Motorola One Power vs Nokia 6.1 Plus vs Xiaomi Mi A2: Best of Android One

Motorola announced its first Android One smartphone in India by introducing the Motorola One Power for a price of Rs 15,999, exclusively available on Flipkart. The phone comes with mid-range specifications, a Stock Android 8.1 Oreo interface and a notch at the top of the display which is the first time to happen on a Motorola phone.

For around the same price, Motorola is expected to face serious competition from Nokia 6.1 Plus and Xiaomi Mi A2, both of which also come under the Android One initiative with similar internals and dual cameras. But which one of those would you want to take home with you if you wished to own an upper-level budget smartphone? Let’s talk about that.

Hardware:

We know design and displays come secondary when buying a smartphone that you brings out the best value for money package. First comes the internals. The Motorola One Power and Nokia 6.1 Plus both are powered by the Snapdragon 636 Chipset while the Mi A2 gets its power from the Snapdragon 660, which on any day will be better performing and more energy efficient than the former.

Aside from the processor, all three smartphones are configured with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. Day to day tasks will run swiftly on all smartphone while graphics-intense games will run a tad bit smoother on the Mi A2, thanks to its slightly powerful processor.

Winner: Xiaomi Mi A2

Camera:

All three smartphone sport dual camera photography, which has become a norm among budget devices. The Nokia 6.1 Plus, as well as the Motorola One Power, feature a combination of a 16-megapixel primary shooter and a 5-megapixel secondary sensor, with slightly distinguishable Aperture settings. Though performance as a whole gives similar experiences on both of them, the Motorola device has an added advantage of being enabled with Google Lens inside the camera app.

Xiaomi’s Mi A2 once again steals the thunder from its counterparts by offering a larger combination of imaging Sensors which comprise of 12-megapixel primary lens (f/1.8, 1/2.9″, 1.25µm) and 20-megapixel secondary lens (f/1.8, 1/2.8″, 1.0µm, PDAF). From previous experience, the Mi A2 delivered the best pictures of the three with well-detailed images across several lighting conditions.

The same can be said about the front facing 20MP (f/2.2, 1/2.8″, 1.0µm) sensor on the Mi A2 which provides clearer selfies than the 12MP and 16MP lenses on the One Power and 6.1 Plus smartphones.

Winner: Xiaomi Mi A2

Design:

This is where options might differ from person to person. On first glimpse the Motorola One Power and Mi A2 share traits as they both sport a metal unibody design, though the Mi A2 is slightly toward the thinner portfolio. Both phones are comfortable to hold and the ergonomic curves at the edges fit perfectly on hand. Another difference we’ll be able to notice is the lack of a camera bump on the One Power unlike the Mi A2, which has a striking resemblance to the Redmi Note 5 Pro.

And there is the Nokia 6.1 Plus which speaks a case of elegance due to its glass sandwich design with an aluminium frame to provide rigidity to the device. While the Mi A2 might have been lighter and more compact than the Motorola phone, the Nokia device is even lighter due to the absence of a thick metal panel at the back. The premium looks of the Nokia 6,1 Plus, however, come at a cost since glass being glass won’t be as durable for daily rough usage, not to forget the dirt and fingerprint smudges accumulating on the rear glass to ruin the premium feel.

Winner: Motorola One Power

Display:

The screens on all three phones are of different sizes which means it comes down to personal opinions.

The Motorola device features a 6.28-inch Full HD+ Max Vision display with a screen resolution of 2246 x 1080 pixels. Being the first phone with a notch on top, the Moto phone is also the one with the most screen space with a screen-to-body ratio of 81.7 percent. The display offers a pixel density of 402 ppi which is similar to the 5.99-inch IPS LCD display on the Mi A2 which provides a resolution of 1080 x 2160 pixels.

The Nokia 6.1 Plus sports the smallest display of the three with a 5.8-inch Full HD+ IPS LCD display with a screen resolution of 2280 x 1080 pixels. However, it packs the highest pixel density of all three phone with 432 ppi and also the brightest display. Viewing angles are good and so is the colour reproduction, rendering the phone the most usable during outdoors.

Winner: Nokia 6.1 Plus

Battery:

The Nokia 6.1 Plus and the Mi A2 come with similarly sized power units of 3,060mAh and 3,000mAh respectively, which will more or less offer the same levels of battery life. The real difference comes in disguise of Fast charging where the Mi A2 edges over the Nokia phone with support for Quick Charge 4.0 while the 6.1 Plus is stuck with Quick Charge 3.0.

However, it’s the Motorola One Power which gets to be the real deal breaker here since it is fuelled by a 5000mAh battery, that will be able to last to up to two days. The phone also comes with TurboPower charger, which the company claims can the charge the device fully in less than 2 hours.

Winner: Motorola One Power

Verdict:

Motorola’s latest One Power for a price tag of Rs 15,999 offers a decent package in terms of internals, imaging and an attractive display which adores a notch for the first time in Motorola’s history. That coupled with a pure Android Experience and a massive 5,000mAh battery will be a deal you wouldn’t want to refuse.

If you wished to have a similar package but strictly wish to have a premium-looking device, then the Nokia 6.1 Plus is the phone for you. If not for the battery, you’re almost getting the same package at the same price.

While battery and design won’t be the biggest selling points for the Mi A2, Xiaomi has managed to cram in a more powerful Snapdragon 660 SoC with a better set of cameras with rest of the configuration kept similar to that of the Nokia phone.