The smartphone market in India is constantly thriving. However, when it comes to most popular price segments, then it’s either affordable devices under Rs 20,000 or the super-premium phones that cost almost half-a-lakh. But not anymore, thanks to companies like OnePlus and Honor, which have introduced offerings between Rs 20,000 to 30,000 price band – offering consumers the flagship-like features without the need of breaking a bank.
The OnePlus 3 rightfully holds the title of flagship killer with its powerful features and price tag of Rs 27,999. While the Honor 8 is a recent entrant which is challenging it for the top throne by bringing some innovations on the table. So, which one should you go for? Let’s find out in our comparison.
Externals
The OnePlus 3 and Honor 8 are poles apart in the design department. While the OnePlus’s offering goes with the tried-and-tested all-metal build, Honor has gone for the mix of glass and metal, that results in a flashy design. While both phones look premium, the Honor 8 just takes the cake with its shiny exterior. Did we mention that the blue hue of the Honor 8 looks extremely drool-worthy?
In terms of the screen size, the OnePlus 3 is a phablet, like its predecessors with a 5.5-inch display. The Honor 8 on the other hand, sports a compact 5.2-inch display, thus is an idea option for one-hand usage. Both phones bear full HD resolutions, but the Honor 8 gets an edge as it’s slightly sharper.
You can’t go wrong with either of the two devices, as they both look classy, however the Honor 8 gets our vote because of compactness and the refreshing design language.
Internals
The hardware is OnePlus 3’s claim to fame, as it’s among the very few options that come powered by a mighty 6GB of RAM. Complementing it is the powerful Snapdragon 820 processor. In contrast, the Honor 8 relies on company’s own Kirin 950 processor, which offers eight cores, with two quad-core clusters clocked at 2.3GHz and 1.8GHz. It’s coupled with 4GB of RAM.
The OnePlus 3 surely remains ahead when it comes to the core processing. However, the Honor 8 should also be able to handle all your performance needs quite well. There shouldn’t be any lag while multitasking or playing heavy games.
Another benefit that the Honor 8 gets because of the processor is superb battery life. While both phones utilise 3,000mAh batteries, Honor 8’s lasts longer, since the Kirin 950 is power efficient.
For storage, the OnePlus 3 might seem to be better as it ships with 64GB of memory in comparison to the 32GB memory available on the Honor 8. However, Honor 8 lets you extend the storage further, thanks to the support for microSD cards.
Cameras
The camera department is where the Honor 8 truly excels. While most smartphones, including the OnePlus 3 feature a single camera unit, Honor’s latest device sport two sensors at the back. The OnePlus 3 flaunts a 16MP camera, whereas the Honor 8 boasts two 12-megapixel snappers.
The advantage of dual camera reflects in the picture quality. While the OnePlus 3 offers a decent output, the Honor 8’s images are simply outstanding. They are more rich in terms of details and colours, along with offering you a variety of modes. You can capture bokeh effect or get excellent monochrome results with a single click in case of the Honor 8. Here are some camera samples taken from the Honor 8.
In terms of the front camera as well, both devices match each other quite well, as they come with 8MP shooters.
Software, connectivity, and more
Both the Honor 8 and OnePlus 3 feature Android Marshmallow, but they couldn’t be more different. The OnePlus 3 comes with Oxygen OS, which offers stock look and feel, while the Honor 8 gets company’s EMUI skin on top of Android. Thus, you get a lot of customisations which are quite useful. There’s support for various gestures, option to use different themes, tweak various settings in case of the Honor 8, which users would certainly like.
For connectivity, both phones are similar. They support 4G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. Although, the Honor 8 doesn’t come with VoLTE support, which is becoming increasingly popular thanks to Reliance Jio.
Both the smartphones offer fingerprint scanner at the back, which are quite fast, and recognise your fingerprints instantly as well. But Honor 8 gets additional marks for making the fingerprint reader double up as a smart button. You can use it for different things such as a shutter button while using the camera app, or picking up the calls.
Conclusion
As we have mentioned earlier, both the OnePlus 3 and Honor 8 have revolutionised the price segment of Rs 20,000 to 30,000. They both are great choices for users who don’t want to spend too much, while wanting a flagship-like experience. The OnePlus 3 would surely suit performance freaks with its powerful hardware, but the Honor 8 is an all-round package. It has a distinct design, good performance, impressive battery life, and most important of all, the pictures clicked by dual cameras are just mind-blowing.
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