realme made its newest entry-level phone, the realme C12, official in the Philippines. The folks from the brand sent us a unit to test how good can this be, and this is your first look.
realme C12 specs:
- 6.5-inch HD+ Mini-drop fullscreen display
1600 x 720 px, Corning Gorilla Glass - 2.3GHz octa-core MediaTek Helio G35
PowerVR GE8320 GPU - 3GB LPDDR4 RAM
- 32GB storage with dedicated microSD card slot
- Triple-rear cameras:
13MP f/2.2 main
2MP f/2.4 B&W
2MP f/2.4 macro - 5MP f/2.0 front camera
- 4G LTE, Dual-SIM (nano)
- WiFi 802.11n, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS
- 3.5mm headphone jack, micro USB
- Rear fingerprint scanner
- realme UI (Android 10)
- 6,000mAh battery
with reverse wired charging
Opening the box reveals the basics: a 10W charger, a microUSB cord, documentation papers, and the phone itself. This package was labeled as a demo unit, so we hope to see a TPU case accessory once this hits stores in September.
The C12 features a 6.5-inch HD display at the front, with Corning Gorilla Glass protection and a pre-applied screen protector. There’s also the 5-megapixel selfie shooter up a small notch, as well as the call speaker nearing the edge. realme touts an 88.7% screen-to-body ratio and is very evident with the small side bezels.
We have button and port placements at different sides and are very similar to the setup we saw with the C15. The volume keys and the power/lock button are on the right side. They do not protrude against the side bezels since they are slightly recessed.
The bottom part has the micro UBS port, the microphone, the bottom-firing loudspeaker grille, and the 3.5mm audio port. The SIM and microSD card slots are on the left side.
Flip the device on its back and we see the same geometric design that realme is currently using for the C15. The protruding square camera area at the upper-left now houses three lenses and the flash. There’s the fingerprint scanner at the upper-middle, plus the realme logo at the upper-left.
The triple-camera setup — a 13-megapixel lens, a 2MP Black&White lens, and a 2MP macro shooter. Using the cameras is fun as much as what you would expect in a realme phone: It’s snappy, it has multiple modes, and it’s easy to navigate. Here are some sample shots from the get-go:
The realme C12 will retail in stores, both offline and online, for PHP 5,990 starting September 3. We’ll get more in-depth with this phone as we publish our full review in the coming days.
