GADGET REVIEW

ARTICLE by KEVIN Namunwa

Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G Big Player In The Midrange Space

Smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has been busy in 2022 with its numerous releases of different midrange smartphones. One of its famous releases this year has been the various models of the Redmi Note 11.

I got a chance to review the Note 11S on our blog, cioafrica.co, and looked at both its pros and cons to inspire you to make the best decision when looking for a midrange smartphone. Today, I look at the almost similar Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G.

From a glance, the Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G boasts a lot of equipment. The Snapdragon 695 5G confers decent performance on the 6.67-incher, and its 120 Hz AMOLED display manages over 1000 nits of brightness. Not to mention the 108 MP camera and 67-watt fast charging. Our review reveals whether the Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G has the potential to become a mid-range champion.

At A Glance

The Redmi Note 11 Pro brings a ton of fan-favorite features. Like most of the Notes, this one is also powered by a large 5,000mAh battery, and its charging has been improved from 33W on the Note 10 Pro to 67W on this new Note 11 Pro.

Design & Handling

This phone’s dark gray flat panel, cool flat frame, and the rectangular camera setup on the back looks like other Redmi Note 11 models. The company has opted for a shared design across the Redmi Note 11 series. You just get the phone with the most relevant specs for you and keep the stylish looks no matter what.

This has also made it difficult to tell the Notes apart as they all feature 1080p screens with tiny punch holes. The Redmi Note 11 Pro has a flat Gorilla Glass 5 panel at the front and a flat tempered glass on its back. The rear glass has an eye-catchy matte finish, which is quite pleasant on touch and makes for a far less smudgy experience. The frame is also flat, with a matte finish, made of sturdy plastic. It has the same paint as the rear panel and makes for some strong grip when handling the Redmi Note 11 Pro. It’s also IP53-rated for dust and splash protection. The 6.67-inch Samsung-made AMOLED panel occupies most of the front. It seems quite bright and contrasty, while its perforation is one of the smallest we’ve seen lately. The 16MP selfie camera is within the punch hole. Meanwhile, above the screen, there is this barely noticeable grille that hides the earpiece. Xiaomi has put a proper speaker on top of the Redmi Note 11 Pro, and it has two outlets for the sound - one on top of the phone and one at the front, just above the screen. This means that the grille above the display hides a proper speaker underneath, symmetrical to the one at the bottom.

Software and Performance

Similarly, like the rest of the Note 11 quartet, the Note 11 Pro boots Android 11 with the most current MIUI 13 version. Most of the new MIUI features are under the hood, though they have room to be smoother, smarter, and more secure experience. There is no advanced Privacy Dashboard either with options like a protected clipboard, approximate location, updated Face Unlock algorithm. The updated File Manager and Clock app with Bedtime mode are nowhere to be found either.

Other notable missing features on Android 11 + MIUI 13 combo are the improved one-handed mode (iOS-style), and the improved camera app with zero shutter lag and motion photos. Still, Xiaomi claims that MIUI has been reworked completely, even if you cannot tell that by the interface and its design alone - it looks and feels just like MIUI 12. But the new version reportedly focuses on much better resource distribution and should handle processor, RAM and storage usage better and smarter.

On performance, the Redmi Note 11 Pro employs the Helio G96 chipset by MediaTek, a baffling step back from the Snapdragon 732G within the Redmi Note 10 Pro. The Helio G96 chip features a dual-core Mali-G57 GPU. Unlike the previous G9x chips, here we have a dualcore configuration instead of quad-core, which is somewhat disappointing. It does support a 120Hz refresh rate, but it’s another thing if it will be able to reach 120fps in games (spoiler alert, you cannot).

The smartphone is available in three configurations, both with LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.2 storage - 6GB RAM + 64GB, 6GB RAM + 128GB, and 8GB RAM + 128GB (our review unit).

Camera, Photo, and Video Quality

The Redmi Note 11 Pro has your typical mid-range four-camera setup on the back. There is a high-res 108MP primary, an 8MP ultrawide, a 2MP macro, and a 2MP depth camera. A single LED flash is also around this quarter, while a single 16MP sits within the screen’s perforation and takes care of your selfies. The Redmi Note 11 Pro camera arrangement is a mixture of the Redmi Note 10 Pro and the Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G.

The camera app is a rather straightforward implementation, though it does have its quirks. First, basic operation for changing modes works with side swipes (on the black bezel!), and you can also tap on the modes you can see to switch to those directly. Up and down swipes don’t work for switching between the front and rear cameras; only the toggle next to the shutter release does that.

You can add, remove, and rearrange modes in the main rolodex by going to the More tab and navigating to the edit button, and you can access that from the settings menu as well. The unused modes will still be in that More tab, but you can switch to a (less intuitive) pullout pane that’s summoned from a line next to the shutter release.

The 12MP default photos from the main camera are good for this class. They offer plenty of resolved detail, the white balance is spot-on, and the colors are accurate. The noise is kept nicely low, while the dynamic range is high but not over the top, and that’s why the contrast across the photos is just right. The images are noticeably oversharpened, though. On the video quality, The Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro supports up to 1080p@30fps video capturing with its primary, ultrawide and selfie cameras. The 2MP macro camera is limited to 720p@30fps.

gadget review

The Redmi Note 10 Pro and its Snapdragon 732G chipset offered 4K video capturing, while the Helio G96 has no support for such resolution and the new model sure feels like a big downgrade.

Pricing

This phone varies in pricing based on the different specifications in terms of storage space and RAM. The version with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage space retails at $272.80 while the better version with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage (our review unit) goes for $374.58.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro specs at a glance:

• Body: 164.2x76.1x8.1mm, 202g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass 5), glass back; IP53, dust and splash protection. • Display: 6.67” Super AMOLED, 120Hz, HDR10, 700 nits, 1200 nits (peak), 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 395ppi. • Chipset: Mediatek Helio G96 (12 nm): Octa-core (2x2.05 xMemory: 64GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 8GB RAM; UFS 2.2; microSDXC (uses shared SIM slot).

• OS/Software: Android 11, MIUI 13. • Rear camera: Wide (main): 108 MP, f/1.9, 26mm, 1/1.52”, 0.7µm, PDAF; Ultra-wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.2, 118˚; Macro: 2 MP, f/2.4; Depth: 2 MP, f/2.4.

• Front camera: 16 MP, f/2.4, (wide).

• Video capture: Rear camera: 1080p@30fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps. • Battery: 5000mAh; Fast charging 67W, 51% in 15 min (advertised), Power Delivery 3.0, Quick Charge 3+. • Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); Infrared port; 3.5mm jack.

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