Honor 8 Pro Vs OnePlus 5: Which One Is The Winner?

Honor 8 Pro Vs OnePlus 5

The smartphone market is extremely competitive and aggressive, the challenge is basically forcing people to give up a phone that they like and move to a new one every few months. Given that fact, the phone makers have their task cut out. Two recent entries in the market are the Honor 8 Pro and the OnePlus 5. Let us try and compare these two good phones today!

Honor 8 Pro Vs OnePlus 5

Let us try and not make this like the usual comparisons and talk about this from strictly an experience and user angle. That is ultimately what matters and eventually makes people go for or not buy a phone. So the first thing that a user feels is the build and materials used in the phone. The Honor 8 Pro has a metal finish and comes in black and blue. We got the black unit for review. The OnePlus 5 is made of anodized aluminium and has a matte finish on both the Slate Grey and Midnight Black version. When held in the hand, both feel good. But there is a key difference in the design. The Honor 8 Pro has the dual camera arrangement and the flash completely flush with the back. The OnePlus 5 on the other hand has the dual camera bump jutting out. The uneven spacing around the flash on the OnePlus 5 is a bit of an eyesore on the back. The fact that the OnePlus 5 looks like a few other devices works against it. The Honor 8 Pro on the other hand has a unique design and is very much a head turner. People actually walked up and asked us about the phone when we held the Honor 8 Pro in our hands. So in the design department – The Honor 8 Pro beats the OnePlus 5

Two Phones Side-By-Side

Let us get to the next thing that the user interacts with daily – the display. The screen is the primary point of interaction with the phone. Given the fact that multimedia consumption has now become one of the primary functions of a smartphone, the display becomes one of the most important things that swings a purchase decision for or against a device. On the OnePlus 5, there is a 5.5-inch 1080p Optic AMOLED display and the Honor 8 Pro has a 5.7-inch LTPS IPS LCD display. The Honor 8 Pro has a 2k QHD resolution and the OP5 has an FHD panel. In theory it may be argued that the human eye cannot discern the difference in resolution between the two and hence there is no difference. But in real use, there is a difference and it is very clearly visible. On heavy gaming and VR usage, the Honor 8 Pro display beats the OnePlus 5 display hands down!

Close up of both phones

Let us talk about the very massive elephant in the room – the dual camera setup that both phones have. The Honor 8 Pro has a dual sensor setup where one is a color sensor and the other is a monochrome sensor. Together they produce good pictures that are very detailed and the color rendering is very impressive. The OnePlus 5 has a different kind of setup, it combines a good wide angle lens with a telephoto lens to give you lossless zoom. Both the phones come with support for bokeh effect. OnePlus 5 accomplishes this using the same method as the iPhone 7 and the Honor 8 Pro relies on software to get this done. Here is the deal breaker though, Huawei has been making dual camera phones for a long time, as long as there has been a OnePlus brand actually. And that gives them a major edge. The Bokeh effect and more noticeably the monochrome pictures are very impressive on the Honor 8 Pro. In the dual camera department, we would give the Honor 8 Pro a thumbs up over the OnePlus 5.

Let us get to the other most important part of any smartphone today – The battery. Everyone who buys a smartphone wants it to run endlessly throughout the day. This is another important factor in the purchase decision process today. The OnePlus 5 has a 3300mAh battery and The Honor 8 Pro has a 4000mAh battery. Given the heavier display that the Honor 8 Pro sports, it is indeed pertinent to have a better battery powering the phone. But beyond that, the fact that the Honor 8 Pro has packed this powerful battery in an ultra-slim and light frame is very impressive. Yes, the battery adds a bit of heft in the back but it is by no means heavy to hold. The OnePlus 5 has a lighter battery but the Snapdragon 835 processor is extremely power efficient and hence a single charge runs well into the day and more. Dash charge tech that comes with the OnePlus 5 makes it very simple to juice up for a day in under an hour. The Dash Charge car charger is also nifty. The Honor 8 Pro also supports quick charging tech and hence charges up really fast and runs well into the day. So in the battery department it is pretty even between the two phones, it is actually too close to call.

Then there is the Price, at Rs 29,999/- the Honor 8 Pro with 6 GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage and support for extension of storage upto 256 GB with a microSD card definitely trumps the OnePlus 5. So all in all, the Honor 8 Pro conveniently beats the OnePlus 5 in our comparison and looks like it will hold the upper hand.

Let us know what you think.

 

About Shakthi

I am a Tech Blogger, Disability Activist, Keynote Speaker, Startup Mentor and Digital Branding Consultant. Also a McKinsey Executive Panel Member. Also known as @v_shakthi on twitter. Been around Tech for two decades now.

View all posts by Shakthi →