Nokia 6 2018 Vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro: Let's pinpoint those differences
It's no secret that Xiaomi has hit bull's eye with the Redmi Note 5 Pro. The Redmi Note 5 Pro is easily among the best phones that you can buy at under Rs 20,000. It comes with a premium design, a bezel-less display, top-notch hardware and fantastic dual cameras. The Redmi Note 5 Pro also has a battery life to die for.
Only now we have a phone that can give the Redmi Note 5 Pro a thorough run for its money, in almost all the departments. The Nokia 6 2018, from HMD Global, is that phone. The Nokia 6 2018 may not exactly dazzle from a specifications point of view, but, that's not something that HMD Global is gunning for, at the end of the day. Instead, the Nokia 6 2018 is relying on the overall experience to woo buyers in India. And that overall experience is something that the company is hoping to offer with three elements: design, the brand appeal -- read nostalgia -- and pure Android.
Here's a closer look at the new Nokia 6 2018 and its closest rival, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro.
The Nokia 6 2018 is an all-metal smartphone -- boasting of 6000 series aluminium -- with chamfered edges and curved 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 3 on the front: much like the original Nokia 6. Only this time round, HMD is using bold colour accents to accentuate the phone's chamfers on both the front as well as on the back. The company is also using the same bold colour scheme around the camera module and the fingerprint scanner. Speaking of which, the Nokia 6 2018 now comes with a rear-mounted finger-print scanner and on-screen navigation keys. HMD is also using its bold colour accent scheme around the power button and the volume rocker. Elsewhere, the Nokia 6 2018 comes with USB Type-C port for charging and data syncing. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro meanwhile comes with an almost full-metal body -- with top and bottom ends being plastic with brushed metal finish -- curved 2.5D Corning Gorilla glass (unspecified) with rounded edges and polished antenna lines. Sadly, it comes with a micro-USB 2.0 port, for charging and data syncing.
The Redmi Note 5 Pro is Xiaomi's first mainstream bezel-less phone in India. The company, to recall, also sells the Mi Mix 2 in the country, but that's a more premium offering. The Redmi Note 5 Pro brings bezel-less screens to the masses. This allows Xiaomi to increase the screen real estate without increasing the all-round footprint of the phone. The Redmi Note 5 Pro, to that effect, comes with a 5.99-inch 'full-screen' FHD+ display with a 2160x1080p resolution and 403ppi pixel density. Because Xiaomi has shaved off much of the bezels on the top and bottom and also on the sides, the Redmi Note 5 Pro feels much smaller than regular 6-inch phones. Also, it supports an unusual aspect ratio of 18:9, as against the more traditional 16:9. The Nokia 6 2018 comes with the same 5.5-inch 1080p display with a traditional 16:9 aspect ratio as the original Nokia 6.
The Nokia 6 2018 is powered by a 2.2GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor clubbed with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage which is expandable by up to 128GB via a hybrid micro-SD card slot. The Redmi Note 5 Pro meanwhile is powered by a 1.8GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 processor clubbed with up to 6GB of RAM and up to 64GB of storage which is further expandable by up to 128GB via a hybrid micro-SD card slot.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat (based MIUI 9) out-of-the-box. The Nokia 6 2018 is meanwhile an Android One phone that runs a stock version of Android 8.0 Oreo.
The Redmi Note 5 Pro comes with a dual camera system on the rear consisting of one 12-megapixel sensor with f/2.2 aperture and another 5-megapixel sensor with f/2.0 aperture. Both are RGB. While the primary sensor has a 1.25um size to capture more light, the secondary sensor assists in portrait shots or photos with shallow depth of field. The dual camera system, in the Redmi Note 5 Pro, further comes with phase detection autofocus and a dual-LED (dual-tone) flash. There's EIS for videos but videos are capped to 1080p at 30fps. On the front, the Redmi Note 5 Pro, sports a 20-megapixel camera with LED flash. The Nokia 6 2018 ships with the same cameras as last year's Nokia 6 which means that it carries a 16-megapixel camera on the rear with f/2.0 aperture, Phase Detection Autofocus and dual-LED flash. On the front, it comes with an 8-megapixel camera. Only this time, HMD is bringing the Nokia 8's hallmark feature, aka Dual-Sight (and Bothie), to the masses with the Nokia 6 2018. Dual-Sight, to recall, is a feature that lets a user to simultaneously use both the rear and front cameras to take stills/record videos. The Nokia 6 2018, in addition, allows a user to capture high-fidelity spatial audio as well.
The Redmi Note 5 Pro is backed by a 4,000mAh battery but doesn't support fast charging. The Nokia 6 2018 is backed by a smaller 3,000mAh battery. It supports fast charging though.
The Redmi Note 5 Pro starts at Rs 13,999 for the base 4GB RAM and 64GB storage version while the top-end version with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage is available for buying for Rs 16,999. The Nokia 6 2018 is meanwhile priced at Rs 16,999 for the 3GB RAM and 32GB storage option. HMD will be bringing the 4GB RAM and 64GB version to India in the days to come, but we can expect it to be costlier still.