Redmi has been constantly upping its game and has now brought in the Redmi 11 Prime 5G, the company’s most affordable 5G smartphone in India. Brands are racing to capitalize on the market with cost-effective solutions for 5G, which is the next big frontier for them. There are plenty of budget-friendly 5G options now in the market from brands like iQOO, Vivo, POCO, etc.
For less than INR 13,000, you can get the Redmi 11 Prime 5G with a MediaTek Dimensity 700 SoC, a sizable battery, a Full HD+ display, a dual camera setup, and more. Is the Redmi 11 Prime 5G the greatest option for that much money? Let’s find out in our review.
Redmi 11 Prime 5G Specifications
Before starting with the Redmi 11 Prime 5G review, let’s look at the phone’s specifications.
- Display: 6.58-inch FHD+ resolution, 90Hz refresh rate, LCD panel
- CPU: Octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 700 Processor
- RAM: 4/6GB
- Storage: 64/128GB internal storage
- Software: Android 12 (MIUI 13)
- Main Camera: 50MP (f/1.89) (PDAF) + 2MP depth sensor
- Selfie Camera: 8MP (f/2.4)
- Connectivity: USB Type C, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v5.2, GPS/ A-GPS, FM Radio
- Cellular: Dual SIM
- Fingerprint Scanner: Yes, side-mounted
- Battery: 5,000mAh, Li-ion Polymer, 18W fast charging
Box Contents
Here’s a complete list of items you get inside the box:
- Redmi 11 Prime 5G smartphone
- 22.5W fast Charger
- USB Type C Cable
- Sim Ejector Tool
- Documentation
Design & Display
Since the Redmi 11 Prime 5G is a budget smartphone, there is no surprise that it will be constructed out of plastic. But then, the brand has put in the effort to spice up the design. The rear panel of the phone curves towards the edges to ensure it sits comfortably when held. The back panel is textured and offers a good grip. There is a large rectangular rear camera module up the top with the two prominent lenses and the LED flash next to it.
Moving on to button placement, the SIM tray on the left side of the phone contains the third slot for a microSD card and two slots for nano-SIM cards. The power button (which doubles as a fingerprint sensor) and volume keys are located on the right side. The single speaker grille and USB Type-C connector are situated at the bottom, while the 3.5mm headphone jack is situated next to the IR blaster on the top.
The Redmi 11 Prime 5G packs a 6.58-inch LCD panel with Full HD+ resolution. The refresh rate of the display panel is set to either 60Hz or 90Hz when left in auto mode depending on what is being played on screen. Scrolling through the UI is Smooth and the display gets bright enough to be seen in direct sunlight.
The panel has a peak brightness of 400 nits, and comes with Widewine L1 certification out of the box, meaning you can enjoy your favorite content in Full HD resolution on OTT platforms. Compared to the color profiles seen on an AMOLED, the LCD panel on the Redmi 11 Prime 5G seems a bit dull but then it’s how the display tech is. What might bother buyers is the dated look, that the dew-drop notch and thick bezels give off.
Software & Performance
The Redmi 11 Prime 5G comes with Android 12 with MIUI 13 skin on top out of the box. When contrasted to custom skins from other OEMs, MIUI 13 typically has a lot more features on offer. However, these features come at a cost, and that is bloatware. The phone comes preinstalled with many third-party apps, such as Moj, Snapchat, Zilli, Spotify, etc, on top of the whole Google Apps suite and pre-installed system apps. The software performed well in our tests, apart from occasional stutters and aggressive RAM management, both of which can be fixed with OTA updates.
Moving to the performance aspect, the handset comes powered by the brand-new MediaTek Dimensity 700 SoC. Now, this is a 5G chip and is almost nearing its end of life by now. The appeal of the Dimensity lies in its capability to provide an overall pleasant user experience along with 5G on a budget.
When it comes to the raw performance of the Redmi 11 Prime performs well, Day-to-day tasks, such as scrolling through social media, browsing the web, etc are mostly issue-free. However, if you are someone who wants great gaming performance at this price, this one might disappoint. We did try some gaming on this and the phone struggled with games like Asphalt 9 Legends, and Call of Duty: Mobile on medium settings. As for the benchmarks, the Redmi 11 Prime 5G scored 521 and 1757 points in Geekbench’s single-core and multi-core tests and 3,37,683 points on the AnTuTu v9 benchmark.
Camera & Battery
In the optics department, the Redmi 11 Prime 5G comes with a dual-rear camera setup with a main 50MP sensor which is assisted by a 2MP depth sensor. For selfies, there is an 8MP front camera.
The primary camera captures some reasonable shots with slightly cooler hues in daylight. The images are crisp, but almost invariably have overexposed highlights. The differences between images shot with HDR and photos taken without it are negligible. In addition, unlike many other MIUI-powered handsets, this device does not have AI color mode. Despite this, it manages to function fairly effectively in low light.
The 2MP auxiliary sensor doesn’t bring much to the table and a wide-angle lens would have been appreciated in its place. The selfies on the Redmi 11 Prime offer enough details in daylight but the skin tones and HDR performance is way off. But the sensor does well in portrait mode.
The phone has a sizable 5,000mAh cell as its battery. During our test, we put the phone through its paces, and despite moderate to heavy usage, the phone easily lasted two days. A 22.5W charger is included in the box, however, the phone can only handle a maximum of 18W of current and takes just under 2 hours to completely charge the battery.
Verdict
For less than Rs. 15,000, the Redmi 11 Prime 5G is a respectable performance bundle. The phone’s main selling point is that it supports up to seven 5G bands and has a reasonable processor for everyday activities. The Redmi 11 Prime 5G will be appealing to folks who enjoy watching videos on their phone due to its big screen and long battery life.
However, the phone suffers from experience-killing bloatware, outdated display design, aggressive RAM management of MIUI, and spammy app notification.
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