Xiaomi and Huawei are currently toe-to-toe with each other on their respective sub-brands: the Pocophone and Honor Play, which are both built for superb performance and features that make it attractive for mobile gamers looking for nice midrange smartphones. Here at Pinoy Tech Blog, we put the two phones into a specs showdown to see which of these smartphones is the bigger bang for your buck.
Design
In terms of its outside appearance, it’s still a tough match. Though Honor Play has an undoubtedly sleeker metal frame with a matte finish that repels fingerprints and smudges, the Pocophone F1 has an armored Kevlar variant that’s both stylish and durable. At default, the Pocophone’s plastic body feels much cheaper than the Honor Play’s but can still resist fingerprints and smudges.
Display
The Pocophone F1 and Honor Play, just like other new phone models released recently, follow the trend of having notched display. Honor Play takes another point in terms of display, as it clearly has a larger screen size at 6.3 inches and a 19.5:9 ratio, while the Pocophone only has 6.18 inches and an 18.7:9 ratio. The Pocophone F1 also has a slightly lower pixel density at 403 ppi compared to the Honor Play’s 409 ppi. As for similarities, both smartphones have an IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen.
Hardware
Both the Pocophone and Honor Play is built with highly impressive processors. The Pocophone F1 is powered by a Snapdragon 845 chipset, which is incredible for its price and instantly makes Pocophone flagship-quality. Based on hardware alone, the Pocophone F1 already trumps other familiar smartphones in the market such as the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Google Pixel 2. The Honor Play, on the other hand, also offers competitive performance with its Kirin 970 chipset despite its affordable pricing—the same processor present in Honor’s flagship smartphones such as the Honor P20 Series, Huawei Mate 10 Series, and the Honor 10.
As for GPU, the Pocophone has Adreno 630 while the Honor Play runs with Mali-G72 MP12. Both GPUs can support heavy mobile games that require great graphics processing power. But in this regard, the Honor Play wins because of its GPU Turbo software update which further accelerates graphics processing speed. The Pocophone equalizes with its higher battery capacity of 4000 mAh which means longer gameplay than Honor Play’s 3750 mAh.
Cameras
Huawei has made great strides in smartphone photography, with members of its P20 Series sporting Leica cameras. It did not disappoint with the Honor Play, whose 16MP+2MP dual rear cameras are more than capable of taking great pictures complete with bokeh effects and AI enhancements. Meanwhile, the Pocophone F1 sports a 12MP+5MP dual rear camera that’s still up to par with the Honor Play—also possessing AI enhancements and can just as well produce sharp and vivid images with good depth of field.
For the front camera, the Pocophone takes the cake this time with its 20MP selfie camera that can produce bokeh effects. The Honor Play fell short with its 16MP front camera.
Memory & Storage
The Pocophone completely takes the lead in this round when it comes to memory and storage, which is available in both 6GB/8GB RAM and 64GB/128GB internal capacity variants, compared to the Honor Play’s 4GB/6GB RAM and 64GB internal capacity. Both phones can have their internal capacity expanded up to 256GB via the microSD slot.
Here’s a quick run-down of the specs comparison:
| Pocophone F1 | Honor Play | |
|---|---|---|
| Chipset | Qualcomm SDM845 Snapdragon 845 | Hisilicon Kirin 970 |
| CPU | Octa-core (4x2.8 GHz Kryo 385 Gold & 4x1.8 GHz Kryo 385 Silver) | Octa-core (4x2.4 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4x1.8 GHz Cortex-A53) |
| GPU | Adreno 630 | Mali-G72 MP12 |
| OS | Android 8.1 (Oreo) | Android 8.1 (Oreo) |
| Display | - 6.18 inchesn- 1080 x 2246 pixelsn- 403 ppi | - 6.3 inchesn- 1080 x 2340 pixelsn- 409 ppi |
| Rear Camera | 12MP + 5MP | 16MP + 2MP |
| Front Camera | 20MP | 16MP |
| Memory & Storage | - 6GB / 8GB RAMn- 64GB / 128GB Internaln- Expandable up to 256GB via microSD slot | - 4GB / 6GB RAMn- 64GB Internaln- Expandable up to 256GB via microSD slot |
| Battery | Non-removable Li-Po 4000 mAh battery | Non-removable Li-Po 3750 mAh battery |
| Sensors | Infrared face recognition, fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, barometer, compass | Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
| Dimensions | 155.5 x 75.3 x 8.8 mm | 157.9 x 74.3 x 7.5 mm |
| Weight | 180 g | 176 g |
| Colors | Graphite Black, Steel Blue, Rosso Red, Armored Edition with Kevlar (Black) | Midnight Black, Navy Blue, Violet, Player Edition Red, Player Edition Black |
Conclusions
Both the Pocophone F1 and Honor Play put up a good fight—specs-wise, the Pocophone beats out the Honor Play in some aspects, but the Honor Play’s final ace is its price point: at Php 15,990 you are guaranteed a great phone with superb performance and style. If you are willing to shell out a little more cash, you should definitely go for the Pocophone F1 which retails for Php 17,990 and Php 19,990 for the 6GB RAM + 64GB storage and 6GB + 128GB storage variants respectively.
POCOPHONE F1 pricing starts at Php 17,990 in the Philippines
Honor Play Launched, Pre-orders Start on August 11
