Realme C3 (Review) was launched earlier this year at a starting price of Rs 6,999, but now its price has increased to Rs 8,999, which is Samsung Galaxy A52s This is very close to the Realme C11 (Review), which was announced in May at Rs 8,499 but is now selling at Rs 8,999 after a price hike, which is just Rs 1,000 more than the new Realme C11. All this can easily confuse customers, and to help you get out of this confusion, we have brought a list of tips for you. Realme C11 We have brought a review of Realme C11. Here we have tested this phone in every way, so that it becomes easier for you to decide whether you should buy Realme C11 or not.
Realme C11 price in India, specifications
Realme C11 has been launched with only 2 GB RAM and 32 GB storage, priced at Rs 7,499. Realme has given the new MediaTek Helio G35 chipset in this phone, which is the budget processor of MediaTek’s gaming series. Apart from this, the new Realme C11 smartphone is quite similar to Realme C3 and Narzo 10A. In this you get a very similar 6.5 inch (720×1600 pixels) HD + display and 5000 mAh battery.
The primary rear camera has a 13-megapixel sensor, while the other two phones have a 12-megapixel primary sensor. This seems to be a minor improvement, but the aperture drops from f/1.8 to f/2.2, which means the new phone can’t capture as much light in an exposure as the Realme C3 and Narzo 10A. The front camera remains the same with 5 megapixels and an f/2.4 aperture.
It is a dual-SIM device with VoLTE support. It only supports single-band Wi-Fi but has Bluetooth version 5. You get all the usual sensors including a compass and gyroscope. Storage can be expanded up to 256GB using a microSD card in a dedicated slot. One minus point is that there is no fingerprint reader in this, just like the Realme C3.
Realme C11 design
As far as budget phones go, we think the Realme C11 looks pretty good. It looks similar to other budget Realme phones. The screen has thin bezels on the sides, but there is a fairly thick chin at the bottom. There is a waterdrop notch at the top.
In the phone, you get Rich Green and Rich Gray color options to choose from. The body is made of plastic. A texture is given at the back, which increases its grip and makes it easier to hold. The back has a square camera module, unlike the camera module of other Realme phones, which has only two cameras set. The volume buttons are set above the power button on the right side. The company has also used micro-USB in this budget phone. We think now the company should move beyond this. A 3.5mm audio socket and a single speaker are also available at the bottom.
It weighs 196 grams and is 9.1 millimeters thick. The Realme C11 is relatively heavy. We found one-handed use a bit difficult, but the textured back panel keeps the phone from slipping from the palm. It doesn’t look like an expensive phone, but the build quality is solid. However, we would have liked a good glass protection on the front.
Realme C11 performance, battery life and software
Being an entry-level smartphone, the Realme C11 lets you run all Android apps smoothly, but the experience isn’t always great. At times, I found the phone lagging a little bit even on simple tasks like waking the phone from standby and opening the app drawer or task switcher. A little bit of lag was also noticed while launching apps, scrolling photos in the gallery or multitasking, but it didn’t catch our attention that much. It’s disappointing that the usage experience wasn’t smooth.
If you are fond of playing some of the powerful games coming out these days, then you will have to increase your budget a bit. PUBG Mobile runs at the lowest graphics settings by default and despite this the gameplay was full of glitches and lag. However, PUBG Mobile Lite runs fine in it. Just like PUBG Mobile, the smartphone struggled to run Asphalt 9: Legends as well. The overall gaming experience was not very good, but the good thing is that at least the phone did not heat up.
The screen is pretty good considering the price of this phone. Colours look good and viewing angles are also good. Videos look fine, but the speaker performance is not good. Music sounds muffled and we found dialogue to be unclear.
Battery life is excellent. With a low-end processor and a 5,000mAh battery, the phone managed 28 hours, 25 minutes in our HD video loop battery test. With everyday use, lots of audio and video streaming, some camera use, and a short gaming session, it easily managed a day and a half on a single charge.
Realme’s software is generally problem-free. We didn’t encounter any ads or spammy notifications, except for a few “news” articles pushed by the Realme UI browser. The phone has Chrome on the homescreen, so there was no need for this browser at all, but disappointingly, we couldn’t disable or uninstall it. Realme UI looks and behaves like stock Android and includes some customizations including themes.
Realme C11 cameras
The Realme C11 includes a few modes like panorama, time lapse, and slow-mo, and Realme claims that the C11’s night mode is a first for this price segment. Like other apps, the phone is also not able to load the camera app quickly.
Photo quality was somewhat disappointing, although we have to keep the price in mind. However, let us tell you that the camera was not able to reproduce colours well and the lack of detail was also clearly felt in the photos. Flowers and leaves did not look natural in every shot and we also saw the C11 struggling with exposure.
The background looks blurry in portrait shots, but the exposure was poor. There is no way to set the level of blur before or after taking a shot. The few close-ups we took came out surprisingly well. Overall, the photos look quite good on the phone’s screen and you can also zoom in and crop it a bit.
When it comes to low light, the Realme C11 really struggles. A lot of our shots were pretty poor, although some were passable. The phone had trouble locking focus and we had to tap the screen to lock focus again after the slightest movement.
Night mode made a big difference, but it didn’t make every shot look better. The phone still had trouble focusing, and the results were a bit cropped, so you’ll have to pay a little attention to the frame composition. Night mode shots offer better contrast and the bright parts in the frame look sharp. On the other hand, the lack of detail was clearly visible in low-light areas. Noise was also quite visible in the images.
Verdict
After a long period of discounts and price cuts offered by smartphone brands, we are now seeing a rise in costs in the market. Many models have seen a price hike just a few weeks after their launch, which means customers have to do a lot of calculations and comparisons again before making a purchase decision. It is quite disappointing that the Realme C11 smartphone is more expensive and less powerful than the Realme C3 and Realme Narzo.
We would have definitely liked better performance and it is also clear that 2GB of RAM is insufficient. The experience of using the C11 was not smooth, but you will be able to run most of the apps you need. Camera performance is average.
It is still a decent phone compared to other phones in the entry-level segment. However, if you can spend a little more, you can go for the Realme Narzo 10A instead. Also, you can wait for Xiaomi’s upcoming Redmi 9 series, or even go for the recently launched budget models from Samsung, Infinix, and Honor.