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Xiaomi 12S Extremely assessment: The very best cellphone you possibly can’t purchase
Xiaomi launched the Extremely moniker two years in the past with the Mi 10 Extremely, with that gadget restricted to China. Final yr’s Mi 11 Extremely actually kicked issues off for the model: Xiaomi went with a daring design, a big sensor, and a singular second display screen on the again that made the cellphone stand out. Better of all, the Mi 11 Extremely was accessible in over a dozen nations.
With the 12S Extremely, Xiaomi is constructing on final yr — the cellphone is a grand showcase of Xiaomi’s digicam efforts, with the Chinese language model including a large 1-inch digicam for the primary time. The 12S Extremely additionally provides us a primary take a look at the partnership between Xiaomi and German digicam large Leica, with new taking pictures modes and customized tuning.
The Mi 11 Extremely was one in every of my favourite telephones of 2021; the small display screen on the again made it straightforward to take photographs with the rear digicam, and the high-end {hardware} and enormous 120Hz display screen made it a pleasure to make use of. So I used to be naturally interested by seeing how the 12S Extremely holds up, and after utilizing the cellphone for 2 weeks, here is what I consider the gadget.
Xiaomi 12S Extremely: Worth and availability
Xiaomi did an honest job bringing its high-end telephones to world markets lately, however that is not the case with the 12S Extremely — this cellphone is proscribed to China, and will not be debuting globally.
That implies that there is not a world MIUI construct for the gadget, and my unit didn’t have Google Play Providers put in out of the field. It’s straightforward sufficient to put in the Play Retailer, and in my utilization, I did not see any points with Google companies by any means as soon as I signed in to my Google account, however you’ll have to tinker just a little with MIUI to get it working the best way you need.
Xiaomi has a couple of variants of the 12S Extremely, with the bottom model beginning off at RMB 5,999 ($885) and providing 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. There’s additionally a 12GB/256GB variant that retails for RMB 6,499 ($960) in China, and a 12GB/512GB mannequin that is accessible for RMB 6,999 ($1,033).
Xiaomi 12S Extremely: Design
Xiaomi hasn’t modified the design aesthetic an excessive amount of from final yr’s Mi 11 Extremely, with each units providing an analogous in-hand really feel. That stated, there are two key variations right here: The 12S Extremely has a leather-based end that feels great, and it’s 9 grams lighter. It might not appear to be a lot, however it makes an enormous distinction in each day use.
The 12S Extremely has a daring design due to the outsized digicam housing, and the leather-based end is great in each day use.
However the greatest distinction is the design for the digicam housing on the again. The 12S Extremely has a DSLR-style digicam housing that homes the three lenses and flash module, and the gold accent across the housing provides it an added aptitude. Your complete digicam island is made out of metallic, and it contrasts very nicely in opposition to the leather-based.
The Xiaomi brand is etched onto the leather-based, and you may additionally discover Leica branding on the gadget to point out off the model’s collaboration with Xiaomi. The leather-based end makes the 12S Extremely a delight to carry and use, and the cellphone feels unmistakably premium. It additionally feels a lot better to carry and use than glass or the ceramic-backed Mi 11 Extremely, and this will simply be my favourite end on a Xiaomi cellphone.
Xiaomi retained the aluminum body this time round, and the model resisted the urge to make use of a flat design, and as such you will discover clean flowing curves the place the back and front meet the mid-frame.
This makes a notable distinction in day-to-day use, and I a lot desire this design to the boxy sides which are changing into a mainstay on most telephones. Total, the 12S Extremely is likely one of the largest telephones I’ve used this yr, however due to the curvy design and even weight distribution, it wasn’t unwieldy within the least.
Elsewhere, the facility and quantity buttons are positioned to the correct, there is a twin SIM card tray positioned on the backside, and also you get wonderful stereo sound right here. There are similar channels at both finish of the cellphone, and the 12S Extremely will get loud and detailed. There is no 3.5mm jack right here, however the usual IR blaster is undamaged.
One other characteristic that’s intact is IP68 mud and water resistance. Xiaomi did not provide this specific characteristic on the 12 Professional this yr, however it’s good to see that the Extremely sequence has mud and water ingress safety.
Xiaomi 12S Extremely: Display screen
The 12S Extremely has a barely smaller 6.73-inch AMOLED panel (versus 6.81 inches on the Mi 11 Extremely), and it makes use of the identical 120Hz refresh and retains all of the options that Xiaomi launched on the 12 Professional this yr. One change on the entrance is that the digicam cutout is now positioned within the heart, bringing the 12S Extremely in keeping with the remainder of the Xiaomi 12 sequence.
With a vibrant 120Hz AMOLED display screen and loud stereo sound, the 12S Extremely is a gaming powerhouse.
Display screen decision is similar at 3200×1440 (QHD+), and it has Dolby Imaginative and prescient. The panel itself is excellent in each day use, delivering nice coloration vibrancy and distinction ranges, and a excessive diploma of customizability. You may modify the colour stability to your liking, arrange system-wide darkish mode, change the scaling and fonts.
On that be aware, MIUI makes use of a distinct font in China, and there isn’t any option to get the usual Roboto font on the gadget.
The 12S Extremely fares exceedingly nicely relating to brightness, outshining the 11 Extremely on this regard. I had zero points with daylight visibility, and the ambient gentle sensor does a great job adjusting the brightness primarily based on lighting situations. Colours are calibrated nicely out of the field, and the Vivid mode specifically stands out.
Like its predecessor, the 12S Extremely defaults to FHD decision at 60Hz out of the field, so you’ll have to manually change to QHD+ and 120Hz. There’s additionally the choice to make use of a 90Hz mode, and the panel itself has dynamic scaling — like the very best Android telephones — switching from 1Hz all the best way to 120Hz primarily based on what’s taking part in on the display screen.
Though the cellphone has Dolby Imaginative and prescient and HDR, Netflix is proscribed to SD content material — that is seemingly right down to the truth that the 12S Extremely is proscribed to China. For its half, YouTube performed HDR content material simply positive, and the stereo sound right here is among the many greatest you will discover on any cellphone in the present day.
Xiaomi 12S Extremely: {Hardware} and battery life
Xiaomi outfits its flagships with the newest Qualcomm silicon, and the 12S Extremely is powered by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. I already talked concerning the adjustments Qualcomm launched with the 8+ Gen 1 in my Zenfone 9 assessment, so I will as an alternative share a high-level overview right here. The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 delivers enormous effectivity positive factors over the usual Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, and that is because of the truth that it’s fabricated at TSMC’s 4nm node.
Xiaomi as soon as once more nailed the {hardware} facet of issues, and this is likely one of the quickest telephones you should buy in the present day.
Principally, the 8+ Gen 1 consumes considerably much less energy to ship the identical degree of efficiency, and that makes it among the best cellular chipsets you will get in the mean time. And whenever you want plenty of energy for enjoying visually-demanding video games, the 8+ Gen 1 has plenty of headroom — this factor is not going to decelerate anytime quickly.
That intoxicating efficiency makes itself recognized in day-to-day use; the cellphone dealt with something I threw at it with out breaking a sweat. There was no lag, jitter, or any stutter in mundane duties or whereas gaming, and though the cellphone will get heat throughout hour-long gaming classes, it wasn’t uncomfortable in any respect.
| Class | Xiaomi 12S Extremely |
|---|---|
| OS | Android 12. MIUI 13, no Play companies |
| Show | 6.73-inch QHD+ (3200×1440) AMOLED, 120Hz LTPO2, Dolby Imaginative and prescient, HDR10+ |
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, 1 x 3.19GHz Cortex X2, 3 x 2.75GHz Cortex A710, 4 x 1.80GHz Cortex A510, Adreno 730 |
| RAM | 8GB/12GB LPDDR5 |
| Storage | 256GB/512GB UFS 3.1 |
| Rear digicam 1 | 50MP f/1.9 Sony IMX989 1-inch sensor, 1.6um pixels, twin pixel PDAF, OIS, 8K at 24FPS, 4K at 60FPS |
| Rear digicam 2 | 48MP f/2.2, 0.8um pixels, twin pixel PDAF, 128-degree FoV |
| Rear digicam 3 | 48MP f/4.1, 0.8um pixels, PDAF, OIS, 5x optical zoom |
| Entrance digicam | 32MP f/2.4, fastened focus, HDR |
| Battery | 4860mAh, 67W quick charging, 50W wi-fi charging, 10W reverse wi-fi charging |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6e, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, AptX Adaptive, world 5G bands |
| Dimensions | 163.2 x 75 x 9.1mm |
| Weight | 225 grams |
There is a beneficiant quantity of storage as nicely, with the bottom mannequin providing 256GB of storage as normal. Xiaomi additionally has a 512GB mannequin that has 12GB of RAM, and that must be greater than sufficient for many customers.
The Chinese language producer did a great job with the optical in-screen reader, and I did not have any points with authentication. There’s face unlock as nicely, and it’s similar to what Xiaomi has supplied prior to now — it is quick and correct, however not as safe.
What I significantly like is the vibration motor; the 12S Extremely has a wonderful haptics engine, and it delivers granular suggestions when utilizing the keyboard and different each day interactions.
Like every part else in MIUI, you possibly can modify the depth of the vibration sample. Xiaomi did not omit something on the connectivity facet both. The cellphone has Wi-Fi 6e, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, and also you get Qualcomm’s newest AptX Adaptive audio codec.
As for the battery facet of issues, the 12S Extremely has a 4860mAh battery, and due to the efficiencies of the 4nm node, it manages to ship a lot better figures than its predecessor. I routinely acquired over a day’s price of use out of the cellphone, averaging over 5 hours of screen-time.
And when it is advisable to cost the cellphone, there’s 67W wired charging and 50W wi-fi charging. The wired charging is not fairly as extravagant because the 120W tech that is normal on the Xiaomi 12 Professional, however for what it is price, the 12S Extremely takes simply 46 minutes to completely cost the battery. There’s 10W reverse wi-fi charging as nicely, and it really works simply positive for charging wi-fi earbuds.
Xiaomi 12S Extremely: Cameras
Xiaomi is not any stranger to introducing telephones with massive cameras, however the 12S Extremely is in a league of its personal. The cellphone has a 1-inch 50MP f/1.9 Sony IMX989 digicam module with 1.6um pixels, twin PDAF and OIS. It is joined by a 48MP f/2.2 wide-angle lens with a 128-degree subject of view, and one other 48MP lens with OIS that delivers as much as 5x optical zoom.
The 12S Extremely takes beautiful photographs in any lighting situation, however it tends to be inconsistent at instances.
The latter two modules are unchanged from final yr’s Mi 11 Extremely, however the 50MP main lens is the star of the present right here. That is the biggest sensor you will discover on any cellphone in the present day, and it makes use of 4-to-1 pixel binning to ship 12.5MP photographs. Up entrance, you will discover a 32MP fixed-focus lens with 0.7um pixels.
The digicam interface can be similar to different Xiaomi telephones, however the producer took a leaf out of OnePlus’s playbook and added pink accents all through the UI — a nod to its Leica partnership. You get two Leica modes — Leica Vibrant and Leica Genuine — and the characteristic is much like the distinctive kinds that you simply get on the iPhone 13 Professional Max, albeit with Leica tuning.
There is a handbook mode that provides you just a little extra management when taking pictures, and all of the taking pictures modes are specified by a ribbon — you possibly can simply add or take away modes primarily based in your preferences.
I used the Leica Genuine mode by default, and the 12S Extremely managed to do a wonderful job in nearly each state of affairs. Daylight photographs had nice dynamic vary and correct colours, with no seen noise and no smoothing of finer particulars like foliage.
The resultant photographs are inclined to have a excessive distinction look that is much like what you get on the Pixels, and so they’re perfect for sharing on social media. The wide-angle lens additionally does a superb job retaining the identical coloration stability because the 50MP lens, and it is likely one of the greatest on this class. In an analogous vein, I did not discover any points with photographs at 2x to 3x zoom ranges, and even at 5x zoom it delivered usable pictures.
The 12S Extremely does an impressive job in low-light conditions; there’s minimal noise, highlights are balanced nicely, you do not miss out on finer particulars, and just like the daylight photographs, low-light photographs have a saturated look. The 12S Extremely shoots in Auto mode by default, and I solely used the Evening mode a couple of instances — there’s not an excessive amount of of a distinction between the 2.
The place the 12S Extremely would not make any tangible positive factors over final yr is video recording. It is clear that Xiaomi centered all of its consideration on nonetheless pictures with this technology, and in consequence, the 12S Extremely is similar to the Mi 11 Extremely when taking pictures movies. That is to not say that it does a poor job on this space, however with the remainder of the sector making plenty of advances, Xiaomi would not have the very best general bundle for this specific process.
On that be aware, the 12S Extremely is similar to the Mi 11 Extremely in a couple of conditions. Clearly, the big 1-inch sensor permits the cellphone to ship higher photographs with the primary digicam, however the different two lenses are similar.
I will do a standalone put up highlighting how the 12S Extremely fares in opposition to the Pixel 6 Professional and S22 Extremely, however utilizing all three units concurrently, it is evident that Xiaomi must do a greater job with the tuning. There have been instances when the 12S Extremely didn’t dial in a topic quick sufficient or produced a photograph that was grainy; these are points that simply do not come up within the Pixel 6 Professional.
That stated, as an general digicam bundle, the 12S Extremely is well among the many greatest Android telephones on this space. The massive lens mixed with the brand new software program additions enable it to face out in opposition to its predecessor, and it manages to ship groundbreaking photographs more often than not.
Xiaomi 12S Extremely: Software program
The 12S Extremely runs MIUI 13 primarily based on Android 12 out of the field, and as Xiaomi is not going to promote the cellphone outdoors China, it makes use of the Chinese language MIUI construct as default. Whereas the Chinese language model is broadly much like what you get on the worldwide launch, there are a couple of key variations.
You are restricted to the Chinese language model of MIUI, and Xiaomi does plenty of issues otherwise in its residence market.
For one factor, the iOS-style Management Middle is normal for the notification pane, with the toggles positioned to the correct and the incoming notifications on the left. There is no option to get a unified notification pane like the worldwide MIUI builds.
Safety is an even bigger focus right here, and there is an fascinating flag inside the safety settings the place the cellphone serves clean information when an app asks for cellphone state data. This meant I could not use Google Pay or any banking companies that wanted to confirm I am utilizing the proper cellular quantity, however it’s simple sufficient to vary this setting — you will want to do that manually, although.
There’s plenty of bloatware put in out of the field, however fortunately, I used to be in a position to uninstall all of it.
The most important difficulty is the shortage of Google Play Providers. Nonetheless, it is not an excessive amount of of a trouble to put in the Play Retailer by way of Xiaomi’s personal app retailer, and when you do, you possibly can check in to your Google account and have full entry to the Play Retailer.
However to get there, you will want to make use of the default keyboard, and suffice to say that it’s infuriating to make use of. It’s designed for a Chinese language viewers, and whereas there’s a option to change to English textual content, it is not intuitive to make use of in any respect.
You do not get the Play Retailer out of the field, however putting in it is not an excessive amount of of a trouble.
That stated, as soon as you put in the Play Retailer and log in to your Google account, all of the hooks related to GMS — the place it indicators you in to all of Google’s companies — work simply as nicely right here, and apart from just a little little bit of inconvenience the place I needed to manually set up all of the issues I wanted from the Play Retailer, it was clean crusing.
The MIUI launcher would not mechanically type apps into classes; it is a typical app drawer that scrolls vertically. The overview menu follows Xiaomi’s distinctive twin card format, and I did not see a option to change to the usual horizontal scrolling mode that you will discover on the worldwide MIUI model.
Moreover, Xiaomi has a considerably wider collection of ringtones and notification sounds within the Chinese language construct, and you’ll customise the nature-based sounds to create a mélange of assorted notification tones.
On the entire although, the Chinese language construct was way more secure than the worldwide model, and I had zero points utilizing the gadget. For what it is price, Xiaomi did a greater job optimizing the {hardware} right here, and should you’re considering of getting this cellphone by way of a reseller, know that it is not too irksome to set it up.
I additionally acquired extra updates that I might have on the worldwide construct; it is clear that Xiaomi dedicates plenty of sources to the Chinese language model of MIUI construct, and it will be good to see a few of these options on the worldwide model, significantly across the safety entrance. As for Android OS updates, Xiaomi ensures three platform updates as normal, however it’s seemingly the 12S Extremely will get extra MIUI updates.
Xiaomi 12S Extremely: The options
The plain different to the 12S Extremely is final yr’s providing. The Mi 11 Extremely continues to be an impressive cellphone in 2022, and it delivers an analogous caliber of photographs because the 12S Extremely — there is a marginal distinction in general high quality, however not sufficient to warrant the effort of sourcing this yr’s mannequin.
The Mi 11 Extremely has the identical nice 120Hz AMOLED panel, comparable stereo configuration, and the {hardware} holds up simply as nicely for gaming. The draw back is that Xiaomi would not appear to promote the cellphone formally, so you will want to depend on resellers to get your palms on the gadget.
If you happen to want a flagship that takes phenomenal photographs, the Pixel 6 Professional is a superb general alternative. The cellphone has a stunning design due to the two-tone end, and it has sturdy inside {hardware}, all-day battery, and versatile cameras that take flawless photographs in any situation.
Google would not use massive imaging modules, as an alternative counting on software program wizardry to ship standout photographs. There’s additionally the truth that the Pixel 6 Professional is the primary in line to get software program updates, and the software program itself is clear with zero bloatware and a ton of helpful extras that you do not get anyplace else.
Samsung has a robust exhibiting this yr with the Galaxy S22 Extremely as nicely, delivering a cellphone that nails the fundamentals. The design is among the many greatest you will discover in the present day: It has the newest inside {hardware}, and the cameras take beautiful photographs. You additionally get unmatched versatility right here, and the battery life simply lasts over a day. The very best half is that the S22 Extremely will get extra software program updates than some other Android cellphone.
Xiaomi 12S Extremely: Must you purchase it?
You can purchase this if:
- You need a cellphone with a daring design
- You want standout cameras that take phenomenal photographs
- You are in search of the newest {hardware} and a clean 120Hz display screen
- You need all of the extras
You should not purchase this if:
- You want a cellphone that has Google companies out of the field
- You need well timed software program updates
- You want official guarantee
Total, the 12S Extremely is likely one of the greatest Xiaomi telephones so far. There are significant adjustments to the design and {hardware} facet of issues from the Mi 11 Extremely, and the brand new 1-inch digicam on the again is an thrilling addition.
The 120Hz AMOLED display screen is a pleasure to make use of, and that is among the many quickest telephones you will discover proper now. Xiaomi hasn’t missed out on any of the extras both, with the 12S Extremely providing IP68 mud and water resistance and 50W wi-fi charging.
The digicam is healthier than final yr, however there are a couple of instances the place it’s inconsistent, and it is clear that Xiaomi must do some bit extra with the tuning. That stated, it is likely one of the greatest digicam {hardware} packages you will discover in the present day, and with just a little little bit of tweaking, you will get actually excellent photographs.
In fact, the largest difficulty with the 12S Extremely is that it will not be offered in world markets. Which means you will should put up with the Chinese language model of MIUI, and whereas it is not as a lot of a problem as I initially thought, Xiaomi does plenty of issues otherwise in its residence market.
In the end, should you’re already utilizing one in every of Xiaomi’s flagships and wish to be the primary to make use of that 1-inch sensor, the 12S Extremely is the gadget for you. However should you do not wish to go the reseller route, it is best to simply wait — Xiaomi is prone to carry that sensor to world markets in a future cellphone.
