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HomeTech NewsXiaomi 12 lite review: A Balanced Premium Midrange smartphone 

Xiaomi 12 lite review: A Balanced Premium Midrange smartphone 

Xiaomi launched the 12 lite on August 24, 2022, in Nepal which is a premium mid-range device. Being a successor to its previously launched Xiaomi 11 lite 5G NE, it offers you a comfortable lightweight design, good camera features, an updated OLED panel, and fast charging attributes.

One thing to note here is that The 12 lite is Xiaomi’s first phone to run on Android 12 with MIUI 13 on the skin top. Many of you, are perhaps in a hurry to buy this smartphone. And you might wanna know the review in depth. So, today in this article, I will be going to share my experience with Xiaomi 12 lite which I have been using right after its launch. 

Specifications of Xiaomi 12 lite

Display6.55 inch AMOLED
FHD+ ( 1080 x 2400 Resolution)
120HZ AdaptiveSync Pro
Display FeaturesHDR10+
800nits peak brightness
ChipsetSnapdragon 778G 5G (6nm)
CPUOcta-core (4×2.4 GHz Kryo 670 & 4×1.8 GHz Kryo 670)
GPUAdreno 642L
OSAndriod 12, MIUI 13
Rear Camera108 MP, f/1.9, 26mm (wide),
8 MP, f/2.2, 119˚ (ultrawide), 1/4.0″, 1.12µm
2 MP, f/2.4, (macro)
Font Camera32MP Wide
Battery Capacity4500mAh
Charging67W wired turbocharging
Quick Charge 4+
Power Delivery 3.0
Resistance
RAM6GB/8GB
Storage128GB (UFS 2.2)

Xiaomi 12 lite review

Design and build quality:

Xiaomi 12 lite has a premium design with a lightweight body. Moreover, its edges are square off and its front panel is entirely an AMOLED display of 6.55 inches. Whereas, within this display, you will see a central punch hole aperture for the front camera and an under-display fingerprint sensor.  

Xiaomi 12 Lite design

The body is entirely made up of glass with a smooth and glossy look as if polished. Whereas, its frames are made out of plastic. This smartphone covers a thickness of 7.29mm and weighs 173, which is a pretty light version. But if we compare, it to its predecessor, the 11 Lite 5G NE was much thin and lightweight occupying 6.8mm of thickness and weighing 158g. You can get this device in three color flavors Lite Green, Lite Pink, and Black. The design and color part really delighted me and I found it amazing.

Being protected by the Gorilla Glass 5 on the front, it makes you tension free to survive against drops of up to 1.6 meters on hard and rough surfaces. Being a successor to the Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G, I was expecting it will come with an IP rating. But it didn’t, So this is the one thing that dissatisfied me. However, I think it should have at least come up with an IP67 of rating. 

Display:

  • 6.55 inch AMOLED
  • FHD+ ( 1080 x 2400 Resolution)
  • 120HZ Adaptive Sync Pro
  • HDR10+
  • 800 nits peak brightness

Xiaomi 12 lite has 6.55 inches full HD+ upgraded AMOLED display compared to its predecessor and it is enhanced by Dolby Vision , 68B colors, and HDR 10+. Therefore, I had a great experience with the display of Xiaomi 12 lite as it produced vibrant and sharp colors and images with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels.

Xiaomi 12 Lite Display

Furthermore, Xiaomi 12 lite gives you a great viewing angle along with a bright display which means you can videos from different angles and still you can have the clear look. Furthermore, talking about the brightness, it has 950 nits of peak brightness. So, I found it bright even using it outdoors in the sunlight. But definitely, it’s not the brightest display on the market.

In the Xiaomi 12 lite, you are getting the option to choose between either 60- or 120Hz refresh rates. If you go through with 60Hz, you will be saving the battery life but the display won’t be smoother as the 120Hz. Whereas, on the 120Hz it will be consuming more battery life but the display will be way too smoother. Once you are on 120Hz, you won’t stop as everything feels smoother. 

Moreover, The in-display fingerprint sensor setup took me a long time than the physical sensor. As I found it hard to know which part of my finger was tracked. But once, the setup is done. I found it easy and fast to unlock the phone using the in-display sensor than others. 

Performance:

  • Snapdragon 778G
  • 6/8GB RAM, 128GB UFS 2.2 Storage
  • Android 12, MIUI 13

Xiaomi 12 lite fits to get the same chip as 11 Lite 5G NE is snapdragon 778 G 5G. It is 6nm in architecture that uses an Octa-core CPU and gets Adreno 624L GPU. I think this chipset acted as a good performer on a mid-range smartphone like this.  

Xiaomi 12Lite Gaming

This smartphone comes in two variants: 6GB RAM + 128GB ROM & 8GB RAM+128GB in Nepal. Whereas, it does not have any card slot for extra storage. So, if you are the one who takes more videos and images you might quickly run out of storage.

I found this smartphone to be more swift and responsive in opening the apps and moving through various screens and menus. When it comes to gaming, I rank its performance as decent while trying to play various heavy graphics gaming like PUBG and Apex Legends. Even though in the absence of a cooling system, I found its gaming performance stable.

Being Xiaomi’s first smartphone to run on the Android 12 MIUI 13 on the skin top. Android 12 has guaranteed to provide 3 years of an update on OS and 4 years of updates on software. Moreover, MIUI has also promised to bring better improvements over the RAM management, upgraded CPU, and effective storage usage. 

Rear Camera:

  • 108 MP, f/1.9, 26mm (wide),
  • 8 MP, f/2.2, 119˚ (ultrawide), 1/4.0″, 1.12µm
  • 2 MP, f/2.4, (macro)
Xiaomi 12Lite camera

As for the camera, the main setup impressed with 108MP. Whereas, it has 8MP of the ultra-wide sensor and 2MP of the macro sensor. If we compare, it to its predecessor only the macro sensor seems to have a downgrade from 5MP.

Main Camera 108MP :

The main camera was indeed excellent which captured clear superb images with good sharpness and focus. Talking about its dynamic range, it was quite wide with boosted color and contrast. 

Ultra-wide camera 8MP:

The 8MP of ultra-wide camera gave a better dynamic range with good contrast. Whereas, I think the sharpness was not good enough in it though. 

Macro Camera 2MP:

The macro camera took low-resolution photos along with faded colors. Moreover, its contrast was very low. 

Portraits:

There’s no complaint regarding its portrait feature which gave excellent sharpness and a good dynamic range. Furthermore, the background gets blurred as required and edge detection was good enough. 

Low light:

I tried clicking pictures on the lowlight with and without using Night mode, and the clicked images were a bit similar and good often. However, I found its dynamic range was not good enough and it needs improvement.

Selfie camera:

  • 32MP Wide

The selfie was good enough indeed due to its autofocus feature. The images clicked looked more sharp and good. Dynamic range was excellent and exposure was on point. Moreover, its portrait was satisfactory.

Battery and other features:

  • 4300mAh
  • 67W Fast Charging

Fueled by a battery capacity of 4,300mAh, it is enough to provide 18 hours of video and 121 hours of music on a full charge. With the inclusion of 67W of fast charging, this battery gets fully charged in just 41 minutes. This fast charging of 67W is one of the remarkable features of this device as you don’t need to wait a lot to get a full charge. I rate its battery life endurance as average for day-to-day usage and fast charging above average. 

Xiaomi 12 Lite charging

In Xiaomi 12 lite, you will get a dual sim slot that supports 5Gnetwork connectivity. The various connectivity option includes Bluetooth 5.2, GPS, NFC, USB Type-C 2.0, and USB On-The-Go. On the audio side, the speaker quality is enhanced with the presence of Dolby Atmos which gives you an immersive sound quality. Whereas, there is no 3.5mm headphone jack on the phone. 

Final thoughts on Xiaomi 12 lite review 

Xiaomi 12 Lite is the best option for people searching for balanced performance, good design and camera features that all need to be in a premium mid-range device. However, I think it would have been better if it had arrived with some sort of IP rating. As we can see, the Samsung Galaxy A52s, which comes under the same price segment as of Xiaomi 12 lite offers an IP67 rating against dust/water resistance.

Talking about its pricing, being a premium mid-range smartphone it costs NPR. 49,999 for 6GB RAM + 128GB ROM and NPR. 52,999 for 8GB RAM+128GB variant. Down below you can see the pros and cons of the Xiaomi 12 lite.

Pros:

  • Lightweight and attractive design with thin bezels
  • Upgrade of 120Hz OLED 
  • Fast charging
  • Good camera features

Cons:

  • Battery life could be better
  • No OIS
  • Absence of IP rating

REVIEW OVERVIEW

Display
Design
Camera
Performance
Software
Battery

SUMMARY

Xiaomi 12 Lite is the best option for people searching for balanced performance, good design and camera features that all need to be in a premium mid-range device.
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Xiaomi 12 Lite is the best option for people searching for balanced performance, good design and camera features that all need to be in a premium mid-range device.Xiaomi 12 lite review: A Balanced Premium Midrange smartphone