When someone asks us for advice on buying a smartphone, we always have to answer with two questions: “what do you need it for?” and “how much do you want to spend?”. Every now and then someone has specific requests, they want the performance of a professional gamer or a quality telephoto sensor. But most people want a smartphone that is competent in every way and at a price under 300 euros. And during the tests of this review, the realme 11 5G demonstrated good solidity across the board, considering the price. Smooth performance, good photo shots, quality screen and truly excellent battery life.
But even if you give up very little, the price of 299.99 euros (introductory offer at 279.99 euros) requires some compromise. And especially, Realme is a victim of its own competition: some other smartphones of the brand can become alternatives to this newcomer. In this review, we therefore help you understand if realme 11 is for you.
Our review of realme 11 5G
Realme has already presented two versions of this series this summer: realme 11 Pro 5G (review here) e realme 11 Pro+ 5G (review). The first debuted with a price of just under 400 euros, but today it is around 300 euros. The second debuted just above 500 euros, but today you can buy it online for a hundred euros less. But even if they are different smartphones, the identity of this series continues to be felt (and this is excellent news for those looking for a device at a good price).
As we have become accustomed to doing, Realme sells the smartphone with a plastic-free package in its iconic yellow. With everything you need inside to start using realme 11 immediately: in addition to the device, a 67W SUPERVOOC charger with USB-C cable and a transparent plastic cover.
Realme 11, with the display covered by a “screen protector”, immediately stands out golden color that we tested in this review (there is also a black one). Which continues to shine even in the transparent silicone cover: you can see that Realme is proud of the design of its smartphone and wants to show it. Something not so common in this price range, usually not very original in the lines.
A bright design
The realme 11 line maintains a certain attention to design, albeit in the mid-range. The Pro and Pro+ models had a black model and a white eco-leather model, with gold details. That bright color takes over in realme 11, becoming really bright in the metal frames and under the glass covering the back.
Looking closely at the back of the smartphone, you can observe a series of bright dots that play with the light of the sun or in the rooms, creating really interesting reflections.
If the “big brothers” have a central circle containing the cameras, the dual sensor and LED of realme 11 are at the top left. But it is large enough to balance the smartphone: even if you write while holding it on the desk, it will still remain quite stable. The outline of the photographic circle recalls the sides of the smartphone, offering the eye a smartphone that seems to be worth more than the price tag.
Attention to detail
Realme has taken great care of the design details of this device. The glossy edges retain fingerprints, but the light color makes them less noticeable if you prefer to use your smartphone without a cover. Below, you will find the outputs of the speaker (which you also find above the screen), an entrance USB–C and also a jack input for headphones, very welcome.
On the left side you will find the slot for the SIM. On the contrary: there is space for two SIMs and an SD card, if you want to expand the 256GB of memory (which, however, will be enough for most users). On the right side the keys volume the one for the ignition, which also acts as the button for the unlocking.
We really appreciated the attention to detail in the design, which many other brands take for granted in this price range. Realme instead has worked to give a device with straight and bright framesrounded corners and a flat display that we really like to hold between our fingers.
The only note concerns the reader’s sensitivity to fingerprints, which is really quick and snappy – perhaps almost too much so. When removing and putting the smartphone back from the pocket, especially if we did it while sitting, we often felt the vibration of the device trying to unlock, because we had touched the device with a finger. It’s not an insurmountable problem: it doesn’t take much to adapt, or you can decide to unlock just by pressing the button more firmly. We only point this out because Realme has paid so much attention to the details of this smartphone that we feel obliged to pay attention to every subtlety too.
A display above expectations
The display gives 6.72 inches it really surprised us in a positive way. Not only is it a large, spacious display, interrupted only by the small selfie camera at the top center. But the color balance and brightness mean that it overcomes hardware limitations to deliver vivid, quality images.
The chronic ones are noticeable, especially the lower one, if you are used to higher-end smartphones. But otherwise it is of really excellent quality, both when you switch from one app to another, and when you watch videos and TV series, or while playing.
The system handles both very well refresh rate automatic (which varies from 60 to 120Hz based on your use) that the brightness automatic. In this period, we are seeing very high brightness in the top of the range, with new records with each announcement. But even if realme 11 doesn’t reach those astronomical figures, during the tests for our review it always managed to perform very well.
Smooth performance
Realme 11 5G uses a chip MediaTek Dimensity 6100+, with 8GB of RAM expandable up to 12 thanks to RAM expansion technology. With this hardware, you cannot expect top-of-the-line performance in the benchmarks. But most users won’t miss it at all.
During daily use, in fact, we have never experienced any slowdown. Even switching from one game to another, opening social media and Chrome with the 5G connection, everything worked with good fluidity. Those of us who test different smartphones every month can notice the small differences in reaction times compared to more powerful devices (such as the same Pro and Pro+ models of realme 11), but we never found ourselves wanting more power. Also because, as we will see, this chip allows you to obtain really excellent autonomy without giving up too much in terms of pure performance.
realme 11 review: the camera
Realme has an overall good photographic system, although perhaps not very flexible. On the back, you will find a 108MP main sensor and another 2MPwhich will mainly serve as support to the main one.
The high megapixel count allows you to carry out the so-called “pixel binning”, therefore bringing together more pixels and thus increasing the ability of the sensor to collect light. The result is rather good photographs even in uncertain light conditions, for example shortly after sunset. However, a little too much noise remains: if you look at the shots below from your PC or zooming in on your smartphone, you will see that the details are lost very quickly. However, they remain shots that can be used on social media.
Instead, photographs are better in optimal light conditions, such as a sunny day or in a well-lit room, where videos also have good quality. However, we did not appreciate the color management too much. When the lights in the room are too hot, the smartphone always amplifies this effect by doing turn the colors a little too much towards yellow compared to natural ones. L‘HDR then seems to us to illuminate a little too much, distorting the colors a bit. If you have a little patience, however, you can calibrate the shot intuitively with the camera software to get good results.
Lo digital zoom da 3x it loses a little in quality, but it performs quite well and remains usable even in low light conditions. There 16MP camera for selfies it tends to overexpose the shots slightly and lose some detail on the skin of the face. But it’s not bad at all, considering the price.
In general, we are not faced with a smartphone that surprises with photographic quality, but even in this department it seems like a solid choice.
Record autonomy and fast charging
If there’s one area where the realme 11 5G shined during testing for this review, it’s without a doubt autonomy. Starting from home with the battery above 80%, we were able to use Google Maps (and listen to music by connecting to the car’s Bluetooth) for a journey of about fifty minutes to an event, we took photographs and used the smartphone as a hotspot for connect our laptop to the internet, then we used the navigator until we got home (always with music) in the late afternoon. The battery remained above 30%, we didn’t have to charge it until the next morning.
With less intense use, you can easily get to two working days. Especially because, with the screen off, it consumes very little: If you keep it on your desk or in your pocket while you work, the battery won’t go down.
To make sure you don’t miss anything, Realme has provided this smartphone with a charger SUPERVOOC skin 67W, which allows you to recharge the battery from 5000 mAh in a very short time. Charging times seem similar to those of the Pro model: in just a little more…