Redmi Note 11 Full Review: Is it note-worthy?

Redmi phones are always the ones that set a benchmark for what a mid-range phone should offer. We all know how popular the Redmi Note 10 series was and still, under 30000 we are recommending Redmi Note 10 Pro. Redmi Note 11 was launched in Nepal just the day after its global launch and we have been using the device just after its launch here’s our full review of Redmi Note 11 along with its Pros and Cons in Nepal. 

Redmi Note 11 specifications:

Redmi Note 11 Full Review 

Design: Boring but works

Stating write at the beginning, Redmi Note 11 looks boring. Redmi is not trying much with the looks of their device and following the, if at broken don’t fix it policy. The unit which we got had a matt finish with smooth to touch, while we also get a glittery finish. At the back, we get a quad-camera setup with Redmi branding at the bottom. While at the front we have a 6.43-inch of FHD+ display with a punch hole at the top. The punch hole is quite small and also the chin is acceptable. Talking about the in-hand feel, we felt the device was quite handy and compact. Despite having a 5000mAh battery Redmi is able to maintain the weight at 179g. 

Redmi Note 11 features a Dual Speaker setup at the top and bottom which are pretty loud and clear during our testing. Along with that Redmi is among the few companies who still ship their device with IR blaster and it’s good to have to casually control your IR-capable devices like TV and AC. 

Display: 90Hz Smoothness

The 6.43 inches FHD+ AMOLED Display with 90Hz of refresh rate is one of the major USP of the Redmi Note 11. This is a really bright display and even under direct sunlight, the display is visible really well. If you are into content consumption, you would definitely love the display of the Redmi Note 11as it also HD playback on OTT Apps. Other devices from competition like Samsung Galaxy F22 and Realme 9i are either going with an HD+ panel or an IPS, but Redmi on the other hand has kept the best of both worlds. 

The display setting provides a Vivid, Saturated, and Standard color scheme under the settings and I mainly used the device under Vivid settings for punchy colors. We see some flickering issues with very low brightness. Talking about the refresh rate, the display can switch between 60Hz and 90Hz. At 90Hz, Redmi Note 11 is really fluent and smooth also after the recent software the suttle jitters are also improved. Concluding the Display section, I would like to say that the display is not perfect but at this price point, it’s definitely the best you can currently get in Nepal. 

Camera: Workout Needed

Redmi Note 11 provides a Quad Camera Setup at the back with 50MP f/1.8 aperture and Phase Detection Auto Focus. Accompanying it is an 8MP f/2.2 Ultrawide shooter with a 118˚ field of view and the last two are the 2MP each depth and Macro sensor. While at the front inside the punch hole we get a 13MP f/2.4 shooter. Keeping the specs aside let’s look at the camera quality.

Redmi phones are not known much for their camera quality and things are not very different here too. We compared the Redmi Note 11 with the Samsung Galaxy F22, which is a year-old device, but stills capture some of the best pictures at this price point. Talking about the Main 50MP sensor on the Redmi Note 11, it produces bright images with decent details. 

Though sometimes it completely misses out on the dynamic range. The 50MP sensor is the ISOCELL JN1 from Samsung which is not much known for its low light camera capabilities and we can see that in the camera samples as the device struggles under low light, and turning on the night mode somewhat helps to make it a bit brighter with loss in details. 

Talking about the 8MP Ultra-wide camera, it’s nothing worth praise. We can see a good amount of color shift while comparing it with the main sensor and also lacking dynamic range. Though after turning on HDR, things get slightly better. But the change of color temperature with a change of the lens is really Redmi should work out.  

We also have a 2MP depth sensor for the portrait shots. The shots are acceptable with decent edge detection and accuracy and produce bright results. Like always we didn’t try to work much with the 2MP macro shooter as it is there just to increase the camera count.

Performance: Reliable

Redmi Note 11 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 SoC. This is an octa-core SoC with 4×2.4 GHz Kryo 265 Gold & 4×1.9 GHz Kryo 265 Silver CPU cores and Andreno 610 GPU. During our daily usage, we didn’t find any performance issues with the Redmi Note 11. The 90Hz display along with MIUI 13 was really fluent and smooth on the device with good RAM management.  

Gaming

Talking about gaming, we tried PUBG, COD, and other games too. On the Redmi Note 11, PUBG Mobile maxes out at 30fps, while the competition device like the F22 was able to manage 40 fps gameplay. The Redmi Note was able to maintain 30fps constantly though. Talking about the graphics setting under smooth graphics the device supported High FPS settings and maxes out with Balance graphics and Medium Frame rates. While on the Call of Duty side of things, due to the optimizations we were able to push up to very high graphics with High framerate and it handle the game okay I would say. The device did get slightly warm around the camera area but overheating was not an issue on the Note 11. 

Benchmark Scores

On the benchmarking Apps like Geekbench Redmi Note 11 produced 386 Single-core scores and 1731 multicore scores, while on the Antutu benchmark we reached 275485 on the Redmi Note 11. While under wildlife test on 3D mark, Redmi Note 11 scored just 442 with 2.60 average FPS. 

Software: Android 11 with MIUI 13

Redmi Note 11 is running on Android 11 with Redmi’s latest MIUI 13 on top. We didn’t like the fact that still in 2022, the devices shipped with Android 11. As they don’t specify how many Android updates the Note 11 will get but we guess we will get Android 12 at max. During our testing, we got an update that solved the few issues it had at the launch. We were facing some Wifi disconnection issues during our testing which are yet to be fixed. The device can’t scan Wifi networks and also refuses to connect to the network. 

Also, the Dark mode behaves kinda odd in some Apps like FaceBook and Messenger, where icons go hidden under the dark mode. We home Redmi fixes these things soon as now the device is launched globally and we might get hear mode about these bugs. 

Also, read

• Redmi Note 11 Vs Realme 9i: Specs Comparison
• Top 5 features of Redmi Note 11
• Redmi Note 11 vs Samsung Galaxy F22: Specs Comparision

Battery and Charging: Full Day of Indurance with Fast Charging

Redmi Note 11 ships with the 5000mAh cell with support for 33W fast charging and the fast charger is provided in the box. During our testing, the device easily provided one day of battery insurance with a few gaming sessions, camera testing, and regular day-to-day use. As the device is powered by 6nm SoC and has an AMOLED display resulting in really good battery life. Even under our testing, the device was able to pull out 7 hours of screen on time. Talking about the charging, the 5000mAh cell was able to top up fully in around an hour. So, we were happy with the battery performance of the Redmi Note 11. 

Pricing: Redmi Gets this right everytime

Redmi Note 11 starts at the price of Rs 22,999 for the base 4+64GB variant, Rs.24,999 for 4+128GB variant and Rs.26,999 for the 6+128GB variant. It is available in three color variants: Graphite Gray, Pearl White, and Star Blue. We find the 4+128GB variant to provide the best value for your money.