realme launched the realme 11 Pro, the company’s latest mid-range smartphone in the number series, in India earlier this month. This is a major upgrade when compared to last year’s realme 10 Pro, and shares similar specifications as the 11 Pro+, so the price has also increased. Is this the best smartphone to buy under Rs. 25,000? Let us dive into the review to find out.
Box Contents
- realme 11 Pro 12GB + 256GB version in Sunrise Beige color
- 2-pin 80W SuperVOOC fast charger (USB Type-A port)
- USB Type C Cable
- SIM Ejector tool
- Protective case
- User Guide and Warranty information
Since it shares the same display and design, I won’t go much into the display and design part. You can check out the realme 11 Pro+ review to know more about those details.
Camera
- 100MP main camera with Omnivision sensor, f/1.75 aperture, OIS
- 2MP macro camera with f/2.4 aperture
- 16MP front-facing camera with f/2.45 aperture
The camera UI in the realme UI 4.0 is familiar. There is Pro mode, Panorma, Flim, Slo-mo, Time-Lapse, Dual-View video, text scanner, starry mode and tilt-shift. There is Dynamic bokeh and Bokeh Flare portrait option for photos. You only get Bokeh Flare portrait option for video. The rear camera offers 12MP output after pixel binning, and the front camera images are 16MP in size.
Daylight shots came out well, thanks to the 100MP sensor, and the dynamic range is better with auto HDR. There is AI mode which recognizes different photo scenes and automatically adjusts camera settings to make boost the colours. 2X is good, and the portrait mode is decent since it has a dedicated 2MP sensor for it.
Low light shots are decent, but you can’t compare it with the Pro+ since the 200MP sensor is better. The night mode is useful, but it takes a few seconds to process. There is also a pro mode in night mode for manual tuning. The front camera also does a good job in daylight. It lacks an ultra-wide camera, which is available in the 10 Pro and the 10 Pro+ models.
Check out the camera samples
It can record videos in up to 4K 30 fps, slow motion 1080p at 480fps, 720p at up to 940 fps, which should converted, and the front camera can record 1080p 30fps videos. Portrait video mode is limited to 720p, but the Bokeh Flare portrait offers 1080p output. There is also AI mode and ultra-wide video shooting, but these are limited to 1080p 30fps.
There is OIS and EIS which does a good job. It has an ultra-steady mode which is limited to 1080p 60fps. This doesn’t have the ultra-steady max that was present in the Pro+ since it lacks an ultra-wide camera.
Software, UI, Apps and Connectivity
It runs Android 13 based realme UI 4.0 out of the box. It has Android security patch for April 2023. The phone should get 2 Android updates and 3 years of security updates. realme recently pushed an update to disable ‘Enhanced Intelligent Services’ option after a controversy. The phone has a lot of preloaded apps which can be uninstalled, but come back once the phone is reset.
Out of 12GB LPDD4X RAM, you get 11.29GB of usable RAM, and about 7GB of RAM is free when default apps are running in the background. It also has DRE or dynamic RAM expansion feature, which uses the built-in storage as RAM. This has up to 12GB of additional RAM expansion. Out of 256GB, you get about 224GB of free storage. The phone uses UFS 3.1 storage, an upgrade from UFS 2.2 in the 10 Pro.
The phone has Widevine L1, so that you can play HD content on Netflix and other streaming apps. It supports HDR content on YouTube, but this doesn’t work on Netflix.
The realme 11 Pro has support for n1/n3/n5/n8/n28A/n40/n41/n77/n78 Network Bands in India, same as the 11 Pro+, and comes with support for Carrier Aggregation on 4G. Other connectivity options include Wi-Fi 6 802.11 ax (2.4GHz + 5GHz), VoWiFi / Wi-Fi calling support, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS / GLONASS / Beidou. It has OTG support, doesn’t have NFC support. Moving on, the call quality is good, and we did not face any call drops and the earpiece volume was loud.
The realme 11 Pro’s body SAR is 0.532W/Kg and head SAR is at 1.146/Kg, which is well under the limit of 1.6 W/kg (over 1 g) in India. This is also the same as the 11 Pro+.
Performance and Benchmarks
Similar to the 11 Pro+, the 11 Pro is also MediaTek Dimensity 7050 6nm SoC, which is just a rebranded Dimensity 1080 used in several phones. It has 2 x A78 CPUs clocked at up to 2.6GHz, 6x A55 CPUs clocked at up to 2GHz. It has Mali-G68 MC4 and up to 12GB LPDDR4X RAM.
The company didn’t mention if it has any cooling. The performance is smooth without any lags, and it also offers smooth gaming performance even in graphic intensive games. When you play graphic-intensive games like COD, BGMI and Genshin Impact, it gets a bit hot, but it doesn’t get too hot to handle. It reached maximum 45º in our testing indoors in Wi-Fi, which is the same as the 11 Pro+, but this might vary outdoors in 4G or 5G.
That said, check out some synthetic benchmark scores below.
realme 11 Pro+ has also been added, since both have the same SoC, and we have the same 12GB RAM version. This clearly shows almost similar performance to the realme 10 Pro+.
Battery life
Coming to the battery life, the phone packs a 5000mAh (typical) built-in battery, same as the 10 Pro and 11 Pro+. It lasts for a whole day with Wi-Fi, but with 4G or 5G and dual SIMs. I got close to 6 hours of screen on time with over a day of use on Wi-Fi and in 120Hz, same as the 11 Pro+.
Compared to 100W SuperVOOC Charge in 11 Pro+, the 11 Pro 67W SuperVOOC Charge. It can charge up to 50% in about 18 minutes and up to 100% in 47 minutes with the bundled 80W charger. This doesn’t show the battery health option, which was present in the 11 Pro+.
Conclusion
At a starting price of Rs. 23,999 for the 8GB + 128GB, the realme 11 Pro is a good cheaper alternative to the realme 11 Pro+ with the same display, performance and battery. The camera is not as good as the 11 Pro+, and it also lacks the ultra-wide camera. 67W charging compared to 100W charging is not a big deal as the phone gets charged fully in less than an hour.
As mentioned in the realme 11 Pro+ review, we hope the company takes care of the bloatware problem, and use a better cooling system for smooth gaming experience.
Alternatives
Lava Agni 2 5G is a slightly cheaper alternative if you can manage with mono speakers, and a slightly smaller battery.
Pricing and availability
The realme 11 Pro is priced at Rs. 23,999 for the 8GB + 128GB model, Rs. 24,999 for the 8GB + 256GB model and the top-end 12GB + 256GB model costs Rs. 27,999. It is available from realme.com, Flipkart and offline stores. It also offers Rs. 1000 discount on HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank cards.
Pros
- 120Hz Curved AMOLED display is brilliant
- Smooth performance
- Attractive design
- Good battery life with fast charging
Cons
- Bloatware
- Heats up quickly on intensive gaming
- No ultra-wide camera