Xiaomi and Oppo are set to launch their new entry-level smartphones in India, the Redmi Note 5, and the A71 (2018). While the Oppo A71 (2018) has been announced internationally, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 is yet to make its first appearance on 14th February in India. Hence, the specifications of the Redmi Note 5…
Xiaomi and Oppo are set to launch their new entry-level smartphones in India, the Redmi Note 5, and the A71 (2018). While the Oppo A71 (2018) has been announced internationally, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 is yet to make its first appearance on 14th February in India. Hence, the specifications of the Redmi Note 5 aren’t confirmed. Upon the launch, both the smartphones will compete directly with the Honor 9 Lite and the Galaxy J7 Nxt. So, should you wait until the launch of the Oppo A71 (2018) and the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5? Let’s find out.
The Oppo A71 has a 5.2-inch IPS LCD display with HD resolution, which is the least technologically advanced display among all the four smartphones in the comparison; it neither features a bezel-less display like the Honor 9 Lite, nor it has the Super AMOLED technology as that of the Galaxy J7 Nxt. Speaking of the Galaxy J7 Nxt, it has a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display. The display of the Galaxy J7 Nxt is better than that of the Oppo A71, but it still lacks behind the Honor 9 Lite due to the lower resolution and the absence of bezel-less design.
The Honor 9 Lite features a 5.65-inch bezel-less display with Full HD+ resolution. The display of the Honor 9 Lite triumphs over the displays of the Galaxy J7 Nxt and the Oppo A71, as it is larger, sharper, and has a bezel-less design. Although the exact display specifications of the Redmi Note 5 aren’t known yet, it is rumoured to feature a 5.7-inch Full HD+ display with the bezel-less design and 18:9 aspect ratio. If the rumours are true, the Redmi Note 5’s display will be as good as that of the Honor 9 Lite, at least on paper.
The Honor 9 Lite has a total of four cameras, two at the front and two on the back. The rear cameras have 12MP + 2MP configuration; they are equipped with phase-detection autofocus and an LED flash. The front-facing cameras also have a 12MP + 2MP configuration, but they have a fixed focus. The dual-camera setup on the front and the back helps the Honor 9 Lite to capture images with bokeh effect. From the specifications perspective, Honor 9 Lite beats the Galaxy J7 Nxt and the Oppo A71 (2018). However, the Honor 9 Lite will have a hard time to beat the Redmi Note 5, as the Redmi Note 5 is rumoured to feature a 12MP + 5MP dual-camera setup with phase-detection autofocus, and dual-tone dual-LED flash.
Moving on to the Oppo A71, it features a single 13MP primary camera with phase-detection autofocus and an LED flash. At the front, the device has a traditional 5MP shooter. As for the Galaxy J7 Nxt, it has a 13MP primary camera and a 5MP secondary camera, both with an LED flash. The primary camera of the Galaxy J7 Nxt misses out on phase-detection autofocus, due to which, it focuses at a slower rate. Hence, it lacks behind the Oppo A71 in the primary camera performance. However, the Galaxy J7 Nxt makes up for the loss with an LED flash on the front, which the Oppo A71 doesn’t feature.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 is rumoured to feature Snapdragon 636 SoC, which is more powerful than the SoCs in the other three smartphones in the comparison. The Redmi Note 5 will come pre-loaded with Android 7.1.2 Nougat OS wrapped under MIUI 9. On the other hand, the Honor 9 Lite has an in-house developed Kirin 659 SoC, which as we said above, isn’t as powerful as the Snapdragon 636, but it provides with smooth performance. The Honor 9 Lite has the upper hand in the software department, as the device comes pre-loaded with Android 8.0 Oreo OS, which the other three smartphones in the comparison miss out on.
The Oppo A71 (2018) has Snapdragon 450 SoC and 2GB of RAM under the hood. The device features Android 7.1.2 Nougat with Color OS 3.2 customisation. Thanks to an adequately powerful SoC and a well-optimised UI, the Oppo A71 (2018) has a smooth performance. Moving on to the Samsung Galaxy J7 Nxt, it features the least powerful processor of the lot, the Exynos 7870. On top of that, it comes with heavily customised UI, which makes the device even slower. If smooth and fast performance is your priority, then the Galaxy J7 Nxt isn’t the one for you.
The Oppo A71 (2018) and the Samsung Galaxy J7 Nxt lack behind the Redmi Note 5 and the Honor 9 Lite in the display, camera, performance, and design. Hence, we wouldn’t recommend buying the Oppo A71 (2018) and the Galaxy J7 Nxt over the Redmi Note 5 or the Honor 9 Lite. Now, between the Honor 9 Lite and the Redmi Note 5, it is a tough choice. The Redmi Note 5 has slightly better specifications than the Honor 9 Lite, but we can’t be sure of the rumoured specifications. So, it is better to wait until the Redmi Note 5 launches in India.
