For more information about the Samsung Galaxy M12 visit www.samsungmobilepress.com or news.samsung.com/uk/galaxy.

With Samsung's M series phones, the prettiness of the design is often inversely proportional to how good the spec sheet is. For the devices with impressive specs, like the M31s or M51, Samsung chooses to go with a plain and boring design. For devices that don't have too many attractive specs, the company puts more focus on the design, and the Galaxy M12 is yet another example of that. It also features support for One UI Core, as well as premium services such as Samsung Health, Galaxy Apps and Smart Switch. Samsung Galaxy M12 specs and features You probably got an idea from the display section of this review that the Galaxy M12 performs pretty well, at least for the asking price. There is lag and stutter from time to time when you're navigating through the interface or switching between apps, but the phone generally tends to keep things running along smoothly. It's in stark contrast to last year's Galaxy A21s, which had a 60Hz display and the same processor and still had considerably more slowdowns. The Galaxy M12 is powered by the Exynos 850 octa-core 2.0GHz processor. Samsung claims the chipset offers snappy performance, smooth multitasking and is power efficient, regardless of whether you’re browsing or using multiple apps. The rest of the spec sheet isn't too special, though. That 90Hz refresh rate is tied to an LCD display with HD resolution, and battery charging speed maxes out at 15W. The 48MP main rear camera is accompanied by low-resolution ultra-wide, macro, and depth sensors, the software is the Core version of One UI 3.1 (which means most good Samsung features have been stripped away), and it is powered by the low-end Exynos 850 chipset.

Display – IPS with moderate brightness

Videos can only be recorded at Full HD and 30 fps with the main camera. This isn't unusual in this class, but the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 shows that 4K videos are also possible at this price point. Before filming, you have to choose either the wide-angle lens or the main lens, since it's not possible to switch between them when you're recording. The Galaxy M12 is one of the most affordable phones in the Galaxy M series, but unlike two years ago when the lineup was first introduced, being one of the most affordable doesn't mean having totally boring spec sheets. The Galaxy M12 comes with a huge battery like pretty much every other Galaxy M smartphone, but it is also unique for sporting a 90Hz display, which took everyone completely by surprise when the phone was announced. The Galaxy M12 will probably get two major OS updates, same as earlier devices like the Galaxy M10, but don't expect to see those updates bring many new features considering how the software is so bare-bones out of the box. The 90Hz refresh rate is the only saving grace of the Galaxy M12's display. The screen isn't very sharp, the colors are dull, and brightness levels aren't too hot, either. But I'm surprised how good the high refresh rate works here, despite the Exynos 850 being a very humble low-end processor focused purely on efficiency. It works better on the M12 than it does on the A32, which costs almost twice as much. Thanks to the efficient Exynos 850 chipset and the 6,000 mAh battery, the Galaxy M12 can last two days on a single charge with light to moderate use. And one full day is possible even with heavy use. If battery life is one of your biggest concerns, the Galaxy M12 will make you very happy. Just don't expect ultra fast charging. It supports 15W charging (a 15W charger comes in the box) which takes two hours and 45 minutes to fill up the battery from 0 to 100.

The Samsung Galaxy M12 brings a considerable upgrade to its display with 90Hz high refresh rate. Along with 6.5 inch HD+ Infinity-V display, marathon-watchers can enjoy their favourite content on the go. Whether you are playing a game or binge-watching your favourite web series, the 20:9 aspect ratio coupled with Dolby Atmos ® support on wired and Bluetooth headsets offer an incredible sound and cinematic viewing experience. The Samsung Galaxy M12 is an affordable mid-range phone with a large battery and a 90 Hz display. The Galaxy smartphone looks stylish and offers significantly more storage than the predecessor. Powered by an Octa-core 2.0GHz processor, the Samsung Galaxy M12 ensures optimised performance. The power-efficient processor offers snappy use, smooth multitasking and reduced power consumption while browsing or using multiple apps. Samsung Galaxy M12 features attractive haze and matt finish with smooth curves offering a comfortable grip while watching your favourite movies or shows. The new Samsung Galaxy M12 powers your everyday with its long lasting 5,000mAh battery, providing you with an upgraded M Series experience.For a cheap phone, the M12 takes fairly solid pictures with its 48MP primary camera outdoors during the day and even in the nighttime when there's a good amount of artificial lighting around. With very little artificial lighting, photos come out noisy and dark, and there's no Night mode to get around that. In fact, the camera app has very few modes – you only get Pro, panorama, portrait, and food modes to choose from.

Under the low light and high contrast caused by the candle flame in the picture, the lens shows a passable dynamic range, and you can also zoom into the images a bit and still see details. However, sharpness is average at best here as well. The M12 is the follow up to 2020’s Galaxy M11 and Samsung is promising “some of the biggest upgrades” in the M Series this year, including a 90Hz Infinity-V display, a powerful processor and a 5000mAh battery.

Communication and GNSS – Slow Wi-Fi

The Galaxy M12, like all of Samsung's recent mid-range and budget phones, has very quiet speakers that can be inaudible with even a bit of ambient noise around. Plus, there are no earphones in the box so you will have to get your own, though having Dolby Atmos means you can have a good wired and Bluetooth audio experience. Calls, which have to be taken on the earpiece to be able to listen to the other person properly, work fine, and so does network reception. However, like other M series phones, you don't get support for carrier aggregation, so you can only connect to 4G/LTE networks, not 4G+/ or LTE-A networks.