The latest example of this is Redmi Note 11S It can be believed. This is a 4G smartphone which surprises us, because before this the company 5G The biggest highlight of the Note 11S phone is its 108-megapixel rear camera. This is the same sensor that the company launched last year. Redmi Note 10 Pro Max I used it in . But this time the starting price of the phone has been kept low. However, soon the Redmi Note 11 Pro series will also be in the market. So where does the Redmi Note 11S fit in this series? And, is it worth buying this phone as your next smartphone for you? Decide with the help of this review.
Redmi Note 11S price and variants
Redmi Note 11S comes in three variants. Its 6GB RAM and 64GB storage variant is priced at Rs 16,499. At the same time, its price goes up to Rs 17,499 for 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. The top end variant comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, which is priced at Rs 18,499.
Redmi Note 11S design
The design of the Redmi Note 11S is too simple for my liking. Its Blue and Polar White colour variants still attract some attention, but I had a black unit for review, which felt quite boring. The build quality of its plastic frame and back panel is quite good and the phone was quite comfortable to hold. Weighing 179 grams, it does not feel heavy and is not too thick either. The main camera of the phone protrudes slightly from the rest of the cameras. The phone does not feel stable when placed on a flat surface.
Xiaomi has provided a 6.43-inch AMOLED display in the phone, which has a peak brightness of 1000 nits. The rest of the features of the display cannot be called extraordinary. It has a peak refresh rate of 90Hz and a basic touch sampling rate of 180Hz. Corning Gorilla Glass 3 has been provided for screen protection. The FHD+ resolution of the display shows sharp visuals and colors are attractive. By default the refresh rate is set to 60Hz, which you have to set to 90Hz manually.
The phone supports dual nano SIM and has a microSD card slot. The card slot will be useful as the maximum built-in storage in the phone is only 128GB. The device has dual speakers, Type-C port and IR emitter. Apart from this, a headphone jack is also available. The phone comes with IP53 rating for dust and water resistance, which is rarely seen in this price segment. A 33W fast charging adapter, USB Type-C cable, SIM ejector tool and a case (cover) are also available in the box.
Redmi Note 11S specifications and software
This latest smartphone from Redmi is equipped with MediaTek Helio G96 which is powerful but its efficiency is low as it is built on the old 12nm fabrication process. Redmi Note 11S supports dualband Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5 and all basic satellite navigation systems. It has a 5,000mAh battery, which lasts at least a full day on a full charge.
The Redmi Note 11S phone runs on MIUI 13, which is based on Android 11, not Android 12. If you have used a Xiaomi phone recently, then you will find this phone easy to use. A lot of apps come pre-installed in the phone. Apart from this, themes, shortcuts and gestures are also present. All third-party apps that come with the phone can be removed, but first party apps like Mi Pay etc. cannot be removed.
Redmi Note 11S performance and battery life
It handles basic games and apps with ease. Some of the apps that come with MIUI 13 like GetApps can bother you with spam. The power button has a capacitive fingerprint sensor, which worked well in my use. Due to the AMOLED panel, you can take advantage of features like always-on display. This could have been more useful, but it remains active only for 10 seconds. Therefore, it cannot be called a true ‘always on’ display.
The experience of watching videos on the display was good, but the sound of the stereo speakers is not well balanced, with the bottom speaker giving a clearer sound quality than the earpiece. Games ran fine, but some heavy games could run only on low graphic settings. For example, the Call of Duty: Mobile game did not show the option of ‘High’ settings in graphics. The gaming experience was smooth, but it was not as it usually is.
Xiaomi says that it has a liquid cooling system, which keeps the phone cool during heavy use. But, after playing Call of Duty for 30 minutes, both the back panel and the frame of the phone got very hot. In test scores, the phone performed as expected. Its benchmark scores were lower than the scores of the Redmi Note 11T 5G with MediaTek Dimensity 810. The phone scored 3,10,732 on AnTuTu and ran at 51fps on GFXBench’s T-Rex test.
The battery life of the phone is quite good. With a capacity of 5,000mAh, it lasts the whole day. The phone has 33W fast charging support, with the help of which the battery gets charged very quickly.
Redmi Note 11S cameras
If we look at the camera specifications of Redmi Note 11S, it has a 108-megapixel Samsung HM2 sensor, which is the main camera of the phone. By default it captures 12-megapixel photos, but you can also capture photos in 108-megapixel resolution. In bright sunlight, the details in the photo were good, but the saturation of the colors became very high. After the Pro Color mode given in the camera, the intensity of the colors increased further, due to which the photos started looking artificial. The results were good with 108-megapixel resolution and the color balance was more visible. Things appeared in natural color to a great extent in the photo.
While taking close-up shots with the main camera, the phone struggled with autofocus. It was only after tapping the viewfinder several times that the focus was achieved. In low light, the main sensor failed to take good photos. Here, even at 108 megapixel resolution, there was no significant difference in the photo quality. After that, using night mode was the last option. After switching to it, the camera took several seconds to take a shot but the detail and exposure improved. One thing that was surprising was that you cannot use night mode with the ultrawide or selfie camera. This is quite annoying.
Talking about its 8 megapixel ultrawide camera, the colors looked correct in the photos taken during the day, which is a good thing. In low light, the photos became quite blurred and the colors were also disappointing. The phone has a 2 megapixel basic macro camera. Therefore, its results were also not good. Apart from this, a 2 megapixel depth sensor has also been provided.
The selfie camera is 16 megapixels and the results of photos taken during the day were good. However, sharpness was seen a bit more in portraits. Selfies taken indoors with ambient light were quite good, but the quality of photos taken outdoors at night deteriorated a lot.
Redmi Note 11S can only record videos up to 1080p. Stabilization is available in the video. The video quality was average during the day. The video quality in low light was quite poor and it was disappointing for a phone in this segment.
Verdict
It can be said about the Redmi Note 11S that it can be an option until the Redmi Note 11 Pro series arrives. And, if you have made up your mind for a Redmi phone then you can buy the one that came last year Redmi Note 10 Pro You can look at Redmi Note 11S which proves to be a better option in this price. The 108-megapixel camera of Redmi Note 11S is its biggest attraction, otherwise if we look at the rest of the sensors, then this phone will be called average. Its processor is also not so powerful at this price and 5G connectivity is also not provided in the phone.
I believe that you should wait for a few days before buying this phone, because soon better options will be launched in the market.