OnePlus X vs Obi Worldphone SF1: Which mid-ranger has better specs and looks?

If you have been looking for a new smartphone to buy under Rs. 20,000, there are plenty of options waiting for you. But not every smartphone has what it needs to be a game changer. In this article, we are going to compare the newest releases in the affordable premium smartphone category that offer have a lot to offer.

It's worth mentioning both smartphones have their own unique qualities that make them inimitable but there are also some common grounds. OnePlus X is priced at Rs. 16,999 and is available only via invites. Obi Worldphone SF1, however, will be available through Gadgets360 starting 7 December starting at Rs. 11,999 for 16GB variant and Rs. 13,999 for the 32GB model.

Despite the difference in pricing, both smartphones are competing against each other. So we thought it is fitting to see a face-off of both the smartphones spec-by-spec.

Display and design

Both phones have unique designs. OnePlus X goes with a more stylish and elegant design while Obi Worldphone SF1 offers durability.

OnePlus X has a glass back and textured metal frame for a comfortable grip. It measures 140 x 69 x 6.9mm and weighs 138g. The handset packs a 5-inch Full HD AMOLED display with 441ppi for crisp and sharp images. The sealed unibody of the OnePlus X has the volume rocker, power/lock button and SIM card tray on the right and an Alert Slider on the right side. The 3.5mm headphone jack takes the top spot and the micro USB slot along with speakers go at the bottom.

On the other hand, Obi Worldphone SF1 looks study with its aluminium and polycarbonate body. The handset has a sealed unibody with metal caps on the top and bottom and polycarbonate back. The rounded edges offer a comfortable grip and the display is well protected with scratch resistant floating glass display. The volume rocker, power/lock buttons are placed on the left hand side of the device and the SIM card tray sits on the right. Like in OnePlus X, the speaker and micro USB slot is found at the bottom and a 3.5mm audio jack is seen on the top.

Obi Worldphone SF1 features the same 5-inch Full HD display but the handset looks and feels bigger than OnePlus X. The SF1 uses Gorilla Glass 4 for protection with oleophobic coating while OnePlus X has Gorilla Glass 3 on both sides.

Comparatively, the display quality in the OnePlus X is better than Obi Worldphone SF1 as colours appear better and bright.

Take a look at the comparing shots of OnePlus X and Obi Worldphone SF1 below:

Camera and sample photos

Obi Worldphone SF1 and OnePlus X have similar camera specs but the latter seems to have better control over the quality. Powered by a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera with f/2.2 aperture, ISOCELL technology and LED flash, OnePlus X delivers impressive results. There is an 8MP front facing camera with f/2.4 aperture that caters the need for selfies. Check out some sample images shot on OnePlus X below:

[Note: We shot the same subjects using both phones for a better comparison]

Comparatively, Obi Worldphone SF1 features a 13-megapixel Sony EXMOR RS sensor with f/2.0 aperture and LED flash. There's also a 5MP front snapper that is accompanied by a LED flash for great selfies in low light. Below are some sample images shot on Obi Worldphone SF1:

Performance

OnePlus X is powered by a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 801 SoC combined with 3GB RAM. In our review, we found the handset to live up our expectations and scored impressively on benchmark tests. The handset scored 40,751 on AnTuTu, 1120 on Basemark OS II, 919 on single core and 2392 on multi-core GeekBench 3 tests and 46845 on CFBench. OnePlus X runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop based Oxygen OS.

Comparing the performance with Obi Worldphone SF1, the handset sets a decent benchmark. It is powered by a 64-bit 1.5Ghz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 SoC, Adreno 405 GPU, 2GB or 3GB RAM depending on the model. We ran benchmark tests and found the handset to be at par with most phones in its range but relatively low against OnePlus X. On AnTuTu, it scored 32747 and Geekbench 3 tests revealed the single core score and multi core score to be 679 and 2628, respectively. It runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop with company's own LifeSpeed UI.

Obi Worldphone SF1 UI looks clean but lags at times. Whereas OnePlus X has smoother transitions.

Audio

Both phones have speakers placed at the bottom, which is the placement for good audio. Obi Worldphone SF1 features Dolby Audio Surround Sound 5.1 to give better sound quality. But it appears to be a tie as both phones on loud audio deliver almost equal quality. Whereas when using earphones, Obi Worldphone SF1 steals the show with 5.1 surround effect.

Storage

OnePlus X and Obi Worldphone SF1 both pack 16GB onboard storage with microSD card expansion. But Obi Worldphone SF1 comes with a 32GB variant too, which packs 3GB RAM.

Battery

Worldphone SF1 packs a 3,000mAh battery, equipped with Quick Charge tech. The company claims the handset to offer 28 hours of talktime and it lasted a day with moderate use of calls, messaging and always connected to Wi-Fi.

We charged OnePlus X around the same time as Obi Worldphone SF1 but we found the handset to give up sooner with similar usage. OnePlus X equips a 2,525mAh battery.