Redmi 11 Prime 5G Review – All-Rounder Budget 5G Phone

The Redmi 11 Prime 5G seems like an amazing all-rounder 5G smartphone on a budget. The phone comes with a capable chipset, a good display, a nice battery size and, of course, 5G connectivity. It checks all the boxes of being a capable smartphone.

However, there are a number of options in the 10-15K smartphone market. Is Redmi 11 Prime 5G worth the price tag it comes at or are there better options out there? Let’s find out.

I have been using the phone for about a week now here’s my review on the same.

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The Xiaomi Redmi 11 Prime 5G comes in two different variants in India. The base variant costs Rs. 12,999 for 4GB RAM and 64GB storage, while the top variant costs Rs. 14,999 for 6GB RAM and 128GB storage.

You can choose from three different colour options: Chrome Silver, Meadow Green and Thunder Black. You can buy the phone directly from Xiaomi’s official website or other online platforms like Amazon and Flipkart as well as select retail outlets.

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The Redmi 11 Prime 5G packs the following items inside the box:

• Phone
• Power adapter
• USB cable
• SIM eject tool
• Clear soft case
• Screen protector (pre-applied)
• Warranty card
• User guide

Before we talk in detail about the Redmi 11 Prime 5G, let’s see what the on-paper specs look like:

• Display: 6.58 inches IPS LCD
• Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 700
• RAM & ROM: 4GB 64GB, 6GB 128GB
• Software: Android v12
• Rear camera: 50MP + 2MP
• Selfie camera: 8MP
• Battery: 5000 mAh
• Weight: 200 grams
• Dimensions: 163.9 x 76 x 8.9 mm

The Redmi 11 Prime 5G retains the same visual elements as the Redmi 10 Prime, which makes it instantly recognisable and familiar. There are no flashy colours or colour-changing back panel here; instead, it’s a simple, plastic back with a textured finish. I have the Meadow Green colour option of Redmi 11 Prime 5G with me for the review, which looks stylish and elegant.

To ensure that the phone sits comfortably in the hand, the back panel is curved toward the edges. The frame and backside are made of plastic, which is expected in budget smartphones.

The back panel houses two camera modules that are quite big and eye-catching, but Xiaomi has done an impressive job of keeping the camera setup subtle.

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Having said that, the textured finish of the back panel provides a good grip. It does not attract fingerprints, and Xiaomi has also given a silicone cover in the box. The phone is a bit bulky, weighing about 200 grams and you can feel that by holding it in your hands.

Talking about the ports and button placements, the right side has the power and volume buttons, while the left side houses the SIM card tray. The top of the phone has an IR blaster and a 3.5mm audio jack. The bottom side holds the Type-C charging port, loudspeaker and mic.

The Redmi 11 Prime 5G features a dual camera setup on the back. This includes a 50MP main camera along with a 2MP depth sensor. Sadly there’s no ultra-wide lens. There’s an 8MP selfie camera on the front.

The main camera takes good shots in daylight. It impressed me with the amount of detail and clarity it captured in outdoor photography. The colours looked good as well, with a decent dynamic range. However, things take a hit when there’s not enough lighting.

The low-light shots were grainy and had colours were dull. They lacked details as well. You can use the night mode, which gives an artificial boost to the image, but honestly, I didn’t find it any useful.

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The depth sensor did a good job while taking portrait shots. The edge detection was on-point, and the background blur was also done equally good. You can also manually adjust the blur effect.

The selfies taken with the 8MP front camera came out to be pretty good in daylight. They had plenty of details and clarity. However, the colours were a bit saturated and the skin tones didn’t look very natural. Portrait selfies were good, similar to the main camera.

Moving on to the video department, you can record 1080P videos at 30fps both from the main and front camera. The videos had good detailing but were shaky since there was no stabilisation.

The Redmi 11 Prime 5G packs a big 5000 mAh battery with 18W fast charging support. The phone easily lasted me a day and a half of casual use. You can even get two days of battery life if you are a light user. I got about 6-7 hours of screen on time, which is pretty nice.

My usage involved some Instagram scrolling, watching a couple of videos on YouTube and playing games. Now, if you are a heavy user, you might need to charge the phone by the evening or the end of the day.

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You also get standard battery saving mode and features to further extend the battery life of the phone.

Coming over to charging, the phone comes with a 22.5W charger in the box but offers only 18W fast charging. I wish there was 30W or 33W charging support, but it’s acceptable considering the price point. It takes about two hours to fully charge the phone from 0 to 100 per cent.

The Redmi 11 Prime 5G packs a full HD+ 6.58 inch LCD display with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels. I wish Xiaomi had given an AMOLED display here. The display features a refresh rate of 90Hz along with a peak brightness of 400 nits.

Although the phone gets fairly bright for indoor use, I had to struggle while using it outdoors, especially under direct sunlight. The 90Hz refresh rate makes the display look smoother. You can also change the refresh rate in the display settings.

However, the display quality is really good. The colours on the screen were punchy, and the content was pretty sharp and detailed. However, it falls short when compared to an AMOLED display.

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There are thin bezels on the right and left sides, but the top and bottom bezels are a bit thicker. Nonetheless, the viewing angles were decent and I enjoyed watching videos on YouTube and playing games on it.

It comes with WideVine L1 certification, you can watch high-quality content on OTT platforms like Netflix. Moreover, the display is protected by Gorilla Glass 3, which will save it from scratches and accidental drops. Overall, it’s a decent display panel and will get the job done.

The Xiaomi Redmi 11 Prime 5G is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 700 chipset which is paired with up to 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. The Dimensity 700 is a well-optimized chipset and a popular choice in budget smartphones, so there is no need to worry about performance.

The phone can easily handle your day to day tasks like making calls, texting on WhatsApp, and scrolling through Instagram with no issues. The apps load up quickly and stay in the background for quite a bit. I won’t call this a multitasking champion, but you can run a few apps simultaneously.

Coming over to gaming, I tried a couple of popular games like Call of Duty Mobile, Asphalt 9 and New State Mobile. All the games ran well in medium to low settings. CoD Mobile could run at High graphics and High frame rate settings. Similarly, Asphalt 9 also ran in high settings.

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However, I noticed some lags and shutters every now and then while playing both games. You can lower the graphic settings to get a better gaming experience. The phone gets a bit warm on the backside, but nothing to worry about.

Moreover, the 90Hz panel helps in making the overall experience smoother. Redmi 11 Prime 5G is a good daily driver and great for casual usage.

The Xiaomi Redmi 11 Prime 5G runs on its custom MIUI 13 skin which is based on Android 12. MIUI is one of my favourite skins out there due to its customisation and personalisation features. The MIUI 13 was pretty smooth and easy to navigate while being feature-rich.

The Themes app will offer you a huge number of options for wallpapers, ringtones, themes as well as fonts. You will also see a secure folder to hide your private files and an in-build screen recorder to help you record your gameplays.

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The phone has standard Android 12 security features like Privacy protection and Digital Wellbeing. Apart from all these features, you get some bloatware pre-installed on the Redmi 11 Prime 5G. These include Moj, Zilli, Snapchat, Facebook, Spotify, and a few more. However, the good thing is that you can uninstall these with a single tap.

There is no confirmation from the company about the updates; however, I think we will see an Android 13 update soon in the future.

The Redmi 11 Prime 5G packs a single down-firing loudspeaker which is just average. It gets fairly loud but lacks audio clarity. Also, the speaker can easily be covered by your palm if you are playing a game or watching a video. The good thing is you have the 3.5mm audio jack, which offers good audio quality.

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The Redmi 11 Prime 5G features 5G connectivity, as you can tell by its name. It supports seven 5G bands: n1, n3, n5, n8, n28, n40, and n78. Other connectivity options are Wi-Fi Bluetooth v5.1, GPS and IR blaster.

Talking about biometrics, you get a side-mounted fingerprint scanner like every other smartphone in this budget. It is not the fastest out there but it still unlocks the phone quickly. You can also use face unlock, which works equally good.