New Delhi, Delhi, India

It’s not everyday the smartphone world offers you value-for-money flagship offerings. But when it happens, it becomes really difficult for a lot of consumers to make a choice. The launch of the OnePlus 5 and the Honor 8 Pro has led to one such situation, and it is leaving prospective buyers wondering which one to go for. But we suggest you to not worry as we are here to make that buying decision easier for you.

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Read on to know which one is more worth your hard-earned money.

Design & Display

Let’s begin with what catches the attention first. From the looks alone, both the phones look pretty nice. They feature nice design, metallic finish, and a slim profile. While the OnePlus 5 in black carries a classic look, the Honor 8 in this shade of blue has a royal appeal. No wonder, both the phones tick the beauty box, but when it comes to the form factor, it’s the OnePlus 5 that has a slight edge over the Honor 8 Pro. The OnePlus 5 feels light in hand and offers easy handling.

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While many of you might be okay with the build of the Honor 8 Pro, the fact is that it is slightly bulkier and heavier than the OnePlus 5. We wish it carried a compact body.

Well, looks and form factor are all fine, after all, it’s mostly cosmetic, but which one of the two has a more pleasing screen to the eyes? Both the 5.5-inch 1080p display on the OnePlus 5 and the 5.7-inch 2k display on the Honor 8 Pro produce great colours and offer excellent viewing angles. But the OnePlus 5 scores a little more, when it comes to the contrast ratio. Put it against the Honor 8 Pro, and you would find the whites are whiter and the blacks are blacker on the OnePlus 5.

All in all, the OnePlus 5 gets a little better of the Honor 8 Pro when it comes to the aesthetics and display appeal. And not to forget, the OnePlus 5 might remind you of the iPhone 7 plus, but take a closer look and you would realise that it is actually not a blatant rip-off.

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Camera

As we always say, camera is an integral part of the smartphone. And therefore, we can’t leave this department without checking every room it houses.

We tested their cameras, clicked in daylight, snapped in indoors and tested them in different lighting conditions, to ascertain which of the two cameras has an edge over the other. But before we begin, we must tell you that a dual-camera setup is slowly becoming a mainstream feature on flagship devices. And in line with the trend, both the Honor 8 Pro and the OnePlus 5 come with dual lenses at the back. While in the OnePlus 5, the primary camera has a 16 megapixel sensor and the secondary 20 megapixel, the Honor 8 includes two 12 megapixel sensors. Both the phones have a dual-camera setup, but how they work is pretty different.

Without leaving you stranded in the world of technicalities, we would like to take you straight to which has a better camera and why.

Both the rear cameras generate sharp details, capture good amount of light and produce bright images, but on comparing the results of two cameras, you realise that the OnePlus 5 reproduces more vivid colours than the Honor 8 Pro. But when it comes to low-light environments, the Honor 8 Pro handles it a bit better. And you must know that the focus on both the phones sets really fast.

And how can we miss the selfie camera. After all, self love is the best love, no? (Don’t mistake it for narcissism, please).

While front cameras on both the phones capture fair enough photos, even in room-light conditions, but it’s the OnePlus 5 that is slightly more sensitive to light than the Honor 8 Pro. But at the same time, the Honor 8’s front camera gets one better of the OnePlus 5 by clicking relatively sharper images. And taking about their other capabilities, both the cameras are almost at par and offer a host of customisations options to make the most of the smartphone camera.

But the disappointment here is that the camera in both the Honor 8 Pro and the OnePlus 5 lack the much-needed optical image stabilisation.

The bottomline is that it’s a neck-and-neck fight between the two cameras. But considering everything right from detailing to light sensitivity to colour reproduction, the Honor 8 Pro wins the camera battle by a few points.

Performance

In the end, everything just comes down to speed and power. So, now the question that pops up is which one of the two scores more on the performance front?

No wonder both the phones are packed with powerful features. If the Oneplus 5 has top-of-the-line Snapdragon 835 processor with an option of 6GB and 8GB RAM, the Honor 8 Pro comes with the cutting-edge Kirin 960 chipset paired with 6GB of RAM. But again, numbers can only be an indicator - and not a true reflector.

But having used both the phones, we can say that we didn’t have to struggle with any of them. Our experience with both the phones was pretty smooth. Whether it was multitasking, watching high-definition videos or killing time by playing heavy games, it was a great experience. And another good part is that even after hours of usage, none of the phone actually heats up abnormally.

While both the phones are based on Android nougat, it’s the OnePlus 5 that offers a much neater interface. I think Honor should just pay a little more heed to that.

Also, the speaker on the OnePlus 5 blares noticeably loud audio results than the Honor 8 Pro. And it’s just not the loudness, the quality of the audio is also better on the OnePlus 5 when you pit it against the Honor 8 Pro.

While the battery in the Honor 8 Pro is bigger than that in the OnePlus 5, both the phones lasted for almost the same amount of time. Like with moderate usage, they easily survived for a day on a single charge. And the fast charging on the OnePlus 5 actually gives around 75 per cent of juice in just half-an-hour.

Verdict

And here comes the final question -  which one to buy?

The Honor 8 is a good phone. In fact, at Rs 29,999, it gives you 128GB of storage with 6GB of RAM. The OnePlus 5, on the other hand, offers 64GB of onboard memory with the same amount of RAM at Rs 32,999.  The 128 GB OnePlus 5 with 8GB of RAM, however, costs Rs 37,999. No wonder, the Honor 8 Pro comes across as a better value-for-money deal, but using a phone is about having a great overall experience. And this is where the OnePlus 5 is ahead of the Honor 8 Pro as it offers a better mix of hardware and software than the Honor 8 Pro. And therefore, we would say, spend a couple of thousands more and opt for the OnePlus 5.