A new edition of Xiaomi‘s 11 Lite was launched in the Philippines alongside the company’s latest flagships — the 11T Pro and 11T — more than a week ago.

The Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE is now available locally with a price of P16,990 (roughly $337) for the base model with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The 8GB/128GB and 8GB/256GB versions, on the other hand, are selling for P18,990 ($377) and P20,990 ($416), respectively.

What are the reasons to include this midranger on your short list of smartphones to consider buying today or as soon as you get your Christmas bonus? We list the top five here, in no particular order.

On display

It’s mostly the only thing that you look at every time you pick up your phone to check your messages and post updates on social media, among other things. So yeah, we totally get it if the quality of the screen is important to you.

The good news is that the Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE’s 6.55-inch front panel is of the AMOLED kind and has a 2,400 x 1,080 resolution. It refreshes at 90 times per second and gets a 240Hz touch-sampling rate, allowing for a more responsive display experience, and supports 10-bit color depth and DCI-P3 coverage for more accurate colors. HDR10+ playback certification for online and offline content likewise adds to its entertainment value.

Style factor

It could be elaborately designed or subtly chic, but never boring. If you’re like us who consider design as a deal-breaker, then the Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE may be the unit you’re looking for.

It gives off an unmistakably youthful, stylish vibe, with different colors to choose from besides black. There’s pink, there’s blue, and there’s the new white option Xiaomi calls Snowflake White that actually reminds us more of jewelry. The pink one that we have has a fingerprint-free, frosted rear panel that changes to purple, white, or blue, depending on where the light touches it. And even the intensity of the light, actually.

For a limited time, the #Xiaomi11Lite5GNE will now come with a Swarovski Necklace, bringing lite into your style!✨ 💎

Read more from our Mi Community Forum: https://t.co/8TcErgnuP4 pic.twitter.com/81RrJpvOiy

— Xiaomi Philippines (@MiPhilippines) November 3, 2021

How the Snowflake White variant looks (and a promo in cooperation with Swarovski!)

This 11 series model is literally “Lite” — and is in fact the brand’s most lightweight 5G phone at just 158 grams, though surprisingly, it doesn’t feel cheap to hold. It’s slim, too, measuring only 6.81mm, so it can still be held with one hand.

5G… and more

The Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE may look like the Mi 11 Lite that was launched in the Philippines in April, but the latter isn’t 5G-ready. If you’re after a future-proof device, then you shouldn’t think twice about short-listing the new model. Too bad the Mi 11 Lite 5G with Qualcomm Snapdragon 780G was not released here. Perhaps it’s okay, because the Snapdragon 778G chip is widely adopted and supported, with many handsets using it, unlike the 780G, which can only be found in the “old edition” of the Lite.

And when it comes to gaming, you’ll be happy to know that the 11 Lite 5G NE can handle any modern game you throw at it and can even run demanding games like Diablo Immortal and Genshin Impact at reasonable frame rates. Of course, it’s not as powerful as its flagship stablemates in the Xiaomi 11T series, but as long as you’re not really into gaming, the phone’s above-average gaming chops should suffice.

Our review unit comes with 6GB of RAM, which is enough to keep multiple browser tabs and apps in the background. However, if you want the best experience, spending extra for the 8GB RAM variant seems reasonable considering the advantages of having more physical memory for games and multitasking.

Benchmarks. Click on a thumbnail to launch the gallery

Creativity tool

Care about the shots you take? Xiaomi has equipped the 11 Lite 5G NE with a 64-megapixel main sensor assisted by 8-megapixel ultra-wide and 5-megapixel telemacro lenses not just for capturing memories, but for creating content as well. For blogs or vlogs? Sure, go ahead. There are many camera-related features here to play with, including VLOG, Steady Video, Dual Video, Clone, Pro, and Night and movie effects like Magic Zoom and Time Freeze.

We’re currently into macro photography, among other things, so personally, we like that the Xiaomi phones that we’ve reviewed of late can take nice, sharp, larger-than-life pictures of small objects.

A few sample shots. The last four were taken in less-than-ideal lighting conditions

Charged up

If, for you, a handset should have both a battery that gets you through the day and support for decent quick-charging technology, maybe the Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE is for you indeed. Its cell is rated at 4,230mAh, and it usually lasts an entire day on a single charge based on our usage, with the screen’s refresh rate cranked up to 90Hz. A day for us typically includes checking social media over Wi-Fi or 5G data, gaming, and music and video and music playback.

And when it’s time to top up the battery, charging it from 0% to 100% doesn’t take long; an hour and 10 minutes is how long it takes to do it.

Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE specs

• 6.55-inch AMOLED display with 2,400 x 1,080 resolution, 90Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch-sampling rate
• Corning Gorilla Glass 5
• 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G processor with 5G
• Adreno 642L GPU
• 6GB/8GB LPDDR4X RAM
• 128GB/256GB UFS 3.1 storage
• Triple 64-megapixel, f/1.79 main, 8-megapixel, f/2.2 ultra-wide, 5-megapixel, f/2.4 telemacro rear cameras
• 20-megapixel front camera
• Side fingerprint reader
• 4,250mAh battery with 33-watt fast charging
• MIUI based on Android 11
• Colors: Truffle Black, Bubblegum Blue, Peach Pink, Snowflake White

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