Honor 7A vs Xiaomi Redmi 5: budget bezel-less smartphones fight it out

“Both the Honor 7A and Redmi 5A bring 18:9 displays and cost lest than Rs 10,000”

Huawei’s sub-brand has just launched the Honor 7A (first impressions) in India, which is looking to compete in the sub-Rs 10,000 segment. In this category, it will face tough competition from the Xiaomi Redmi 5 (review), especially the 3GB RAM variant which also offers an 18:9 display and is priced similarly at Rs 8,999. Choosing between the two is going to be quite a task, and that’s why we’re comparing them together to make that job easier for you.

Design and display

The Honor 7A may look like a metal-clad phone, but its shell is made up of polycarbonate. The back panel has a minimalistic appearance, hosting a dual-camera setup and a fingerprint scanner. At the front, both phones sport tall 18:9 displays, though the Redmi 5 has rounded corners, making it slightly more ergonomic. Xiaomi’s smartphone boasts a metal body, and unlike Honor’s device, it just offers a single rear camera to its users. One advantage of the 7A is its triple slot which lets you insert two SIMs and a microSD card at the same time. 

Like we said, both these smartphones have adopted the same display. They’re 5.7-inch IPS LCD panels with a resolution of 720 x 1,440 pixels. This translates to a pixel density of around 283ppi. While the displays on these phones isn’t as sharp as full HD resolution-toting screens, they’re quite good for the price.

Hardware and software

While Honor usually opts for its in-house Kirin processors, it’s quite pleasing to see that the Honor 7A has utilised a Qualcomm chipset. The smartphone is powered by the Snapdragon 430, which comes with 1.4GHz octa-core processor and an Adreno 505 GPU. This is accompanied by 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. This should suffice for moderate usage which does not involve heavy gaming.  The same amount of RAM has also gone into the mid-tier model of the Redmi 5, but it houses a more powerful Snapdragon 450 chipset. The SoC offers a 1.8GHz octa-core processor and an Adreno 506 GPU. 32GB of storage is offered with this phone.

A few unique additions that set the Honor 7A apart include dual Bluetooth support which enables it to connect with two devices via Bluetooth at the same time. The phone’s speakers are quite loud, and they even possess the ability to connect with the speakers of eight other Honor 7A devices to deliver room-filling sound. Lastly, this phone supports real-time audio monitoring for those who are into karaoke. For an audiophile, the 7A should definitely be the preferred choice over the Redmi 5.

Coming to the software, Honor has chosen its EMUI 8.0 platform which is based on Android 8.0 Oreo. Xiaomi’s MIUI 9.1 has made its way into the Redmi 5, but it runs on Android 7.1 Nougat. New additions to EMUI 8.0 include a Ride mode which does not disturb you when you’re riding a bike. And despite holding a fingerprint scanner, this device also offers face unlock functionality. This is something that’s not present on the Redmi 5. But its MIUI 9.1 is definitely more feature-rich than EMUI. Its new additions include an App Vault which presents useful shortcuts when you swipe left on the homescreen. Bundled notifications have also made their way into its software.

Camera and battery

The Honor 7A’s dual camera setup includes a 13MP main sensor and a 2MP secondary one. This enables it to offer good bokeh effects for your portraits. This camera’s aperture opening is set at f/2.2, so don’t expect much help in low-light conditions. As for the front camera, it’s an 8MP sensor that’s complemented by various beautifications features and a front-facing flash. The Redmi 5’s front camera is just 5MP in resolution, but this one too comes with beautification add-ons and a front-facing flash. The rear camera of this Xiaomi device is a single 12MP f/2.2 unit that too falters in low light.

The Honor 7A has gone for a 3,000mAh battery, whereas the Xiaomi Redmi 5 features a 3,300mAh pack. Another advantage that the latter has is that it supports slightly faster charging speeds than the former.

Conclusion

The Honor 7A has been carefully crafted to challenge the dominance of Xiaomi’s phones in the affordable segment. Its choice of going for a dual camera setup is a direct result of this. Offering this feature at such a low price makes the proposition quite a tempting one for buyers. The Redmi 5 has its advantages, but it’s the Honor 7A that wins the game here.

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