LeEco Le 2 vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 3: Which smartphone is a better choice at Rs. 11,999?

LeEco launched its all-new Le 2 smartphone in India on Wednesday, competing against the industry's best selling devices such as Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, Huawei Honor 5X and Lenovo K4 Note, among others. The new smartphone brings industry-first USB Type-C audio port, which comes with Continual Digital Lossless Audio (CDLA) standard for uncompressed audio among other premium specs.

Priced at Rs. 11,999, LeEco Le 2 is one of the strongest contenders in the sub-Rs. 15,000 price range. We are comparing the handset with its Rs. 11,999-worth rival Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, which has been a hot favourite of consumers and critics alike. If you are looking for a new smartphone upgrade and the Redmi Note 3 has been on your list, this comparison will certainly help you evaluate your choice.

Design

LeEco Le 2 is a reminiscent of its predecessor, Le 1s. It features a metal unibody, edge-to-edge glass display, smooth metal chassis, chamfered edges and a single port for charger and headphones. Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, on the other hand, features a metallic finish and a unibody design. The speakers are placed at the back of the device, unlike the Le 2, which has its speakers at the bottom. Both phones have fingerprint sensors at the back, just below the camera sensor.

Display

Both smartphones have identical displays with same size and resolution. A 5.5-inch Full HD display is found on both the smartphones, but the Redmi Note 3 offers 178-degree viewing angle with Sunlight display tech and a special night mode, which gives it an edge over its rival.

Camera

LeEco Le 2 features a 16-megapixel primary camera with dual LED flash, PDAF, f/2.0 aperture and an 8MP front-facing 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.

It is hard to decide which camera performs best based on the specs alone, but both the phones seem to offer similar results. We will hold our final judgement until a full review of the Le 2 is done.

Processor, RAM and Storage

LeEco Le 2 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 octa-core processor clocking speeds at 1.8GHz, 3GB RAM and 32GB eMMC5.1 fixed storage. Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 CPU, which is backed by 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. The Le 2 smartphone seems to have an edge over the Redmi Note 3 with its latest processor.

Battery

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 has a bigger 4,050mAh battery, which the company claims to last 14 hours with GPS navigation. LeEco Le 2 packs a 3,000mAh battery, which is equipped with fast charging technology. In our review of the Redmi Note 3, we found the handset last more than a day with average usage involved and over a week when left idle. We haven't reviewed the Le 2 yet.

Software

Both the phones run Android OS with different UIs. Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 has MIUI 7 on top of Android 5.1 Lollipop, while the Le 2 is powered by the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow based eUI 5.8.

Add-ons

Fingerprint scanner, dual SIM, 4G LTE support is common in both smartphones. The Le 2 smartphone, however, is the first to come without a 3.5mm headphone jack and feature a USB Type-C audio port for improved sound quality.