Xiaomi India has launched the Redmi Note 11 Series in India alongside the Redmi Smart Band Pro and Redmi Smart TV X Series. The Redmi Note 11S is a slightly upper variant of the Redmi Note 11 in the series and is also the successor to the last year’s Redmi Note 10S. The primary features of the Redmi Note 11S are 108 MP quad cameras, MediaTek Helio G96 octa-core SoC, 90 Hz AMOLED display, 33W Pro fast charging, and more. Here’s what you need to know about the Redmi Note 11S in our review.
Redmi Note 11S Specifications
- Display: 6.43-inch AMOLED display, Full HD+ resolution, 90 Hz refresh rate, 180 Hz touch sampling rate
- Software: Android 11, MIUI 13
- CPU: MediaTek Helio G96 octa-core SoC clocked at 2.05 GHz
- GPU: ARM Mali-G57 MC2 Graphics
- Memory: 6 GB OR 8 GB LPDDR4x RAM
- Storage: 64 GB OR 128 GB UFS 2.2 internal storage, microSD slot up to 1 TB
- Main Camera: Quad cameras (108 MP HM2 sensor + 8 MP ultra-wide + 2 MP macro + 2 MP depth), LED flash
- Selfie Camera: 16 MP f/2.4
- Others: Side-mounted fingerprint scanner, AI Face Unlock
- Cellular: 4G network, dual SIM, dual 4G standby support
- Battery: 5,000 mAh battery
- Charging: 33W Pro fast charging
- Price: ₹16,499 (6 GB + 64 GB), ₹17,499 (6 GB + 128 GB), ₹18,499 (8 GB + 128 GB)
- Availability: 16th February 2022 on mi.com, Mi Home stores, Amazon India, and other offline retail outlets
- Offers: ₹1,000 off instant discount (BOB Credit Cards & EMI), No Cost EMI & exchange offers
Design, Display, & Build
Looking at the Redmi Note 11S, you will see the smartphone follows the design traits from the recently released Xiaomi 11i 5G, though it’s plastic in nature, 8.09 mm thick, and light in weight (179 grams). Redmi calls it EVOL design, a very identical design you see on the Xiaomi 11i 5G with a Matte finishing on the back with no patterns, just plain solid color. We got the Space Black color while there are two more variants – Polar White, and Horizon Blue.
The backside has a protruding quad-camera setup just at the top left side and you will see Redmi branding at the bottom. It comes with flattened sides and rounded corners, the overall design is neat and the phone feels light and easy in the hands. The fingerprint scanner is mounted on the power key on the right despite having an AMOLED display, you can unlock the phone and apps using the side-mounted fingerprint scanner. Besides, there’s an IP rating available on the phone, it has a water-resistant design IP53 certified.
The Redmi Note 11S has a 6.43-inch AMOLED display with a Full HD+ resolution (2400 x 1080 pixels), a 90 Hz refresh rate, and a 180 Hz touch sampling rate. The peak brightness of the display is 1000 nits peak brightness and 4,500,000:1 Contrast ratio with DCI-P3 wide color gamut.
The right side has volume control and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner embedded on the power button. The left side has a triple-slot SIM tray with two 4G SIM slots and one microSD card slot. The smartphone is lacking 5G support which eventually falls back in the competition where smartphones are capable of using the faster 5G network.
The bottom side has a USB Type-C port for charging, a microphone, and a stereo loudspeaker. The second speaker is at the earpiece, another microphone is at the top side alongside a 3.5 mm port and an IR blaster.
Software & User Interface
The Redmi Note 11S runs on the older Android 11 out-of-the-box, but with the latest MIUI 13.0.2 interface on top. You can see a handful of smartphones that already shifted to the Android 12 operating system, manufacturers like realme, OPPO, and OnePlus are already offering Android 12 in their latest phones.
Despite running Android 11, you can still enjoy many useful features due to the latest update MIUI 13.0.2. The security patch level we recorded on the phone is dated 2022/01/01. You can expect the smartphone to receive the latest Android updates once Xiaomi India prepares to air the Android 12 based MIUI 13.
About the MIUI 13 interface, you will see a bunch of new features which include upgrades in design, better background efficiency, faster processing, as well as longer battery life. A few features that we noticed on this phone are added live wallpapers, themes, a new sidebar, and more.
The user interface is clean, runs flawlessly, the 90 Hz display gives you a smoother touch and provides better responsiveness. No major bloatware is found on the phone, a few apps come pre-installed that can be removed if not required. Apps like Netflix, Prime Video, Amazon, Facebook, LinkedIn, Spotify, and Zili are installed alongwith apps by Xiaomi India.
Hardware, Performance, & Gaming
On the hardware side, the Redmi Note 11S packs a MediaTek Helio G96 octa-core SoC clocked at 2.05 GHz alongwith ARM Mali-G57 MC2 Graphics. About the CPU, the Mediatek Helio G96 is a midrange SoC manufactured in a 12nm process consisting of 2+6 core configurations, two high-performance ARM Cortex-A76 cores clocked at 2.05 GHz, and six power-efficient ARM Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2.0 GHz.
Speaking of the RAM and storage options, the Redmi Note 11S comes in three variants, starting with 6 GB RAM and 64 GB storage as the base variant, 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage as the second, and 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage as the topmost variant. The storage can be expanded via a microSD card slot up to 1 TB.
The price for the Redmi Note 11S starts at ₹16,499 for its base variant 6 GB RAM + 64 GB variant, ₹17,499 for 6 GB RAM + 128 GB variant, and ₹18,999 for its top variant 8 GB RAM + 128 GB variant. The Redmi Note 11S is available on mi.com, Mi Home stores, Amazon India, and other offline retail outlets. The offers include ₹1,000 off instant discount (BOB Credit Cards & EMI), No Cost EMI & exchange offers.
Speaking of the processing power of the processor, it’s similar to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G. The chip integrates an ARM Mali-G57 MC2 GPU for gaming, graphics applications, and GPU-intensive tasks. The performance of the GPU is good and runs many games smoothly on the default graphics settings.
Cameras
Cameras include 108 MP as the primary sensor on the Redmi Note 11S, it has a quad-camera setup on the backside with the 108 MP sensor utilizing the Samsung HM2 sensor. The rest of the cameras are 8 MP ultra-wide-angle, 2 MP macro, and 2 MP depth.
The camera features included on the phone are Ultra-Wide-Angle, Macro, Portrait, Night mode, 108 MP mode, Panorama, Slow Motion, Movie Frame, Pro color, Timed burst, and a few more. Some features we saw on other MIUI-based phones – such as VLOG, Long Exposure, Dual Video, Movie Effects, Magic Clone aren’t available.
The photos in the daylight seem good and quite detailed, the images look vibrant and clear if taken on a bright sunny day. Selfies turn out to be decent from its 16 MP camera. For its video capabilities, it can record up to 1080p at 30 fps, not in 60 fps, no 4K video recording is available on the phone. It still has slow-motion video support but no super slow-motion 480 or 960 fps. Recording wide-angle video is possible.
Redmi Note 11S Camera Samples
Battery Runtime & Charging
The Redmi Note 11S equips a 5,000 mAh battery which is the same as we saw on its predecessor, Redmi Note 10S. The 5,000 mAh battery lasts about 2 days on average and depends upon your usage. The 5,000 mAh battery supports a 33W Pro fast charging technology. Xiaomi 11i 5G has a 67W charging speed which is equivalent to double the speed of Redmi Note 11S’s charger (33W). If not the fastest in its class, it’s still faster, it takes about 58 minutes to charge from 0% to 100% in one go.
Verdict
The Redmi Note 11S has a 90 Hz AMOLED display, a newer MIUI 13 version, and better cameras (108 MP) compared to its predecessor Redmi Note 10S. The performance is good, offers stereo speakers for a better multimedia experience, and supports 33W fast charging. Do note that, you don’t get 5G support on this phone, no Android 12 out-of-the-box, and it doesn’t record 4K videos which could be a letdown if you are looking for such traits in this budget. The Redmi Note 11S is a reasonable option between ₹15,000 to ₹20,000 price bracket unless you want a 5G smartphone.
Strength
- Impressive 90 Hz AMOLED display
- Good CPU Performance
- Good Overall Cameras
- MIUI 13 with handy features
- 33W fast charging support
- IP53 water-resistant coating
- Stereo speakers for better multimedia experience
- Dedicated microSD card slot
- IR Blaster for controlling Infrared-enabled devices
- 3.5mm jack for earphones/headphones
Weakness
- No 5G Support
- No 60 fps and 4K recording
- No Android 12 out-of-the-box
