Realme has added some more budget 5G smartphones to its 11 Series 5G – Realme 11 5G and the Realme 11X 5G. While the Realme 11 is more of a mid-ranger, the Realme 11X is its toned-down variant. I received the Realme 11X 5G for review purposes and the device looked pretty at first look. The smartphone comes with Dimensity 6100+ 5G chipset, 5000mAh battery, 64MP camera, and more. On paper, the specs are impressive and the pricing is competitive but how does Realme 11X 5G fare in the real world? Let’s find out.
Realme 11X 5G Review Snapshot
Editor’s rating: 3.7/5
Design
Display
Software
Performance
Camera
Battery
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Pros
- Stylish design
- Decent 64MP camera
- Fast and efficient SoC
Cons
- Smudge magnet rear panel
- Inadequate peak brightness
- Slow charging
Realme 11X 5G Price & Availability
The Realme 11X 5G will be available in 2 storage configurations-
- 6GB RAM+128GB storage- Rs. 14,999
- 8GB RAM+128GB storage- Rs. 15,999
The first sale will take place on 30th August at 12 Noon via Realme.com, Flipkart, and stores near you. Realme 11X 5G comes in shades- purple dawn and midnight black.
Realme 11X 5G Review: Design and Build
The Realme 11X 5G is a budget 5G smartphone that comes in 2 shades- Purple Dawn and Midnight Black. I was loaned the Purple Dawn shade for review purposes and I loved the look of its back panel a lot. This is the first time Realme has launched a Purple color variant for any of its smartphones and I must say the brand hasn’t faltered in making it stylish and premium.
The back panel of the Realme 11X 5G is a shimmery purple-blue shade that illuminates under sunlight creating an S-shaped design. Since I am someone who is a fan of unique colors and designs, I liked the purple dawn variant. However, if you want a more neutral look then Midnight Black might be a better fit for you. The shimmery back panel is made of glossy plastic and the sides look metallic with no curves at all.
The back panel has Realme branding at the bottom and at the top is a large circular camera module with 2 lenses and an LED flash. The camera module is slightly protruded but that doesn’t affect the balance of the device. The biggest drawback of the back panel is its tendency to attract smudges making it a smudge and fingerprint magnet.
Talking about the functionality, the Realme 11X 5G has a power button and volume rockers on the right edge and a sim tray on the left edge. The bottom edge houses a 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB Type-C port, a speaker grille, and a single mono speaker. The smartphone is 7.89mm thick and weighs 190 grams, making it comfortable to hold in hand for long durations. The build quality is decent as well.
The front has a large IPS LCD display with a punch-hole cutout for a selfie lens. The display has noticeable bezels with the chin having thicker bezels than the other 3 sides.
Realme 11X 5G Review: Display
The Realme 11X 5G flaunts a 6.72-inch FHD+ IPS LCD display panel. Although it is an LCD panel the quality of visuals is decent. The visuals are crisp and accurate and the viewing angles are good too. Dynamic Range could have been better. The display supports an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate for a smooth scrolling experience.
The refresh rate adapts itself between 120Hz/90Hz/60Hz/50Hz/48Hz and 45Hz depending on the scenario you are in. This ensures the best experience while you are gaming and reading. It has a touch sampling rate of 240Hz. The Realme 11X 5G comes with up to 550 nits peak brightness which is fine indoors, but outdoors it feels inadequate as the screen is not clearly visible under direct sunlight.
Realme 11X 5G Review: Performance
The Realme 11X 5G is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 6100+ 5G SoC. The chipset is based on a 6nm TSMC process and has an 8-core 64-bit architectural design. The chipset makes sure that the smartphone is fast and efficient. Whether you are gaming or video editing, social media browsing, or watching videos, there are no lags or crashes. Multitasking is a breeze with 8GB onboard and up to 8GB Dynamic RAM as over 20 apps can run in the background simultaneously. Moreover, the apps open and load quickly and gaming is seamless as well.
Heavy games like COD or BGMI Mobile could be played with medium graphic settings and medium frame rates. Thermal performance is a slight issue as the smartphone starts warming up when running benchmarks or after 20 minutes of gaming. 128GB onboard storage allows you to store whatever is important without any hiccups.
Realme has introduced a new E-Game network with Realme 11X 5G. This network allows the best gaming experience as it intelligently switches between 4G and 5G networks to reduce power consumption and provide seamless gaming performance. The network can skip abnormal calls, choose the strongest cellular network, and reconstruct WiFi so that one can game anywhere without any hassles. The smartphone is 5G capable and the calling performance is decent as well.
Talking about the software, it runs Realme UI 4.0 based on Android 13 which has a user-friendly interface. The OS offers options for customizations for personalization to make the experience even more fun. The biggest downside is tons of bloatware that comes pre-installed. Apps like Moj, Linkedin, Josh, and many games are already installed and have to be removed if you don’t need them.
Realme 11X 5G Review: Cameras
The Realme 11X 5G has a dual camera setup at the back. It includes a 64MP main and a 2MP portrait lens. While the 2MP portrait lens isn’t worthy of being talked about much, the performance of the 64MP camera is certainly something to be explored.
The 64MP primary camera clicks crisp and detailed shots in daylight. The photos clicked to have a good dynamic range and accurate colors. The shots taken in natural light have a little softness and even on zooming in, the details are clearly visible. The main camera clicks most scenes accurately whether indoor or outdoor.
As for indoor photography, the sensor clicked decent shots in good lighting conditions. The colors never seem blown out of proportion or excessively saturated. There is a 64M mode using which the same scene looks slightly better in terms of colors and details.
What is most impressive is the 2x in-sensor zoom that allows you to click telephoto-like photos without having an actual telephoto sensor. Look at the shots below. The zoomed-in shots also lose very less detail and look sharp and crisp.
The Realme 11X 5G has an 8MP selfie camera at the front. The selfie camera performs decently as the colors look nice. I clicked the below selfie outdoors and I loved how the skin tones looked natural without any filters. The subjects in the frame are kept in focus with the background being secondary. The details are adequate and the selfies are definitely worthy of being posted on social media.
Realme 11x 5g Review: Battery Life and Charging
The Realme 11X 5G packs a 5000mAh battery under the hood. I used the smartphone for calling, social media browsing, reading articles, attending video calls, listening to music, playing light games, and doing some editing. Despite all these tasks, the battery easily lasted an entire day with me plugging it in at night.
Inside the box, you get a 33W SuperVOOC adapter that charges the battery from 0 to 100% in about 75 minutes. It takes around 35 minutes to charge the battery to 50%. Although the charging speed is slow when compared to 67W, 120W, or 150W charging capabilities, it is still decent enough at this price point.
Review Verdict: Should you buy Realme 11X 5G?
Realme 11X 5G is a budget smartphone that comes with a Dimensity 6100+ 5G chipset and a 64MP camera setup. The smartphone also packs a 5000mAh battery and has a stylish design that looks and feels premium. The smartphone lacks an AMOLED display, has 33W charging capability, and loads of bloatware, but it can be a suitable choice if you are looking for an affordable device with a good camera setup. Otherwise, options like iqoo Z7 5G and Samsung Galaxy M34 might prove to be better.
Reasons to buy
- Stylish design
- Decent 64MP camera
- Fast and efficient SoC
Reasons to not buy
- Smudge magnet rear panel
- Inadequate peak brightness
- Slow charging
