Xiaomi 12T Pro

Introduction

The Xiaomi 12T Pro is a so-called “Flagship Killer”: A phone which performs like a flagship for the price of an upper mid-ranger, which necessarily means it cuts corners in other areas.

While I like the phone and am impressed with its power, there are things about it which give me pause and which you may want to consider prior to purchase.

What’s in the box

In many ways, this phone bucks the modern trend set by manufacturers such as Samsung, Google and apple.  As well as the phone, you get a charger and cable (more on those later), and as with other Chinese manufacturers such as OnePlus, a bumper case and an already fitted film screen protector.  Even if you want to swap these out, you can at least start using your phone straight away in the knowledge that it is afforded some protection right out the box.

Hardware

The phone comes in 128GB and 256GB storage variants, with the 256GB model coming with either 8 or 12GB RAM.  It is a large phone featuring a 6.67 inch screen.  It has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, a 200MP main camera, a 5000MA battery, and supports 120W wired charging meaning it can be fully charged in under half an hour.  It also features Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2.  You’ll see then, that it certainly packs a punch, and in this regard, compares favourably with any flagship.

However, to keep the price down, it has to make some compromises.  It has an IP rating of 53 meaning it is only dust and splash resistant, so you won’t want to be dropping it in the bath or taking it for a swim.  It also has a plastic frame, and only features Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection.

Both the charger and cable are proprietary, meaning that charging speeds are only achieved if you use both the charger and cable shipped with the phone or use certified replacements.

The phone does not feature either a headphone jack or SD cart slot, nor does it support wireless charging.

The speakers are very good.  They get nice and loud and are clear, though I prefer the sound quality of my Sony Xperia 1 III which also has a slightly wider stereo range.

Software

As you might expect given the above specifications, the phone is extremely snappy and Talkback is very responsive.

The phone comes with MIUI 13, which is Xiaomi’s implementation of Android 12.  As at the time of writing, the phone has not yet been updated to MIUI 14/Android 13, even though earlier Xiaomi models have.

This phone is a long way from stock Android.  In many ways this is a good thing: The Settings app in my view is better laid out with WI-FI getting its own section, and it is easier to manipulate settings relating to Mobile data, particularly in respect of billing cycles so the phone knows when your data allowance resets.  It also lets you choose whether the Hotspot offered by the phone which other devices can connect to in order to give them an internet connection uses 2.4 or 5GHz.

By default, security is also a significant part of the experience.  It has an app provided by Avast, and will scan each app whether or not installed  from the Play Store before advising the user whether that app is safe to open.  This will provide peace of mind to some users.  Independent lab tests have found Google’s own Play Protect to be relatively ineffective particularly at detecting malware, and while the majority opinion seems to be that you do not believe that you need a third party security suite on an Android device, I do not subscribe to that view.

The phone also features a remote control app, which will let you download a huge range of remote controls for your devices and operate them from your phone.  This doesn’t necessarily make devices talk, but it does provide an accessible interface for at least operating your devices.  These devices and your phone do not need to be connected to Wi-Fi in order for this functionality to work as it uses infra red.

There are, however, significant downsides to MIUI.  By default, it is not possible to use Google Cast to cast the output of your phone to a screen or TV, this can only be achieved by mirroring.  A consequence of this is that, when I connected my phone to my laptop, the laptop keyboard ended up controlling the phone meaning that I was unable to operate my laptop until I had ended the session.  In addition, under MIUI 13 it is only possible to set one Do Not Disturb schedule (though this has apparently been fixed in MIUI 14).  You can circumvent these issues by installing an app such as Hidden Settings.

MIUI also makes it difficult to share content with other apps, at least when using Talkback.  The default share sheet only displays two or three apps at a time, and scrolling the list works inconsistently.  Disabling a feature known as MIUI optimization fixes this problem, but this will impact or disable other features of the phone such as the automatic security scanning of apps upon installation.

Braille users may also want to disable some native gestures as they interfere with the operation of braille keyboards such as the Talkback Braille Keyboard.

Xiaomi native apps send a lot of advertisement notifications, but happily these can be disabled albeit not via the traditional method of simply turning off app notifications.  For more information on how to do this, check out my Video on the Blind Android Users Youtube channel.

Conclusion

This is a powerful, responsive phone, which sports features not found natively on other Android devices.  The ability to charge the phone in under half an hour is a particular plus.

There are, however, hardware and software compromises you’ll have to live with.  The phone is also likely to require more customisation than devices from other manufacturers meaning that it may not be the best option for someone just starting out with Android.

Overall rating: 4/5.