Infinix Note11 review by LION1105
So, this is the Infinix Note 11, a
rather interesting device I must say.
It has an interesting design I dare say
even better looking than the Note 11 Pro. It is powered by Mediatek's
Helio G88 and more interestingly it has
a Full HD AMOLED display... Yeah, you heard right.
You know Infinix launched a couple of phones a few days back, three
phones; that is the Note 11 series which comprised of the Note 11 Pro a device I found quite interesting, not particularly for its fine design
but the fact that it has a Full HD AMOLED display.
Now, this is interesting because the Infinix Note 11 Pro has an LCD and when I saw the specs I was like "what the hell is going on at Infinix? Why does the Infinix Note 11 have an AMOLED display while the Note 11 Pro which is the higher device has an LCD?" Now while this one does not pack as many bells and whistles as the Note 11 Pro it certainly measures up in a couple of ways. Now if you don't already know the Infinix Note 11 is the more affordable option than the Pro. It is retailing for about 108,600 Naira or $195. Now for that price you get this sleek looking device, not sure what all the available color options areas I was not at the launch event and there was no material online to confirm that, but this white one looks awesome, and also if you subscribe to the channel that will be awesome.
Now it is powered by Mediatek's new G88 processor and it sports four or six gigabytes of RAM, 128 gigs of internal storage, a 50-megapixel triple rear camera setup, and the rest of the specs as you can see on display. Now this is a review unit by the way so I do not have the box or its contents but it should pretty much come with the same accessories we saw with the Note 11 Pro, and that includes a 33watts fast charger. Now the design of the Infinix Note 11 Pro takes some inspiration from the Zero X, particularly its flat design. The frame is flat such that you can have it stand on its own without support. It is quite a slim device at just 7.9 millimeters thick.
The frame has a slight step leading to the rear of the device so it is not all plain. You also notice the whiter tone on the power button which gives it this distinct look. Its fingerprint scanner is side-mounted and on the power button. From my use so far it has been fast and responsive as we've come to expect from physically mounted fingerprint scanners Now the volume rocker key sits just above the power button. Its ports are tucked nicely away at the bottom frame except for its sim slot which you will find on the left frame. It accepts dual nano sim cards and a Micro SD card. The sim tray is the generic one and different from the portable one on the Note 11 Pro but they serve the same function so no issues there. You get stereo speakers on the Infinix Note 11 with one at the bottom and the other just above the display. They're quite loud and pretty much satisfactory. Something else placed just above the display is a front-facing LED flash which is bright and can help with nighttime selfies.
The build of the Infinix Note 11 is plastic on the rear and glass on the display. It feels pretty solid and it's a nice phone to hold and operate. The rear finish here is matte and it is also fingerprint and smudge resistant. You'll find its rear cameras on the left side of the rear in a vertical rectangular bump. On the display of the Infinix Note 11, you will notice the 2019 style notch design, the one Samsung calls infinity-u. One can ignore that because it is an AMOLED display and Full HD at that. It has a resolution of 1080 by 2400.
Compared to the Infinix Note 10 which had an LCD display I'd say this is an improvement, though some may disagree because of the notch style but tell me in the comments where you stand; a 1080p LCD display with a hole punch or a 1080p AMOLED display with a u-style notch? Now with an AMOLED display comes the always-on-display feature with a couple of customization options you might find appealing. Not to cut your AMOLED celebrations short but just like its predecessor the Infinix Note 11 does not have a high refresh rate display. Yeah, it's just a 60hz display and that might raise some eyebrows because at this price point the competition is offering 90hz, even lower price devices from Infinix like the Hot 10T has a 90hz display.
I guess we cannot have it all. At this price point for devices released so far in 2021, only the Samsung Galaxy A22 has an AMOLED display and it is 720p, and I think the Redmi Note 10. So, I guess Infinix deserves some credit. Enough about the display, let's talk about software. It is XOS 8.0 on Android 11. You know XOS, bloatware, and ads, not much has changed in that aspect. XOS 8 while different from the version on the Infinix Note 10, it's not very different from the XOS version 10 on the Note 11 Pro, I'm yet to see any difference aside from the fact that the ads here seem to be a little more aggressive. It looks the same as version 10 on the Note 11 Pro.
The notification panel is now separated similar to what we see on MIUI. You swipe down from the left for your notifications and you swipe down from the right for your quick menu toggles. Also, you now get gesture navigation by default so if you prefer three-button navigation you have to enable it from the settings. You also get the voice assistant Folax which we first saw on the Zero X series. It is not the most advanced but it can help with some basic actions. Credits to Infinix for trying but I think most will use the Google assistant regardless. Now the Infinix Note 11 does not seem to have MemFusion like the Note 11 Pro, now that is the memory extension feature where it uses the internal memory to extend the RAM virtually. I'll likely be doing a comparison between this and the Note 11 Pro so please leave a comment if you want to see that blog. If I get 10 comments requesting for it I might just make the blog next week.
Now the Mediatek Helio G88 powering the Note 11 is one that is yet to prove its worthiness compared to the G85 or the G80. Now it is the same processor you find on the Redmi 10 and it did not perform very well. On the Infinix Note 11, while it works just fine, I believe it still needs some optimization. I got decent Geekbench scores off it but for some reason, I could not get Antutu to run even after a factory reset. That aside I'm yet to experience this with any other app so far. Everything else seems to be running smoothly once you've debloated and blocked certain app notifications. How is gaming on the Infinix Note 11 you might wonder?
Well, I played Call of Duty Mobile a couple of times while this has been with me and it did great. I did not have any heating concerns, though you are limited to play at medium graphics and high frame rates, you can't go any higher and that is to be expected. Now the gaming experience here is okay but I think it would have benefited from a high refresh rate display. Battery life on the Infinix Note 11 is as expected, it will easily give you a full day of use even if you're a heavy user. It is a five thousand milliampere-hour battery capacity and it supports 33 watts of fast charging.
The cameras on the Infinix Note 11 are a triple rear combination of a 50-megapixel main camera, a 2-megapixel depth sensor, and a third sensor I'm yet to find out its function so I'll say technically it has just two rear cameras. We don't get ultra-wide or macro cameras here. It retains the same 16-megapixel selfie camera from its predecessor the Note 10. I found pictures from the rear cameras to be quite impressive with good HDR. Photos are sharp and with close objects, you get really good background blur. It also does great with night mode and you can get some decent night shots. Its selfie camera does great when you have the right lighting conditions. Photos are sharp and the skin tone is good it seems to be lacking in HDR on video the Infinix Note 11 can shoot up to 2k at 30fps from both selfie and rear cameras You can get EIS but that caps the video quality at 1080p.
As is the manner of
Infinix we only have a primary microphone at the bottom of the device, we don't
get one at the top so the sound might not be all that good if you are in a
noisy place, but I guess it's okay and loud enough, what do you think? The
Infinix Note 11 is a device I'll say it measures up with the competition.
It is competing with devices like the Samsung Galaxy A22 and Xiaomi's Redmi Note 10. It is also priced around the same and I say it's fairly priced. Its camera performance is decent and while the software is still cluttered, it is better than before. Is it an upgrade over the Note 10? I'd say aside is a better design and display the rest are just incremental upgrades. And that is all from me.
Today's blog is finished.
Regards