What immediately caught my eye when the Realme 11 Pro+ was introduced is the design of its rear panel. While Realme isn’t the first to use vegan leather on the back of a phone, the “handmade-like 3D stitching design” of the panel – as the Chinese company puts it – is certainly an eye-catching design element.
However, as good as it looks, how does the 11 Pro+ perform in other regards? How competent is its 200MP main camera? Can the MediaTek Dimensity 7050 chipset deliver sufficient performance for a pleasant user experience? And can this RM1,999 phone compete with other devices at this price point?
Well, I will try to answer these questions in this hands-on of the Realme 11 Pro+.
First, specifications. The 11 Pro+ has all the features of a standard premium mid-range phone. These include the aforementioned Dimensity 7050 chipset, a 6.7-inch 1080p AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a 32MP selfie camera, and a 5,000mAh battery with pretty darn fast 100W charging that is said to be able to provide a full charge in only 26 minutes.
The triple camera system of the 11 Pro+ is quite interesting as well. It is made up of an impressive 200MP main sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide angle shooter, and a 2MP macro lens. It would’ve been great if there’s a telephoto camera too, though the 200MP primary sensor can actually do up to 4x lossless zoom, which uses in-sensor zooming – more on this later.
My favourite feature of the Realme 11 Pro+ has to be its design; I can’t get enough of the back panel’s aesthetics. Realme Design Studio collaborated with Matteo Menotto – former print and textile designer from Gucci – to work on the Sunrise Beige and Oasis Green colourways of the phones, and in my opinion, it’s one of the more tasteful designs I’ve seen in a while.
Not only does it look great, the 11 Pro+’s vegan leather back feels great to the touch too. It really does feel like leather, giving the device both a premium feel and look. Realme makes some of the most well-designed phones in recent times (remember the Realme 10 Pro Coca-Cola Edition?), and this is evident with the 11 Pro+.
Next, there’s the 11 Pro+’s 6.7-inch 1080p AMOLED display, which looks great. It has punchy colours with deep blacks – typical traits of an AMOLED panel – and the 120Hz refresh rate lends to great motion clarity as well. That being said, I’m not too fond of the dual-curve screen, as it makes it a bit harder to get a good grip on the phone due to the slimmer sides.
In the performance department, the Dimensity 7050 under the hood of the 11 Pro+ feels adequately fast. While I haven’t had the chance to put the chip through its paces yet, it does feel fast enough for everyday use (at the very least). It doesn’t feel sluggish by any means in my short time testing the phone.
Given that this is only a hands-on, I don’t have a feel of the 11 Pro+’s battery life yet. But for what it’s worth, its 5,000mAh battery should be able to return above average battery life. The 100W fast charging would come in useful to quickly top up the phone as and when necessary too.
Last but not least is the camera performance of the 11 Pro+, which feels…capable? Again, I only had the phone for a brief period of time, so I was only able to snap some quick shots with the phone in broad daylight. Needless to say, it performs well in this kind of lighting environment; any phone worth its salt will be able to take good-looking images under ideal lighting.
However, I do have one qualm with the colour reproduction of the 11 Pro+’s camera. Shots taken with the phone have very vibrant and saturated colours, to the point that they can look unnatural. On the other hand, at least the 4x lossless zoom capability of the 200MP primary camera feels quite competent.
Of course, the 4x in-sensor zoom, lossless or not, won’t be able to deliver the sharpness of a telephoto lens at the same focal length. But it is certainly better than just digital zoom, which is a good middle ground to be in.
All in all, the Realme 11 Pro+ is a sleek-looking premium mid-range phone with fast charging rate, a good level of performance, and reasonably capable camera performance. But priced at RM1,999, it has to contend with very competent devices that sits in the same price range, such as the OnePlus Nord 3 and the Honor 90.
Now, only a full review can determine where the 11 Pro+ sits when compared against these devices. Personally, I’d rank the 11 Pro+ quite high when it comes to design, but there’s more to a phone than just looks.