Xiaomi Redmi Note 11

The design of last year's Redmi Note 10 family was praised for being 'plain but relatively classy.' The number of obviously cheap elements on display is a good indicator of a cheap phone's design. On this front, the Redmi Note 11 maintains its strong performance. From the convincingly metal-effect frame to the soft-touch plastic back, all of the materials are matte. The latter attracts fingerprints, but it feels good in the hand. The camera module is slightly less elaborate than last year's model, reflecting a more understated approach, but that can't be considered a bad thing.

The chunky bezels around the front, particularly the extended chin, are a dead giveaway that you're holding a low-cost phone. The hole-punch notch, too, has a telling (and distracting) shiny surround. The Note 11 feels just right in the hand, with dimensions of 159.9 x 73.9 x 8.1mm and a weight of 179g. With an IP53 rating – which is far from standard in lower-cost phones – it's also reassuringly tough. It's great to see a 3.5mm headphone jack make a comeback. It's easy to assume that everyone has switched to truly wireless earbuds by now, but that won't be the case until they're included as standard in the box.

The Redmi Note 11 is ostensibly equipped with a quad-camera system, but we all know what that means in the budget market by now. In practice, only two of those sensors are useful, with a pair of 2Mp sensors (one for depth and one for macro) serving as stat padding. So, let's get right to the meat of the matter. The main attraction is a 50Mp wide sensor with an f/1.8 aperture, which is supplemented by an 8Mp ultra-wide sensor.

Source: Redmi Note 11

It's easy to point to the ultra-low wide's megapixel count, but the truth is that many low-cost phones don't have an ultra-wide camera at all. The main camera struggles as soon as the lights dim, and the Night mode produces grainy results. Show us a low-cost phone where this isn't the case. When you switch to that 8Mp ultra-wide, detail and balance suffer significantly, and the tone shifts dramatically. However, in order to get a fully realized, expertly balanced ultra-wide experience, you usually have to spend a lot more money. The phone will shoot 2x zoomed images, but keep in mind that these will be cropped from the main sensor, resulting in even more noise

The Redmi Note 100 is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 680 4G chip, a relatively new mid-range System on Chip (SoC) with either 4 or 6GB of RAM. It's a strong performer at this price point, with Geekbench 5 multi-core scores that are comparable to the Poco X3 NFC and far ahead of the Moto G31.Its GPU isn't quite as impressive, with GFXBench results that fall far short of the Poco X3 NFC and Realme 8, but are roughly equivalent to the Moto G31. 5G is one notable omission here. The Redmi Note 11 lacks top-tier network connectivity, which is a shame, so look elsewhere if this is important to you.

The Redmi Note 11 has a 5000mAh battery, as do most other major contenders these days. The Redmi Note 11 performed admirably in our standard PCMark Work 3.0 battery test, lasting 11 hours and 35 minutes. This puts it ahead of the Moto G31 and Realme 8, but behind the Poxo X3 NFC, which has a battery life of 15 hours and 48 minutes. The Redmi Note 11 performs admirably in terms of charging, as we've come to expect from nearly all of Xiaomi's sub-brands these days.

The Xiaomi Redmi 11 offers a compelling combination of specifications. There aren't many low-cost phones that offer a 90Hz AMOLED display at this price.It also has a design that, while not particularly eye-catching, is not at all tacky. At this end of the market, that is far from a given. The Redmi Note 11's battery life is also noteworthy, as it will last most people two days on a single charge. Redmi also impresses with a quick 33W charger.