The budget smartphone space in India is going to get a lot busier with two important launches happening this month. Xiaomi is going to bring its months-old Redmi 4 smartphone to India, while Nokia, with its decades-old brand recognition, will mark its debut in the country.
Both companies have a good share of smartphones in their portfolios to kick-start a war in the competitive and lucrative Indian smartphone market. Among the upcoming Nokia smartphones coming to India soon, Nokia 3 seems to have a great potential for its specs and affordable pricing – good enough to take on the popularity of Xiaomi Redmi 4.
Since both phones are yet to hit the Indian market, and their prices fall pretty much close to each other, it is evident there will be a tough call to make for consumers. To help with that confusion, here's a comparison of what Nokia 3 and Xiaomi Redmi 4 have to offer.
Design & Display
Nokia 3 has a refreshed design, different from most of the Android smartphones in the market. Xiaomi Redmi 4 looks a lot like the other Redmi smartphones, which makes it less unique. But that doesn't mean the Redmi 4 is a bad looking phone, it's just not quite unique at this point.
Nokia 3 features a polycarbonate back with aluminium frame, which may not feel as premium as the Redmi 4's metallic unibody, but should do the trick. On the bright side, users will feel less heat while intense gaming sessions on the phone.
The Nokia 3 features a 5-inch HD display with Gorilla Glass protection. In comparison, the Redmi 4 comes with a 5-inch display with 2.5D curved glass and a Full HD 1080p resolution, which is clearly an advantage for Xiaomi. But we would like to reserve our final judgment on the clarity of both displays until we review both phones after their launch.
Camera
Nokia 3 comes with an 8MP primary camera with 1.12µm, f/2 aperture and LED flash. It sounds pretty standard and our hands-on review of the phone at the MWC in Barcelona impressed us to a decent level. But what really makes up for in this category is the front-facing 8MP camera with similar specs. Selfie lovers will have a better luck with Nokia 3's front camera.
On the other hand, the Redmi 4 comes with a 13MP camera on the back with f/2.2 aperture, LED flash (dual-tone in Prime model) and PDAF (Phase Detection Auto Focus). This sounds better than the Nokia 3, which we will find out once we review the Xiaomi smartphone. On the front, there's a 5MP snapper, which may not deliver the same results as the Nokia 3.
Performance and Storage
Xiaomi Redmi 4 is powered by a Snapdragon 430 octa-core chipset with Adreno 505 GPU, 2GB RAM and 16GB storage, but there's also a Prime variant that is powered by a Qualcomm's Snapdragon 625 octa-core processor with Adreno 505 GPU, 3GB RAM and 32GB storage.
Nokia 3 performance comes close to Redmi 4 with its 1.3GHz MediaTek (MTK 6737) quad-core chipset, paired with 2GB RAM and 16GB expandable storage. But we highly doubt power users will find the Nokia 3 as powerful as the Redmi Prime variant.
Battery
Xiaomi Redmi 4 series packs a 4,100mAh battery, which is good enough to last more than a day with conservative use. Nokia 3 comes with a 2,630mAh unit, which is half the Redmi 4's size. But the optimisation of the battery also plays an important role and it will be interesting to see how Nokia delivers a good battery life despite its small battery unit.
Conclusion
There's a good balance between both phones' specs. The Redmi 4's Prime variant has an advantage of performance over Nokia 3. Xiaomi wins with its display and battery, while Nokia plays a unique design card to attract buyers. In the end, the price factor of both phones will determine whether Nokia 3 or Redmi 4 will win over consumers.
