“Affordable, dual camera-toting smartphones compared”
The online sub-brand of Huawei, Honor has just launched the successor to its Honor 6X (review) – Honor 7X (review) at an event held in London. Notably, the Honor 6X was one of the first smartphones to bring dual cameras to the affordable segment, along with a ton of other premium features. Now, with the launch of the Honor 7X, the brand has once again come into the limelight, as the successor comes as a worthy sequel. The phone has gone on sale on Amazon India starting December 7th and will be competing against Xiaomi’s Android One contender – the Mi A1 (review), in this price segment. Therefore, to clear the confusion as to which one to pick if you are in the market for a new daily driver, we have pitted them against each other. Read on to find out if you should invest in Xiaomi’s Android One offering or the latest dual camera toting budget offering from Honor.
Table of Contents
Design and display
Speaking of the Xiaomi Mi A1 first, the handset maintains the signature design of the brand and flaunts a metal unibody design. However, due to the presence of the broad bezels, the device feels wide in the hand as compared to the Honor 7X. However, the subtle curves on the back of the phone makes it feel ergonomic and comfortable to hold. Basically, the design of the Mi A1 is nothing to write home about and is par for course with most Chinese smartphones in this segment. The Honor 7X on the other hand, boasts a more futuristic design with a bezel-less make and the same metal unibody chassis. Thanks to the bezel-less form factor, the smartphone is more in-line with the modern handsets and feels more premium. Both smartphones are pretty lightweight at 165g but the Mi A1 flaunts a thinner 7.3mm chassis as compared to 7.6mm on Honor 7X.
Moving on to the displays, the Xiaomi Mi A1 comes equipped with a 5.5-inch IPS display, which has 1080p resolution. It offers crisp visuals and accurate colours with comfortable legibility outdoors. On the other hand, the bezel-less form of Honor 7X lets it pack a much larger 5.93-inch display in more or less the same footprint. Moreover, with the screen pushing 2,160 x 1,080 pixels in the 18:9 format, the IPS panel offers crisp and vibrant output.
Hardware and Software
On to the core specifications of the handsets, Xiaomi Mi A1 boots Android Nougat in its stock iteration and is the first from the brand to do so. What this means is that there is no bloatware to bog down resources and in turn enhance the overall performance. On the other hand, like all Honor smartphones, the 7X ships with Emotion UI, which runs atop Android 7.1 Nougat and comes with its fare share of bloatware. While both devices are sure to receive the Android Oreo update, the Xiaomi Mi A1 will receive it as soon as it is an Android One handset, whereas Honor has not shared any timeline for the update.
On to the hardware, the Honor 7X comes powered by an octa-core Kirin 659 SoCs, which is paired with 4GB of RAM. The Mi A1 draws power from an octa-core Snapdragon 625 SoC mated to 4GB RAM. Both processors are perfectly capable of delivering smooth performance and are at par with each other. The Xiaomi Mi A1 comes with 64GB of storage onboard with 128GB microSD card support through the hybrid SIM slot. Honor 7X, on the other hand, will be launched in 32GB and 64GB variants with support for expandable storage through the hybrid slot.
Camera and battery
The imaging department is where both these handsets are toe to toe with each other as both of them flaunt dual rear camera modules. Speaking of the Honor 7X first, the device gets a 16-megapixel primary sensor accompanied by a depth-sensing 2-megapixel lens on the rear panel. On the other hand Mi A1 is the brand’s first smartphone with dual rear cameras in India, both rated at 12-megapixels. The secondary camera is a telephoto lens, which makes the device the only one of its kind to offer optical zoom under Rs 15K. However, the handset loses out the imaging battle in terms of the selfie shooter to the Honor 7X as it comes with a 5-megapixel camera as compared to 8-megapixel on the latter.
Moving on to the power pack of these devices, there is not much difference between the two. While the Honor 7X gets a 3,340mAh battery powering it, the Mi A1 has a 3,080 unit fuelling it. Both handsets come with support for quick charging.
Closing thoughts
The Xiaomi Mi A1 can be grabbed from Flipkart, Mi.com and Mi Home stores. The smartphone recently got a price cut for a limited period, which brought its price down from Rs 14,999 to Rs 13,999. The Honor 7X, on the other hand, can be purchased from Amazon India and will set you back by Rs 12,999 for the 32GB variant and Rs 15,999 for the 64GB variant.
While both handsets boast similar processing prowess and performance, the main difference lies in the design, software and imaging capabilities of the handsets. Stock Android lovers would definitely prefer the Xiaomi Mi A1, but users who are looking for
a more futuristic design with a bigger display in the same size and great camera capabilities, will find the Honor 7X more to their liking. In the end, as always, it boils down to the personal preferences of the user. What are your thoughts? Given a choice between the two, which one will you pick? Let us know in the comment box below.
