Realme 11 Pro review: a stylish all-rounder that ticks most boxes

Realme 11 Pro has been launched in India with 100MP camera. Read our full review

• By Ashish Kumar -
Published On: June 9, 2023

The Realme 11 Pro+ (review) has a younger sibling called the Realme 11 Pro. While the two share many similarities, the 11 Pro cuts down on a few aspects, making it more affordable than the Pro+ model. The Realme 11 Pro features a dual-rear camera setup instead of triple, packs a lower resolution selfie camera, and supports 67W fast charging instead of the 100W boasted by its more accomplished sibling.

In this review, we try to evaluate whether the Realme 11 Pro is worth the sacrifices and how it fares against the sea of competition in the price segment. Continue reading to find out.

Verdict

The Realme 11 Pro's performance, viewing experience, and battery life are as good as the more expensive Realme 11 Pro+. While the handset's cameras have certain limitations, they excel at capturing detailed shots in a well-lit environment.

Design and display

• It's hard to tell the difference between the Realme 11 Pro and Pro+ merely by looking at them. Or, maybe you can if you look closely at their camera modules. The Realme 11 Pro has ‘100MP OIS camera' text etched in small letters, whereas the Realme 11 Pro+ mentions a ‘200MP OIS camera'. Besides that, there is no other way of telling these smartphones apart. Whether it is the dimensions, ports, finish, or colour options, both devices follow each other to the ‘T'. I got the Sunrise Beige colour option for review, which offers a good in-hand feel with its off-white textured leather finish at the back. Additionally, it features a vertical golden seam at the centre that enhances its overall look and feel.
• The design language also makes the device fingerprint resistant and per the company, stain resistant as well. However, I will advise you to use a case, such as the one provided in the box, if you wish to keep the phone looking brand new for a long time. The case also provides a better grip over the handset, which could otherwise be slightly slippery to hold due to its glossy frame. Apart from that, it is hard to miss the smartphone's gigantic rear camera module, which houses dual sensors and an LED flash. While the module protrudes from the surface quite a bit, it doesn't cause the device to wobble significantly while lying flat on a surface. 

• The display on the Realme 11 Pro is a curved 6.7-inch OLED panel that bears FHD+ resolution, 950 nits of peak brightness, and 120Hz refresh rate. It is a near bezel-less display with curved edges, contributing to a higher screen-to-body ratio. This translates to an immersive viewing experience, whether you are indoors or outdoors. The handset is Widevine L1 certified, meaning it can stream content in FHD resolution. However, unlike the 11 Pro+ model, Netflix and other streaming platforms don't support HDR capabilities on the regular 11 Pro smartphone yet.
• That said, the display on the Realme 11 Pro looks impressive considering its price point, providing rich and accurate colours. The experience is further enhanced by stereo speakers, which are fine-tuned by Dolby Atmos, making the device ideal for multimedia consumption and gaming. The display is quite responsive to the touch as well and delivers high video quality with HyperVision mode that boosts colours and highlights. Additionally, the handset is lightweight, weighing 191 grams, and TUV Rheinland certified to minimise screen flicker and reduce visual fatigue for users.

Cameras

• This is where the Realme 11 Pro differs from the Pro+. The handset packs a dual camera setup at the back, which comprises a 100MP OIS primary sensor (down from 200MP) and a 2MP portrait unit. The primary sensor outputs a 12MP image by default that looks excellent in daylight, with balanced colours and good dynamic range. While the level of detailing may look a bit underwhelming if you zoom in, the overall results are quite satisfactory. In low light or indoors, the colours tend to become oversaturated, and noise starts to appear, which is quite noticeable in a dimly lit environment. However, the details are well preserved. The phone offers a night mode that reduces the noise level in the images, but it has the tendency to smoothen out the details.

• The main camera supports 100MP high-res mode that captures more details at the expense of dynamic range. The camera also supports auto-zoom technology integrated into the camera app's Street mode. However, I find it gimmicky as it requires a couple of extra steps to activate. Moreover, the same level of zoom and performance can be conveniently achieved with the 2x option in the main camera mode, known as Photos. 
• The portrait mode on the smartphone does a decent job of cropping out the subject from the background and adding a bokeh that looks natural and pleasing to the eye. The 16MP front camera on the Realme 11 Pro captures acceptable selfies with nice details and skin tones when the sun is out. There is a bit of oversharpening though, and in lowlight conditions, the camera yields average results.

Performance and software

• Performance on the Realme 11 Pro has been taken care of by the MediaTek Dimensity 7050 SoC. It's a capable mid-range chipset that can manage tasks like switching between multiple apps running in the background and gaming with ease. The smartphone exhibits no noticeable frame drops or significant heating issues, even when playing graphically-demanding games like BGMI with HD graphics and medium frame rate. The benchmark scores and CPU Throttle test further emphasises the handset's performance capabilities. 

• The Realme 11 Pro got a Geekbench score of 934 in the single-core test and 2,358 in the multi-core test. On the AnTuTu test, it recorded 5,43,205 points. The CPU Throttle test showed the phone operating at 84 percent of its peak performance. This suggests that the handset will have no trouble managing moderately heavy tasks. Additionally, the handset is rated by TUV SUD to offer system fluency for at least 48 months. The smartphone comes with a couple of RAM options: 8GB and 12GB, which are further expandable up to 12GB with the Dynamic RAM feature that uses a portion of the phone's storage. Speaking of which, the handset can be purchased with either 128GB or 256GB storage onboard.

• On the software front, the Realme 11 Pro has Android 13-based Realme UI 4.0 running out of the box. The software feels bloated with several pre-installed apps - most of them are removable after setup - and slightly difficult to manoeuvre due to ads. Nevertheless, there is a silver lining as ads can be disabled, and the software can be customised to suit individual preferences. The Realme UI 4 also has several nifty features such as the ability to control music from Spotify right from the Always-On display, hide or pixelate private details from chat-based screenshots before sharing them with others, and control the media player from quick control settings.
• For security, the Realme 11 Pro boasts an in-display fingerprint scanner. The optical scanner may not be as fast as the capacitive one, but it can still unlock the device in a jiffy. The scanner can also be used to measure your heart rate sensor, which can be found in the Realme Lab's section in the Settings app. 

Here's a speed test done using Airtel 5G Plus network in Lajpat Nagar, Delhi.

Battery life and charging

• The Realme 11 Pro is driven by a 5,000mAh battery, which provides ample capacity to last an entire day between charges, even with some gaming and occasional navigation. I was getting around six hours of screen-on-time usage on the handset, with my usage involving streaming, surfing, and playing games. On the PCMark Battery test, the phone returned a score of 9 hours and 21 minutes, which is decent.
• The Realme 11 Pro may not have the 100W fast charging support, like its elder sibling, the Pro+, but its 67W fast charging solution delivers satisfactory performance. The tech can fully charge the device from 0 to 100 percent in well under an hour. 

Final verdict

The Realme 11 Pro price in India starts at Rs 23,999, which is Rs 4,000 cheaper than the base variant of the Realme 11 Pro+. This is decent pricing for a phone that performs well in most aspects. The design of the handset is gorgeous and helps it stand out from the crowd. Additionally, the device offers excellent performance for everyday use and gaming, while the battery life and fast charging speeds are respectable. The curved AMOLED panel and the 100MP primary camera are impressive too. However, the phone lacks the wide assortment of cameras that its competitors, such as the POCO X5 Pro (review) and Redmi Note 12 Pro, offer.

The absence of an ultra-wide camera is particularly notable, as it limits the phone's ability to capture a wider field of view and include more details in photos. This and the fact that the interface looks slightly cluttered with bloatware are the only things that can be held against this smartphone. Otherwise, the Realme 11 Pro is a solid choice that will serve you well.

Editor's rating: 4 / 5

Reasons to buy

• The Realme 11 Pro has a striking design and a premium in-hand feel.
• The curved AMOLED panel is fast, bright, and colour accurate.
• 100MP primary camera captures excellent images in daylight.
• The smartphone offers a good battery life for everyday tasks.

Reasons to not buy

• The phone does not have an ultra-wide camera.
• The interface looks cluttered due to several pre-installed apps.