Realme 11 Pro review

Android 13 with Realme UI 4.0

The Realme 11 Pro boots Android 13 with Realme's latest UI v.4.0, so don't expect to see much of the Android 13. Still, the battery optimizations, the media controls, color customizations, and privacy updates, among other improvements, are implemented in the custom UI version.

Realme is promising two generations of OS updates and three years of security updates on the Realme 11 Pro and Pro+.

Realme UI 4.0's most notable visual feature is the Aquamorphic theme, which offers a modern yet clean take on Android. It is a theme also available across Oppo and OnePlus phones. Realme UI 4.0. Android 13's Media Controls are present, along with smoother animations, dynamic widgets, and refined notification and control centers also come as part of Realme UI 4.0.

The Realme 11 Pro supports fingerprint unlock, and the optical under-display scanner works great - it's fast as they come. You can also set up face unlock for an even speedier unlock - though this is not as secure.

Always-on screen is available, and it can show the usual content - clock, date, notifications icons, and battery, but you can opt out of some of the information. The AOD has been expanded with Realme UI 4.0 with various themes, clocks, and even custom patterns to draw. The AOD now supports Spotify media controls, too.

The AOD can be power-saving (hide after a short motionless period), scheduled, or always on.

Always-on display

And while we are talking about personalization, Realme UI 4.0 is flexible when it comes to this. There is an entire Style (and Wallpapers) page in Settings. You can change wallpapers (live and static), switch to different icon packs, different quick toggles icon shapes, change fonts, and choose completely different colors that will change the entire Realme UI look. Different AOD themes and fingerprint scanner animations are available, too. You can even turn on/off Edge Lighting, which is independent of the Always-On Display.

Personalization options

The launcher has no-nonsense homescreens, a simplistic and clean notification/toggles area, and an easy-to-use task switcher. An App drawer is available, too, and it is as clutter-free as one could hope for. You can opt out of the app drawer if you prefer.

Realme UI 4.0

The new launcher adds support for Large Folders. Any folder can be enlarged or shrunk. Realme UI 4.0 should also offer Dynamic Widgets, but we found no such widgets on the Realme 11 Pro.

Large folders • Large folders

Dark Mode is available, but unlike before, it does not offer three different dark styles. Instead, Realme UI 4.0 uses a combination of the previous three gray hues.

Dark Mode

There are many powerful tools within the settings menu if you want full control over your Android OS. Or you can leave everything as is and enjoy a hassle-free Android experience optimized by Realme's AI algorithms and machine learning.

Settings

You can also minimize an app to a floating window, now called a flexible window, because it's super easy to resize it on the go. You can exchange files between the full-screen and flexible apps by drag and drop.

Flexible windows are available within the Task Switcher or the Sidebar. If an app is compatible, you can do either of these or use the familiar Split Screen.

Task Manager • Split screen • Flexible window • Flexible window

And speaking about the Sidebar, it's quite familiar - a small visible mark on the edge of the screen that expands into a menu anytime you swipe on it. You can customize the actions for this menu and the app shortcuts that appear there.

The Smart Sidebar now offers background stream, meaning you can put YouTube, or any streaming app, in the background, and it will continue to play sound. This works when the screen is locked, too. Neat!

Smart Sidebar

The Realme 11 Pro also supports the RAM Expansion feature. As evident from the name, this feature lets you expand your smartphone's RAM - albeit virtually - by using the phone's internal storage. You can add from 4GB up to 8GB virtual RAM. This feature is active by default, and Realme has chosen 4GB for the default setting.

RAM expansion

Within the Realme lab section, you will find Dual-mode audio, Sleep Capsule, and Heart Rate Measurement. The Dual-mode audio allows you to connect both wired and wireless headphones and listen to music through both. Sleep Capsule is a night mode, which restricts specific apps. And the Heart Rate Measurement uses the optical fingerprint scanner to measure your heart rate. It may not be that accurate, though.

Realme labs • Sleep Capsule • Heart Rate

The multimedia apps such as Photos, Music, and Videos - are provided by Realme. There is also a revamped File Manager and even a Phone Manager app. This completes the non-Google app list.

Photos • Music • Videos • Phone Manager • Phone Manager • File Manager

Realme 4.0 UI also supports this cool auto-pixelate feature, which can blur/pixelate sensitive information when you take a screenshot in WhatsApp or Messenger, and you intend to share it with others.

We liked Realme UI 4.0. The interface is clutter-free and easy to use, and it feels great when working with 120fp. Yet, it retains plenty of powerful tools should you choose to dig deeper and use them. You can read more about it and even watch our video about it in our dedicated Realme UI 4.0 review.

Performance and benchmarks

The Realme 11 Pro is the second smartphone we meet powered by the Dimensity 7050 5G. It is not exactly a new chipset but a rebranded Dimensity 1080 SoC - the one inside the Realme 10 Pro+. And it is a minor improvement over the Dimensity 920 5G chip inside the Realme 9 Pro+, so if you hoped for a performance upgrade, we'd have to disappoint you - there is none.

This chipset has an octa-core processor with two Cortex-A78 performance cores clocked at 2.6GHz, and six Cortex-A55 clocked at 2.0GHz. The GPU is Mali-G68 MC4, and the chipset is still built on the 6nm process.

The global Realme 11 Pro is available in four configurations of RAM and storage - 8/128, 8/256 (ours), 12/256, 12/512. - 128GB and 256GB (ours). The RAM is LPDDR4X, while the storage is UFS, probably v2.2.

The phone also supports Dynamic RAM Expansion with 4GB extra RAM enabled by default, but you can add up to 8GB.

And now, let's run some benchmarks.

The Dimensity 7050 has a capable processor, one that handles very well whether both single-core or multi-core tasks. The Snapdragon 778's and the Exynos 1380's processors inside the Poco X5 Pro and the Galaxy A54 are a bit faster, though.

The same can be said for the GPU performance - the Realme 11 Pro does offer good numbers across the benchmarks. Again, the Poco X5 Pro and the Galaxy A54 are noticeably faster.

Surprisingly, the AnTuTu 9 compound test places the Realme 11 Pro among the best-scoring smartphones in this price segment, and we suspect some software optimizations could be at play here.

The Realme 11 Pro offers good performance for this class, and even if there are more powerful phones, they are either more expensive or, well, older. It provides a smooth experience across the Android OS and most games. HFR is not possible on the Realme 11 Pro, but it's not that powerful to support it, anyway.

We also ran some stability tests, and the Realme 11 Pro did very well and aced those. It posted 81% on the CPU Throttle test, which we ran for 60 minutes - an excellent result. The GPU stability is superb, with a 98.5% score.

CPU test • GPU test

The Realme 11 Pro is a capable mid-ranger that can handle any task and most of the modern games rather well. It sure isn't the fastest phone in its class, but it is among the best and we doubt it will disappoint.