Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G Review: Mixed feelings

There’s no compromise in the Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G when it comes to design. Redmi has packed all its hardware in a glass body that has a flat frame like the iPhone 13 series. The frame here is plastic though but I would not expect anything better from a smartphone around Rs 20,000. Our Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G review unit comes in this gorgeous Mirage Blue colour that throws a flowing water-like effect when light hits on the back. Alternatively, you can also pick between Stealth Black and Phantom White options. Design preferences are totally subjective but if you ask me, the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max set the bar high with its design. In comparison, the Note 11 Pro+ 5G sits below that for me. 

Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G review

Although the frame is flat, it doesn’t feel as sharp around the corners and thanks to the good weight distribution, the phone feels dense in hand and not heavy. In case you drop the phone, chances are it might survive due to the additional layer of Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5. While the in-hand feel is good, I did notice that the volume buttons aren’t as clicky. There were times when it felt like the volume keys on my unit were stuck and I add to press on the extreme top or bottom to increase or decrease the audio levels. The power button doubles up as a fingerprint scanner which is quite snappy and unlocks the phone before you can blink.

Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G is IP53-rated for splash resistance. Props to Redmi for officially certifying the device with an IP rating as many smartphones that are priced higher do not come with an official water/ splash-resistance rating. You also get a 3.5mm headphone jack and the much-loved IR blaster, which is not available on many phones.

The display continues to be the best feature of the Note Pro series but we might have a slight problem here. It has the same 6.67-inch Full HD+ AMOLED panel with support for a 120Hz refresh rate. The colours are excellent and you get a vivid viewing experience. The screen is also quite sharp with a pixel density of 440 PPI. It is also plenty bright at 700 nits while you are outdoors scrolling through social media to make the most of the 120Hz panel on support apps. However, you cannot take advantage of that 1200 nits brightness because there is no HDR10 support on apps like YouTube and Netflix. This is quite odd as the Note 10 Pro Max did come with HDR10 certification. Naam bade darshan chotey moment? Maybe yes.

There is a hole-punch cutout at the top centre and the bezels are quite slim, except for the chin. The audio experience is among the best we have heard in the price segment. You get a dual speaker setup, with the earpiece doubling up as a secondary outlet.

Performance and software

One complaint that some folks, including me, made in our Redmi Note 10 Pro Max review is the Snapdragon 732G falling short on power against the powerful hardware on offer. Redmi fixed that this time around by launching the phone with a 6nm-based Snapdragon 695 SoC that also brings support for 7 5G bands. All is not good though when it comes to performance, and I will get to that in the latter part of our Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G review. For the average consumer who only scrolls through social media or uses the phone to consume content, the chip has more than enough power. If you play games occasionally, the Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G would not disappoint as it can handle titles like BGMI and Asphalt 9 Legends. There were some minor stutters here and there while playing BGMI on Balance graphics and Ultra frame rate. I had to switch to Smooth + Ultra to get a decent gaming experience. A bummer here is that the phone supports a High frame rate with HD graphics, which is about 30fps. There are better gaming-centric phones like the iQOO Z5 5G and even last year’s Poco X3 Pro if you are into competitive mobile gaming.

Coming to the “all is not good though” part. The choice of chipset here means that the phone can’t do 4K 30fps video or even 1080p 60fps video recording. There is also no support for HDR10 videos due to the chipset’s limitation. Who do you blame here? Qualcomm or Redmi? I’ll let you decide that. But to keep the price under check and provide 5G support without making many compromises, the company had to stick to using Snapdragon 695 SoC. Maybe Xiaomi could have instead used something like an 8nm-Snapdragon 750G that isn’t as efficient but gets very, very close to the Snapdragon 695 SoC with its CPU and GPU performance. For the trade-off, you would have got support for 4K 30 fps video recording and HDR10+ support on the Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G. That, I believe, would have done some justice to the Pro+ moniker.

The phone runs Android 11-based MIUI 13 out of the box. MIUI 13 brings several enhancements under the hood. These include an optimised file storage system, processor priority optimisation, etc. Although Android 12 has been available for months, I might still be okay with the phone is running on Android 11 considering MIUI 13 has many features that try and make up for it. However, there is plenty of room for improvements when it comes to software optimisation. For starters, the incoming call screen went blank completely and the only way to respond was to lock and unlock the device. This got annoying when I accidentally disconnected the call. Certain apps like Disney+ Hotstar and Twitter switched to Portrait even when I was holding the phone in landscape mode. The AI SkyScape feature, which is unique to Xiaomi and Redmi phones, is missing on this one. It essentially changed the colour of the sky without making any significant changes in other areas of the image.

It won’t be fair if I don’t highlight the good bits of MIUI 13. Floating Windows continues to be my favourite MIUI feature, which some others have implemented as well. You also get some third-party apps pre-installed, which can be deleted. RAM management is also quite good on this one and apps continue to run from where you leave them.

MIUI 13 also has a Privacy Protection section, which is fairly similar to Google’s Privacy Dashboard on stock Android. Privacy Protection lists out apps that have access to your location, contacts, call logs, microphone, etc. You can simply tap on an app and choose to set permissions as per your preference. It would be have been better if MIUI 13 showed a privacy indicator that notified users with a green light on the top right of the screen when an app used the mic or camera in the background. This feature is found on ColorOS and Vivo’s Funtouch OS based on Android 12.

Battery life

With a 5000 mAh battery under the hood, the Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G is in the run for the battery champ title in the price segment. The phone is certainly capable of offering an all-day battery. On average, the phone lasted for more than seven hours. Most of my use case involved gaming on the phone along with some social media scrolling.

You also get a 67W fast charging adapter in the box, which can charge the phone from zero to 100 per cent in about 40 minutes. Times when some competitor brands are removing the charger from mid-range phones, Xiaomi needs to get an extra point here for including a full capacity charger in the box.

Camera

The Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G camera module features a 108MP Samsung HM2 sensor. We have seen the same on other Redmi and Xiaomi phones like the Redmi Note 11S (Review), Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge (Review) and the Xiaomi 11T Pro (Review). The same sensor was also found on the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max (Review). When asked why the same sensor is being used across, Xiaomi told us that the 108MP Samsung HM2 sensor is well optimised to offer top-notch camera performance. Obviously, the final output varies because the Image Signal Processor (ISP) varies from chipset to chipset.

With the Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G, things are quite impressive during the day. Photos shot in the normal “Photo” mode reproduce sharp images with good details overall. The colours are slightly vibrant, making it social media-ready. It isn’t as saturated as many Oppo and Realme phones in the segment are and that is something I really appreciate. Portrait mode using the rear camera gets edge detection right and the software also does not mess up with the skin tone.

In lowlight though, the overall performance was quite mixed where noise is a constant. While the software managed to expose the shadows well without overblowing the highlights as much, we could notice some noise in the darker areas of the image. Also, there is a light layer of pink hue across all images shot in lowlight. The 8MP ultrawide camera also has the same pink hue on top, resulting in a completely different colour science compared to the main camera.

Xiaomi has replaced the 5MP tele-macro camera with a 2MP macro sensor. Typically, 2MP sensors produce trash outputs but the one on the Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G does a fairly good job. By no means is it any close to the 5MP sensor but for what it packs, the 2MP sensor is usable. You need steady hands to be able to focus on the subject, especially when you can get as close as 2cm away from it. 

The front 16MP camera does a decent job too. Although, even with beauty mode off, the software tends to smoothen the skin a bit. But, the colours are close to real in both normal and portrait mode. Click here to see some of the images we clicked for our Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G review.

Verdict

So, is the Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G the best smartphone in its price range? There’s no straight answer to that. Last year, the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max was a no-brainer recommendation as it was the best smartphone under Rs 20,000 in India at the time. However, as I mentioned, things have changed globally within a span of 12 months. Everything around us is getting expensive and so are phones. Add to it chip shortage constraints that could get even worse in the near future. 

Not many phones in the price range come with a premium glass build and very few come with an AMOLED 120Hz display. While the camera performance in lowlight isn’t as great, the daylight camera performance is worth the money. You can also rely on the phone for casual gaming but competitive players need to look elsewhere.

Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G review

For a starting price of Rs 20,999, the Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G is a good phone despite some shortcomings. Yes, compromises like no 4K30FPS/ 1080p60FPS video recording or lack of HDR10 support do not do justice to the “Pro+” moniker. If you ignore that, you get a good package. 

Xiaomi needs to work on improving the software experience. While MIUI 13 is feature-rich, some settings have been moved to a different location, making it inconvenient for those who are familiar with the UI. Goes without saying, a stable Android 12 update that also fixes the mentioned bugs needs to roll out as soon as possible.