloatware . Honestly, in 2022 even enough. I am not an expert on the subject but I believe that now, in his position, Xiaomi no longer needs these things to get by, indeed, it would perhaps be much more useful to provide the user with even cleaner software.
Good news on the DRM side, we have the Widevine level 1 and therefore there should be no problems in playing the streaming content for most multimedia content distribution services.
On the updates side, however, Xiaomi’s policy for medium-to-high-end products provides for two major updates and security patches updated more or less quarterly for three years.
EXPERIENCE OF USE
Removed these small problems, the user experience is still very good, also because at the base we have an absolutely valid SoC and a hardware platform that is perfectly capable of supporting everything that is normally required of a product of this kind. Under the body we have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G with Adreno 642L GPU accompanied by 6 or 8 GB of RAM and 128 or 256 GB of storage on UFS 2.2 memories which are not the fastest on the market but are still able to guarantee performance more than sufficient.
And so it is not only for the memories but for the entire hardware sector. The smartphone is fluid and fast in uploads, so much so that it is difficult to run into lag, even of a small entity. The merit, if we want to define it so, is also of MIUI which, as we all know by now, tends to close applications in the background in a fairly aggressive manner. A fact that, on the one hand, allows us to maintain a certain reactivity, on the other, forces us to wait a few more moments when we recall an application that has not been placed in the background recently.
XIAOMI 12 LITE DATASHEET
- display: AMOLED DotDisplay 6,55″ FHD+, refresh rate 120Hz, AdaptiveSync 60/120Hz, Dolby Vision, HRD10+, sampling rate 240Hz, rapporto 20:9, 402ppi, 2RGB 100%, contrasto 5.000.000:1, luminosità fino a 950nit, modalità Reading 3.0, modalità Sunlight 3.0, Corning Gorilla Glass 5, tecnologia TrueColor, ΔE ≈ 0.31, JNCD ≈ 0.26, True Display, PWM dimming 1.920Hz
- mobile platform: Snapdragon 778G
- memoria: 6/128GB, 8/128GB, 8/256GB (LPRRD4x/UFS 2.2)
- OS: MIUI 13 based on Android 12
- audio: Dolby Atmos, 2x speaker
- dual SIM: sì, dual standby
- connettività : 5G, WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, USB-C, GPS, Glonass, Galileo, Beidou, QZSS
- dimensions and weight: 159,3×73,7×7,29mm for 173g
- fingerprint sensor: integrated into the display
- cameras:
- anteriore: 32MP, f/2,45, dual LED, selfie time-lapse
- posteriori:
- Main 108MP, 1 / 1.52 “sensor
- 8MP ultra wide angle, f / 2.2, FOV 120 °
- 2MP macro, f/2,4, FF (4cm)
- video fino a 4K @30fps
- battery: 4.300mAh, 67W charging
- colori: Black, Lite Green, Lite Pink
However, if I have to give you a synthetic judgment I can safely say that we are facing a smartphone with which you will have no problems in everyday use, on the contrary, the platform is perfectly sewn to be able to combine the right performance and longer autonomy. that’s enough . An absolutely not obvious given the capacity of the module that we find inside this Xiaomi 12 lite. There is talk of “only” 4300 mAh which are however sufficient to complete a day of use that is also quite intense. In my stressful day I managed to get to touch the 5 hours of active screen, a figure that allows 99% of users to always arrive at bedtime without problems.
But even if you find yourself in an emergency, the support for fast charging up to 67 Watts will allow you to recharge 50% of the battery in just 13 minutes. Time for a shower and you are ready to face the rest of the day in complete tranquility. The Complete recharge, with the charger in the package which is just 67W, takes place in just over half an hour.
Just then to say a few words also about connectivity. The modem obviously supports 5G, there is WiFi 6 and Bluetooth in version 5.2. Well the reception, as I have already told you previously, I have used it for a few days in the mountains and I must say that even in situations where the signal strength is not exactly at the top I have not had any major problems, or at least not more than I it happened to check with other smartphones even higher-end. The vibration is good for accuracy but it could be a little stronger.
Unfortunately, I must then once again resume the discussion linked to the proximity sensor which is also virtual here, with all the problems of sorts that we already know very well and that lead the display to be activated in some situations in which it should instead be turned off. Come on Xiaomi, from next year we return to the physical sensors that we like so much.
CAMERAS
And before drawing conclusions, I also talk about the cameras. The back cover of this Xiaomi 12 lite houses in particular 3 different optics . The first, the main one, offers the classic 108 megapixel sensor that we also have on board many other Xiaomi products, accompanied by a lens with an f / 1.9 aperture and a lens with an equivalent focal length of 26 mm. The second module is the ultra-wide one, equipped with 120 degrees of viewing angle and an 8 megapixel sensor with an f / 2.2 aperture lens. Finally we have the 2 megapixel macro which, honestly, I would never have used if I had not been forced to try it, in short, it is put there a bit to make up for it, an optical zoom, even just 3x would certainly have been more appreciated.
Speaking of the main camera I must say that I have found with a pleasant surprise that the performance of the 108 megapixel sensor is better than that of many alternatives that share this specification. It almost seems that Xiaomi has used the same algorithms as its top of the range adapting them to this sensor to obtain results closer to the 12 series than to the Redmi family. It absolutely makes sense and we’re glad it does.
The result are very good photos during the day as regards the management of lights and HDR, with a fairly fast and precise focus and good sharpness. But it is above all in the evening that this perspective seemed better to me than in the past and to some alternatives of the same range. In general, I noticed a better white balance and a more effective background noise suppression and able to preserve some more detail than in the past. Also in this case, although still not optimal, we certainly have a management of the highlights that has made good progress.
Definitely different, however, the discourse concerning the macro and the wide angle that take discrete photos during the day, however less good in several respects than the main one, but which are substantially to be avoided at night. Too much noise, smeared details and, in general, images that are sufficient for sharing on social networks but nothing more.
The front camera, on the other hand , offers autofocus and eye tracking, among other things. The sensor is 32 megapixels and the resulting shots are very good, both in detail and in general quality.
We could instead improve something on the video side where the maximum resolution for the main camera is 4K at 30 fps . In general we have a good focusing speed and an always precise exposure compensation. There is no optical stabilization and the electronic one does a decent job. The best results in this sense, however, can be appreciated in fullHD at 30 fps. It is not a camera phone and we take this for granted, but in any case it remains a product with a photographic sector absolutely in line with the competition and, in some cases, even a step above.
CONSIDERATIONS
Ok, we are at the time to draw conclusions. Xiaomi 12 Lite is, as mentioned at the beginning, a reliable and concrete product , it has what it takes to fit correctly in the market range dictated by its price with some notes of merit and, on the other hand, some details still to be filed. The performance, the autonomy in relation to the battery capacity, the performance of the main camera and the general user experience convinced me. On the other hand, some aspects can still be improved, such as the usual proximity sensor, some pre-installed apps too many and the secondary cameras in their rendering with little light.
Xiaomi – 12 Lite, 8 + 256 GB
457 €Â
But let’s close with the price: in this round, Xiaomi, which is always very attentive to positioning, has in my opinion loaded a 50-100 euro too much on the list. At 399 or 429 it would soon become a best buy because of the street price, at 499, it collides instead with some products that have not one, not two but a nice deck of cards to play. Two names above all? Nothing Phone 1, like it or not, and Google Pixel 6A. But not only that, with Xiaomi 12X now under 500 euros also on the official website, the competition is also and above all at home. We will see where the physiological price drop will lead, which for Xiaomi products is always quite rapid. Let’s say that under 400 euros it is absolutely to be taken into consideration!
PROS AND CONS
Performance Autonomy in relation to the battery Main camera yield User experience as a whole
Virutal proximity sensor Secondary camera performance List price
VOTE: 7.5
VIDEO
- Xiaomi 12 Lite is available online from Techberry for 398 euros or from Unieuro for 485 euros .
Xiaomi 12 Lite is availableat 474 euros . (Update of 19 August 2022, 17:47 hours)
