LeEco Le 2 vs Huawei Honor 5C vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 3: Which budget smartphone should you buy?

The premium budget smartphone market in India is getting intense with companies launching new models almost every month. The most recent release in India is Huawei's Honor 5C priced at Rs. 10,999, which fits right into the most competitive price bracket for budget smartphones. There are several options for buyers in this price range, including Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, LeEco Le 2 and Lenovo K4 Note, and it remains to be seen whether the Honor 5C can beat them all.

With consumers always looking for greater value for their money while spending on a smartphone, here's a comparison of the Honor 5C against two popular smartphones in a similar price range — LeEco Le 2 and Xiaomi Redmi Note 3. It is worth noting that the Redmi Note 3 comes in two variants and the 2GB RAM + 16GB storage model is priced at Rs. 9,999 and the 3GB RAM + 32GB storage version costs Rs. 11,999. LeEco Le 2 costs Rs. 11,999.

Display

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 and LeEco Le 2 have 5.5-inch Full HD displays while Huawei Honor 5C features a slightly compact 5.2-inch display with the same 1080p resolution. The Redmi Note 3 offers a 78-degree viewing angle with Sunlight display tech and a special night mode. In terms of overall display quality, there wouldn't be much difference considering the identical size and display in all three smartphones, so its buyers' personal choice for design that will play an important role in deciding the right phone.

Camera

LeEco Le 2 features a 16-megapixel primary camera with dual LED flash, PDAF and f/2.0 aperture, and an 8MP front-snapper for selfies. Comparatively, the Redmi Note 3 packs a 16-megapixel rear-facing camera with PDAF, dual-tone LED flash, dual ISP and HDR, and a 5MP front-snapper with 36 smart beauty profiles. Finally, the Honor 5C features a 13MP camera with LED flash, f/2.0 aperture, touch focus, autofocus, HDR, full HD video recording and an 8MP front snapper with f/2.0 aperture for selfies.

All three smartphones have capable cameras that can live up to users' expectations. LeEco Le 2 seems to have an edge over its rivals in this category, but it is really hard to decide based on the specs on paper.

Processor, RAM and Storage

LeEco Le 2 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 octa-core processor clocking speeds of 1.8GHz, 3GB RAM and 32GB eMMC5.1 fixed storage. Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 CPU, which is backed by 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. As for the Honor 5C, the company's own HiSilicon Kirin 650 octa-core processor clocking at 2GHz runs the show combined with 2GB RAM and 16GB onboard storage.

Battery

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 has a bigger 4,050mAh battery, which the company claims lasts 14 hours with GPS navigation. LeEco Le 2 and Huawei Honor 5C have the same 3,000mAh battery. The Le 2 has fast-charging technology, while Huawei has made no mention of that in the Honor 5C.

Software and add-ons

All three smartphones are powered by Google's Android OS. LeEco Le 2 and Honor 5C have the latest version of Android 6.0 Marshmallow with eUI 5.8 and Emotion UI 4.1 skins, respectively. Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is powered by Android 5.1 Lollipop-based MIUI 7.

As for the extras, all three smartphones have fingerprint scanners, dual SIM support and 4G LTE support. LeEco Le 2 has a USB Type-C port, which is also a replacement for the 3.5mm audio jack. The new audio port comes with CDLA standard for lossless audio clarity.

Availability

LeEco Le 2 will be available in a flash sale on Flipkart and LeMall.com on June 28, and registrations are open for the sale.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is available on Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal and TataCLIQ.

Huawei Honor 5C will be available on Flipkart on June 30 and registrations are mandatory for the flash sale.