Realme C11 review: inexpensive but how good is it? | NextPit

With the entry-level C11 smartphone, can Realme be able to take smartphones that retail for below €100 to a whole new level of performance? After all, the Helios G35 is one of the latest SoCs to be released. The manufacturer designed this processor specifically to cater to affordable gaming smartphones, and that sounds quite promising! Apart from the number of cores that this chipset carries, the smartphone also exudes personality with an iconic bar and in my opinion, a far too obvious manufacturer logo right at the back – accompanied by a generous battery size that offers a whopping 5,000 mAh. In this review, we will find out together just how well the new processor performs in the Realme smartphone.

What I like about the Realme C11…

The battery life

Shortly after the introduction of the new Pixel 5, Google received a lot of praise on the internet for the enlarged battery. But when you take the Realme C11 into consideration, the new Pixel 5 smartphone simply cannot keep up with the Realme offering. This is because Realme managed to pack a full 5,000 milliampere-hours battery into a cheap smartphone. Huawei had already managed this balancing act in the Honor 9A, but there is one downside to the large battery capacity – the Realme C11 would have to settle for a comparatively thick housing that measures 9.1 millimeters.

The Realme C11’s battery results in a comparatively thick housing. / © NextPit

If you do not mind the thickness of this device, then you will be pleased to note that the C11 can run up to two days without having to plug it into a nearby power outlet – albeit under normal usage patterns, of course. Once again, context is required. Each smartphone user’s usage pattern differs one from the other, so when I use the term ‘normal use’, I am referring to occasional surfing, phone calls, photography, and texting on both social media and instant messaging apps, which is part of everyday life. Of course, the battery indicator drops more when you use the smartphone as a mobile gaming machine or try to maximize the video functions of the dual camera for long stretches of time. Since most users charge their smartphone every night anyway, the battery is more likely to provide an edge under exceptional situations. If you are traveling and are on the road for two days, you can leave the Powerbank at home by minimizing the use of your handset.

The battery life should even exceed that of the Honor 9A due to the more modern and, according to the manufacturer’s specifications, a more efficient energy-saving processor. In practice, however, there was no clear difference between the two devices from which we could tell. Unfortunately, this statement remains true even when charging the batteries. Similar to the 9A, the Realme C11 comes with an archaic micro-USB port and charges extremely slowly at a mere 10 watts. If you do not make the effort to charge your smartphone overnight while sleeping, you might end up sitting next to your smartphone for a good three hours while it remains plugged in.

Call quality

If manufacturers are already removing functions from their smartphones for cost savings reasons, then the basic functionality should be all the more convincing.
Here the Realme C11 makes its case with surprisingly clear call quality, which impressed both me and my counterpart. Any background noise could not be picked up in the conversation as the smartphone managed to remove most, if not all, background noise under normal settings. Regarding its telephone capabilities, I must also mention the dual SIM slot that comes with a pair of standby SIM slots so that you can have a couple of SIM cards running simultaneously. But I do not want to bore you much longer with this topic – who will still be yakking on a smartphone in 2020 with their mobile line?

The logo on the back is anything but discreet. / © NextPit

Operating system and software features

Much more important these days are the small tweaks and details, and these are areas where the operating system shines – if the manufacturer managed to do a good job. Here, the Realme UI is a real goldmine of tricks that the smartphone could do with a little bit more promotion. If you decide to buy the Realme C11, you should take a few minutes to go through the settings.

I was able to find the gesture control that was part of Android 10 after being previously unimpressed with it, but the iteration that this smartphone has taken made it look a bit more modern. I also discovered a very useful dark mode and gestures, with which the smartphone can be controlled even when the display is turned off. While many smartphones in standby will only respond to tapping gestures in order to wake up, you can now draw gestures on the display in order to trigger certain actions. This is of course, not a new novelty, but the Realme C11 does gain a lot of charm by offering this.

The installed Android 10 operating system works perfectly and best of all, it is up-to-date. During the review duration, this smartphone received the security patch that was released in August by Google at the end of September. Realme also announced that its Realme UI 2.0 interface is based on Android 11 and published a roadmap for this. Unfortunately, the Realme C11 is not to be found on this roadmap and a member of the Realme Forum also confirmed that Android 11 has not been confirmed for this entry-level smartphone. Which is a pity, really, because Realme is conceding a potentially huge plus point here.

Camera

There were times when smartphone cameras were simple. You launched the app, snapped a photo and it was kind of all right. In the meantime, operating some smartphone cameras is almost as complicated as operating a “real” camera. For this reason, the dual camera of the Realme C11 is a refreshing change.

The main camera with 13 megapixels delivers sharp and natural-looking images. / © NextPit

This is because the second lens only serves as a depth sensor and does not add alternative focal lengths to the range of functions. The resolution of 13 megapixels on the main camera is fully sufficient for mere viewing and printing in smaller formats. However, the camera is not particularly fast with an f/2.2 aperture.

With the Realme C11, you can forget about zooming. Even at low zoom levels, the quality decreases considerably. / © NextPit

The functionally deprived camera delivers good results and is easy to use for basic shots. If you are not too happy with that, then take a step back and think of users who are not quite technically skilled as you. If you want to just record a memory or send a picture via WhatsApp, both the quality and the range of functions are sufficient. Real(me)y easy!

The Realme C11 does deliver quite pale skin tones, but the details are fine for the front camera (right) and the main camera including portrait mode (left). / © NextPit