A few days ago, I was discussing with a colleague how the experience on smartphones that come at around Rs 20,000 has deteriorated greatly. There are too many compromises that need to be made. When I received the Realme 12+ 5G for review, I was pleasantly surprised by how it ticks off quite a few boxes to make this a good device. It’s not perfect but it’s better than many affordable phones.

Good job with the camera

Since compromises will be necessary to achieve the 20K pricing, Realme has ensured that customers don’t struggle with the camera or the processor while the design is quite good.

You can use the call recorder on the phone

The Pioneer Green variant looks far better than what the name suggests. There’s a good textured feel to the back cover and there is no chance of leaving smudges. The four lens cutouts on the back can be misleading. The phone has a 50MP main camera, 8MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro. The transparent phone cover in the box doesn’t look promising in the long run but it’s at least there.

The main camera shines because of the Sony LYT-600 sensor. I am seeing good output with skin tones and night photography has improved quite a bit. Being a lower-mid-range phone, I didn’t expect too much out of the camera but well done Realme. Add to that OIS feature to ensure stable shots, especially at night and when you are taking videos. The ultra-wide camera is a standard one that you can use mostly during bright conditions and the macro is something all phones should simply do away with.

Realme wins a brownie point by allowing 4K videos at 30fps on the rear camera and there are some good options in the camera menu, like ‘street’ and ‘long exposure’.

Night shots are not brightened up excessively. The Telegraph

Sustained performance

Going hand in hand with camera performance is the Dimensity 7050 chipset accompanied by LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. All of these work together to offer nimble performance. Though it’s not a gaming device, you can play most titles in mid-graphic settings. There is no sluggishness while using the phone and you can keep a few apps open in the background. I wouldn’t get into benchmark scores (the phone does well) but it’s enough to say that day-to-day performance is comparable to something like on Nothing Phone (2a).

I find the 6.67-inch FHD+ OLED display shines as much as the camera because of its 2,000 nits peak brightness and 120Hz refresh rate. It’s good enough for watching films. Further, there is a headphone jack and stereo speakers.

A photo taken using Realme 12+ 5G under uneven lighting. The Telegraph

Should you buy it?

What I don’t like is the amount of bloatware that comes on the device. You can delete many of the apps but a person who is not comfortable around tech wouldn’t even think of doing this. Second, the OS needs improvements. There are some notifications that I cannot mute. Also on the no-no list is the Type-A to Type-C cable. On the other hand, you get Google dialler and there is an option to record calls. The phone comes loaded with Android 14 based on Realme UI 5.0 and there is the promise of two years of OS updates and three years of security patches. Overall, Realme 12+ 5G is fuss-free and it will keep most users happy.

The colour output from the phone's camera has a natural feel. The Telegraph

At a glance

Device: Realme 12+ 5G

Price: Upwards of Rs 20,999 (this is excluding offers and special pricing)

High notes

• Good design

• Solid camera performance

• 5G+5G dual mode

• Good choice of processor

Muffled notes

• Too much bloatware

• OS tweaks are necessary