That India’s smartphone market is intensely competitive is a given. That is one reason firms have preferred to fight their battles one segment at a time, building up a reputation and strengths in a segment before eying another. From that perspective, the comparison coming up is a really interesting one. Both the handsets involved here have unquestioned strengths, especially Motorola with its surprising resilience in the budget category. Even as the Honor brand, the sub brand from global no. 2 Huawei, has been making steady if unspectacular progress over the past few months in India too.
With the Honor 7X and Motorola G5 Plus, we have a titanic battle in the budget category. It’s a battle that has been very good for consumers as always, with the players dragging in features that were unheard of at this price point till recently, be it dual cameras for both, bezel less screen in case of the 7X, and even the Proprietary Kirin 699 processor. So lets find out more.
Starting with the design and form factor, the two phones both sports metal jacket designs. The G5 plus, with its slightly dated ‘Moto’ look and seemingly thicker shell, seems to be edged out here though.
It gets even better for the Honor 7X when you come to the screen, where the bezel less display has helped Honor pack in a 5.9 inch LCD screen where a 5.5 inch is all you would have got. So the Fullviewdisplay is a real plus here, and it’s the Honor 7X that has it. Incidentally, in the G5 Plus, 5.2 inches is what you do get, on its IPS LCD display.
The Software: With its stock Android version, the Moto G5 plus runs well, and offers leeway to the Honor 7X to steam ahead. However, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 inside it may not be a full match for the HiSilicon Kirin 699 in the 7X. It’s an advantage the 7X needs, thanks to its additional Emotion UI or EMUI skin, which, while detractors will be quick to dismiss as bloatware, does serve some pretty useful tricks, both old and new. So we are going to let this pass, as we believe users will find enough value here to help them. Of course, if being up with the latest really matters to you, the Moto G5Plus has an announced commitment to update to Android Oreo, something the Honor 7X is not actually announcing formally, yet. So keep that in mind too.
The Stars, or the cameras:
The Honor 7X has managed to deliver a dual camera for the budget price. Almost to make up for it, the Moto G5 Plus, which has a single 12-megapixel lens, packs it in with an f/1.7 aperture, phase detection autofocus, laser autofocus, and dual-LED dual tone flash. Commendable, but it is enough? The Honor 7X packs in a 16-megapixel shooter and a 2-megapixel lens that helps to create the DSLR “bokeh” effect that many premium smartphones offer. Together, these two lenses produce some quality work for a budget phone. For that, this becomes a no contest.
When it comes to the battery, the Honor 7X, while packing the larger 3380mAH battery, has to contend with the larger and brighter screen, so the advantage is actually neutralized by the Moto G5 Plus and its sturdy 3000 mAh battery. So no winners here.
Verdict: In a category that seeks value, the price difference of RS 2,000 between the two models would be quite significant for most people. However, we believe the Honor 7X does better than that, delivering a superior performance and offering on more than one parameter, making it the winner of this particular shootout.