Xiaomi has released a new smartphone called 11 Lite 5G NE. The last two letters in the title stand for New Edition, as the Chinese giant already has the 11 Lite and 11 Lite 5G models. How much the device differs from its predecessors, what are its advantages and disadvantages, read in our review.
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Packaging and equipment
Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE comes in a white box with engraved golden letters. Inside, in addition to the smartphone itself, there is an additional protective film (one is already pasted on the screen), a transparent silicone case, documentation, a USB A to USB C cable, a 33 W power supply, and a 3.5 mm audio adapter for a USB Type-C port.
Design and usability
Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE looks similar to the previous models of the series: rounded corners and ends of the case, a flat display, a large main photo module with a chrome ring and an auxiliary widescreen one on the extended rear panel. There are also inscriptions Xiaomi and 5G.
The device has plastic ends and a back cover. In our case, the color of the model is turquoise – matte with overflow at the back and glossy on the sides.
On the right side of the Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE, there are volume keys and a lock button combined with a fingerprint sensor.
On the top there is an infrared port and a microphone.
The USB C port, a speaker, another microphone and a SIM card slot are placed at the bottom. You can put two of them there (nano-sim) or one plus a memory card. There is no 3.5mm audio jack. To listen to music, there is a Bluetooth module or the adapter described above in the kit.
The smartphone turned out to be thin and light – the thickness is 6.81 mm and the weight is 159 grams. The device is almost not felt in the hand, it lies comfortably in the palm of your hand and there is no feeling that it is about to slip out. Although with a case, of course, it is calmer and more reliable, and the grip with your hands is better.
Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE is so light that sometimes I looked for the device in my jacket pocket – it seemed to fall out. The light weight also keeps your hands from getting tired during prolonged use, such as gaming or browsing social networks.
The side buttons are set slightly above the middle, which is universal and convenient for almost any hand size. The fingerprint scanner is lightning fast. The test with wet hands passes through once or twice, so it is better to touch the sensor with dry fingers.
On the matte back cover, dust is almost invisible, as well as fingerprints and other traces of use. All this is perfectly noticeable on the glossy ends, but their area is insignificant, so you can see much less.
Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE display
Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE has a bright 6.55-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 2400 × 1080 and a pixel density of 402 ppi. The top of the display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5.
The base screen brightness is 500 nits and the maximum brightness is 800 nits. The display has 10-bit color depth and a refresh rate of 90Hz (touchpad sampling rate 240Hz). Declared support for technologies TrueColor, Dolby Vision and HDR10 +. DCI-P3 color space coverage is 100%. In the upper left corner there is a round cutout for the front camera.
In the smartphone settings, you can choose your preferred refresh rate: 60 or 90 Hz. For users of devices with a standard screen refresh rate, the 90 Hz option will be much smoother and faster. But if you have already seen models with 120 Hz screens, then the difference between 60 and 90 Hz is not so noticeable.
The menu has light and dark themes. They are included on a permanent basis or on a schedule. A customizable Always-On-Display function is also available right away, but it only works for the first ten seconds after the screen is locked.
If desired, the color scheme and text size are selected in the settings, and the reading mode is also turned on. In addition to the standard use of warm colors for less eye fatigue, there is a “Paper” mode, in which the background is additionally changed to a “paper” texture. In this form, it is best to read books, news or articles from websites.
The display of Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE turned out to be bright and juicy. True, he has a fairly strong PWM, if you make the brightness below average. Therefore, it is best to use not auto brightness, but choose manual control and set it to 80-90% or to the maximum.
On a sunny day, everything is perfectly visible on the display, including text, a video or a photo. Very handy Paper mode if you read a lot of books from your phone.
Sound
Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE received stereo speakers. For such a compact and thin model, the sound was unexpectedly loud. But, as is often the case in such cases, all this lacks volume and low frequencies. But the middle stands out well, as well as vocals with a voice, so it’s nice to watch Netflix and YouTube on the phone.
The speaker for calls is loud and clear. He does not have any super qualities, but he also did not cause any complaints.
The model claims to support Hi-Res sound in 24-bit/192 kHz format. True, I did not test the smartphone on expensive wired headphones, but I tested it with several TWS models. As a result, no revelations came out, but maybe it will work with a compact sound card. With a basic Bluetooth connection (version 5.2 here), the smartphone does not make the headphones sound better or worse.
Cameras Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE is equipped with a triple main camera with 64, 8 and 5 MP sensors. The main module is Samsung GW3 S5KGW3. It takes basic pictures at a resolution of 4640×3472 pixels (16MP), but it has a Hi-Res mode when all 64MP are turned on and then the photos come out in a format of 9280×6944 pixels.
An 8MP ultra-wide-angle module is here Sony IMX355. He failed to replace the main sensor, so it shoots well, but it makes a lot of “noise” even if, for example, it is daytime, but the sun has gone behind the clouds. The third telemacro module Samsung S5K5E9 with a resolution of 5 megapixels.
The front camera of the Samsung ISOCELL S5K3T2 model is 20 megapixels. It takes pictures at a resolution of 5184×3880 pixels.
The camera shoots 4K videos at 30 frames per second. There is no optical stabilization, but there is electronic stabilization and it is of very high quality. Of course, it is difficult to fully replace the optical one, but it dampens shaking very well when walking and when turning the camera. An example video recording is shown below.
The main and front cameras take standard photos for the middle price category. It’s not a shame to show such pictures to friends and put them on social networks, but you still won’t be able to get supermega photos.
But you can surprise yourself and others with additional features in the Camera application. There are standard “Photo”, “Video”, “Portrait” and a convenient “Pro” mode, as well as more than a dozen formats in the “More” tab.
Among them, it is worth highlighting good night shooting, panorama, dual video from the main and selfie cameras, as well as shooting with long exposure, which I have not seen before in devices in this price category.
Performance, software and games
Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE is powered by a fairly new Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G octa-core processor with Adreno 642L graphics. The chip is made using the 6nm process technology. RAM can be 6 or 8 GB, and permanent 128 or 256 GB.
The smartphone is gaining good numbers in various tests (GeekBench 5, AnTuTu), but the model has quite strong throttling, which can be seen from the tests below and from the feeling of using it in games.
Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE runs modern “heavy” games without any problems at medium and even high graphics settings with a frame rate of 60 fps and higher. The device was tested in Call of Duty Mobile, Wild Rift, Genshin Impact, World of Tanks, Shadogun Legends.
After half an hour or a little later, the model noticeably heats up in the hands, and in games, subsidence in fps begins. Of course, all this does not reach critical numbers, but comfort is reduced. Most likely, the matter is in the same minimum thickness and tightly fitted components inside, which does not allow the processor to cool normally.
The smartphone supports the new Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) standard. He, of course, has an NFC module for contactless payments, the latest Bluetooth 5.2 and an infrared port for “communicating” with technology.
Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE is controlled by the proprietary MIUI 12.5 shell based on Android 11 OS. The smartphone will be among the first to update to MIUI 13 soon. The interface works quickly and clearly. Hanging or slowing down for a week of use is not noticed.
Launching and exiting applications, the main screen, the menu and the list of programs work smartly, if not lightning fast. There are no ads, there are a lot of built-in applications, but they are immediately arranged in folders, so they can be quickly removed or simply left alone for a while.
I did not like the huge number of notifications from the start. In an hour, a wild number of alerts came to the smartphone, most of which are sent by built-in applications or systems. Therefore, you will first have to tinker a bit in the settings to turn it all off.
autonomy
Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE is equipped with a 4250 mAh battery. There is a 33W fast charge that charges the smartphone from 0 to 100% in about an hour. With an average base load of YouTube videos, several hours of gaming, social networking, calls, music on Bluetooth headphones, surfing the Internet, and so on, the smartphone easily “lives” from morning to late evening. For two days it will not be enough, except to significantly reduce the use, but it is unlikely to be discharged before lunch, except perhaps only with games.
For such a minimum thickness, this is a worthy result. Initially, I thought that I would have to charge it, if not for dinner, then at four or five in the evening, but the smartphone easily lasts until nine and later, when used from eight in the morning.
Cost and competitors
The minimum price tag of Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE starts from 9149 hryvnia. In my opinion, this cost is too high, since I expected to see a price tag of about 8,000 hryvnia for a smartphone with such characteristics. The fact is that in the category from 9000 hryvnia, the model has many serious competitors. The first one that comes to mind is POCO F3 . The screen is 120 Hz, the battery is larger, the processor is cooled, but the cameras are worse, and the body is thicker.
The second competitor is Realme GT Master Edition. 120Hz screen, 65W charging, in-screen fingerprint scanner, 32MP front camera and 3.5mm audio jack. Also worth considering is the Samsung Galaxy M52 5G. The model has a weight of only 20 grams more, but a 120 Hz screen, similar high-quality cameras, a 5000 mAh battery and a 32-megapixel selfie module.
