Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 hands-on, first impressions

Xiaomi officially announced their new Redmi Note 11 series smartphone last week. Within the line-up, the entry-level model is the Redmi Note 11. It’s still a pretty capable device that’s mostly geared towards gaming with a combo of various lenses fit for almost scenarios.

Our review model comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB storage in Graphite Gray color variant (highest variant comes on 6GB/128GB). The design is simple but the chassis is thin, light and sleek at just 8mm. The body is made of durable polycarbonate at the back with a solid aluminum frame around the sides. It has a flat surface up front and slightly tapered at the back.

It’s very comfortable to hold, not slippery and the finish isn’t much of a fingerprint magnet. The volume rocker and power button (doubles as a fingerprint sensor) are found on the right side.

A secondary noise-canceling mic is found up top along with a second set of speaker grills, 3.5mm audio port and an IR blaster for use as a remote control.

The SIM card slot is found on the left side. It comes with 2 dedicated nano SIM trays for 4G connectivity and a separate dedicated tray for a microSD card. We seldom get this much accommodation so props to Xiaomi for doing so. At the bottom end, we got the primary microphone, primary speaker and a USB Type C port.

The box came with a USB cable, a 33W fast charger, SIM ejector pin, a clear gel case and a screen protector that you can install yourself. As usual, there are no earphones included as it’s the MO of Xiaomi.

The 6.43-inch screen is huge enough to enjoy a good movie and the over-all footprint of the device is just ideal for playing games. The display is very bright and crisp, thanks to the use of AMOLED and high FHD+ resolution (1080×2400 pixels @ 409ppi). Xiaomi topped it off with a 90Hz and you get a very smooth gaming experience.

At the back is a large module for the quad-camera setup. The primary lens is a 50MP f/1.8, 26mm (wide) with phase-detection autofocus; an 8MP, f/2.2, 118-degree ultrawide lens; a 2MP f/2.4 macro lens and another 2MP f/2.4 lens as depth sensor.

We took some early sample shots from the camera and this is what we got.

Powering the Redmi Note 11 is the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 680. It’s an 8-core chipset that was announced last year (October 27, 2021) and is manufactured using a 6-nanometer process technology. It has 4 cores Kryo 265 Gold (Cortex-A73) at 2400 MHz and 4 cores Kryo 265 Silver (Cortex-A53) at 1800 MHz.

This is paired with an Adreno 610 GPU and 4GB of RAM. This chipset scores an average 250k in Antutu 9. The 6nm process technology means this is more battery efficient than its contemporary chipsets.

As for the battery, we can’t ask for anything more than the 5,000mAh the Note 11 comes with. What more with the 33W fast-charging and an efficient chipset.

The Redmi Note 11 is a good starting point for this series. It comes with a mid-level hardware, great display, big battery, a full compliment of camera lenses, and all the connectivity needs (from WiFi, NFC, Bluetooth, IR, and 4G). If Xiaomi packed a 5G modem here, it would have been awesome.

There’s still no word from Xiaomi Philippines when the Redmi Note 11 will be released in the Philippines and for how much. We reckon if the global MSRP is €160, the Redmi Note 11 base model might go for like Php8,000USD 136INR 11,557EUR 130CNY 993 to Php8,500USD 145INR 12,279EUR 138CNY 1,055 when it arrives in the Philippines.

Will post more about it once we get official word and also watch out for our full review of the device soon.

Updated Specs Table