Introduction
Here is an interesting comparison between two China manufacturers – OnePlus and Xiaomi. Xiaomi has been making smartphones since August 2011, at first in China only, but has finally started to expand to sales outside its borders, hoping to eventually hit the U.S. market. They design, develop and sell smartphones and in this short time have become one of China’s largest manufacturers. They sell and ship everything from their own factory website – much like Amazon in this country. OnePlus is another China startup that is only now starting to sell its first smartphone – their hope would be to someday become as large as Xiaomi. Both manufacturers have the same type of philosophy…design a good, quality product and sell it at a very competitive price. Xiaomi started off with a lower end device and are now offering a higher quality product, whereas OnePlus is starting out-of-the-gate with a flagship-type device, the OnePlus One.
Both the OnePlus One and Xiaomi Redmi Note offer practically the same size device with a 5.5-inch display, the same size cameras (main and front-facing), the same dimensions and practically the same size battery. That is where their similarities end and their differences begin to emerge. Take a look at the specification listing below and then we will discuss the differences in each model and hopefully arrive at a satisfactory winner in this latest Android phone comparison.
Specifications
OnePlus One
The OnePlus One is a true flagship from the start and uses the most popular processor there is at this time – the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core clocked at 2.5GHz and then throws in a full 3GB of RAM, both outweighing the Xiaomi in terms of quality, speed, and memory. The One’s 5.5-inch screen is the Full HD 1080p variety, while the Redmi Note is only HD quality at 720p resolution. This gives the One a 401 pixels per inch advantage over the 267 PPI of the Redmi Note. The One ships in either 16GB or 64GB storage models, whereas the Redmi Note only has an 8GB model, but does offer a microSD card slot to add up to an additional 64GB of storage. Both devices offer up a 13Mp main camera, with the One also providing dual LED flash and both offering a 5MP front-facing camera (FFC) for terrific video chatting and selfies…the One’s is also a wide-angle lens making it easier to fit more people into the shot. The One uses the latest Android 4.4 KitKat with its own CyanogenMod 11S User Interface and it is all powered by a 3100mAh battery – slightly smaller than the 3200mAh used in the Redmi Note.
Xiaomi Redmi Note
The new Xiaomi Redmi Note is beautiful device – Xiaomi smartphones remind me somewhat of Nokia devices…with clean lines and six colors to choose from, depending on your personality. The 5.5-inch display is a great phablet size, but it is only 720p – certainly adequate, but not equal to the 1080p on the One. This Xiaomi model uses a MediaTek processor, rather than the faster Qualcomm Snapdragon – it is an Octa-core, but clocked only at 1.7GHz. The Redmi Note has 2GB of RAM, 1GB less than the One and only 8GB of storage, but you can add up to another 64GB of internal storage with a microSD card. The Redmi Note has an excellent 13MP main camera and a great 5MP front-facing camera…and matches up nicely with the One. The battery is a hefty 3200mAh and should have no trouble powering the Redmi Note for a full day before it needs a charge. Where these two devices differ, yet are the same, is the operating system. Both devices use Android as the root of their OS, but each one uses a very ‘forked’ variation, especially the Xiaomi. The base operating system is Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with Xiaomi’s MIUI Version 5 running on top. The other terrific feature is its price – only $128 for a 1GB RAM model and $160 for the 2GB RAM model, but it looks like the Redmi Note will be staying in its homeland of China for the next few months but will be available to order online.Right now you can purchase the Xiaomi Redmi Note as low as $229.99 from 1949deal.com.
…and the Winner is…
Summary
I know you have heard this before, but this really was a tough decision – we are talking about two new devices from China – the One from a brand new company and the Redmi Note from a more established company. Both devices have availability issues – the Redmi Note has just been released in China, but will be staying there but will be available soon online and the OnePlus One will be released in the next couple of weeks, but will have limited availability on the U.S networks. Both devices offer a lot of phone for the money, maybe even more so with the Redmi Note, but not being able to purchase one for the U.S. yet is a big down fall. The One, with the better display, better processor, 3GB of RAM, great camera, dual speakers, Android 4.4 KitKat features, a better known UI with CyanogenMod 11S, and better availability (in a couple weeks), we have to go with the OnePlus One for the winner on this comparison.
Please let us know on our Google+ Page what you think about these two devices…as always, we would love to hear from you.