We start the year with yet another showdown between two Chinese players, Honor and Xiaomi. While the Redmi Note 6 Pro launched in late 2018, Honor has kick started the year with its first launch of the Honor 10 Lite.
Priced at Rs 13,999, there’s no doubting the phone goes up against Xiaomi’s Redmi Note series, in this particular case the Redmi Note 6 Pro which is also available from Rs 13,999 onwards and comes in two variants.
This segment is extremely popular among buyers, which is why we’ve decided to put them through a showdown and the winner out of this becomes a recommended buy from our end.
Design
The Redmi Note 6 Pro sports a slim full metal body, which no doubt is very attractive and might appeal to people who’re scared of dropping their phone, just because it is slippery. Design-wise, Honor 10 Lite carries glass elements at the back over a plastic body, and a full-viewing screen, with no home button for navigation.
The phone manages to pack a higher screen to body ratio, claimed at 83 percent by Honor, aided by the use of a water drop notch, something we have seen with a few devices in 2018.
Both phones sport a fingerprint scanner at the back, and come with vertical dual rear cameras. While the Redmi Note 6 Pro does feel on the heavier side, Honor’s phone makes a strong case for being Lite (pun intended). Butter fingers are likely to stay away from the Honor 10 Lite, giving the Redmi Note 6 Pro a big vote of confidence.
Display
Honor 10 Lite sports a 6.2-inch 2340x1080 pixels resolution screen, which according to Honor gets 83 percent screen-to-body ratio. This is helped by the water drop notch design that gives you more screen estate for viewing.
Xiaomi is offering the Pro version of Redmi Note 6 with a 6.3-inch FHD+ screen that carries a resolution of 2280x1080 pixels. Both are acceptable standards for this price range but we did notice a slight difference in quality, with crisper colours on the Honor 10 Lite.
The screen estate space on the Honor 10 Lite does get marginally bigger than what Xiaomi offers but these are mostly nitpicking that not all of you might be concerned about. Having said that, the chin size on both the phones are different, with Honor managing to cut down to the minimum, something that Xiaomi fails to do in this case.
Hardware and Software
Honor is using the Kirin 710 processor to power the 10 Lite and you can choose between 4GB and even 6GB RAM options, with storage starting from 64GB and further expandable via a hybrid SIM slot.
Xiaomi, on the other hand, decides to go with the Snapdragon 636 and that to me is something one should consider before buying the phone. It’s not a bad hardware to rely on but is mostly suited for basic mobile usage, again depends on who the buyer is and what are his requirements.
During our time with these devices, we did notice that heavy multi-tasking doesn’t come easy for the Xiaomi device, and something that Kirin 710 and its supported software handles without ringing any alarm bells.
For connectivity and charging the 3400mAh battery, you have a microUSB 2.0 port for the Honor 10 Lite, while a 4000mAh battery is loaded inside the Redmi Note 6 Pro.
Coming to software, Honor gets more points for offering the 10 Lite with its EMUI that is based on Android 9.0 Pie version. They have also reduced the number of bloatware in this version, making it lighter and fluid in performance.
Xiaomi fans swear by MIUI which speaks a lot about how user friendly it is but you’re still living with Android 8.1 Oreo and we’re in January of 2019 now. I guess it’s something very personal which is why I leave it to you to decide.
Camera
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro comes with a 20+2-megapixel front camera, which has proved its mettle over the last few months. On the rear is a 13+5 megapixel shooter which doesn’t shy away from impressing either.
The dual rear cameras (13 and 2 megapixels) on the Honor 10 Lite promise images with decent quality. At the front, you get a 24-megapixel snapper, which is capable of recording videos in 1080 pixels resolution.
Both the capable snappers and at the end it comes down to which one of these would you like to own, not specifically for clicking pictures though.
So, Which One is It?
Now, we’re on to solving the main puzzle, which one of these should you consider. They are both priced in the same segment, carry most of the features that a buyer is looking for and delivers in an impressive package. If you’re in with the trend, then Honor 10 Lite offers you a screen with smaller notch and chin size at the bottom, meaning more screen space for viewing.
With Xiaomi, you get a big capacity battery, a metal body finish which offers higher durability but still running on Android 8.1 Oreo version. Cameras are similar on both the phones but Honor using the Kirin 710 chipset offers marginally better performance than the Snapdragon 636 on the Redmi Note 6 Pro.
It all comes down to you preference, where both these phones have their set to strength and weaknesses.
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