Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro vs Xiaomi Mi A1 vs Honor 7X: Battle of the beasts

Chinese smartphone giant, Xiaomi recently unveiled the Redmi Note 5 Pro in India. The smartphone starts at a price of Rs. 13999. The unique selling point of the smartphone is an 18:9 aspect ratio and a dual-camera setup. Unlike other smartphones, it packs a dual camera setup with two RGB sensors. Companies generally put a monochrome or a wide angle sensor.

This puts the smartphone is a direct comparison with the Honor 7X and their own Mi A1. The Honor 7X has fewer bezels than the Redmi Note 5 pro, despite both having an 18:9 display. The older Mi A1 has a traditional 16:9 display and it makes it look in a different league in front of Note 5 Pro and Honor 7X.

Also Read: Honor 7X Review: Best smartphone under Rs. 15,000 with 18:9 display?

However, the older Mi A1 pops out as its an Android One device. It means it is running a stock Android OS and will receive regular updates for the next two years. This can't be said about the other two devices. Both the Honor 7X and Redmi Note 5 Pro run on their manufacturer's custom skin. That's why both of these devices are still stuck on Android 7.1.1 Nougat while the while the Mi A1 has been upgraded to Android 8.0 oreo.

Specifications

Design

The Redmi Note 5 Pro sports an 18:9 display lowering the size of bezels. On the back, it has a dual camera setup with iPhone X styled camera. This makes the device's design a little controversial. However, the people seem to have a love-hate relationship with its design.

The Honor 7X also sports an 18:9 display lowering the size of bezels. On the back, it also has a dual-camera setup. The design on the smartphone is same as the design followed by other Honor smartphones. It really gives the brand a unique look.

However, with the Mi A1, the story is a little different. It sports a traditional 16:9 display and a dual camera setup on the back. The design of the smartphone is nothing unique but is surely good looking.

All three of the smartphones have their fingerprint sensor in the back. All of them look and feel good in the hand. Someone can't really go wrong with any of them.

Software

The Mi A1 clearly takes the lead here. It is a part of Google's Android One program. It means it will run on stock android and will receive regular updates for the next two years. This shows as it has already been updated to Android 8.0 Oreo.

Both the Redmi Note 5 Pro and Honor 7X run on heavily skinned MiUi and Experience UI respectively. It not only bogs down the device compared to stock android but also delays updates. This is seen as both of the smartphones still are running on Android 7.1 Nougat.

Performance and Battery

Both the Redmi Note 5 Pro and the Honor 7X beat the Mi A1 in terms of raw specifications. This is due to the fact that the Mi A1 was launched long before both of these smartphones. However, with the Mi A1's stock Android, the real world performance of the smartphones are totally comparable. The devices perform almost similar in all the real-life performance tasks.

In terms of battery, the 4,000 mAh battery of the Redmi Note 5 Pro beats the 3,340 mAh battery of the Honor 7X and 3,080 mAh of the Mi A1. This is also evident in the battery life tests. However, the slower micro-USB charging port with no support for fast charging puts it down. With the USB-C port of the Mi A1 and support for Qualcomm fast charge, the charging times of the Mi A1 are the fastest. This makes it a better deal for a quick top-up.

Camera

All three of the smartphones sport a dual-camera setup. However, the newer Redmi Note 5 Pro sports a vertical setup like the iPhone X. Both of the other smartphones sport a horizontal setup. In terms of numbers, the camera of all three smartphones performs almost the same.

However, from the past, we have seen that the numbers aren't the only thing that matters. Camera processing software and sensor quality also play a major role. The portrait mode on the Honor 7X is really bad. It is not able to differentiate between the subject in focus and other objects. Also, its depth sensing is really bad. However, normal photos from the smartphone are good enough.

In case of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro and their own Mi A1, it is seen that the camera of the Mi A1 is slightly better than the Redmi Note 5 Pro. To a naked eye, the images are almost similar but with the Mi A1 outperforms the Redmi Note 5 pro slightly. This is most probably due to the better camera processing software of the stock android.