It is not very often that we get to see a budget smartphone designed for rugged use. With the K12x, Oppo pulled a rabbit out of the hat and delivered a rock-solid product at an attractive price. But make no mistake, the Oppo K12x is not a one-trick pony. Under the hood, it is powered by the respectable MediaTek Dimensity 6300 SoC. It also packs an impressive 32MP primary shooter that promises to capture stunning portraits. Curious to check out if the K12x can survive heavy everyday use, we used the smartphone as our daily driver for a week. Here is our in-depth review of the Oppo K12x 5G.
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In This Article
Oppo K12x 5G: Design and Display
Here’s what you get inside the Oppo K12x’s retail box:
- Smartphone
- 45W SuperVOOC charger
- USB Type-A to Type-C charging cable
- Plastic case
- SIM ejector
- Quick guide
Oppo K12x follows the design language of the OnePlus Nord CE4. It has a similar vertical camera array with an LED flash occupying one of the cutouts. The ‘Breeze Blue’ colour variant has a wavy pattern on the back panel. This back panel is made out of plastic, but it has a tough feel to it. There’s no flex to the material and it exudes a lot of strength. The Oppo K12x is MIL-STD-810H compliant, which is something that no other smartphone can boast about.
We knocked the phone around a couple of times and were impressed to see how it absorbed the impact and did not register so much as a scratch. Oppo claims that you can run it over, but we didn’t push the device that far. The matte finish on the plastic back ensures that it doesn’t collect smudges or fingerprints. On top of that, the smartphone is IP54-rated, which means it can withstand minor splashes of water.
The 6.67-inch IPS LCD panel has a 120Hz refresh rate and can reach a brightness of 1,000 nits in High Brightness Mode. This display is surrounded by slim bezels that get considerably thicker around the chin. The touch response offered by the LCD panel is decent, albeit fractionally slower than ideal. In this regard, the K12x is limited by the ceiling of the segment.
Oppo K12x lacks an under-display fingerprint sensor. The side key doubles up as the fingerprint sensor. There is only one bottom-firing speaker on the device but it produces a loud output. We didn’t feel the need to pull out headphones or connect to an external speaker while streaming media on the K12x. The images presented on the screen were vibrant and well-composed. Of course, since this is an LCD panel and not an AMOLED display, the deep blacks were missing, but it didn’t massively take away from the viewing experience.
Oppo K12x 5G Review: Performance and Cameras
Powering the Oppo K12x 5G is the MediaTek Dimensity 6300 SoC. There are two RAM + Storage variants on offer – 6GB + 128GB (Rs 13,000) and 8GB + 256GB (Rs 16,000). The smartphone utilises LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.2 storage. On the Geekbench 6 app, the K12x scored 778 points in the single-core test and 1909 points in the multi-core test.
During the review period, we used the Oppo K12x for everyday tasks like video calling, web browsing, emailing, media streaming, navigation, and more. The smartphone did a good job of handling multiple tasks at once without any unwanted lags. However, the apps took slightly longer to load, but that is something we expect from every smartphone in this price segment.
We even tried a bit of gaming on the Oppo K12x. Titles like Call of Duty and Asphalt Legends Unite were able to run smoothly on medium and low graphics. There were occasional stutters but they did not severely affect the overall gaming experience. The back panel started warming up after we hit the 30-minute mark.
ColorOS 14 delivers the standard software experience on the K12x. The app drawer and home screen give the smartphone a vibrant look. There is a good range of wallpaper options on the device along with comprehensive customisations for the app icons. Since the smartphone uses an LCD panel, it does not have Always On Display. However, you do get helpful features like Smart Sidebar, One-handed mode, App Lock, Hidden Folder, and Private Safe. Being a budget smartphone, there is a fair bit of bloatware on the device.
The K12x packs a massive 5,100 mAh battery that easily lasts for an entire day upon standard usage. During the review period, we used the Oppo K12x as our daily driver and accumulated an average screen-on time of 7 hours per day. At the end of each day, we were left with a 15-20% charge. Using the 45W adapter provided in the box, we were able to fully charge the smartphone in just over an hour.
The rear camera panel of the Oppo K12x packs a 32MP primary shooter and a 2MP depth sensor. Up front, the 8MP selfie camera is housed inside a punch-hole cutout. The main sensor takes good pictures in outdoor daylight conditions. The images are sharp and pack a lot of detail. However, the colour richness leaves a little more to be desired.
In limited lighting conditions, the smartphone relies on Night Mode to artificially brighten up the images and remove the grain. The results were much better than we expected – the smartphone overcame the dimly lit conditions to produce bright images with somewhat accurate colours. This is something we don’t see that often in budget smartphones.
In terms of camera performance, the Oppo K12x’s strongest suit is portrait. Oppo has a reputation for being the ‘Portrait Expert’ and we’re pleased to see that this isn’t just limited to its midrange and premium offerings. The smartphone does a good job of separating the subject from the background and applying the right amount of blur.
The 8MP front-facing camera takes good selfies that display accurate skin tones and minimal smoothening effects. The portrait mode on the selfie camera works well too. The front camera can record 1080p videos at 30fps while the rear camera can pull it off at 60fps as well.
Verdict
The Oppo K12x is a rock-solid (quite literally) and reliable smartphone under Rs 15,000. It puts in a consistent performance day in and day out without showing any signs of slowing down. If you’re a casual user and need a smartphone that will last you for years even after rugged usage, you should be all over the K12x. While we would have loved an AMOLED display on this smartphone, the LCD panel is not a disappointment by any means.
Oppo K12x 5G: Pros
- Strong build
- Clean design
- Loud output from speakers
- Affordable
- 45W fast charging
Oppo K12x 5G: Cons
- Contains bloatware
