Yesterday, realme India launched two new realme 11 Series smartphones in India – the realme 11 5G and the tone-down variant, realme 11x 5G alongside realme Buds Air 5 Series wireless earbuds. The main highlight of realme 11 5G is its 108 MP HM6 camera with lossless 3x in-sensor zoom technology, while the other highlights of the smartphone include an S-Curve design, a 120 Hz display, MediaTek Dimensity 6100+ octa-core SoC, and 67W SuperVOOC Charge fast charging support. Know more about the smartphone in our realme 11 5G review.
realme 11 5G Specifications & Features
- Display & Design: 6.72-inch display, Full HD+ resolution (2400 x 1080 pixels), 120 Hz refresh rate, 180 Hz touch sampling rate, 8.05 mm thickness, 190 grams weight
- Software: realme UI 4.0, Android 13 operating system
- CPU: 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 6100+ octa-core SoC up to 2.2 GHz CPU clock speed (2x ARM Cortex-A75 cores + 6x ARM Cortex-A55 cores)
- GPU: ARM Mali-G57 MP2 (2-core) Graphics
- Memory: 8 GB LPDDR4x RAM, +8 GB Dynamic RAM (total 16 GB RAM)
- Storage: 128 GB OR 256 GB UFS 2.2 internal storage, microSD card support up to 2 TB (dedicated)
- Main Camera: Dual cameras (108 MP f/1.75 HM6 primary + 2 MP f/2.4 portrait), Samsung ISOCELL HM6 sensor with 3x in-sensor zoom, 1080p@30fps, single LED flash
- Selfie Camera: Single 16 MP, f/2.45
- Others: Side-mounted fingerprint scanner, Face Unlock, mono speakers
- Cellular: 5G network, dual SIMs, dual standby, VoLTE support
- Battery & Charging: 5,000 mAh battery, 67W fast charging, 50% charge in 17 minutes
- Colors: Glory Black, Glory Gold
- Price: ₹18,999 (8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage), ₹19,999 (8 GB RAM + 256 GB storage)
- Availability: 29th August 2023 on realme.com/in, Flipkart, and offline stores, pre-order starts from 23rd August 2023 at 1:30 PM
- Offers: Up to ₹1,500 off on HDFC and SBI bank cards
Design, Display, & Build Quality
Starting off with its design, both, realme 11 5G and realme 11x 5G share an identical design with a glossy back and shiny glittering and glowing textures, both flaunt an S-Curve gradient design on the back with flat-style edges. The overall design is refined and polished and feels solid. The realme 11 5G and the realme 11x 5G are pretty much the same in terms of design aesthetics, although the realme 11 5G is 8.05 mm in thickness (slightly more than 7.89 mm on its sibling) and 190 grams in weight. The realme 11 5G comes in two color variants – Glory Black, and Glory Gold colors.
The front side has a 6.72-inch IPS LCD display with Full HD+ resolution (2400 x 1080 pixels), a 120 Hz adaptive refresh rate, 180 Hz touch sampling rate, and 680 nits peak brightness. The display is bright and the screen quality is decent, although you may find smartphones with an AMOLED display in this segment (₹15K to ₹20K).
Like its sibling, the back side has a huge camera module with a nice ring on the edges, you can see a dual camera setup with 108 MP HM6 primary and 2 MP portraits. The realme 11 5G has a fingerprint scanner on the side embedded in the power button.
Moving to the buttons, ports, connectivity, and audio, the right side offers volume controls and a power button that doubles as a side fingerprint scanner while the left side has a dual 5G SIM tray. The bottom has a USB Type-C port, loudspeakers (mono), a microphone, and a 3.5mm jack whereas the top has another microphone. No stereo speakers are available on the phone, however, you get a 3.5 mm jack for earphones/headphones.
Software, User Interface, & Features
The realme 11 5G has the latest realme UI 4.0 interface which brings many more features and customized perks and all the native features of Android 13. The realme UI 4.0 is based on the Android 13 operating system with a security patch dated 5th July 2023. The realme UI 4.0 has been seamlessly optimized for Android 13 and it’s much more improved compared to its predecessors.
realme UI 4.0, which is the successor to realme UI 3.0, offers many of the latest features of the Android 13 and realme’s own customizations, gestures, shortcuts, and other perks with extra-ordinary features from the like Mini Capsule (similar to Apple’s Dynamic Island) and Auto Pixelate chats for privacy. Other features Adaptive sleep, Smart notification hiding, Attenuated incoming call ringtones under the gaze, Real-time clock, Omoji 2.0, and Responsive layout 2.0.
The realme UI 4.0 is also seen on some recent realme smartphones such as the realme C55, narzo N55, narzo N53, narzo 60 Pro Series 5G, and realme 11 Pro Series 5G. realme has tweaked the interface to add a special feature that gives you a glimpse of information on the selfie camera notch. Once deployed, can show you information such as a step count, data usage, or VOOC charging status. The Mini Capsule converts the selfie camera notch into an elongated pill-shaped window.
You get some pre-installed apps that you can remove if you don’t need them. Apps that come installed on the phone are Facebook, Amazon, Snapchat, ShareChat, Dailyhunt, Josh, PhonePe, Moj, Public, Spotify, Agoda, LinkedIn, and a few more. You also get a host of other features in the realme UI 4.0 which you can take advantage of to customize the look and the interface as per your needs. While setting up the phone it may download more apps from the internet on your consent.
Hardware, Performance, & Gaming
As for its hardware and specs, both the smartphones equip the same chip, the realme 11 5G is powered by a new 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 6100+ octa-core SoC clocked up to 2.2 GHz (2x Cortex-A76 and 6x Cortex-A55 processors) paired with an ARM Mali-G57 MC2 (2-core) GPU, up to 8 GB LPDDR4x RAM, and 128 GB UFS 2.2 storage. In terms of performance, you can expect almost the same performance on both devices.
Although there’s a slight change in the variants, the realme 11 5G comes in only an 8 GB RAM variant whereas the realme 11x 5G comes in a lower 6 GB RAM variant. The realme 11 5G comes in 128 GB or 256 GB storage options with 8 GB RAM that extends via Dynamic RAM technology up to 8 GB extra (16 GB in total). The storage can be expanded up to 2 TB via a microSD card. The RAM is an LPDDR4x type and the storage is a UFS 2.2 type.
The MediaTek Dimensity 6100+ is basically an enhanced version of the Dimensity 6020. The MediaTek Dimensity 6100+ is a midrange SoC manufactured in a 6nm process (versus the 7nm Dimensity 6020) and consists of 8x Cortex CPUs (2x Cortex-A76 and 6x Cortex-A55 processors). The two performance ARM Cortex-A78 cores are clocked at 2.2 GHz, and the six power-efficient ARM Cortex-A55 cores are clocked at 2.0 GHz.
When compared to the Dimensity 6020, the performance of the MediaTek Dimensity 6100+ is identical and may not be noticeable in real-life usage. You can expect the chip to perform between Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 and Qualcomm Snapdragon 695. It’s also close to the MediaTek Dimensity 810 in terms of performance, but not significant.
The Dimensity 6100+ is faster than the Snapdragon 680 and slightly below the Snapdragon 695G as far as we think. The MediaTek Dimensity 7050 on its sibling narzo 60 Pro 5G is significantly faster in terms of overall performance due to its higher clock speed (2.7 GHz), LPDDR5 RAM, and UFS 3.1 storage compared to the 2.2 GHz cores with LPDDR4X + UFS 2.2 on the narzo 60 5G.
Moving to its gaming performance, the ARM Mali-G57 MC2 is a midrange GPU for gaming with a decent level of performance. You can expect to run games on medium to high graphics settings. You should pick a high-performance GPU if you are looking to game on the highest settings.
Cameras
The realme 11 5G equips dual cameras on the rear side with a 108 MP f/1.75 primary camera utilizing the Samsung ISOCELL HM6 sensor with 3x in-sensor lossless zoom technology and a 2 MP portrait camera with f/2.4 aperture as the secondary camera both aided by a single LED flash. The front side has a 16 MP selfie camera with f/2.45 aperture for selfie and video calling needs.
The 108 MP primary camera uses a Samsung HM6 image sensor that supports three times lossless zoom compared to a telephoto camera. The zoom is lossless means it doesn’t lose its quality or has negligible loss compared to a dedicated telephoto lens.
The camera app offers Auto-zoom, Super Nightscape, 108MP Mode, Professional Mode, Pano, Bokeh, HDR, Text Scanner, Street Photography Mode, AI Beauty, Filters, AI Scene Recognition, Portrait Distortion Correction, Tlit-shift, and more. The user has the option to record videos of up to 1080p videos at 30 fps and slow-motion videos of 720p at 120 fps.
The camera setup is identical to what we have seen on the realme C53, so there might be a negligible difference in the quality in comparison. To remind you, the 108 MP camera (Samsung S5KHM6) is also seen on the top midrangers such as the realme 10 Pro Series 5G, realme 9 (4G), Samsung Galaxy M53 5G, motorola Moto G72, and Infinix Note 12 Pro – all these smartphones which are priced in different segments.
The smartphone does not offer dedicated wide-angle and macro cameras, it relies mainly on the 108 MP camera for photography, and the secondary camera is used for portraits. You also don’t get OIS and support for 4K recording. For its camera quality, the 108 MP camera definitely does its job more than what is expected. The 3x zoomed images are interestingly good and it retains image quality even in 3x mode. The 108 MP camera takes reasonably good shots in bright daylight with crisp details and the result is highly satisfactory.
We managed to take some camera samples from the realme 11 5G, take a look at them below. You can also see the enlarged photos using its 3X in-sensor zoom capabilities.
realme 11 5G Camera Samples
Battery Runtime & Charging
The realme 11 5G packs a 5,000 mAh battery with support for 67W SuperVOOC Charge fast charging. The 67W fast charging can charge the phone up to 50% in just 17 minutes which means it’s pretty fast than many smartphones, so you can expect the phone to charge fully in about 35 to 40 minutes. The phone uses 2:1 dual charge pump technology to charge the 5,000 mAh battery faster and in a more efficient way. The 5,000 mAh ensures uninterrupted usage for more extended periods as the realme UI 4.0 is optimized for the battery, so expect as long as 2 days of backup depending on your usage.
Verdict – realme 11 5G Review
The realme 11 5G has certainly impressed us with its camera, the 108 MP with 3x in-sensor zoom is surprisingly interesting. It has a bunch of things to offer for its price and is overall a good contender in the segment. You get a slim flat-style design, a 120 Hz display, a decent performing CPU (Dimensity 6100+), 67W fast charging, realme UI 4.0 perks and more making the smartphone check several boxes. Although you may find smartphones with an AMOLED display in this segment (₹15K to ₹20K), you get an overall impressive package. The price for the realme 11 5G starts at ₹18,999 which can be grabbed with some ongoing discounts (up to ₹1,500 off).
realme 11 5G – Where To Buy
The price for the realme 11 5G starts at ₹18,999 for its 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage variant and the ₹19,999 for its 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage variant. The smartphone will be available from 29th August 2023 on realme.com/in, Flipkart, and offline stores. Pre-ordering starts on 23rd August 2023 at 1:30 PM. Launch offers include up to ₹1,500 off on HDFC and SBI bank cards.
