The realme number series has always been one of the most popular midrange phones in the Phililippines. They offer clever designs, decent specs, killer cameras, and relatively good after-sales service. With the new realme 11 Pro series, the company continues to up its game and even hired Matteo Menotto, an ex-Gucci designer, to design the line-up.
It comes in two models: there’s the 11 Pro+, and the one we’ll be taking a look at today, the realme 11 Pro 5G.
There’s no denying that this device is a looker with its unique design and the fancy material used. But obviously, there’s more to this device. In our realme 11 Pro 5G review, we’ll not only take a deeper look at the design, but also test its real-world performance, battery life, charging speed, camera quality, and more. Let’s begin.
realme 11 Pro Specs
- Android 13, Realme UI 4.0
- Dual SIM, Dual standby
- 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED display, 2412 x 1080 pixel resolution, 394ppi
- 120Hz refresh rate, up to 1,260Hz touch sampling
- HDR10+, 10-bit, 100% DCI-P3, 950-nits, 2,160Hz PWM dimming
- 2.6GHz MediaTek Dimensity 7050 octa-core processor
- Mali-G68 GPU
- 8GB/12GB RAM
- 256GB/512GB internal storage, non-expandable
- 16-megapixel front camera
- 100-megapixel (f/1.75, OIS, PDAF) + 2-megapixel (macro) rear cameras, LED flash
- Under-display fingerprint scanner, Face unlock
- Dual super linear speakers, Hi-Res audio
- WiFi 6, dual-band
- Bluetooth 5.2
- GPS, GALILEO, GLONASS, QZSS, BDS
- NFC
- USB Type-C
- Dimensions: 161.7 x 73.9 x 8.2mm
- Weight: 183g
- Colors: Gold, Green, Black
- 5,000mAh non-removable battery, 67W fast charging
Design and Build Quality
You’ll immediately fall in love with the realme 11 Pro the moment you see it thanks to the large, rounded camera glass and a shiny metal ring in the middle that isolates the main sensor.
Start holding the device and you’ll further appreciate the attention to detail that went into this. It feels really premium to the touch thanks to the vegan leather that this Sunrise Beige has. The material also provides an extra grip to the device.
The complementing orange and white zipper-like stitching on the middle appears to be covered by plastic. It also has stitching for the full effect that you can really feel to the touch. This entire back panel provides the device a signature look, made possible with realme‘s partnership with former Gucci designer Matteo Menotto, who also designed the Oasis Green variant and the more expensive realme 11 Pro+.
What’s more, the metallic sides of the device are shiny and have a matching gold tone for the overall premium look.
The back panel is curved, the same as the front, which makes it comfortable to hold. The 8.3mm thickness and weight of 183g is just right. It’s thin enough to be pocketable, but not too thin that it would easily slip out of your hands.
realme also threw in a free clear case. It will obviously add a bit of bulk to the device, but nothing you can’t easily get used to. Using one is also ideal, as the shiny frame might be prone to hairline scratches.
The front has noticeably thin bezels, especially with the punch-hole for the selfie camera. The curved sides even make the viewable area larger. realme also pre-applied a screen protector, so you don’t need to worry about it.
On the top, we have the second microphone for noise isolation on calls, as well as the second loudspeaker for a stereo setup.
The bottom has the USB-C port, the primary microphone and loudspeaker, and the SIM tray, which can only house two nano SIM cards. Unfortunately, no microSD card slot for further storage expansion.
Nothing is on the left side, while on the right, there are the lock/power switch and the volume controls. The fingerprint scanner is already underneath the display.
One of its limitations is It only has a dual camera setup on the back. The 100-megapixel primary camera is in the middle of the large rounded glass. The depth sensor is on the right, the hole on the left is only a placeholder, the LED flash is on the top, and the bottom of the glass is just branding.
Taking a deeper look at the realme 11 Pro really enforces how impressed we already are with its design. The vegan leather and over-the-top camera layout make it a stunner and really unique from the rest. It’s one of those rare midrange phones that you can immediately recognize the moment you see it.
The build also feels solid, however, it’s really disappointing that it doesn’t have an official IP rating for water and dust resistance.
Display and Sound Quality
Like the Pro Plus, the realme 11 Pro comes with a 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a 2412×1080 pixel resolution, 10-bit color, HDR10+ support, 120Hz refresh rate, 360Hz touch sampling rate, and 2160Hz PWM dimming.
It has three color modes. Vivid, which is set by default, obviously has more vibrant colors. That’s the one we’re using and we’re fine with it, as it’s the best looking among the three.
There’s also the Natural color mode, and two Pro modes: Cinematic and Brilliant. If you’re just a casual user, just go with Vivid. If you edit photos, the color accuracy of the Natural or Cinematic might suit you better.
You can also schedule the Eye Comfort mode which limits the blue-light emissions that are harmful to the eyes. The high 2160Hz PWM dimming also helps protect your eyes from strain, especially at night.
The screen also has HDR10+ support for apps like YouTube as well as Widevine L1 DRM support for HD streaming on Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime.
It also has three refresh rate modes. There’s High that locks it at 120Hz, Standard for 60Hz, and the one we chose, Auto Select, which automatically switches between the two when you need to save battery.
The smoothness is really felt, especially in basic tasks like social media and web browsing. The 360Hz touch sampling also made it responsive to touch, especially in shooter games.
We have a stereo speaker setup for audio. They’re not the best nor the worst we’ve heard as it has good volume, clear vocals, and audible bass. It’s definitely more than enough for solo listening if you’re binge-watching movies by yourself or watching TikTok videos. In addition, it has both Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res audio certification.
Like every other modern smartphone, it lacks a headphone jack. But we never had a problem connecting our TWS wireless earphones with its Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity.
Hardware and Performance
The realme 11 Pro 5G is one of the first phones to be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7050 processor which, if you haven’t heard, is a rebranded Dimensity 1080 that powered the realme 10 Pro+. It has a clock speed of 2.6GHz, a Mali-G68 MC4 GPU, with 8GB of RAM, up to 8GB Dynamic RAM Expansion (4GB enabled by default), and 256GB of non-expandable storage.
realme 11 Pro 5G Benchmark Scores
It may not have the most powerful chipset in its category, but the realme 11 Pro 5G does provide satisfactory performance for the price. That’s what happens when the hardware is paired with efficient software.
The device was able to handle anything we threw at it. Launching apps was fast, spending hours on social media was good, taking and editing photos was smooth, and streaming content under 5G was enjoyable.
Gaming performance was also capable under Medium to High graphics settings and High frame rates — with the exception of Genshin Impact, which is only playable under Low settings. As expected from a midrange device, you can’t max out everything here.
Call of Duty Mobile, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, PUBG Mobile, and Farlight84 ran smoothly, albeit I noticed the device already started to warm up after 10-15 minutes of playing. No worries though as heat doesn’t seem to be an issue as we didn’t notice throttling and any sudden drop in frame rates after extended gaming sessions.
Software and User Interface
realme’s own realme UI is one of the most refined and matured interfaces in the Android space. Even more so now that it’s on its 4.0 version, with Android 13 as a base.
It has intuitive app icons and a card-style layout. Swipe up from the home screen and see the app drawer with the recently-used apps on top and quick shortcuts on their respective features (i.e instantly make a new post on Instagram).
As usual, it has a lot of customization features. The key ones take advantage of the AMOLED panel. There are tons of Always-on Display (AOD) wallpapers, some are even customizable so users can personalize them to their liking.
You can also enable Edge Lighting, which shows a sleek animation on the edges of the display even when it’s off whenever you have existing notifications.
Also, thanks to the AMOLED display, it managed to get an in-display fingerprint scanner. It’s accurate but not the fastest that we’ve tested.
Fortunately, there’s the face unlock, which can unlock the device faster as it instantly tries to recognize your face the moment you press the unlock button. But since it only uses the selfie camera (no night-seeing IR sensor), it struggles in dark environments.
You can use both the fingerprint scanner and the face unlock to secure the Private Safe, where you can hide and encrypt images and videos, audio, documents, and other files like APKs. They can also be used to lock apps and hide apps in case you need it.
It also has special features that help improve productivity like Split View, Flexible Windows and Quick Return (floating windows), Smart Sidebar for quick access to select apps, Kids Space, and Simple Mode for the elderly or those who just want a straightforward UI.
By default, the realme 11 Pro 5G uses Google Keyboard, which is fine since it’s one of the best out there. However, the layout with the ñ letter included messed things up causing a lot of typos. Good thing it can be easily disabled in the settings.
realme has already nailed the camera app for a long time, so we have no issues here. Overall, we’re pleased with the software of the realme 11 Pro 5G, and we only expect realme UI to get better in years to come.
Cameras
We’re really bumped out that the realme 11 Pro 5G didn’t get to have an ultra-wide, telephoto, or at least a macro lens. This could be the company’s way to encourage you to get the more expensive Plus version, which also has a sharper main camera.
But despite the underwhelming setup, the primary camera is pretty packed. It’s a 100-megapixel OmniVision 1/1.8-inch sensor with 0.612µm pixels. It has an f/1.8 aperture with a 26mm equivalent lens, PDAF, and managed to get optical image stabilization (OIS).
Disappointingly, it’s only joined by a 2-megapixel depth sensor. On the front, there’s a 16-megapixel Sony IMX471 1/3-inch Quad-Bayer sensor for selfies — the same one found on its predecessors.
By default, the main camera saves images with a 12-megapixel resolution. In good lighting scenarios, it produces solid image quality with tons of details, deep contrast, and satisfactory dynamic range. Photos tend to look over-processed with extra saturation and sharpening, but it does make images Instagram-ready.
We also appreciate the OIS as we were able to do run and gun photography, which is perfect if you love snapping photos while touring a beautiful place while on vacation or capturing spontaneous moments.
Having a pixel-dense sensor also allows you to take 2x lossless zoom photos — which is great for portraits — without losing a lot of details. Sadly, the Portrait mode doesn’t work with 2x, which could’ve resulted in a more professional-looking photo. An easy-to-access 2x button is available in the camera app, but that’s it because there’s no ultra-wide option.
You can then slide the said 2x button to further zoom in up to 20x digitally if you want to get close to a faraway subject but don’t expect good quality out of it.
For low-light shots, the realme 11 Pro 5G has an Auto Nightscape feature, which automatically enables the Nightscape mode (long-exposure shot) when the camera detects you’re shooting a dark scene. A moon icon will appear in the app, which you can tap if you want to disable it.
That said, Nightscape shots are good, but not mind-blowing. They look well-lit, with impressive dynamic range, and eye-catching colors. Details are not the best, though, with noticeable noise.
Enabling the Night mode manually results in brighter images as the exposure is longer while disabling Nightscape altogether results in sharper images but with lower brightness.
Selfies from the 16-megapixel front camera are good with enough details, exposure, color, and dynamic range, even in low light.
Like most front cameras in this range, we do wish selfies were sharper, but that’s just nitpicking.
Overall, the realme 11 Pro 5G is a capable camera phone. It’s great if you just want a straightforward, social media-ready camera. But the lack of an ultra-wide, telephoto, or even just a macro lens is really a big bummer.
Battery Life and Charging
Like its predecessors and most phones today, the realme 11 Pro 5G comes with a 5,000mAh battery. What makes it interesting is the flagship-level 67W SuperVOOC fast charging.
It has a decent battery life, but definitely not too impressive. It lasted for 14 hours and 43 minutes before the charge dropped to 20% after PCMark’s battery test. That’s a run of different workloads, with the WiFi-Bluetooth off and screen brightness and battery at 50%, before the battery dropped to 20%.
This means that you may have to charge the device every night if you spend a lot of time on social media and making calls, especially under 5G.
But with its ultra-fast 67W SUPERVOOC charger, topping up is pretty fast. In our test, a quick 15-minute charge from 17% already managed to take us to 50%. Another 15 minutes and we’re at 76% and an extra 10 minutes and it’s at 93%. A full charge took about 40-45 minutes.
Verdict
After spending some time with it, we can safely say that the realme 11 Pro 5G is one of the best devices you can get under Php20,000. Sure, there may be competing devices that have a more powerful processor or flexible set of cameras, but the whole package this one offers is really hard to pass.
It starts with a distinct design with a premium vegan leather material that you can feel to the touch. Once you open it, you’ll adore its vibrant and curved display, stereo speakers, and smooth performance.
Play with it further and you’ll appreciate its main and selfie cameras, reliable battery life, fast charging, and a feature that most people overlook, the clean and efficient interface.
We just hope that it was able to get an official IP rating for dust and water protection to give users peace of mind. Also, instead of just a depth sensor, it would’ve been nice to see an ultra-wide, telephoto, or even just a macro lens on this thing.
Still, there’s no denying that the realme 11 Pro 5G surely stands out in its price point.
realme 11 Pro 5G price and availability in the Philippines
The realme 11 Pro 5G has an SRP of Php19,999 in the Philippines. As an introductory offer, it will be available from August 24-25 on TikTok Shop and realme E-Store and from the 27th to the 28th on Shopee for only Php17,499. After that, it will be available in all outlets and physical stores nationwide.
Pros
- Distinct and premium vegan leather design
- Flagship-level display with stereo speakers
- Instagram-ready camera quality
- Reliable battery with fast charging
Cons
- No official IP rating for dust and water protection
- No ultra-wide, telephoto, or macro lens
This article, realme 11 Pro 5G Review, was originally published at NoypiGeeks | Philippines Technology News, Reviews and How to’s.