realme 11 | A 4G Winner for Price, Design and Camera

We end the year with a special feature on realme and its latest and final smartphone release for 2023 – the realme 11 which completes the realme 11 series. It is the 4G version of the previously launched realme 11 Pro and Pro+ series phones.

realme 11 is a tad similar to the Pro versions when it comes to its physical attributes mainly with the now trending circular rear camera island that the brand fondly call as a “Glory Halo”. The only difference is that the halo design for the 11 is off-centered.

The 11 series focuses its innovations on two aspects – design (aesthetics) and camera capabilities. But first, let’s take a trip down memory lane on what realme has achieved in the last 5 years.

realme: 5 Years After

realme is a relatively young smartphone brand that was officially established in May 2018. The company originated as a sub-brand of Oppo and is widely known in the corporate world as a subsidiary of the Chinese company BBK Electronics. BBK Electronics also owns other well-known smartphone brands, including Oppo, Vivo, and OnePlus. realme was created with the aim of providing budget (entry-level) and mid-range smartphones with competitive specifications and features.

• realme was officially founded on May 4, 2018, by Sky Li, who was a former executive of Oppo.
• realme 1 was the first smartphone launched by the company in May of 2018. It gained attention for its stylish design and impressive specifications in the budget segment.
• realme introduced several smartphone series, including the Realme C series (entry-level), Realme Number series (mid-range), and Realme X series (mid-range to upper mid-range with a focus on design and display).
• realme quickly expanded its product lineup and market presence. It focused on markets like India, Southeast Asia, and Europe, gaining popularity for providing feature-packed smartphones at compelling price points. They are also known for incorporating new technologies into its smartphones, such as high-refresh-rate displays, fast charging, and advanced camera systems.
• realme has consistently gained the top spot in the Philippines’ smartphone market from the year 2021 and 2022, and is still making significant strides in 2023.

realme 11

There’s absolutely a lot of things to like about the realme 11 starting with its price – introduced in the Philippine market at an SRP of only 13,999 and an early bird discount of 2,000 bringing it all the way down to only 11,999 last November.

When you purchase the realme 11 what you’re really getting is a beautifully designed smartphone that can easily go with any style and lifestyles. It comes in two variants – Glory Gold and Dark Glory. On hand is the realme 11 Glory Gold which shines magically (like gold) creating a lot of different stunning mood depending on the angles and how the light touches its surface.

In front, you’ll get a 90Hz Super AMOLED 6.4″ FHD+ display protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass 5. Brightness can go all the way up to 1000 nits producing real vivid display perfect for any lighting environment.

Glory Halo houses the 108MP ProLight Camera with an amazing 3x in-sensor zoom capabilities. There’s a 2MP depth sensor but unfortunately, we’re going to miss the macro and ultrawide again. Selfie camera is at 16MP.

Here are some sample shots taken with the realme 11 108MP Camera:

Here are some zoomed images:

Is the realme 11 gaming capable?

Chipset is Mediatek Helio G99 which is ranked as gaming-capable. Pair it with 8GB + 8GB Dynamic RAM and a huge 5000 mAh 67w SUPERVOOC Charged battery and what you get is a power-efficient moderate to heavy gaming smartphone that can run almost all the game types flawlessly.

Here are the Game Test videos:

realme 11 is by far the best 4G offering we’ve seen in 2023 winning the categories for all price, design and camera capabilities.

FULL SPECS:

• Display: 6.4″ 1080 x 2400 FHD+ Super AMOLED, 90Hz, 1000 nits, Corning Gorilla Glass 5
• Network frequency: 2G / 3G / 4G
• Dual SIM
• OS Android 13 (realme UI 4.0)
• Chipset (SoC): MediaTek Helio G99
• CPU: Octa-core  (2×2.2 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55)
• GPU: Mali-G57 MC2
• Memory + storage: 8GB + 256GB (expandable 1TB MicroSD)
• Main camera: 108MP f/1.8 + 2MP f/2.4 (depth)
• Selfie camera: 16MP f/2.5
• Connectivity: 2.4/5 GHz Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac; Bluetooth 5.2
• USB Type-C
• 3.5mm Audio Jack
• Side Fingerprint Scanner
• Battery: 5,000 mAh; 67W SUPERVOOC
• Colorways: Glory Gold, Dark Glory