Two big flagships. Two flagships from brands that are not specifically known for bringing high-priced flagships, yet are bound to deliver them. The Honor 8 Pro, and the OnePlus 5. When we’re talking about the price, these are almost Rs. 20000-30000 lesser-priced than the flagships like Samsung Galaxy S8, the LG G6, and the HTC U11. Now, how good are these two phones and which one is actually better? Let’s get into the comparison.
The OnePlus 5 had come in as the next flagship killer but the design got some flak from the fans, while Honor 8 Pro just bettered whatever was offered on the Honor 8, and with the replacement of the glass by a solid metal on the back, the Honor 8 Pro now stands as a tough contention against the OnePlus 5. Here’s our five pointer comparing the phones in the following categories – Build and Display, Performance, Cameras, Battery Life, and Value for money.
Design and Display
The design, just like the user interface, is quite a subjective matter because one might not like that I like, and vice versa. Also, with the design, while OnePlus has a pretty bold and solid finish as well as a good looking design, it was welcomed with the criticism for bringing a phone with a design that is inspired from the latest iPhone. Honor 8 Pro on the other side continues the legacy of having cameras within the body and not popping out, and this point makes us like the device further because having a flat back keeps the camera safe from getting scratched.
While with the design we don’t see a clear winner, the Honor 8 Pro clearly takes it away with the display. A Quad HD display with a great color on the LTPS panel, while the Optic AMOLED display on the OnePlus 5 isn’t bad on the colors or brightness, it still is stuck at 1080p resolution and that matters in this age when you see a lot of high-res content and if you wanted to check content on VR headset, higher resolution is always better.
Winner – Honor 8 Pro (for its display)
Performance
It is a war between Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 and the Kirin 960 chipset, both top-end ones bound to offer a flawless performance. Don’t go with the benchmarks for these, because we know what is possible when it comes to manipulating the scores, so let’s keep it to the regular usage and experience while doing that.
Both the phones offer a great performance. In fact, even though it might be said that Snapdragon chipsets perform better with the Adreno series GPU, the Mali-G71 MP8 GPU offered on the Honor 8 Pro did an exceptional job while playing high-end games and while playing 2K videos as well.
Both the devices are at par with each other when it comes to the core performance, app loading speed and the overall functionality of the UI that depends on the chipset to do well.
Winner – Tie
Cameras
This is where the comparison becomes very important. Both the flagship devices sport a dual-lens camera setup, though there are big differences in the specs of those cameras. While the Honor 8 Pro offers two 12-megapixel cameras where one is a color sensor and the other one being a monochrome sensor, the OnePlus 5 offers a 20-megapixel and 16-megapixel camera combination where the secondary camera helps in optical zoom.
Now, talking about the capture quality – the color accuracy and the detailing are both a little better on the Honor 8 Pro, and it is only the zoomed-in shots where the OnePlus 5 should take a lead because of the telephoto lens that is specifically offered for that purpose. To be fair to both, none of the cameras are bad in any way, as the end result is excellent, but in most of the conditions, it was the Honor 8 Pro that had better colors and the details because of the secondary sensor that is meant to do that part.
Even for the software that is available, the camera app on the Honor 8 Pro has a lot to offer with several modes and even extra options if someone wants to professionally control the camera settings.
Having the dual-lens camera setup gave both the devices another great feature that is implemented well – the portrait mode. Even with this, the understanding of the depth of field and blurring the background more naturally is done on the Honor 8 Pro and it holds an edge over the OnePlus 5.
Winner – Honor 8 Pro
Battery Life
It is easy to say that the Honor 8 Pro will need more battery because of the higher resolution display, but then the device itself comes with a better battery capacity – a 4000 mAh battery when compared to the 3300 mAh battery offered on the OnePlus 5.
It is a tough one here because both the phones did well with the battery life and while the OnePlus 5 has a faster charging time with its Dash Charge, the battery capacity is lesser and thus, it is anyway going to charge faster. The battery drain is a little faster on the Honor 8 Pro while there are videos being played, the standby on the phone is great. In this regard, it would be an equal vote given to both the devices.
Winner – Tie
Value for Money
The value for money here we refer to is about is being offered for the price asked. The Honor 8 Pro has a single variant with 6GB of RAM and a good 128GB internal storage, while OnePlus is offering two variants for the OnePlus 5, both being priced higher than the Honor 8 Pro.
Rs. 29999 is the price set for the Honor 8 Pro while the OnePlus 5 with 6GB RAM and 64GB internal storage is priced at Rs. 32999 and the one with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage comes with a tag of Rs. 37999. Now, what’s offered on both is premium quality and without any compromises. It is fair to say that both the phones have come with a lot for the price.
Winner – Tie
Conclusion – Which flagship killed the other?
Certainly, going with the list given above, the Honor 8 Pro takes away the title. A better display, a better camera, and when the entire set of specifications is put up against the price, the Honor 8 Pro seems to do more justice when compared to the OnePlus 5.
We still aren’t taking away everything from the flagship made by OnePlus with a lot packed, but in this case, it just doesn’t win. Even if it depends on your personal choice of what you want from the best smartphone, there are some factors to consider, especially the ones that are the talking point while making a purchase – the storage and RAM. Even the lesser-priced variant of OnePlus 5 is costing more than the Honor 8 Pro that would offer double the storage.
