Xiaomi, as always, is going for the widest possible range of models, but it’s a bit overzealous – you can frankly get lost in the naming of these models and their positioning. Just take a look – 12, 12 Pro, 12X, 12 Lite. And then there’s the 12T and 12T Pro… let’s figure out what’s what and who needs so many brothers in a large family of the same generation of smartphones. And Xiaomi 12T will help us with this.
Features and price of Xiaomi 12T
- Screen: AMOLED, 6.67 inches, 1220×2712, 20:9 aspect ratio, 120 Hz refresh rate, HDR10+, Corning Gorilla Glass 5
- Processor: MediaTek Dimensity 8100-Ultra, 4×2.85 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55
- Video accelerator: Mali-G610 MC6 GPU
- Memory: 8 GB OF RPU, 128/256 GB OF UFS 3.1 STORAGE
- Battery: 5000 mAh, 120W fast charging
- Main camera: 108 megapixels, f/1.7, 1/1.67″, 0.64µm, PDAF, OIS + 8 megapixel wide-angle lens, f/2.2, 120˚, 1.12µm + 2 megapixel macro, f/2.4
- Front camera: 20 megapixels, f/2.2, 1/3.47″, 0.8µm
- Data transmission: LTE, 5G (n1/3/5/7/8/20/28/38/40/41/66/77/78), NFC, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS (A-GPS), GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, QZSS, NavIC
- OS: Android 12
- Dimensions and weight: 163.1 × 75.9 × 8.6 mm, 202 g
- Price: about $670
Package contents
In the box with the phone, you will find a USB-C cable, an extremely powerful 120 W charger, a quick start guide, and a silicone case. I was especially pleased with the latter, because I often drop my smartphones and worry about their integrity after such spontaneous crash tests.
Xiaomi’s T-series is positioned as a “flagship killer,” meaning smartphones with powerful display, camera, and battery life, but without any unnecessary bells and whistles or fancy design. But the price tag here is not very democratic – you’ll have to pay a modest $670 for the Xiaomi 12T, but in my opinion, it fully justifies its cost.
Read also: Xiaomi 12 Review: Flagship For Everyone
Xiaomi 12T design
The design of the smartphone most closely resembles Xiaomi 12 Pro. The surface of the back cover looks attractive, but it can easily slip out of your hand, so the bundled case will definitely come in handy. Some people may find the use of plastic in such an expensive model inappropriate, but I personally can’t say that it feels cheap or spoils the experience of using a smartphone in any way.
Buyers can choose between two color variants – classic black, as in our test, and blue.
The display is protected by durable Gorilla Glass 5, which protects against minor scratches and unwanted fingerprints. And to the delight of all those who are annoyed by large, bulky dark areas at the top of the screen with front cameras and sensors, here you quickly stop noticing the neat black circle of the front camera in the middle of the large screen.
The usual camera island here protrudes quite a bit above the back surface, so the included case can come in handy for scratch protection of the camera unit.
There is nothing on the left side of the 12T. On the right side is a two-position volume key and a power button.
On the upper end is a speaker, an infrared port for controlling equipment, and a microphone. The bottom has another speaker, a second microphone, a Type-C connector, and a slot for two SIM cards.
Just like in other models in the series, the fingerprint scanner in Xiaomi 12T is built directly under the screen. And of course, we didn’t forget about the option to unlock the smartphone by face recognition.
Xiaomi 12T display
The 12T’s display resolution is 2712×1220 pixels. With a diagonal of 6.67 inches, you get a very clear picture that does not break up into individual pixels. In addition, Xiaomi 12T supports HDR10+ technology, which means that the picture will delight you with its contrast and color depth. Among the special features of this display are high contrast, maximum viewing angles, excellent color reproduction and high brightness (up to 900 nits of peak brightness, 500 nits by standard).
In Xiaomi 12T, you get an AMOLED display with a high refresh rate of 120 Hz. There are two refresh rates to choose from: either 120 Hz or 60 Hz. There is no intermediate option in the settings, and the first one is dynamic. That is, some programs, even in 120 Hz mode, will be displayed at 60 Hz if the system determines that a particular application does not need to use high hertz, for example, in the case of static photos in the gallery. This significantly saves battery power, which we will discuss in detail later.
The settings include different color rendering options, a dark theme, reading mode (monochrome), and more.
The Always On Display function can be configured separately to display the clock, date, and notifications on the deactivated screen. You can choose from a variety of aesthetically and functionally pleasing options.
Hardware and performance
So we’ve come to the main difference between the 12T and its brethren. While all the older models were equipped with Snapdragon chips, here we have a chip from Mediatek. This solution has its advantages and disadvantages. The smartphone definitely loses power and some games are already significantly overloading the system. But at the same time, the battery life has improved.
The chip consists of 4 powerful Cortex-A78 cores with a clock frequency of 2.85 GHz and 4 energy-efficient Cortex-A55 cores with a clock frequency of 2.0 GHz. The graphics here are Mali-G610 MC6.
Unlike Qualcomm chips, the Mediatek Dimensity 8100-Ultra installed in Xiaomi 12T is characterized by lower heating performance, and the smartphone has improved the cooling system. Thanks to this, you will be spared the unpleasant user experience of an overheated smartphone and trotting during peak loads. Even when playing online shooters, I didn’t have any issues with the smartphone overheating, which is a very good indicator. Moreover, even stress tests could not properly “heat up” this tough nut, and that’s a lot to say!
The results of the synthetic tests are as follows (unfortunately, not all the tests we are used to running):
- GeekBench 5 (multi-core) smartphone scores 3,778 points, GeekBench 5 (single-core) scores 928 points
- PC Mark – 12,261
Buyers are offered versions of the 12T in versions with 128 or 256 GB of storage. In both cases, the RAM will be 8 GB. This is more than enough for the smartphone to cope with all tasks, even the multi-window mode.
I would like to note that Xiaomi 12T has a special mode that allows you to expand the amount of RAM by as much as 3 GB at the expense of permanent memory. Let me remind you that this feature works only if there is enough free memory on the smartphone.
Xiaomi 12T cameras
The camera set here is as good as in Xiaomi 12 Lite:
- main wide-angle: 108 megapixels, f/1.9, 26mm, 1/1.52″, 0.7µm, PDAF;
- ultra-wide-angle 8 megapixels, f/2.2, 120˚, 1/4.0″, 1.12µm;
- macro: 2 MP, f/2.4, 1/5.0″, 1.75µm;
- front 20 MP, f/2.45, 1/2.8″, AF.
Photos from the main camera are good in any lighting conditions. The color reproduction is correct, and there are no complaints about the dynamic range.
As is usual with modern mobile cameras, the pictures are not saved in their original resolution, the pixels are combined for better quality, but you can also include the original 108 megapixels. Although there is no particular point in this – when pixels are combined, the photo quality is even better. You can see all the photos in their original resolution here.
Here, too, they decided to do without a telephoto lens and added a 2x zoom. The photo quality is very decent.
The second camera is a wide-angle camera, so photos of endless landscapes will be as good as possible.
All the important shooting settings are available in the Pro mode settings, including shutter speed, aperture, and white balance. This mode also works with both the main and ultra-wide-angle modules. For the main camera, you can enable shooting at 108 megapixels.
In low light conditions, the photos are not “noisy” and well detailed, especially if you do not forget to turn on the night mode. Creating a photo in this mode takes a little longer than usual – 1-2 seconds, so it’s better to lean your smartphone on something or mount it on a tripod. Note that night mode can also be used when shooting with a wide-angle camera.
Photos from the wide-angle module are also excellent, with no significant differences in color reproduction, contrast, or exposure compared to the main camera. Sharpness may be slightly worse, but this does not significantly affect the final quality of the images.
The 12T has a separate macro camera, and as always, this is a provocative topic for discussion. It seems that the focusing distance is impressive and interesting pictures can be obtained, but 2 megapixels doom the camera in the context of modern screens. Such photos are only suitable for quick viewing in an Instagram feed. Even if you just expand it on the smartphone screen in the gallery, you immediately notice the “cute” because of the low frame resolution.
Xiaomi 12T is capable of shooting video at a maximum resolution of 2160p at 30 frames per second, as well as 1080p at 30 and 60 frames per second. The ultra-wide-angle lens allows you to record video in 1080p resolution.
The camera interface is pretty standard for MIUI, with all the necessary shooting modes: photo, video, portrait, and Pro. Other useful modes are hidden under the “More” tab: night, 108 megapixels, video clip, panorama, documents, slow motion, time lapse, long exposure, and dual video.
The front camera also performed well. The pictures are clear, bright, and in portrait mode the face is well separated from the background, which is evenly blurred by software.
Xiaomi 12T software
Android 12 with an updated version of the proprietary shell – MIUI 13 – is used as the 12T operating system. We’ve already covered the main features of MIUI 13 in the Xiaomi 12 review, so I’ll only introduce you to those aspects that I found most interesting and convenient.
As I said before about this interface, the most interesting experience for the user can be the floating window function and the sidebar. The former allows you to fix the active window on the screen and open any other applications in the background. You can pin up to 10 apps to the sidebar for quick access right on top of the active window. Moreover, this panel is adaptive and provides the user with a specific set of functions depending on the application that is running.
Our test subject has a standard set of data transmission tools: 5G, Wi-Fi version 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6), Bluetooth 5.3, GPS, NFC.
It’s convenient that you can install two SIM cards in your smartphone. In modern realities, this can be very important when the towers of one operator “fall down” from too many connections.
Two Dolby Atmos speakers with the corresponding software are responsible for the high sound quality here. I have to admit that I can’t call their sound perfect – I lacked low frequencies, but it is definitely balanced and versatile. In addition, the correct placement and high overall volume generally leave a pleasant impression when listening to music and watching videos on a smartphone.
Read also: Xiaomi 12 Pro Flagship Review: Is It Worth Choosing?
Xiaomi 12T battery life
The battery here is like a real monster – 5000 mAh. The package also includes a 120 W charger with a telling name HyperCharge. Indeed, the smartphone can easily live for almost two days on a single charge, and recharge from zero to a hundred in less than 40 minutes.
This is just a top indicator, and I believe that especially in conditions of power outages, high autonomy and fast charging of the device come to the fore. Therefore, this model has even more situational relevance for all potential buyers from Ukraine. If we talk about more peaceful situations with stable opportunities to recharge a smartphone, then a large battery and fast charging still justify their existence in any modern device.
In more numerical terms, the 12T can last about 8 hours on average for various screen tasks. According to professional tests, it is capable of 14 hours of web browsing and 17 hours of video playback at medium brightness.
Conclusions
Like other models of the latest lineup, Xiaomi 12T left a very pleasant experience. Compared to its competitors, I would like to emphasize the smartphone’s battery life and fast charging, its beautiful screen and cool camera set. I was also very pleased that even under heavy loads, the smartphone did not heat up and retained the full potential of the system.
Among the weaknesses, I can mention a macro camera of questionable quality and a plastic body, which may not seem like a premium choice of materials. But for me personally, these disadvantages are easily offset by all the advantages and virtues that this smartphone offers its users.