honor 5X vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 3: Which to get?

The budget premium market is a juicy one with more and more smartphone manufacturers vying for dominance over this segment. Recently, two devices have stuck out that are not only roughly the same price, but they also feature roughly the same build and roughly the same specs.

Yep, you know what devices we’re talking about — the honor 5X and the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3.

Both of these devices are metal-clad premium budget devices that are targetted at those who don’t want to spend a whole lot of dough on a phone, but at the same time don’t want their devices to feel like they didn’t spend a whole lot of dough. Fickle right? But I digress.

While the two devices share about as many similarities as a pair of identical twins, there are a few things each device does differently so the biggest question is which one should you get? Well, here’s a short comparison that will hopefully give you a little clue.

1. Bigger battery

Both of these devices sport a 5.5-inch full-HD display, which as we know is pretty much as good of a compromise as it gets when it comes to crispiness versus battery-saving. However, these two metallic smartphones do not share the same battery size as the honor 5X gets the shorter end of that stick. While the honor 5X does have a pretty substantial 3,000 mAh battery, it simply can’t compare with the Redmi Note 3’s 4,000 mAh battery. Simple math will tell you who is the winner, so if you’re a power user that doesn’t like to carry around a powerbank, the Redmi Note 3 is the better option.

2. Expandable storage

Though the first round went to the Redmi Note 3, this is where the honor 5X comes back swinging. The Redmi Note 3 is limited to either 16GB or 32GB of storage as it does not feature a microSD card slot for additional expansion. On the other hand, the 16GB honor 5X does have a microSD card slot, and a dedicated one to boot! That means you can use two SIM cards and a microSD memory card at the same time.

[nextpage title=”Pretty much the same, but not at all”]

3. Fingerprint scanner

Huawei has been renown for their fingerprint sensor prowess. While everyone is raving on about how good the Nexus 6P’s fingerprint scanner is (also made by Huawei) I’ve always felt that the Mate S had the better configuration. It just worked. We’re expecting pretty much the same thing for the honor 5X and from preliminary testing, it is pretty snappy. So, that will be a tough act for the Redmi Note 3 to follow as it is, after all, Xiaomi’s first attempt at slapping a fingerprint sensor to one of their devices.

4. A tale of two processors

While both these devices have capable specifications, their processor is completely different. The honor 5X packs a Snapdragon 615 processor plus 2GB of RAM while the Redmi Note 3 sports a MediaTek Helio X10 processor and a choice of either 2GB or 3GB of RAM. Some of you may not be a fan of the Snapdragon 615 while others might turn their nose on the MediaTek chip, so the choice is really up to you. It is worth noting that there is a Redmi Note 3 Pro version running a Snapdragon 650 hexa-core processor announced. We suspect that since it looks like the Pro variant will see a launch in India, it is likely that when the Redmi Note 3 gets officially launched in Malaysia, it will be this variant.

5. It’s all about the money

Let’s face it, a budget smartphone would be pretty pointless if it didn’t have a budget price to match, so clearly the most important aspect is how much it costs. While the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 has not been officially launched in Malaysia, grey importer DirectD is selling both variants of the device at below RM1,000 — with the 16GB model’s price starting at RM699 and the 32GB model starting at RM899. On the other hand, the honor 5X has prices starting at RM899 for the silver version.

For the Redmi Note 3 Pro, the 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage configuration will go for CNY999 in the Chinese market, which translates to around RM632, though it will likely be sold at a slightly higher price here in Malaysia. Keep in mind that in addition to the upgraded Snapdragon 650 processor, the Redmi Note 3 Pro also has a beefed up 16MP rear-facing camera to boot.

One of the biggest differences between these two devices is that you can purchase the honor 5X officially from Vmall, Lazada and DirectD as their preorder starts on 16th February which means you should be able to get your device by the end of the month.

Which device would you pick?