Realme 11 Pro+ review

For yet another year at this time, Realme is back with the launch of handsets from one of its most emblematic families of mobiles, the series that evolves every year with the numbering increasing by one more digit.

There are two models arriving on the European and international markets, costing €399 for the cheapest model and €519 for the most expensive, which is the one we are reviewing below.

Design and build

• Premium design
• Lightweight
• Super-fast fingerprint sensor

As a taste of what we will see from the Realme 11 Pro+, it is worth noting that one of its main assets is the design that the brand has prioritised in this new development of a mid-range phone with very premium touches.

We say this because the back of the phone has a very premium feel, with a vegan leather finish (the model reviewed here in ‘sunrise beige’ tones), offering a pleasant feel that emulates real leather very well, eliminating the presence of fingerprints and offering a certain resistance to the passage of time.

It is a mobile phone ready to be used without a case. Realme plays with the fold of the white stitching and golden tones that start at the bottom and cross from top to bottom the set of cameras as if it were a beam of light.

The effect is remarkable, in addition to the fact that the arrangement of the camera bump is very central giving the phone greater stability if it is placed on a flat surface.

Both the front glass and the back are slightly curved, both surrounded by a gold-coloured frame that makes the phone stand out visually from afar. All of its volume and power buttons are on one side, leaving the other side completely free.

The fingerprint sensor is integrated into the bottom of the display, while the dual-SIM slot and USB-C connector are located at the bottom. There are also speakers on the top and bottom bezels of the phone, ensuring Dolby Atmos stereo sound.

Compared to traditional fingerprint unlocking, Realme claims to have combined an improved system that provides better adaptability to the environment if you use it in low temperatures, in the heat or even with a wet finger now that the hot weather is here. The speed of response and reliability was great in my use.

The model with the vegan leather finish is not a phone to use with a case

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that the Realme 11 Pro+ doesn’t exhibit any kind of IP certification to guarantee water or dust resistance, which is to be expected considering the price range it’s in.

If you’re looking for a mobile phone that offers guarantees, you’ll have to go for the similarly priced Google Pixel 6a with IP67 water and dust resistance. Check out our updated ranking of the best mid-range phones you can buy.

Display and speakers

• 6.7-inch curved AMOLED panel
• 2412 x 1080p FHD+ resolution
• 120Hz refresh rate
• Dual Atmos stereo speakers

The phone has a screen-to-body ratio of 93.65%, which gives you an idea that you’re looking at an all-screen device with hardly any bezels, not even those more common ones that emerge from the bottom of the screen.

The front selfie camera is centred at the top, allowing notifications and vital operating system information to be displayed on either side of it, without interrupting the key viewing area.

On the brightness level of the Realme 11 Pro+, it is worth noting the effort made by the brand to dim the display and maintain the most accurate colour tones in any situation, whether in low light or when the sun’s rays are shining on it.

Thus, when the screen brightness drops below 90 nits, the phone switches from traditional DC mode to PWM dimming in order to maintain an enhanced display while avoiding negative impact on the user’s eyes.

The 120Hz refresh rate is simply as expected, with smooth and fluid animations.

The speakers are offset to the frame of the phone’s screen and manage to emit high sound power, albeit with their limitations. They sound loud and clear and handle bass well, the result of their equalisation carried out in conjunction with Dolby Atmos, but don’t expect amazing sound.

Performance and specs

• Dimensity 7050 5G processor
• 12GB RAM + 12GB dynamic
• 360-degree NFC
• Matrix System 2.0 antennas

The phone uses the Dimensity 7050 chipset which features a 6nm manufacturing process and includes two clusters, so that the two main Cortex A78 cores run at 2.6GHz, while the other six lower-powered A55 cores clock down to 2.0GHz.

This makes the Realme 11 Pro+ a very efficient phone (as we’ll see in the battery life section), ensuring performance that’s up to the task at hand, whether it’s handling social networking and productivity apps, or typical gaming.

It’s a mid-range phone, let’s not forget, but that doesn’t stop it from offering a generous 12GB of RAM, expandable via dynamic RAM to an extra 12GB, a figure that it captures from its storage and which allows it to deliver Cinebench multi-core values above most of its competitors.

It’s a mid-range phone, let’s not forget, but that doesn’t stop it from offering a generous 12GB of RAM, expandable via dynamic RAM to an extra 12GB

Once we run the battery of benchmark tests , which allow us to compare its results with those of the other smartphones, we see that graphics-wise it is also able to tackle games with a fairly acceptable fps rate with 23fps in Vulkan or Car Chase, and reaching 56 fps in Manhattan 3.1.

The results are very much on a par with the Samsung Galaxy A54 which performs very well for a similar price, and with the Nothing Phone (1) which costs less but has a great Snapdragon 778G+ processor.

So it’s clear that the processor is one area where Realme has chosen to be a little more conservative, integrating a chipset that is cheaper than comparable Snapdragons, but investing that money in other areas such as photography and battery life.

Cameras

• Largest aperture sensor in its price range
• Focal length f/1.69
• Built-in Autozoom function

Speaking of cameras, we come to one of the most exciting points of the new Realme 11 Pro+. Unlike its smaller sibling, the 11 Pro, the ‘plus’ tag implies that it has notable differences in several areas, including photography.

This phone has a 200Mp ISOCELL HP3 sensor with Superzoom that can detect autofocus information in both the vertical and horizontal planes. As a result, Realme claims this is its best camera phone to date. We’ll see how true that is.

Recall that the company has previously put out models like the (higher priced) GT 2 Pro at launch, and while that phone has better overall performance, its cameras are outclassed on a number of fronts.

Realme seems to have worked its camera suite so that the main camera offers as standard and in auto mode up to 4 different zoom levels to play with out of the box (0.6, 1x, 2x and 4x).

If you choose to force the digital zoom, the mobile can reach the 20x level (not very useful in any case due to the level of noise that is picked up). In any case, as you can see in the captured images, the details are very appreciable, as shown by the statue of Velázquez posing at the gates of the Prado.

I am very pleased with the white balance and colours offered by the Realme 11 Pro+ camera

I am very pleased with the white balance and colours offered by the Realme 11 Pro+ camera, reflecting on the screen quite faithfully a close approximation of what my eyes are actually seeing in real life.

On bright, clear days, the shots appear very vivid but without deviating from reality or burning out certain tones, something that is immediately noticeable in reddish objects or sunsets.

We took advantage of one of the cloudy and rainy days that June has left us this year (with a thunderstorm included) to put its lenses to the test and we found the level of detail to be surprising.

I’ve mentioned this in previous smartphone reviews and it’s something I look for when testing cameras; the fact that they all maintain a homogeneity in tonalities, regardless of whether you use the wide angle, the main camera, or the telephoto lens (the latter is not represented here).

The images I was able to take of the Ministry of Agriculture building, located next to Madrid’s Atocha Station, are a clear reflection of how well the Realme 11 Pro+ performs, although I did notice that the capture and exposure time in automatic mode is longer than with other phones like the brand’s Realme GT 3.

Focusing is fast and accurate, with no need to repeatedly tap the screen to get a better result, and it takes full advantage of the larger sensors to make photos sharp and full of detail when you zoom in on the picture.

However, the wide-angle camera is of lower quality, so you will inevitably find that the appearance of noise is more visible than when using the main camera. It is also possible to use it for close-up shooting with a macro mode that has room for improvement, but also finds balance in focus.

Within the main menu, Realme has incorporated a ‘High Resolution’ mode with which we can vary between the 200Mp supported by the sensor, or lower the quality to 50Mp which is already good enough to get large prints without losing quality.

The crop shown by the selfie photos is also at the height of the best in its range, offering with a 32Mp camera a quality that is very close to compete head to head with the most premium phones of a higher price.

Battery life and charging

• 5000 mAh battery
• 100W charger included
• Exceptional power management
• No wireless charging

With a high-capacity 5000mAh battery inside, the Realme 11 Pro+ also differs from its smaller 11 Pro sibling in this section in that the charging speed is faster on the one under review here.

Included in the box is its cable and corresponding adapter to guarantee up to 100W of charging speed, which allowed us to charge the phone in less than 30 minutes (28 to be exact), as well as reaching 56% in just 15 minutes.

In addition to this good news, with the PCMark benchmark we managed to reach 15 hours and 38 minutes, far surpassing the Galaxy A54 that capped at 10 hours and 57 minutes, or the 10 hours and 49 minutes of the Pixel 7a of very similar price.

The long battery life is the best complement to long photography sessions

In real life, taking advantage of the fact that on this occasion we had the phone on loan for about 20 days before this review, I was able to use it daily, which allowed me to be pleasantly surprised by how efficiently its battery and Dimensity processor performs.

Making a typical use of communication apps, social networks and other tasks such as answering emails while simultaneously browsing the web, the mobile arrived at the end of the day with a charge that in most cases exceeded 60%.

If you happen to be a real battery eater with games and intensive use applications, such as Tik Tok, remember that you have the SuperVooc S fast charging system as an ally. However, the Realme 11 Pro+ does not include the possibility of wireless charging.

Software and updates

• Realme UI 4.0
• Based on Android 13
• 2 years of updates (3 of security updates)

For the launch of the GT 3, Realme had deployed the latest version of Realme UI 4.0 on Android 13, so the latest version of Google is present in this phone too.

As we’ve mentioned in the past, there’s an interesting GT mode that you can activate in specific situations such as playing games with the phone, which is activated automatically in order to get extra performance.

Looking back at the GT 3 model launched earlier this year by Realme, we miss the LED notification system that this phone has on the back, which is very useful in your day-to-day life so you don’t miss important messages or app notifications.

In any case, we already know that the company is an expert in this type of implementations, testing in each product range with functions that can be innovative and that can captivate the end consumer.

Price and availability

The Realme 11 Pro+ is currently available from Amazon, with prices starting from £410 for the black version, and £429 for the beige.

You can find them with three different finishes on the back, either the ‘Sunrise Beige’ with vegan leather materials, or the more traditional ‘Oasis Green’ or ‘Astral Black’, the most classic of them all.

You can always opt for the more economical normal model, but we anticipate ‘as a spoiler’ until we publish the final review , that the lens system chosen for its cameras is of inferior quality, and that its battery charging technology remains at 67W, a figure that is not bad either.

Verdict

The company’s trump card for its new Realme 11 Series lies in boosting the photographic section. Perhaps in the 11 Pro model the company manages to make notable advances (we’ll have to wait for that review), but in the Pro+ it undoubtedly manages to make a big splash.

We have before us the company’s phone with the best set of cameras you can find to date, and it seems that on this occasion, inflating the figures to integrate a 200 MP Samsung ISOCELL HP3 sensor with SuperZoom is a real success for the brand.

This camera package is nicely wrapped up in a great mobile design, as well as excellent battery life so you can enjoy outdoor photography without having to worry about running out of charge, for which you can make use of its 100W system.

If we had to improve something about the new Realme 11 Pro+ it wouldn’t be the screen, as the AMOLED type and 120Hz refresh rate are more than enough to be among the best in its range.

The only thing that could be revised is the processor. Although as we’ve seen, the Dimensity 7050 5G is up to the task, gamers are likely to miss a slightly higher refresh rate in games.

Otherwise, it’s a fantastic mobile phone that, one of the best in its price range.

Specs

• 6.7-inch curved AMOLED screen
• FullHD+ display with 2772 x 1240 resolution
• Brightness of 500 nits (maximum 1200 nits)
• 124 Hz refresh rate
• Dimensity 7050 5G processor
• Model with 12 GB RAM + 512 GB storage
• Cameras:
  • Main Samsung ISOCELL HP3 200 MP SuperZoom
  • SuperZoom, f/1.69 focal length with OIS + EIS
  • 8 MP f/2.2 ultra wide-angle
  • 32 MP front selfie camera
• 5000 mAh battery
• Dual 5G, Bluetooth 5.3 and NFC connectivity
• 100W SuperVooc S charging
• Dual Stereo Dolby Atmos speakers
• Realme UI 4.0 operating system with Android 13
• Dimensions of 161.6 x 73.9 x 8.2 mm
• Weight of 183 grams

This article originally appeared in Spanish on Tech Advisor Spain.