We earlier had a similar comparison, i.e. the Redmi Note 3 vs. LeEco Le 1s vs. Lenovo K4 Note where we did talk about which phone is better, but with time and some software updates, there are several things that get changed, and this particular comparison here is based on the real-life usage for over three weeks together.
The difference of Rs. 1000 might not be much so I would suggest you to keep only the 3GB RAM variant of the Redmi Note 3 if you are considering the mid-range device from Xiaomi, or comparing it against the Le 1s. Just to mention about the price, the Le 1s is priced at Rs. 10999, while the Redmi Note 3 (3GB) is priced at Rs. 11999.
Who else could be in this race? Lenovo Vibe K4 Note is one, and the Honor 5X is the other. Unfortunately, we haven’t used both of them for a good time to conclude about their performance, and it is these two phones that easily claim a stake to be better than one another, ignoring the Lenovo K4 Note and Honor 5X.
What’s included?
If you follow me regularly, you know I would rarely say that MediaTek chipsets are poor. The proof for that is the LeEco Le 1s, which gets powered by the MediaTek Helio X10 octa-core processor, which has been a part of even flagships from a couple Chinese smartphone manufacturers, says how powerful the chipset is.
The Redmi Note 3, on the other hand, is powered by a hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 processor. There is 3GB of RAM on both the units (while there is a Redmi Note 3 variant with 2GB RAM as well), and both the devices have 32GB internal storage. With the battery capacity, the Redmi Note 3 has a 4100 mAh battery and the Le 1s is packed with a 3000 mAh battery.
Design, Comfort, and Display
A tough, tough competition is right from this segment. You’d expect a plastic black or white device just a few months before this. Now, there are gold variants with the glittering metal back. That is the case here, with both, Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 and the LeEco Le 1s. You can easily fall in love with any of them, but some differences are quite important.
While the Redmi Note 3 has curvy and smooth edges, the Le 1s comes with chamfered sharp edges. One is better in looks, the other in comfort. You know what’s what, but let’s not confuse you here, I loved the comfort of Redmi Note 3 while liked how the Le 1s looks. The uniqueness and class are added by the distinguishing fingerprint scanner that has a mirror-like look on the Le 1s while you would look at a standard fingerprint sensor on the back of the Redmi Note 3.
Another difference in the design is with the speaker placement, where the Le 1s takes the edge with the good looking bottom grills compared to the one on the back of Redmi Note 3. I like the speaker anywhere except on the back. Even with the compactness, it might not be much noticeable but the Note 3 is smaller though that comes at the cost of thickness.
The display size and resolution are the same, and surprisingly both the devices have quite a similar brightness level and sunlight legibility, but the way Le 1s has black bezels, which makes the display look almost bezel-less and thus, better in a way though it practically doesn’t help at all.
Who wins it here? To be fair, both the phones have so much that one does not win it easily. They are both equal here, and it should come down to who likes what – comfort or looks.
Design and Display – Le 1s
Software and Performance
With regards to the software, it is a hard battle between the well known MIUI from Xiaomi and the EUI from LeEco, which is again, not a bad one at all knowing how the company is looking to be more of a content network and not just a hardware brand.
Who wins it? Seriously, it isn’t easy to tell at all. I might have gone with MIUI blindly if it was a UI from Lenovo, ASUS, or Samsung to compare it with. But EUI has some good elements that keeps it interesting and good looking. There were initially some performance issues due to the poor RAM management and background apps not being killed, but LeEco has been sending timely updates to tackle such issues. The Redmi Note 3 isn’t having any such issues since the beginning.
For gaming, both the devices have been excellent. It is almost the same gaming performance seen on both the devices, but the Le 1s tends to get warm a lot quicker than the Redmi Note 3, and the latest OS update on Le 1s seemed to have set the CPU to throttle and affect the performance of the device when the device gets heated.
Combining the software experience and the performance, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 outperforms the LeEco Le 1s, though not on gaming but on managing background functions, heating issues as well as the throttling of the CPU, which a normal user might not care about, but when we are comparing it with a phone that is in the same price range, everything has to be noted.
Performance – Tie
Camera
Megapixels don’t win any war, and it is more about the light the camera has been able to pass through, and the color reproduction too. While it is a 16-megapixel shooter on the back of Redmi Note 3, the Le 1s has a 13-megapixel camera. The former is supported by a Dual LED flash while the latter has a single LED flashlight.
With regards to the capture quality, the Le 1s had issues of saturation of colors even in day light captures but that has been well fixed now after the company sent a major software update, and to be fair, both the devices are able to take similar captures, though the Redmi Note 3 is just a little better.
[Working on side-by-side camera sample comparison, will be up soon]
If you take a lot of videos using smartphone cameras, the fact that the Le 1s can capture 4K videos should attract you, and even though the chipset on the Note 3 supports 4K recording, it isn’t given that option. Xiaomi might want to enable it in the future?
Camera – Redmi Note 3
Battery Life
Another area where the Redmi Note 3 clearly takes the lead, but here, the capacity is as important as the battery life. After all the software tweaks and optimizations done by the respective brands, I am pretty much convinced that if I have to suggest a phone based on its battery life, Redmi Note 3 is the one.
It is not just about the screen-on time because even the standby is excellent on the Redmi Note 3 and comparatively, the Le 1s on standby doesn’t lose battery any quickly. But, at the end, when the question is about the battery life, you now know who wins.
Battery – Redmi Note 3
Which would be my choice? The Redmi Note 3 or LeEco Le 1s
Certainly, I’d ask you to pay a thousand bucks extra to get the Redmi Note 3, but for you, even the Le 1s could be the best choice because the use case differs with every user and you might give some importance to the design, rather than to the aspects like the battery life.
The interface, in the end, would seem almost the same but you will have to read every point without missing out anything to understand which might be the best choice for you. Take all the factors together and ask for the winner – the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is the one.
The availability of the phone is another story altogether because you might have to struggle a bit with the flash sales to get the Redmi Note 3, but if you get it, that’s the best choice.
can we use v-gear in redmi note 3 32gb ?
like in lenovo k4 note