realme C11: Cutting edge-performance at impressive cost
In a world where handheld gadgets like smartphones are increasingly replacing traditional work gizmos among them laptops, smartphone manufacturers have stepped up competition to ensure they deliver value for money. Phone makers are outsmarting each other in having phones with specs that deliver on a host of personal and business needs, fast performance and competitive pricing.
realmeC11, one of the flagship products under realme stable, has made a mark for itself in the highly-competitive smartphone segment in Kenya due to its compromise-free performance, sleek design and affordability retailing at Ksh.9,999. We took time to review the smartphone and here is our verdict.
Refreshing design
The realme C11 has a 6.52-inch (1600 x 720 pixels) HD+ 20:9 mini-drop display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3+ protection, 269 dpi, and an 88.7 per cent screen-to-body ratio. it's a mini-drop notch at the highest with narrow bezels on the edges and thick chin. The display quality is impeccable with intense colors and good viewing angles. Thankfully, it's not over saturated out-of-the-box and you'll adjust the colour temperature from the display settings menu. budget Realme C11 has an enormous battery and a monumental change within the rear camera design.
The rear features a textured matte finish that's made from polycarbonate and has multiple swirly lines. The rear also houses a solid stripe sans the feel that runs of the left of the rear with the neat Realme logo sitting at the bottom.
The square camera bump sits on the upper left corner of the rear .
The bottom has a typical 3.5 mm headphone jack, a Micro-USB type port for charging and a mono speaker. The phone has two different slots to accommodate two Nano-SIM cards and a microSD card through which the memory are often expanded up to 256GB. Face recognition doesn't disappoint, and it unlocks the device during a snap.
Realme C11 features a 6.5-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 720X1600 pixels and a screen-to-body ratio of 88.7 per cent with a waterdrop-style notch at the highest that has the 5-megapixel selfie shooter. The side bezels are reasonably slim. The display does feel sharp and bright enough for everyday usage.
Camera
The primary camera set-up includes a 13-megapixel main lens and a 2-megapixel sensor with portrait mode. Images shot in daylight and under adequate light produces surprisingly good results. The dynamic range is improved also and tricky backlight shots are handled quite well by the realme C11. Thankfully, the images are not too saturated by default, and they look quite natural. The portrait mode works needless to say and therefore the edge detection is pretty decent.
The 5-megapixel selfie camera takes great selfies with impressive detail. There is a portrait mode within the front camera, and it works aggressively to introduce the bokeh effect in selfies and make them look a tad bit softened. The front cameras can take 1080p videos at maximum 30fps.
For video , the realme C11 can increase to 1080p at 30 fps and has support for slow-motion video. The video quality is commendable with decent details and stability.
The realme C11 has just one bottom-firing speaker, but it's surprisingly good. It gets quite loud and clarity is enhanced.
Battery
Battery life is superb. The low-end processor, coupled with the 5000mAh battery, delivered an outstanding 28 hours, 25 minutes in our HD video loop battery test. With everyday usage, involving a lot of audio and video streaming, some camera use, and gaming, I was able to make the C11 last a day and a half before needing to plug it in to charge.
Another area the device scores highly is the fact that it comes with a special OTG reverse charge making the Realme C11 a power bank to charge other smartphones.
Performance
The realme C11 runs on realme UI v1.0 based on Android 10 with May 2020 security patch. realme UI is on top of Color OS 7, but is a major departure in terms of design from Color OS 6 and comes with a revamped user interface, customizable icon style, animated wallpapers, dual earphone connection, personal information protection, focus mode, system-wide dark mode, screen recording with internal audio recording, smart sidebar, floating calculator, screen light effects, and more.
When it comes to connectivity, the realme C11 supports Dual 4G SIM cards and has a dedicated micro SD card slot expandable up to 256GB. For WIFI it supports Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n standard. It also supports Bluetooth 5.0, GPS/ GLONASS, 4G VoLTE and Wi-Fi calling out-of-the-box. I tested with Dual SIM cards and I had no issues with call quality, and it worked seamlessly. The transition from Wi-Fi calling to cellular is smooth as well and works as expected.
The C11 scores high on design and the overall aesthetics. Given the big battery, the clean user interface and decent cameras that perform well under numerous conditions, Realme has managed to strike a balance between affordability and providing amazing internals. Those looking to buy a budget phone with exceptional battery life should consider definitely consider Realme C11.
