Honor 8 vs Lenovo Z2 Plus vs OnePlus 3 vs Mi 5: Price, specifications and features compared

Honor has launched its flagship smartphone, the Honor 8, in India. Priced at Rs 29,999, it features a 12-megapixel dual-camera setup at the back. But will it be enough to take on the competitors that are equipped with slightly powerful hardware?

Earlier today, Huawei’s sub-brand Honor launched three new smartphones in India priced between Rs 9,999 and Rs 29,999. Of these, the Honor 8 is the company’s flagship smartphone, and one of its key features is the dual camera setup at the back. Unlike most dual-camera smartphones out there, the Honor 8 uses an RGB (color) and a monochrome sensor to get crisper and detailed photos. While the Honor 8 doesn’t have any direct competition with dual cameras in that price range, it does compete with the Lenovo Z2 Plus, OnePlus 3 and Mi 5, all of which are priced relatively lower. We compared all four smartphones on the basis of their price, specifications and features, and here’s how they fare.

Price and availability: The Honor 8 will set you back by Rs 29,999 and can be purchased from Amazon India. The Lenovo Z2 Plus (3GB) is priced at Rs 17,999 and can be purchased from Amazon India. There is also a variant with 4GB RAM, which is priced slightly higher at Rs 19,999. The OnePlus 3 is priced at Rs 27,999 and available via Amazon India, whereas Xiaomi Mi is priced at Rs 22,999 and can be purchased from Mi.com/in.

Display: All four smartphones are equipped with full HD (1080p) displays. The Honor 8 sports a 5.2-inch panel with 2.5D curved glass on top, the Mi 5 houses a 5.15-inch panel, the Z2 Plus is equipped with a 5-inch panel, whereas the OnePlus 3 has slightly larger 5.5-inch panel.

Chipset and RAM: At the heart of the Honor 8 runs Huawei’s custom Kirin 950 octa-core SoC paired with 4GB of RAM. The Z2 Plus, Mi 5 and OnePlus 3 are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 quad-core chipset (four custom kryo cores), paired with Adreno 530 GPU. The Mi 5 is equipped with 3GB of RAM, the Z2 Plus is offered in two variants – 3GB and 4GB variant, whereas the OnePlus 3 has a whopping 6GB of RAM. ALSO READ: Honor 8 hands-on and first impressions

Storage: The Honor 8 comes with 32GB of onboard storage along with a microSD card slot for support up to 128GB. The Mi 5 comes with 32GB of storage; the OnePlus 3 comes with 64GB of storage, whereas the Z2 Plus is offered in 32GB and 64GB onboard storage variants. None of the three competitors feature expandable storage option.

Cameras: Now, coming to one of the highlights of Honor 8, you get two 12-megapixel camera sensors ofaperture of f/2.2 and pixel size of 1.76-micron. The RGB sensor captures rich colors, whereas the monochrome sensor captures more light with increased sharpness. Both cameras work together to capture detailed photos. Honor has also added professional shooting mode to give usersadvance controls to adjust shutter speed, exposure compensation, white balance, ISO and more. Up front, is an 8-megapixel front-facing camera with selfie flash mode that allows you to take brighter photos in low-light. It doesn’t have optical image stabilization. ALSO READ: Lenovo Z2 Plus hands-on and first impressions

The Z2 Plus is equipped with a 13-megapixel rear camera of aperture f/2.2 along with LED flash, PDAF and electronic image stabilization (EIS). It supports 4K video recording, slow motion video recording and time-lapse videos. Up front is an 8-megapixel selfie camera of aperture f/2.0. The Mi 5 and OnePlus 3, on the other hand, feature 16-megapixel rear camera along with PDAF, dual LED flash, 4K video recording capabilities. The Mi 5 also features 4-axis optical image stabilization (OIS) to help you capture blur free photos and videos. For selfie lovers, the OnePlus 3 is equipped with an 8-megapixel front-facing camera, whereas the Mi 5 comes with a 4-megapixel selfie snapper. ALSO READ: Xiaomi Mi 5′s 4-axis OIS camera explained

Battery and connectivity: The Honor 8 is armed with a 3,000mAh non-removable battery along with fast charging technology that can charge it from 0-47 percent in 30 minutes. While the Lenovo Z2 Plus comes with a 3,500mAh battery, the OnePlus 3 and Mi 5 are both armed with a 3,000mAh battery. While Z2 Plus and Mi 5 support Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0, OnePlus has its own dash charging feature.

In terms of connectivity, all smartphones support 4G LTE with VoLTE voice calling support, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth and GPS. Except for Honor 8, the Z2 Plus, OnePlus 3 and Mi 5 also support dual SIM connectivity. All four smartphones also include USB Type-C connectors for charging and data transfer.

Operating system: All four smartphones run on Google’s Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS with a layer of manufacturer specific custom UI overlay. Honor 8 has the company’s EMUI 4.1 interface, Xiaomi has MIUI 8, OnePlus has OxygenOS 3, whereas Lenovo has its UI that is closer to stock Android.  All four smartphones also include fingerprint scanner for biometric authentication. While OnePlus 3, Z2 Plus and Mi 5 have the scanners embedded inside the home button, the Honor 8 has it at the back.

On paper, the Honor 8 is equipped with good hardware and features for its price. With the company focusing on the photography chops, will it be enough to excite smartphone buyers?

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