Latest example of this new Redmi Note 11S Can be considered. This is a 4G smartphone which surprises us, because before this the company Redmi Note 11T 5G Had launched. The biggest attraction of the Note 11S phone is its 108-megapixel rear camera. This is the same sensor which the company launched last year. Redmi Note 10 Pro Max Was used in. But this time the starting price of the phone has been kept low. However, soon Redmi Note 11 Pro series will also be in the market. So where does Redmi Note 11S fit in this series? And, is it worth it for you to buy this phone as your next smartphone? Decide with the help of this review.
Redmi Note 11S price and variants
Redmi Note 11S comes in three variants. The price of its 6GB RAM and 64GB storage variant is Rs 16,499. Whereas, for 6GB RAM and 128GB storage its price becomes Rs 17,499. 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 quite simple for my liking. Its blue and polar white color variants still attract some attention, but the black unit I had for review, 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 in at 179 grams, it doesn’t feel heavy and isn’t too thick either. The main camera of the phone is slightly protruding from the other cameras. The phone does not seem stable when kept on a flat surface.
Xiaomi has given a 6.43 inch AMOLED display in the phone, whose peak brightness is 1000 nits. The remaining 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 delivers sharp visuals and vibrant colors. By default the refresh rate is set to 60Hz, which you have to set manually to 90Hz.
The phone has dual nano SIM support and a microSD card slot is provided. The card slot would be useful as the maximum built-in storage on the phone is only 128GB. The device has dual speakers, Type-C port and IR emitter. Apart from this, headphone jack is also available. The phone comes with IP53 rating for dust and water resistance, which is very rare in this price segment. The box also comes with a 33W fast charging adapter, USB Type-C cable, SIM ejector tool and a case (cover).
Redmi Note 11S specifications and software
This latest smartphone of Redmi is equipped with MediaTek Helio G96 which is powerful but its efficiency is low, because it is made on the old 12nm fabrication process. Redmi Note 11S supports dual-band Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5, and all basic satellite navigation systems. It has a 5,000mAh battery, which lasts for at least a full day on a full charge.
The Redmi Note 11S phone runs MIUI 13, which is based on Android 11, not Android 12. If you have recently used any Xiaomi phone, then you will find this phone easy to use. Many 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 easily. Some apps that come with MIUI 13 like GetApps can cause spam. A capacitive fingerprint sensor is provided in the power button, which worked well in my use. Because of the AMOLED panel, you can take advantage of features like always-on display. This could have been more beneficial, but it is only active for 10 seconds. Therefore, it cannot be called an ‘always on’ display in the true sense.
The experience of watching videos on the display was good, but the sound from the stereo speakers was not well balanced, as the bottom speaker was providing clearer sound quality compared to the earpiece. Games ran fine, but some heavy games could only run at low graphic settings. For example, the Call of Duty: Mobile game did not offer the option of ‘High’ settings in graphics. The gaming experience was smooth, but not like 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 frame of the phone became quite hot. In test scores, the phone performed as expected. Its benchmark scores were lower than the scores of 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 was too 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. With 108 megapixel resolution, the results were good and the color balance appeared to be good. The things in the photo appeared to be largely natural.
The phone struggled with autofocus when taking close-up shots with the main camera. Correct focus was achieved only after tapping the viewfinder several times. The main sensor seemed to fail in capturing good photos in low-light. Here, there was not much difference in photo quality even at 108 megapixel resolution. After that using night mode was the last option. After switching to this, the camera took several seconds to take a shot but the detail and exposure became better. One thing that was surprising was that you cannot use night mode with ultrawide or selfie camera. It hurts a lot.
Talking about its 8 megapixel ultrawide camera, the colors looked correct in the photos taken during the day time which is a good thing. In low-light, 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 is also provided.
The selfie camera is 16 megapixels and the results were good in photos during day time. However, the sharpness appeared slightly higher in portraits. Selfies taken indoors with ambient light were much better, but outdoors at night, the photo quality dropped drastically.
The Redmi Note 11S can only record videos up to 1080p. Stabilization is available in video. Video quality was average during daytime. The video quality in low-light was quite poor and was disappointing for a phone in this segment.
Verdict
Regarding Redmi Note 11S, it can be said that it can be an alternative till the arrival of Redmi Note 11 Pro series. And, if you’ve made up your mind for a Redmi phone then you came last year Redmi Note 10 Pro You can see which proves to be a better option at the same price. The 108-megapixel camera of Redmi Note 11S is its biggest attraction, otherwise if we look at the other sensors, this phone will be called average. At this price, its processor is also not that powerful and also 5G connectivity is not provided in the phone.
I believe that you should wait for a few days before buying this phone, because better options are going to be launched in the market soon.