Midsize Cannon - Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G Test

Extremely convincing phone with a sleek look and great capabilities.

Check out our video test too!

Introductory

The Redmi Note 11 Pro arrived fairly soon after the 10 Pro. You can say unusually soon. Your predecessor was also a great phone, so I was curious to see what new Xiaomi could come up with just half a year later. Well, not much, but still, this new generation of feelings is moving on a whole different level than the tens series.

The design has changed again, the hardware has also been replaced. It didn’t get noticeably faster or stronger, yet somehow better to hold and use.

But I don’t want to shoot the joke, so let’s cut into the test instead!

Packaging and accessories

This chapter is mandatory, although it is slowly becoming completely meaningless over the years. At Xiaomina (Redmin), the design of the boxes did not change, nor did the accessories become more or less. SIM needle, cable, charger, silicone back cover and description. Neither more nor less.

Let’s just say I’m glad the Savings hasn’t leaked to Redmi yet, so the filler head hasn’t been left out for “environmental” reasons. The large label on the charging head announces that it is capable of charging up to 67 watts.

The only oddity is that we can't find a screen protector in the box. This is surprising because it is not on the phone either, even though it has become common in many years for us to get protection right off the screen.

Well, that's missing for some reason now, so I'm talking now, if you buy from the phone, take care of the foil right away!

Unpacking and first switching on

External

We can’t expect fundamental changes to the look of a smartphone, so I’m always curious to see what they’re changing with the new series to give a fresher, newer effect. In the case of Redmi, designers have been excelling for several series. They operate with small changes in some places, touch the housing a little better elsewhere, and the end result always feels like we’ve got something completely new.

In the case of the 11 Pro, the Xiaomi Pad 5 tablet and / or the Redmi 10 phone jumped in immediately upon receipt. It was just like feeling this phone for the first time. On the sides, the frame became more square, but not so square as to cut the edge of the man's hand. We’ve clearly moved a bit in the direction of Apple phones, at least in terms of form.

The physical dimensions are 163.7 x 76.2 x 8.3 millimeters and the phone weighs 207 grams. Interestingly, its predecessor, the Note 10 Pro, was the same thickness, but 9 grams lighter, yet the 11 Pro feels somehow more filigree.

Of course, we can find Gorilla Glass on the front, and even glass on the back, which shows that we didn't get a cheap mobile phone here. The cover of the frame, on the other hand, is plastic. Maybe that’s the only point on the phone that still reminds us that the Redmi Note 11 Pro isn’t top notch. If this part were made of aluminum, it would have a premium feel in every way.

The placement of the buttons and grids has not changed. At the top edge is a jack, a speaker grille, a secondary (noise canceling) microphone, and the infrared in that order. At the bottom we have a speaker grille, another (primary) microphone, a Type-C connector and a SIM tray.

The interesting thing about the SIM tray is that the phone is no longer the usual tray, but a two-sided solution. In practice, this means that the tray will not extend as deeply as with the old solution, the two SIM cards (or one memory card and one SIM card) will have to be snapped into the bottom and top halves of the holder.

From the front, the volume control and the power button with the fingerprint reader are on the right, and the left side is blank.

On the back we can only find the camera island, its design is no longer unknown to me, the newer Xiaomi mobiles have been given a similar layout. Below the main camera we find four smaller hoops, in which the company either makes optics or only serves the design, depending on the installation.

In the case of the Redmi 11 Pro, we find a camera in two hoops, and the fourth flash contains only one AI label.

If I had to evaluate the look, I would give 5 out of 4,8 points, and I would deduct those two tenths for the camera island. Even with the Poco M4 Pro, I didn’t pinch the stuff that looks like a remote camera. Understandable due to the unified design, of course, but I don't like it either.

In all other respects, however, this new mobile has become wonderful. The first hand usually pretty much decides what I’m going to write, because from the outside, the first impression is always crucial in terms of design. I will only discover the small, nuanced details later in use.

And the Redmi Note 11 Pro is very good to hold. After a cheaper phone, like the Poco M4 Pro (which I’ve been using for the last month and a half), it’s like catching an order of magnitude more expensive. It really approaches the premium feel, which is probably due to the fact that the housing feels somehow thinner than it actually is. I have to give the designers a huge red dot again!

The phone is available in three colors. These were given the usual fancy names such as Atlantic Blue (i.e. blue), Graphite Gray (i.e. gray) and Polar White (i.e. white). The gray that came to me looks damn good, if the other two colors did so well, they will have success too.

By the end, one more thing, the Redmi Note 11 Pro is finally getting a water resistance certificate. The device has been rated IP53, making it moderately dust and water resistant!

Hardware

Processor, memory

The central unit is the Snapdragon 695 5G. It is clear from his name that this is already a 5G chip. As I mentioned in the Poco M4 Pro test, I think we can expect the start of the 5G era from this year, because although it has been available for more expensive devices so far, it is only now appearing for cheaper ones, so the wider audience will only get 5G this year. meet the benefits of a mobile network.

The tile is relatively new and was officially unveiled in the last days of October 2021. Its predecessor was the Snapdragon 690, which differed not only in that it was a 4G chip, but also lagged in speed compared to the wrinkled 695.

The new SoC no longer features the Kyro 560, but the Kyro 660 chip (2 x 2,2 GHz Kryo 660 Gold and 6 x 1,7 GHz Kryo 660 Silver) and the GPU has also changed. The effect of the changes was a 15 percent increase in processor and 30 percent higher GPU performance. It is also important to note that the manufacturing technology has changed, while the SP690 8 is made with a bandwidth of 695 nanometers.

In addition to the CPU, you can find 6 or 8 gigabytes of memory and 64 or 128 GB of UFS 2.2 storage, depending on your configuration. We rarely show the highest capacity copies, so I suspect it will be 6/64 or 6/128 GB, which we will be able to buy.

The tests are standard. Antutu and 3D Mark to compare performance under 3D and games, PC Mark and Geébench for general use. Luckily, there is also a Redmi Note 10 Pro in the family, so I was able to compare performance directly to my predecessor.

The results clearly show that the Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G is a big step up from its predecessor. In my opinion, this is not due to the outstanding strength of the new proci, but rather to the weakness of its predecessor, the Snapdragon 732G. The 732 is a wrinkled version of the 730, with minimal changes, and the 730 is a slow three-year development, and when it was released it wasn't really on top.

So the bottom line is that it was time to replace the proci, and the Snapdragon 695 brings the performance you would expect or would rather expect from a mid-range unit. The power is enough for the game too, you don’t even have to fool too much into the graphics for the more popular titles to run nicely. And if the games run well, there is plenty of muscle strength for everyday use.

The PCMark Storage test shows that the speed of the mass storage has increased significantly, even though the built-in storage is based on this device and its predecessor.

So overall, we’re good, the proci, GPU, memory and storage are also faster, so we can’t say a word, development hasn’t stopped!

Display

Well, at first glance, the display hasn’t changed from its predecessor, which is already good since I was happy with it. But why not, satisfied with an AMOLED panel that plays at 120 Hz, has a diagonal of 6,67 inches, a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels and a pixel density of 395 ppi with a 20: 9 aspect ratio and 107,4 cm² screen size. Foam on the cake is HDR10 +, which gives us amazingly good colors.

Well, right!

In the offspring, the data is the same with two differences, but one of the two will be a pretty important difference. Less interesting is that the display-to-front ratio has improved slightly, from 85,6 to 86 percent. More importantly, the typical brightness has changed from 450 nits to 700 nits, resulting in the phone remaining usable in the sun. Interestingly, the brightness peak did not change it remained at 1200 nit.

Overall, the Note 11 Pro 5G's display is flawless. I’m not saying I haven’t seen better or prettier, but it was a different price range. I think it’s a peak feeling that we’re already getting such a display in the Note 11 Pro category, I love it, I don’t have any sense of lack, though it wasn’t even the case with the Note 10 Pro.

Kamerák

I’d say the camera setup is going in the right direction, but it’s not. And that’s not just about Xiaomira, I feel like we’ve stepped back two in the last two years and the manufacturers want to do everything with the software because of the savings. I ask, where, for example, have zoom cameras capable of decent magnification gone?

Of course, it was a poetic question, the manufacturer would say that in the absence of interest, they were not further developed, and I will say that I know a person (myself included) who, despite looking for a normal zoom camera, can't find it, even on more expensive devices. .

The new order has now formed at Xiaomin. Lower category 50 mega main camera, middle category 108 meg main camera. In addition, they then put in an unusable 2 mega macro, while noname manufacturers are already packing 5 megabytes into their cheap phones and putting in an 8 mega ultra-wide-angle camera, which is also pathetic.

Of course, understand the mourning is that it is mournful compared to today’s buyouts, because if we go back 4-5 years, they are naturally good compared to those solutions.

With that, I also revealed what kind of cameras we can find on the rear camera island of the Redmi Note 11 Pro. Yes, here is a 108 main camera with a Samsung sensor, next to a 2 mega macro and an 8 mega ultra wide. The only thing I can mention as a positive is that at least the completely unnecessary 2 meg depth sensor was not installed. (let’s say the Note 11 Pro 4G also has a depth sensor, I just know why?).

The quality is not bad anyway. We’ve seen the main camera in many devices, including its predecessor, the Note 10 Pro. It serves the purpose untig, the software works well behind it. The dynamics of the images are good, the distortion is minimal, the colors come in for me, they are not too colorful, they don't smell them. The software has also evolved a lot in the last year, so it doesn’t want to brighten up the night images too much, which is a bit of a deterioration in detail, but there’s also less noise, anthing, and that’s a good compromise. I prefer night pictures anyway if they look like I was photographed in the dark rather than as if I were taking photos in the twilight.

Unfortunately, the hardware zoom capability is out of fashion, so here we only get software, double magnification. There will be a test image a little lower than that. Not bad, but it's just like cutting out the center of the main camera image on a computer. Sure, some software image enhancement is likely to play in, but the bottom line is that it’s quite usable.

Video capabilities should also be mentioned in connection with the main camera. Well, I can't talk much about that. The inherent disappointment is that 4K is not included in the menu of options, but the lack of 1080p 60 FPS is completely incomprehensible. Now you can say that the proportion of users who take advantage of such capabilities is negligible, but I am a good one, for example, so I definitely miss the opportunity.

The video capabilities to be presented here are a cropped but color-free, effects-free shot of the world as the camera sees it!

I think we can agree that this phone will not be a favorite of videographers. I’m not saying it’s impossible to make moderately normal videos, but it’s definitely difficult. The lack of low resolution, up to 30 FPS and vibration reduction does not benefit the mobile.

A few words about the remaining two "cameras":

The eight-megapixel camera and macro, but especially the latter, provide a forgettable experience.

Ultra wide camera

The eight-megabyte is not bad, in fact, compared to what they brought out of these a few years ago, it can even be said to be good. There's nothing wrong with the colors, maybe I like a peasant's hair better than the image from the 108 camera. The problem, of course, is with the resolution, and of course with the photos taken in low light.

The macro is really left out, a good game for kids. It pretty much rubs off the usability, even the luck that they don’t want to sell us a VGA 640 x 480 resolution, though, I wouldn’t be particularly surprised by that anymore. With this device too, I suggest you rather shoot an approach with the main camera, then zoom in, you’ll walk better!

2x software Zoom	selfie

I haven't talked about one thing yet, the front panel self-timer camera. This is a 16 megapixel unit with no problem. The colors are a bit faded maybe, the picture tends to burn out, but it’s not a dangerous thing. Separating the background and theme in portrait mode is good, but it's been years since we could find such minor errors in the work of the software.

So overall, the cameras, at least the 108-megapixel main camera, can be used less for video, less so for video. The main camera will serve 95 percent of people at the level you would expect from a phone in this category, with the remaining 5 percent looking for a phone on a higher shelf.

Szoftver

An exciting thing follows, as the Redmi Note 11 family was the first to receive my MIUI 13. After 12, it didn’t come, but 12.5 (who knows why), and in that case, 12.5 caught a lot of curiosity out of the nose of the new main version. However, we still find novelties, although most in the operation of the system and only less in the visual world. But let's start with the latter!

The main curiosity in this area is the sidebar. Yes, as its name suggests, this is a pull-out icon bar from where you can launch software that will run in a window. Aham, I have a multitasking brother, Android has known this for a while, but now everyone can easily take advantage of it.

It’s also exciting that the widgets have changed. They’ve become more modern, maybe they look better, but it’s a matter of taste, they don’t look very new to me, although I confess I don’t use too many widgets. Anyway, there are new ones, beautiful, good, as they have been so far.

The third that we get is a new wallpaper package called MIUI X Beauty of Science. You can choose from various crystal patterns and the like.

Fourth left is a new watermarking solution that allows us to tag our photos or photographed documents. this can sometimes come in handy if we don’t want someone else to steal them and use them as their own.

Changes may occur under the motor housing!

I’m not going to waste separate paragraphs on these, the point is that each improvement improves something about system performance.

• The Liquid Store eliminates the fragmentation of the storage (dynamically), so the speed of the storage is not dramatically reduced, even if you write to it many times, delete data from it.
• Smart Balance tries to find the most ideal setting between performance and consumption, the manufacturer claims that approx. This new procedure increases battery life by 10 percent.
• A novelty called Focused Algorithms distributes resources dynamically, with the foreground application receiving more system time.
• An development called Atomized Memory optimizes memory usage, such as closing inactive background processes and applications instead.

That's pretty much it, at least these are the more important changes. There must have been an inhumane amount of repairs and optimizations in the deep, but we don't need to know about that, the point is to make the new system nicer, faster, more economical, and we'll get it again.

Anyway, the MIUI is king!

Summary

I haven’t written about a lot of things above, but these are things that I don’t think need to be written about an Xiaomi phone anymore. Dual channel wifi is good, although not yet wifi6, but the ac standard is not bad either. There is Bluetooth 5.1, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO support for navigation. The sound is stereo and loud enough, it sounds normal, although of course it's not a hifi. True, this also needs to be appreciated, because compared to the POCO M4 Pro 5G, it’s still like a full-fledged hi-fi system, even though it’s not, just the M4 Pro is a bit weak.

The battery is 5000 mAh, the charge as I mentioned at the charging head is 67 watts, which is approx. three-quarters of an hour to charge the battery with electrons. I have a charge for a day and a half with normal use, but I use the phone quite intensively, it is essentially constantly at my fingertips and I press. So with a really normal use, you need to know the two days loosely.

The performance of the phone, as you can see from the above tests, has increased compared to its predecessor, but this increase, although quite large based on test programs, is essentially not apparent in daily use. The cameras haven’t gotten any better, fortunately no worse either. What has changed the most is the exterior, and it is very much to your advantage. I can’t put it any differently than if you had picked up a phone with a class from above. Let’s say it is undeniable, this feeling also needs to be pampered by the typical 700 nit brightness that emanates from the display. Delicious!

So the device is beautiful, the device Xiaomi all tastes, the device is a truly masterpiece, and of course the price is also good. I say this in recent years, not only the forint-dollar exchange rate has gone down, but also the price of phones measured in dollars. In other words, there is a double effect, which causes the forint prices to rise in price. We have to live with this now, if we like it or not, so we have to look at the price of new phones with that kind of eye.

If you like it based on the above, you can of course buy it at the link below. You’ll find all three versions by memory / storage layout, and you’ll also find the three available colors, white, gray, and blue. You can request a coupon by clicking the Get coupons button, so you can buy the phone ~ 6000 forints cheaper.

Click here to buy

Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G (6 / 64- 6/128 and 8/128 GB)