It's Valentine's Day, and gadget lovers have one more reason to celebrate as India's top smartphone seller Xiaomi has chosen the day of love to unveil its latest premium smartphone – Redmi Note 5. The affordable smartphone is trying to fill in shoes of Redmi Note 4, which was the top seller throughout 2017.
But it's not just the Redmi Note 4 that Xiaomi is trying to outdo. 2018 has already started off on a high note for several smartphone brands. Honor, for instance, achieved early success with its budget premium smartphones; Honor 9 Lite has received much attention and praise and it's reflected in the series of flash sales.
In 2018 so far, we have two worthy smartphones that compete against each other. Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 and Honor 9 Lite are priced in the same range, making it a tough call for shoppers to decide which one to choose.
We are here to solve that confusion by comparing both phones spec-by-spec.
Design & Display
Honor 9 Lite instantly grabs attention for its metallic shell and a layer of glass on top giving a glossy premium look. It feels just as good when held in hand. Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 chose to go with a full metallic unibody design with tapered back cover.
As for the display, Honor 9 Lite features a 5.65-inch Full HD+ display with 18:9 aspect ratio. Xiaomi is going slightly bigger on this one by featuring a full-screen 5.99-inch display with Full HD+ resolution. Xaomi Redmi Note 5 is also the first Redmi Note phone to have a full view display.
If you ask us, the Honor 9 Lite looks more appealing as compared to the hoary rear design on the Redmi Note 5. The displays on both phones are quite good, so you cannot go wrong with either one of them.
Camera
Camera is the department Honor 9 Lite specializes in and uses as its biggest selling point. The handset comes with a total of four cameras, two on the front and two on the back. The rear and front camera setup have the same 13MP and 2MP sensors with Bokeh effect on both sides. The rear cameras get PDAF support.
Contrary to what rumors had hinted, Redmi Note 5 came with a single rear camera with 12MP sensor, 1.25-micron pixel size, PDAF, an LED flash module and f/2.2 aperture size along with a 5MP front-facing snapper with LED flash. The dual cameras are reserved for Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro.
Once again, we'll have to side with Honor 9 Lite when it comes to the camera.
Performance
Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 is powered by a Snapdragon 625 chipset (same as the Xiaomi Mi A1 chipset), paired with either 3GB or 4GB RAM depending on the storage model (32GB or 64GB, respectively). In comparison, Honor 9 Lite is packed with proprietary Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 659 octa-core and backed by Mali-T830 MP2 graphics engine, 4GB/3GB of RAM and 32GB/64GB storage.
Most likely a tie situation in this category. Both are equipped with powerful chipsets and configurations to give users a lag-free performance.
Battery
Xiaomi always goes big on battery power. Redmi Note 5 comes with a 4,000mAh unit along with a dedicated charger that handles power spikes. So goodbye to bursting phones while charging?
#MiProductLaunch2018 #RedmiNote5 price and key specs pic.twitter.com/oBe3xij3sx
— IBTimes India Tech (@IBTimesIN_Tech) February 14, 2018
Honor 9 Lite, on the other hand, features a 3,000mAh battery, which should suffice for a day of mixed usage. But Xiaomi takes the lead from Honor 9 Lite on this one.
Add-ons
Both smartphones have rear-mounted fingerprint scanners, dual SIM card support, and 4G VoLTE. Honor 9 Lite comes in three colors – blue, grey and black – while the Redmi Note 5 comes in brighter shades – black, blue, gold and rose gold.
Price & availability
Xiaomi Redmi Note 5
3GB + 32GB: Rs 9,999
4GB + 64GB: Rs 10,999
Redmi Note 5 will be exclusively available on Flipkart and Mi.com from February 22 onwards.
Honor 9 Lite
3GB + 32GB: Rs 10,999
4GB + 64GB: Rs 14,999
Available exclusively on Flipkart.
