Design

The Samsung M12 is equipped with a plastic body, it has a 6.5-inch flat screen. The rear panel is matte blue, with a main camera with 4 circular sensors grouped in a square module, below which the flash is located. Looking at the front of the Samsung M12, you can see the slim bezels and the hole that houses the front camera.

In the upper part there is a single hole for a secondary microphone, on the right side we find the volume control, below the power button that contains the fingerprint sensor, which in general has a very good response, the set has a good height and location to be reached with one hand.

In the lower part of the center is the USB type C charging port, on the left side is the 3.5 mm headphone jack and another hole for the main microphone, on the left is the speaker. On the left side, up to the top, is the SIM card tray and the expansion card tray.

Its dimensions are 164×75.9×9.7 mm and it weighs 214 g, it is light and pleasant to hold.

Screen

The Galaxy M12 has an Infinity-V Display screen, with a 6.5-inch diagonal, an aspect ratio of 20: 9, an HD + resolution of 1620 × 720 pixels and it is PLS IPS technology.

The refresh rate of the screen is 90 Hz. The ratio between the screen and the front panel is 81.9%. The Samsung Galaxy M12 will appeal to any user who likes a device with a large screen and good features.

This display offers a wide viewing angle, high pixel density and very good natural color reproduction. We had no difficulty reading the information on the screen, even if you're outside in sunny weather. This type of display features low power consumption and is easy on the eyes.

The front panel of the Samsung M12 is made of glass, but not Gorilla Glass, so the recommendation is to put a protective cover on it.

Performance

Beneath the handsome body of the smartphone is an Exynos 850 processor combo, a mid-range 8-core Cortex-A55 architecture chip running at 2.0 GHz and coupled with an ARM Mali-G52 GPU. The Exynos 850 is manufactured at 8 nanometers.

The Samsung M12 is equipped with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage respectively, which you can expand using microSD. We highly recommend expanding the space with a microSD card, the storage is insufficient, especially if you start recording video or storing music. The phone accepts two SIM cards.

Both the chipset and the operating system offer optimized performance when browsing or carrying out activities such as browsing, sending emails, listening to music and Spotify or watching videos on YouTube or your favorite streaming platform. It is not a cell phone optimized for high performance games.

The phone runs Android 11 operating system and Samsung's One UI 3.0 interface which generally does a good job.

The phone offers acceptable performance, although at times we could perceive some delay or slowness in its responses. In favor, its interface is rich in interesting features. If you are used to working with a Galaxy model, the transition to this device will be smooth and pleasant.

One UI allows us to customize the device according to our taste, we can change themes, adjust the transparency of the screen for a better visualization of images, change the design and colors of the clock, etc.

Gesture control is also at a good level. When the battery is running low, the phone automatically goes into power saving mode, as soon as we plug it in, it switches to standard auto mode.

cameras

The Galaxy M12 follows the trend of stacking quad cameras on the back, with the main sensor being 48 megapixels, plus a 5-megapixel ultra-wide angle f/2.0 aperture and 123-degree field of view, a 2-megapixel macro sensor and a 2 megapixel depth sensor, the latter is responsible for photos with a bokeh effect. The set is accompanied by an LED flash and an HDR mode.

The front camera is an 8 megapixel sensor and again wide angle. With which we can capture many more people in the shot.

Both cameras record video at a resolution of 1,080 pixels at 30 frames per second.

The main rear camera on this phone captures a decent amount of detail in daylight. Naturally, when the light is poor, the performance of the camera declines. The camera tends to deliver shots with a slightly warmer tone.

The 8MP ultra wide angle sensor offers less successful results than the main one, something totally predictable and common in most of the phones that we have evaluated, in the photos you can notice the curvature of the edges, the details tend to be lost and a slight distortion in colorimetry.

This is not a phone to take professional photos, the shots will not disappoint you if your thing is to occasionally upload photos to your social networks. Its focus speed is not the fastest either, we recommend patience, a good hand or, failing that, a tripod.

The shots with the macro sensor are merely testimonial, the 2 PM sensor will not work miracles, in this case it is better to take a photo with the main sensor and make a crop.

The shots on the front camera in portrait mode turn out well and we will not demand much in this price range. Let's say they comply, when the light conditions are optimal.

Battery

The Samsung M12 is a phone with a respectable 5,000mAh battery. Both the chipset and the software do a good job of managing energy performance, providing enough autonomy for people with a dynamic daily routine, for whom being without a phone is not an option.

Price and availability

Galaxy M12 will be available through www.samsungstore.mx and in Mercado Libre, in Black, Blue and Green colors at a price of $3,699 pesos. It can also be purchased at official Samsung stores distributed nationwide at $3,899 pesos.

Conclusions

The Galaxy M12 maintains the essence of the brand: great autonomy, nice design and acceptable camera for the entry range, however, its performance is not the best. The RAM and storage space don't give much wiggle room.

The phone is sometimes a bit slow, something that works against it for a smooth experience, especially if we compare it with phones that play in the same category, such as POCO, Xiaomi or realme.

Samsung users will find in this mobile phone a phone in which the transition is easy, with a very good screen, great autonomy and a nice design, at a fairly affordable price and the guarantee of the South Korean brand behind it.