Marching into early June 2016, there has been lot of new smartphone launched from the beginning of this year such as the Samsung Galaxy S7, Huawei P9, Xiaomi Mi Max et cetera. However, these are classical flagship that usually comes with the best hardware and also an expensive price tag. Today, we will be shifting our focus onto smartphone with good price to value such as the recently launched Flash Plus 2, Huawei Honor 5X and Redmi Note 3.
Honor 5X:
- 5.5 ‘ 1080P display at 403ppi
- 64 bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor with Adreno 405 GPU
- 13MP rear camera with Sony IMX 214 CMOS image sensor
- 5MP front camera
- 2GB RAM and 16GB ROM
- Huawei Latest Fingerprint Recognition Technology 3.0 with stronger encryption algorithm
- 3000mAh battery with Huawei Smart Battery Management System
- QuickCharge 3.0
- Dual SIM standby with Dual 4G
- Support up to 128GB microSD expansion
- Running on Android 5.1.1 with EMUI 3.1
- RRP: RM899
Flash Plus 2：
- Android 6.0
- 5.5 inches Full HD IPS LCD display
- 1.8GHz MediaTek Helio P10 octacore processor
- Mali-T860MP2 GPU
- 2GB+16GB / 3GB+32GB
- support up to 128GB storage expansion with microSD card
- 13MP rear camera, f/2.0 aperture, PDAF, dual tone LED flash
- 5MP front camera with flash
- fingerprint sensor
- 3000mAh battery, support quick charge technology
- Dual SIM standby
- 152.6 x 76.4 x 8.2mm
- 157g
- RRP: RM599
Redmi Note 3:
- 5.5′ 1080P display，403PPI
- Snapdragon 650 SoC with Adreno 510 GPU
- 2GB RAM+16GB ROM / 3GB RAM+32GB ROM
- 16MP front +5MP front camera
- Dual SIM standby
- Fingerprint unlock technology
- Android 5.1.1 with MIUI 7
- 4000mAh battery
- 164g
- 150 x 76 x 8.65mm
- RRP: RM849
In contrast between these smartphone, the Redmi Note 3 does packed with some decent hardware at its price tag. Meanwhile, the Flash Plus also offers good value for its price and runs on the latest Android 6.0 (while other 2 still stuck on Android 5). The Honor 5X and Flash Plus 2 is also relatively thin compared to Redmi Note 3 while weighted around the same.
In the meantime, there will be a 3GB RAM variant for the Flash Plus 2 which will be available around end of June at RM729. Nevertheless, the 3GB RAM Flash Plus 2 still have a best price to value ratio compared to Redmi Note 3 at its current price tag.
Design
All of these smartphone sport a unibody design while the Redmi Note 3 and Honor 5X comes with capacitive navigation keys. However, the Flash Plus 2 does has a distinct solid home button that comes integrated with 360 degree fingerprint recognition sensor! The Honor 5X and Redmi Note 3 also comes with a fingerprint sensor located on the back.
Both 3 smartphones has a bold design while provides comfortable grip.
The Redmi Note 3 has the smallest bezel among all but has a tiny black bezel on the side of the display. Meanwhile, the Flash Plus 2 has a neat bezel but doesn’t come with a black bar. Nevertheless, all of these display are belong to the same par.
Flipping onto its rear, the Flash Plus 2 and Honor 5X has a great similarity on its rounded rectangle camera while the Redmi Note 3 camera has a circular shape. Redmi Note 3 has a matte textured finish while the Honor 5X has a brushed metallic cover for a better grip. Meanwhile, the Flash Plus 2 gives a firm metallic feeling when looking from its rear.
Operating System
In terms on its OS, the Flash Plus 2 is the one and only one that runs on the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS. The Honor 5X and MIUI 7 still runs on older version of Android 5.0 which we expect it to update sooner around this or next year. The new Android 6.0 has a better power management optimization for a longer battery life.
Flash Plus 2
Honor 5X
Redmi Note 3
On its UI, the Redmi Note 3 runs on customized MIUI 7 interface while the Honor 5X runs on EMUI interface based on Android 5. The Flash Plus 2 has the closest look to the original Android Open Source Project with a pure taste of Marshmallow.
Fingerprint recognition
The Flash Plus 2, Redmi Note 3 and Honor 5X all supports fingerprint recognition technology. As this piece of technology has become common on Android smartphone today, some users might be particular on the location of the fingerprint sensor. Apart from Flash Plus 2, the Redmi Note 3 and Honor 5X fingerprint sensor are located below the camera on the rear of the smartphone.
Besides, Flash Plus 2 also offers storing up to 5 unique fingerprints which can be utilized for quick launching application. Meanwhile, Honor 5X has a self learning system that increase the accuracy and precision to unlock smartphones with its fingerprint sensor.
Camera
The Flash Plus 2 and Honor 5X both sports a 13MP camera while the Redmi Note 3 sports a 16MP rear camera. These camera hardware are satisfactory for daily shooting but not for professional photography. The Flash Plus 2 and Redmi Note 3 also offers PDAF pixel autofocus technology that greatly shortens the focus time on the object. Meanwhile, the Flash Plus 2 front 5MP camera also offers LED flash which is ideal for taking selfies at the night.
Sample Images
Images taken from 3 smartphones are almost belong to the same category while the Redmi Note 3 is slightly out of grid. Honor 5X comes with the Smart Image 3.0 image processor that enhances the image post processing and thus producing quality images. Meanwhile, the Flash Plus 2 camera has a tend to favor towards natural scenery.
When zooming onto detail, the Flash Plus 2 is able to reproduce image with great details (have a closer look onto Char Siew) while the Honor 5X and Redmi Note 3 is slightly out.
The Flash Plus 2 and Redmi Note 3 has a slight inaccurate colour reproduction. The images taken from Flash Plus 2 has a great tendency to appear while Redmi Note 3 is oversaturated. However, the Honor 5X has the best colour reproduction amongst all.
When zooming onto details, the Redmi Note 3 has a greater details reproducibility due to its 16MP camera while Honor 5X suffers from noise. The Flash Plus detail reproduction is considered satisfactory for casual use.
Performance
Flash Plus 2 is powered by MediaTek Helio P10, Honor 5X is powered by Snapdragon 616 while the Redmi Note 3 runs on Snapdragon 650 processor. All of these system on chip are belongs to mid-range category where we will not expect great difference in terms of performance.
The Helio P10 on the Flash Plus 2 has a greater focus on battery consumption while the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor has a greater focus on performance output. The Redmi note 3 has a higher benchmark scores in comparison with the rest and has a better GPU for enhanced gaming experience.
However when it comes to casual web browsing, gaming, video and music streaming, both 3 smartphones perform greatly without any lag.
Battery life
The Redmi Note 3 sports a larger battery capacity at 4000mAh while other are has a smaller battery capacity. From our tests, it was concluded that the Redmi Note 3 has the longest battery life while the Honor 5X and Flash Plus 2 has a decent power management that can last around a day.
In terms of charging, the Flash Plus comes with a 9V/1.67A charging adapter while the Honor 5X and Redmi Note 3 comes with 5V/1A and 5V/2A adapter respectively. The 9V/1.67A charging adapter brings more power to the battery in a short burst of time and hence it can recover 51% of battery in 30 minutes of charging.
On the other hand, Honor 5X does support 5V/2A input but only comes with stock adapter at 5V/1A. The Redmi Note 3 at 5V/2A charging rate makes the smartphone charged faster but not as fast as the Flash Plus 2.
Conclusion
Thorough all the comparison, all 3 smartphones shows a similar design and metallic build quality with the same display size and quality. However, the Flash Plus 2 has a best price to value ratio as it offers quick fingerprint recognition at 360 degree and a battery and and adapter that can be recharged quickly. Nevertheless, Redmi Note 3 offers the best performance among all 3 smartphones.
The Flash Plus 2 is priced the cheapest among all and yet offer the decent performance and value for its feature. We hope that the new 3GB Flash Plus will offer a much better user experience when it is launched!
