Xiaomi officially launched the Redmi Note 11 series in Kenya back in February. The series comprised three models in total, the Redmi Note 11 Pro, Redmi Note 11S and Redmi Note 11.
All three models in the Redmi Note 11 series came with full-HD+ AMOLED displays and up to 128GB of onboard storage with MIUI 13 on top. The series also brought powerful upgrades to the camera system, charging speed, display and SoC —making flagship-level smartphone performance more accessible than before. We got our hands on the Redmi Note 11 so in case you missed our review you can read it here.
In our review, we described the Redmi Note 11 as a good phone to consider despite the few weak points. First, it’s the cheap pricing. Xiaomi is selling the Redmi Note 11 at Ksh. 19,999 for the 4+64GB variant, Ksh.22,499 for the 4+128GB variant while the 6+128GB is selling at Ksh. 23,999/. This pricing offers you a 90Hz AMOLED display, great battery life and security features like its fingerprint sensor. How about the pro version?
The good people at Xiaomi sent us a Redmi Note 11 Pro review unit which is what we will be talking about in this article. Xiaomi is selling this phone at Ksh. 29,999/- for the 6+64GB variant, Ksh. 33,499/- for the 6+128GB while the 8+128GB variant retails at Ksh.34,999/-. The Redmi Note 11 Pro review unit we have is the 8GB+128G variant, but should you really spend your money on one? Let’s get to the nitty-gritty and see what this affordable Xiaomi phone has to offer.
Design and Display
The Redmi Note 11 Pro is a pretty-looking device with the back featuring a mix of glass and plastic giving the phone a premium look and touch. It has matte-like finishing that’s quite good at hiding fingerprints.
The power buttons and volume rocker buttons are all on the right side. The buttons are quite soft and clicky. The fingerprint scanner is also embedded in the power button. It’s quite fast and does a pretty good job.
At the bottom is where you have a SIM card tray which also doubles as a microSD card slot. It’s also here that you have the USB-C port. The 3.5mm headphone jack on the other hand is at the top.
The 6.67” AMOLED DotDisplay with a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels on the Redmi Note 11 Pro produces great colours, contrast, and viewing angles. The outdoor visibility of the display is also decent enough and you should be able to see what’s on the screen without too much straining. A plus for this display is that it can go up to 120Hz of refresh rate, but if you want to save a chunk of your battery, you can reduce it to 60Hz instead.
The display also gives you a number of options to play around with. This includes choosing from light to dark mode and changing the colour scheme among other options.
The Redmi Note 11 Pro is indeed a big phone, and so is its display. The bezels stay thin on all sides with the bottom one being slightly thicker. The phone is available in Graphite Gray, Polar White and Start Blue colour options.
Redmi Note 11 Pro Software, Performance and Battery life
With its Mediatek Helio G96, the Redmi Note 11 Pro handles things just fine including playing your favourite graphics-intensive games. Browsing the web and watching media was also a breeze for this budget-friendly Xiaomi phone.
We are also getting some 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage. Apart from the 8GB, there’s also a 3GB dynamic RAM meaning you can boost the RAM to 11GB to enable you to multitask smoothly.
Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G runs MIUI 13. If you’ve used Xiaomi phones for a while you will agree with me that the company’s Android skin has become more user-friendly over the last couple of years. MIUI 13 sits on top of Android 11 rather than the more recent Android 12 which honestly at this point is starting to feel a bit old school. Android 13 is expected to be released later in the year and Xiaomi is still playing catch-up with the Redmi Note 11 series. The company started rolling the Android 12 update to a few users of the Redmi Note 11 first in July this year. Users of the pro variants like me will however have to wait longer.
Back to MIUI 13, as I said there’s nothing really to complain about here. We are getting some unique personalization tools and the usual MIUI interface that looks polished.
When it comes to battery life, the Redmi Note 11 Pro comes with a 5000mAh battery with 67W fast charging. A full charge takes over an hour and should be able to last you for more than a day on normal usage that involves social media, WhatsApp messages, clicking photos and some little internet browsing.
Redmi Note 11 Pro Cameras
The cameras are one of the key selling points for the Redmi Note 11 Pro. There is a triple camera setup on the back featuring the main 108MP with Samsung’s HM2 sensor powering it, an 8MP ultra-wide, and a 2MP macro camera.
The main camera does a pretty decent job producing crisp images with very vivid colours. In some instances, though, it tends to overexpose resulting in a loss of details for some images.
You also have a number of camera modes to play around with including 108MP mode which gives you some highly detailed shots that you can massively zoom into without losing detail. The night mode also does an amazing job although it only works with the main camera. The single 16MP selfie camera does not disappoint. The shots produced are clear, including ones in portrait mode.
Check some sample shots below under different modes. Click on the images to expand.
Should you buy the Redmi Note 11 Pro?
Well, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro is a good phone to consider. At that price point, you get to enjoy a great battery life and media-watching experience thanks to the amazing screen and some pretty good speakers as well.
MIUI 13 is also pretty clean and decent and navigating through the phone’s menus and using some of the features is really easier. The cameras also produce some good images and videos for anyone looking for an affordable camera phone.
You also have so many variants with different prices to choose from. You can choose to spend Ksh. 29,999/- for the 6+64GB variant, Ksh. 33,499/- for the 6+128GB or Ksh.34,999/ for the 8+128GB variant.
Below is a summary of Redmi Note 11 Pro Specs
| Display Size | 6.67 inches, 107.4 cm2 (~86.0% screen-to-body ratio) |
| Display Type | Super AMOLED, 120Hz, HDR10, 700 nits, 1200 nits (peak) |
| Dimensions | 164.2 x 76.1 x 8.1 mm (6.46 x 3.00 x 0.32 in) |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels, 20:9 ratio (~395 ppi density) |
| OS | Android 11, MIUI 13 |
| Chipset | Mediatek Helio G96 (12 nm) |
| CPU | Octa-core (2×2.05 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55) |
| GPU | Mali-G57 MC2 |
| Internal | 64GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 8GB RAM |
| Rear Cameras (Quad) | 108 MP, f/1.9, 26mm (wide), 1/1.52″, 0.7µm, PDAF
8 MP, f/2.2, 118˚ (ultrawide) 2 MP, f/2.4, (macro) 2 MP, f/2.4, (depth) |
| Selfie Camera | Single 16 MP, f/2.4, (wide) |
| SIM | Hybrid Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) |
| Battery | Li-Po 5000 mAh, non-removable
Fast charging 67W |
| Features | Fingerprint (side-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
| Colours | Graphite Gray, Polar White, Star Blue |
| Price | Ksh. 29,999/- for the 6+64GB variant, Ksh. 33,499/- for the 6+128GB while the 8+128GB variant retails at Ksh.34,999/-. |
| Availability | Available Now |
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