Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Review: Affordable AMOLED

Xiaomi has introduced one thing of an attack at the reasonably priced smartphone marketplace during the last couple of years with its Redmi and Poco manufacturers, supplying continuously unexpected combos of top quality parts for an extremely low value.

The Redmi Note 11 marks this actual sub-brands first effort of 2022, and it’s some other elegant but reasonably priced effort. There aren’t many well-under-£200 telephones available in the market providing the configuration that the Redmi Note 11 does.

In the method of doing this, it additionally steps up from the Redmi Note 10 in a few vital tactics.

Design & Build

• Stylish seems
• 8.1mm, 179g
• IP53

Last 12 months’s Redmi Note 10 circle of relatives inspired with its design, which might be summed up as ‘simple however slightly elegant’. You can typically pass judgement on an inexpensive phone’s design via the selection of clearly affordable parts on show.

On this entrance, the Redmi Note 11 continues the nice paintings. All of the fabrics are matte, from the convincingly metal-effect body to the soft-touch plastic again. The latter is a bit of of a fingerprint magnet, nevertheless it feels just right within the hand.

The digicam module is fairly much less elaborate than remaining 12 months’s style, reflecting a extra understated way, however you’ll’t say that’s a nasty choice.

Around the entrance, the chunky bezels are a telltale signal that you just’re dealing with an inexpensive phone, specifically the prolonged chin. So too is the hole-punch notch, which has a tellingly (and distractingly) glossy encompass.

With dimensions of 159.9 x 73.9 x 8.1mm and a weight of 179g, the Note 11 feels good within the hand. With an IP53 score – which is some distance from a given in less expensive telephones – it’s encouragingly tough too.

It’s just right to peer a three.5mm headphone jack coming round again. It’s simple to suppose that everybody has moved to true wi-fi earbuds via now, however till they’re bundled into the field as same old that received’t be the case.

Talking of welcome audio options, the Redmi Note 11 additionally packs a couple of stereo audio system. That’s now not one thing you notice in each and every sub-£200 phone.

Screen

• 6.43in
• 90Hz AMOLED
• Full HD+

Perhaps the stand-out part with the Redmi Note 11 is the show. It’s now not particularly massive or sharp, even if at 6.43-inches and FHD+ I don’t have any lawsuits in both regard.

What’s notable is that it’s a colourful AMOLED show quite than the type of drab LCD panel that’s extra not unusual at this value level. Xiaomi hasn’t skimped at the smoothness both, with a 90Hz most refresh charge making sure that content material slides via great and easily as soon as activated.

On that latter entrance, it’s an instantaneous development over remaining 12 months’s Redmi Note 10, which was once caught at 60Hz. It’s additionally an development over newer competitors, just like the Moto G31 which oddly dropped to 60Hz in comparison to its predecessor.

In basic indoor stipulations, with auto-brightness deactivated, I recorded top brightness of 425 nits. Xiaomi claims that it’s going to pass to 700 nits in prime brightness mode and as much as 1000 nits in auto-brightness stipulations with direct daylight.

Using an i1Display Studio colorimeter, I recorded a gamut protection of 100% sRGB, 87.8% Adobe RGB, and 99.9% DCI P3, which is impressively color correct.

Specs & Performance

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 680
• Up to six/128GB
• No 5G toughen

The Redmi Note 100 runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 680 4G chip, a slightly new mid-range System on Chip (SoC), subsidized via both 4- or 6GB of RAM.

It’s a forged performer for this finish of the marketplace, with moderate Geekbench 5 multi-core rankings which are very similar to the Poco X3 NFC and manner forward of the Moto G31.

Its GPU isn’t reasonably as spectacular, with GFXBench effects that fall some distance in need of the aforementioned Poco X3 NFC and the Realme 8, and are more or less identical to the Moto G31.

One notable omission this is 5G. The Redmi Note 11 doesn’t provide you with top-level community connectivity, which is a bit of of a disgrace so glance in other places if that is essential to you.

In phrases of garage, you get both 64- or 128GB, in addition to a microSDXC slot for growth functions. In fact, we’re seeing increasingly reasonably priced telephones make 128GB the minimal. Perhaps this level of regression finds probably the most tactics during which Xiaomi has controlled to squeeze in a few of the ones extra attention-grabbing parts.

(*11*)

Other common however nonetheless welcome specifications come with NFC for cellular bills, and a rapid and dependable side-mounted fingerprint sensor.

Cameras

• 50Mp primary digicam
• 8Mp ultra-wide
• 2Mp macro & intensity
• 13Mp selfie

The Redmi Note 11 is ostensibly fitted out with a quad-camera machine, however we all know what that implies via now within the finances marketplace. In sensible phrases, handiest two of the ones sensors are of any nice use, with a couple of 2Mp sensors (one for intensity, one for macro) serving as such a lot stat padding.

Let’s impulsively flip to the essential portions, then. The primary direction is a 50Mp vast sensor with an f/1.8 aperture, which is subsidized via an 8Mp ultra-wide.

It’s simple to indicate to the relative loss of megapixels for the ultra-wide, however the easy reality is that many reasonably priced telephones forego an ultra-wide digicam altogether.

The primary shooter does a cheap process of shooting detailed pictures, given a variety of lighting fixtures. That mentioned, I picked up some noticeable grain even in somewhat ‘commonplace’ stipulations, and the HDR impact isn’t one of the best I’ve observed, even at this finish of the marketplace.

The primary digicam struggles simply as quickly because the lighting fixtures develop a bit of dimmer, and the Night mode yields pictures which are a grainy mess. But display me the cheap phone the place this isn’t the case.

Detail and steadiness drop off dramatically whilst you transfer to that 8Mp ultra-wide, and the tone shifts a great deal. Again, despite the fact that, you most often have to spend so much extra money to get a completely realised, expertly balanced ultra-wide enjoy.

The phone will shoot 2x zoomed pictures, however know that those can be cropped from the principle sensor, this means that much more noise.

The 13Mp selfie digicam is good enough, nevertheless it did clean my pores and skin out to a fairly distracting stage. Meanwhile, the portrait selfie mode created that disconcerting forcefield impact round my define.

All in all, the Redmi Note 11 digicam achieves a at ease par for a £200 phone. But it’s now not a stand out part in anyway.

Battery Life & Charging

• 5000mAh battery
• 33W charging
• Adapter incorporated

Like maximum different primary £200 contenders at the moment, the Redmi Note 11 packs in a capacious 5000mAh battery.

In my enjoy, a protracted 14 hour day of extensive utilization that concerned some 6 hours and 50 mins of display screen on time left me with round 40% left within the tank. That’s a very good outcome and implies that the phone is just right for 2 complete days of ‘commonplace’ utilization.

In our common PCMark Work 3.0 battery benchmark the Redmi Note 11 controlled a tight 11 hours and 35 mins. This puts it above the Moto G31 and the Realme 8 on 10 hours and 36 mins, however beneath the Poxo X3 NFC on 15 hours and 48 mins.

As we’ve come to be expecting from just about all of Xiaomi’s sub-brands at the moment, the Redmi Note 11 comes up with the products on charging. It’s bundled with a 33W stressed out charger, which were given me up from 0 to 58% in half-hour. It’ll get you the entire manner as much as 100% in slightly below an hour.

Software

Xiaomi’s MIUI instrument hasn’t ever been a selected favorite, with simplistic icons and a basic loss of a compelling and even cohesive visible taste.

MIUI 13 runs on height of Android 11 right here, and it’s extra of the similar. You nonetheless get that bafflingly useless further display screen, in large part devoid of anything else, that pops up each and every time you put in an app.

You nonetheless additionally get a number of personalisation choices that pass above and past, in their very own manner. Most particularly, there’s a Themes app that’s choc-full of customized wallpapers so that you can obtain and set up without spending a dime.

There’s no arguing with how essentially forged MIUI 13 is. It leaves Google Feed effectively on my own to the left of the house display screen, not like some competitors, and I individually in finding the default break up notification color to be a satisfying contact. It’s great being to tug that color down from any place at the display screen, too.

But it’s nonetheless a essentially busy and charmless UI, stuffed with too many toggles and distractions.

Price & Availability

While the Redmi Note 11 begins at US$179 in the case of world pricing (in spite of no plans to release within the States). The UK marketplace will handiest get the center of the 3 SKUs at £199 which is a disgrace for client selection.

This will pass on sale 24 February in Graphite Gray, Twilight Blue or Star Blue and can be to be had from the professional Mi Store in addition to Amazon, Currys, Very and Argos.

Those ordering prior to 10 March gets a unfastened pair of Redmi Buds 3 headphones.

Here are the main points of the 3 Realme Note 11 SKUs:

• 4/64GB – $179
• 4/128GB – £199/$199
• 6/128GB – $229

It’s a wonderful value, however there is numerous pageant round this mark together with Xiaomi’s personal gadgets discussed previous and the likes of Realme and Motorola. If 5G is a should then glance to telephones such because the Oppo A54 5G.

Check out extra choices in our highest finances phone chart.

Verdict

The Xiaomi Redmi 11 gives a compelling mixture of specs for less than £200. There aren’t many affordable telephones that provide you with a 90Hz AMOLED show for this type of value.

It additionally has a design that, whilst infrequently attention-grabbing, doesn’t really feel remotely cheesy. That’s some distance from a given at this finish of the marketplace.

Also noteworthy is the Redmi Note 11’s point of stamina, which is able to get most of the people thru two days of utilization on a unmarried price. Redmi impresses via throwing in a rapid 33W charger, too.

Performance and digicam high quality are simply good enough, which is the place scaling as much as the Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G could be price making an allowance for. But in case you’re on a strict finances, this can be a phone with few obvious weaknesses.

Specs

Xiaomi Redmi Note 11: Specs

• Android 11
• 6.42in, FHD+, AMOLED, 90Hz, flat show
• Side-mounted fingerprint sensor
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 4G
• 8GB/12GB LPDDR4 RAM
• 64GB/128GB garage
• 50Mp, f/1.8 primary digicam
• 8Mp ultra-wide digicam
• 2Mp intensity digicam
• Up to 1080p @ 30fps rear video
• 13Mp front-facing digicam
• Stereo audio system
• Dual-SIM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
• Bluetooth 5.0
• 5000mAh battery
• 33W charging
• 159.9 x 73.9 x 8.1mm
• 179g
• Launch colors: Graphite Gray, Twilight Blue, Star Blue