Xiaomi – Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite review: Stylish mid-range phone

After launching the powerful Mi 11X and 11 Ultra, Xiaomi recently recently the Mi 11 Lite in India.It comes in two configurations for–6GB RAM + 128GB storage and 8GB RAM + 128GB storage– for Rs 21,999 and Rs 23,999.

Xiaomi‘s new Mi 11 Lite is a premium mid-range. The company has done a fine job with the design aspect, but does it deliver the goods? Well, let’s check it out.

Design, display and build quality
The Mi 11 Lite keeps true to its name. It is very slim in dimension, measuring just 6.8mm in thickness, and weighs a mere 157g. 

Also, Xiaomi engineers have done a commendable job of keeping the camera bump to a minimum as possible. With a smooth enclosure all around the edges and on the back, the phone slips in to pocket like butter onto the pan. But, it is so light that I used to get panic attacks, whenever I couldn’t feel the phone’s weight in my trouser. It is a very beautiful phone and will be a shame to lose one. 

On the back, it comes with an anti-Glare matte design and this ensures that no sweaty fingerprint smudge can ruin the beauty of the pleasing at all times.

On the right, you will find the side-mounted fingerprint sensor-cum-power button and volume rockers placed one above the other. On the opposite side, it has a smooth rail with no marks or slots.

The device comes equipped with hybrid dual SIM slots (nano-SIM 1 nano + nano-SIM 2 or microSD), a mic, a Type-C USB port, and the speaker at the base. 

At the top, it features a lone mic and IR blaster, which comes in handy as a remote control for compatible TVs. 

On the back, it has minimalistic design language. It flaunts just the curved square module, which houses a triple camera module with dual-tone LED flash and brand engraving at the base. Our Jazz Blue review unit is a lovely-looking phone. There are two other options– Tuscany Coral and Vinyl Black, and the former is said to be best among the lot.

The only drawback for having such a sleek body, it can’t accommodate the 3.5mm audio jack. So, users have to spend some money on wireless earphones.

Having said that, the speaker incorporated in the Mi 11 Lite is really good. It plays well crisply even with volume maxed out.

On the front, it sports a 6.55-inch full HD+ (1080 × 2400p) AMOLED display. It supports a 90Hz refresh rate, up to 240Hz touch sampling rate, DCI-P3 wide color gamut, offers a peak brightness of up to 800 nits.

With little space occupied by the punch-hole camera in the top-left corner, there is a very little obstruction to view the contents. Also, the screen reproduces near-natural colour with less saturation. I had a good time watching nature documentaries and while playing the Asphalt 9 series game. Also, I had no trouble reading news on the websites even under direct sunlight.

The display is protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5 screen shield, and the entire body is IP53 water-resistant certified, meaning it can sustain accidental water splashes and even moderate showers of rains. 

Also, Xiaomi is offering a silicone-based transparent back cover. It is soft and can manage to protect the device during accidental falls.

Performance:
The Mi 11 Lite comes packed with an 8nm class Qualcomm Snapdragon 732G octa-core backed by Adreno 618 GPU, Android 11-based MIUI 12 OS,  and 6GB / 8GB LPDDR4X RAM with 128GB (UFS 2.2) storage (expandable up to 512GB).

It is a smooth performer while carrying out normal day-to-day activities such as browsing the internet, operating the camera, and even while gaming, it did not show any heating issues. But, after prolonged sessions, it tends to get warmer, but it’s common for any phone in the industry. But, the important thing is heat was never overwhelming.  Actually, the glass on the back helps in better dissipation of heat.

On Geekbench 5.0, it managed to get decent scores of 558 and 1,492 on single-core and multi-core tests, respectively.

In terms of graphics, it managed to get scores of 1,143 and 1,296 on Vulkan and OpenGL benchmark tests.

As far as the battery life is concerned, it comes with a 4,250mAh battery and consistently gave a full day with more than 20 per cent juice left in the night, before I could retire to the bed.

It supports 33W fast charging and it takes a little over an hour to fully power up the phone from zero to 100 per cent.

Camera:
Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite boasts a triple camera module– main 64MP (f/1.79) wide sensor (1/1.97-inch, 0.7um, PDAF)  backed by a 119-degree ultra-wide  8MP(f/2.20) sensor (1/4.0-inch, 1.12um) and a  5MP (f/2.4) tele-macro sensor with autofocus and dual-tone LED flash. 

It takes fantastic images in the sunlight. The pictures retain a lot of details and come off sharp. The camera app and the hardware are well optimized and we can see the results in normal photo mode. Subjects such as flowers in the image are bright and colors are warm and also, the edge detection and partial blurring of the background is spot on. I did not find a sense of artificial as such. 

The wide-angle angle shots are too fared well, capturing a large expanse of the landscape in front of the camera. Even the Zoom feature works well to an extent and it maxes out at 10X.

As far as the night mode is concerned, it managed to capture decent pictures on par with rival brands in its class.

On the front, Mi 11 Lite features a 16MP (f/2.45) snapper. It takes good selfies in the natural sunlight, and in the night too. It is a bit aggressive in terms of face smoothening, I don’t want to complain, as it made me look better in the photo.

Final thoughts:
Most of the Xiaomi phones are bulky and come with the best possible internal hardware configurations for a more affordable price compared to rival brands. Now, with the Mi 11 Lite, the company has given a lot of attention to the looks of the phone and it excels brilliantly. With a slim design and beautiful colour offerings, the Mi 11 Lite really stands out in the mid-range segment.

Having said that, the company hasn’t cut many corners except for 3.5mm audio and it’s understandable given how thin the device is. However, the rest of the key features such as processor and camera perform on par with the peers in the under Rs 25,000 range.

Even though the battery capacity looks a bit low compared to other Mi series phones, it can still last more than a day thanks to software optimization.  Overall, Mi 11 Lite is a compelling mid-range phone. It will serve you well and there’s no doubt about it.

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