Specs
| CPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G (6 nm) |
| Memory | 8GB+ 128GB with MicroSD card slot |
| Display | 6.67″ FHD+ Super AMOLED @ 120Hz, 1200 nits Peak Brightness |
| Camera | 108 MP, f/1.9, 26mm (wide), 1/1.52″ 8 MP, f/2.2, 118˚ (ultrawide) 2 MP, f/2.4, (macro) 16 MP, f/2.4, (wide selfie) |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.1 ,USB Type-C 2.0 |
| OS | Android 11, MIUI 13 |
| Battery | 5,000 mAh, 67W Fast Charging |
| Available Colors | Atlantic Blue / Graphite Gray |
| Retail Price | 8GB/128GB – RM 1,299 |
Design
“Uniform Body, Boxy”
The transition from curve, semi-curve to flat is clear. The Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G takes a boxier, flat-out approach to the body and it brings back some semblance of nostalgia. Not only was the grip solid but the feel was rather premium as well, since the phone is literally a glass sandwich with a plastic matte filling.
It feels great on the hand and we appreciate this kind of matte finish as we’ve seen on the non-pro version as it gives off a more expensive feeling. It’s definitely not slippery and you can hold it with ease without needing that thick jelly case that’s in the box.
Our unit is the Graphite Gray and it’s so easy on the eyes. For added ease, the Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G comes with an IP53 Splash-resistance rating, meaning that it’s got enough sealing to get you past the rain and some accidental spills. The effort is also seen on the card slot which has some level of rubber seals to keep liquid from seeping in. I had also taken quite a the liking to how the camera module looks this time around, it’s as boxy as the phone itself with rounded edges. Neat!
The 120Hz display is Super AMOLED, something we definitely welcome in this price-tier. It’s the same specs as last year’s Redmi Note 10 Pro, coming in at the same FHD+ resolution. The color coverage is pretty wide and watching videos was a pleasant experience with deep blacks and almost true-tone colors. The display is covered with a relatively thin bezel with a small center hole for the 16MP selfie-cam.
At the top you’ll find a trusty 3.5mm stereo jack, the top speaker an IR blaster and one microphone. Thank goodness I can still use this to control my AC.
Snapdragon 695 Can Game
The Snapdragon 695 5G chipset is one of Qualcomm’s newer developments built on a 6 nm process. It’s essentially a strong midrange chip with 8 cores running on 2.2 Ghz (4 x Gold and 4 x Silver Core architecture).
For games it’s definitely looming around the 60 FPS range with graphic settings dependent on the title. For games like Genshin Impact, Low-Medium settings can get you about 35-45 FPS during daily quests, which is more than I could hope for considering the phone didn’t even heat up that much during my test.
As for more optimized titles like Honkai Impact, you’re able to get the high 40-50s FPS on High, and MOBA’s like Mobile Legends and Onmyoji Arena ran nearly 60FPS on High with temps lingering around the mid 30s (degrees Celsius). It’s some smidges weaker than the Dimensity 920 but it makes up for it in staying cool and maintaining stable temperatures during gaming.
The battery is the typical 5,000 mAh, which performed excellently while being able to promise some level of gaming performance and casual use. With a balanced use case of casual gaming and app usage, expect a day’s use with plenty of change left for the next day on a single charge. It tops-up using the provided 67W charger, which can bring back half a thank of charge in 15 minutes. You add another 30 minutes to that figure and you’re back to full capacity. This is pretty fast for a RM 1.2K device with a large capacity battery, which I expect to make a lot of people very happy to have on board.
Camera System time.
The Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G deploys triple-camera setup – a 108MP primary camera, an 8MP ultrawide shooter, and a 2MP macro sensor.
The 108MP main sensor outputs 12MP images and it shoots slightly above its paygrade. There’s an acceptable amount of detail, with the dynamic range being good as well as the white balance. You won’t see noise from the main shooter but you’ll get some blurred edging which is common.
The ultra-wide misses for me. There’s an insane amount of noise that’s amplified by over-sharpening. If you’re shooting in daylight it might be better but if you’re planning to go indoors, things start to really go down from here. You can take a look from how the light bulbs flare all over the place. The colors however are acceptable and are similar to the main sensors so there’s some consistency there.
Clean Portrait Selfies
The 16MP front camera is decent. I was satisfied with how portraits turned out with the faux bokeh and the post processing. It managed to give my facial hair a complimenting contour as well as some good highlights on my hair and chest.
Regular selfies focus a lot on the center, and therefore produces images where the face is clear but the backgrounds blurry. Some might appreciate that and some might not, but if we’re not using portrait mode, we wished it to be sharper in terms of background. Colors again are good, presenting my off-green shirt accurately as well as my moonstone necklace’s mossy hue.
There are hits and there are misses. It seems to be a trend that only the main camera sensor can be usable.
An Admirable Try, but more effort is needed.
The Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G ticks boxes in performance, display and battery life, but the secondary cameras require some rework to truly beat their competitors. Still, for RM 1299, it’s an easy to recommend every day phone although you might be better off saving the money and getting the Redmi Note 10 Pro that has a better camera system, similar display with a little tone down to gaming performance.
Battery life however is good, you can really go through 2 days of moderate use with quick recharging speeds.
