Realme 11 Review: Premium Style, Familiar Performance, and… Missing Something?

Dee P. • Software Developer • Oct 01, 2023

The Realme number series has always been special. From Realme 3 to Realme 9, this lineup was known for shaking the mid-range market with strong features and great value.

So when the Realme 11 arrived, you’d expect massive hype, right?
Surprisingly… the internet wasn’t buzzing much about it.

Was everyone sleeping on this phone? Or is there a reason why people didn’t get too excited?

Let’s find out.

💵 Price & Segment

Realme 11 is positioned in the competitive mid-range segment at around:

Approximately $240 – $260

This price range is brutal. So many strong competitors exist here, especially from Infinix, Tecno, Redmi, and even Samsung.

On paper though, Realme 11 looks promising.

📦 Key Specs at a Glance

Realme highlights:

  1. 67W SuperVOOC fast charging
  2. 5000mAh battery
  3. 108MP camera
  4. Helio G99 chipset
  5. 6.4" Super AMOLED 90Hz display
  6. 8GB RAM + 256GB storage (UFS 2.2)

If you only look at the spec sheet, it sounds like another solid mid-range device. But specs never tell the whole story.

✨ Design – The “Glory Halo” Showpiece

Realme heavily emphasizes design here.

The Realme 11 features:

  1. A huge circular camera ring Realme calls “Glory Halo”
  2. Gold finish option
  3. Subtle glitter effect on the back
  4. Side fingerprint scanner
  5. Triple-slot SIM tray
  6. Headphone jack available

Realme 11

It looks premium at first glance, but it also feels familiar. Many brands are already using big circular camera designs. So while it looks unique, it’s not really groundbreaking.

Also, despite the camera ring suggesting multiple lenses…
You actually only get one meaningful camera sensor. The rest is mostly cosmetic.

📺 Display – Good, But Expected

Realme 11 comes with:

  1. 6.4-inch Super AMOLED
  2. Full HD+
  3. 90Hz refresh rate
  4. Gorilla Glass 5

Colors are great, contrast is strong (thanks AMOLED), and overall it’s a pleasant screen to look at. But again, this is already standard in this price range. Nothing particularly surprising here.

⚙️ Software Experience

Out of the box, you’ll get:

  1. Realme UI
  2. Android 13

But here’s the annoying part:
There are a lot of pre-installed apps and bloatware.
Random casual games, unnecessary apps, even finance/loan apps appear. Yes, you can uninstall them, but they shouldn’t be there in this quantity on a $250 phone.

🔥 Performance – Helio G99: Strong, But Getting Old

Inside is the legendary:

  1. MediaTek Helio G99
  2. 8GB RAM (+ virtual RAM expansion)
  3. UFS 2.2 storage

Helio G99 is known to be:
✔ Stable
✔ Efficient
✔ Great for gaming in its price class

And yes, performance is actually good here.
Genshin Impact on lowest settings can hit around 45 FPS, temperatures stay controlled, and everyday usage is smooth.

But here’s the problem:
Helio G99 is already used in many cheaper phones. Some even cost around $170 – $190. So at this price, the performance doesn’t feel “special” anymore.

Plus:

  • Still 4G only
  • No future-proofing in connectivity

🎮 Gyro & Gaming Experience – Big Letdown

One huge drawback:

Gyroscope is software-based, not hardware

Meaning:

  1. Noticeable delay
  2. Less accurate for gaming
  3. Not ideal for PUBG / FPS players

Even worse:
This impacts stabilization and camera usage too.

🔊 Audio & Haptics

Two more disappointments:

  1. Speaker
  2. Mono only
  3. Can get loud but sounds thin and harsh at high volume
  4. Stereo speakers would’ve made a big difference.
  5. Vibration Motor
  6. Cheap, buzzy, “weak”
  7. Feels like something from a $150 phone, not $250+

These things don’t show up on spec sheets, but they matter a lot in day-to-day usage.

📷 Camera – Surprisingly Good Photos, Weak Video

Here’s where Realme 11 redeems itself (partly).

  1. Photos
  2. 108MP main camera
  3. Great daylight photos
  4. Strong dynamic range
  5. Good indoor performance
  6. Night mode decent

For photography, this is definitely one of the better cameras in the mid-range category. Realme’s image processing is quite impressive.

Video

Then reality hits:

  1. No OIS
  2. EIS doesn’t work properly (because there is no hardware gyro)
  3. Videos are shaky and unstable

So:
📷 Great for photos
🎥 Weak for video

🔋 Battery & Charging

This part is legitimately great.

  1. 5000mAh battery
  2. Easily lasts a full day
  3. 67W SuperVOOC
  4. Very fast charging

Battery performance is definitely one of its strongest points.

✅ Final Verdict – Why People Aren’t Hyped

Now it makes sense why Realme 11 didn’t explode in popularity.

  1. It’s not a bad phone.
  2. But it doesn’t bring anything truly exciting either.

What’s good:

✔ Strong battery + charging
✔ Great photo quality
✔ Good AMOLED display
✔ Stable Helio G99 performance
✔ Premium-looking design

What hurts it:

✘ Still Helio G99 at this price
✘ Mono speaker
✘ Cheap vibration motor
✘ Software gyro
✘ Video stabilization poor
✘ Lots of bloatware

So instead of feeling like a “flagship mid-range Realme number series,” it feels more like Realme playing it too safe.

⭐ Should You Buy Realme 11?

Buy it if:

  1. You care a lot about camera photography
  2. You want strong battery + charging
  3. You like the design

Think twice if:

  1. You play competitive games
  2. You need good video recording
  3. You expect premium-feeling hardware
  4. You want the best value for money

Final Score:

⭐ 7 / 10 – Good phone, but lacks spark.