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We have seen a lot of new phones released so far this year, but this week we saw possibly the two most important releases in my opinion. The Honor 10 and OnePlus 6 we launched over 2 days this week, neither phone has a huge selling point hardware wise. There is no 40MP camera or ultra-bright screen, what both of these phones do have is a highly competitive price point.

The Honor 10 RRP is just £399, and the OnePlus 6 is £469, in comparison, if I go to Amazon, I can buy the Samsung Galaxy S9 for £739, the Sony Xperia XZ2 for £699 or the Huawei P20 Pro for £799.

[button link=”https://amzn.to/2wUkRi4″] Buy the Honor 10 from Amazon[/button] [button link=”https://amzn.to/2KBxNvh”] Buy the Galaxy S9 from Amazon[/button]

The 3 more expensive phones will almost certainly be better than the OnePlus or Honor but are they £250+ better? I am going to say absolutely not (for most people).

honor-10

If you normally get a contract, you could say the OnePlus will cost you £20PCM or the Honor £16.50. If you picked up the 3GB plan from GiffGaff, you could have a flagship phone for the equivalent of £30PCM or £26.50PCM. If I were to buy one of the more expensive phones on contract from Three, it would be around £40 per month with an upfront cost of around £80!

So how do these budget phones hold up specification wise? The Honor and Huawei phones use the Kirin 970 SoC which is a little older than the Snapdragon 845 found on the other phones, it doesn’t quite perform as well, but for most users, there will be no noticeable difference performance wise.

OnePlus 6

As the Samsung has 2 variants, one used the Snapdragon, the other Exynos I have just used the Snapdragon details for a like for like comparison. Though in the UK we actually get the Exynos.

OnePlus 6Honor 10Samsung Galaxy S9
BODYDimensions155.7 x 75.4 x 7.8 mm (6.13 x 2.97 x 0.31 in)149.6 x 71.2 x 7.7 mm (5.89 x 2.80 x 0.30 in)147.7 x 68.7 x 8.5 mm (5.81 x 2.70 x 0.33 in)
Weight177 g (6.24 oz)153 g (5.40 oz)163 g (5.75 oz)
BuildFront/rear glass, aluminum frameFront/back glass, aluminum frameFront/back glass (Gorilla Glass 5), aluminum frame
SIMDual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)Single SIM (Nano-SIM) or Hybrid Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
DISPLAYTypeOptic AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colorsIPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colorsSuper AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size6.28 inches, 98.4 cm2 (~83.8% screen-to-body ratio)5.84 inches, 85.1 cm2 (~79.9% screen-to-body ratio)5.8 inches, 84.8 cm2 (~83.6% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution1080 x 2280 pixels, 19:9 ratio (~402 ppi density)1080 x 2280 pixels, 19:9 ratio (~432 ppi density)1440 x 2960 pixels, 18.5:9 ratio (~570 ppi density)
SoCChipsetQualcomm SDM845 Snapdragon 845Hisilicon Kirin 970Qualcomm SDM845 Snapdragon 845 - USA/LATAM, China
CPUOcta-core (4x2.8 GHz Kryo 385 Gold & 4x1.7 GHz Kryo 385 Silver)Octa-core (4x2.4 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4x1.8 GHz Cortex-A53)Octa-core (4x2.8 GHz Kryo 385 Gold & 4x1.7 GHz Kryo 385 Silver) - USA/LATAM, China
GPUAdreno 630Mali-G72 MP12Adreno 630
MemoryInternal128/256 GB, 8 GB RAM or 64 GB, 6 GB RAM64/128 GB, 4/6 GB RAM64/128/256 GB, 4 GB RAM
MicroSDNoNoYes
CameraPrimaryDual: 16 MP (f/1.7, 27mm, 1/2.6", 1.22µm, gyro-EIS, OIS) + 20 MP (f/1.7, 1/2.8", 1.0µm), phase detection autofocus, dual-LED flashDual: 16 MP (f/1.8) + 24 MP B/W, phase detection autofocus, LED flash12 MP (f/1.5-2.4, 26mm, 1/2.5", 1.4µm, Dual Pixel PDAF), phase detection autofocus, OIS, LED flash
Video2160p@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, 720p@480fps2160p@30fps, 1080p@30fps2160p@60fps, 1080p@240fps, 720p@960fps, HDR, dual-video rec
Secondary16 MP (f/2.0, 20mm, 1/3", 1.0µm), gyro-EIS, Auto HDR, 1080p24 MP, f/2.0, 1080p8 MP (f/1.7, 25mm, 1/3.6", 1.22µm), autofocus, 1440p@30fps, dual video call, Auto HDR
CommsWLANWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, DLNA, hotspotWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspotWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
Bluetooth5.0, A2DP, LE, aptX HD4.2, A2DP, aptX HD, LE5.0, A2DP, LE, aptX
GPSYes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEOYes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDSYes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO
NFCYesYesYes
Infrared portNoYesNo
RadioNoNoFM radio (USA & Canada only)
USB2.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector2.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, USB On-The-Go3.1, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector
BatteryNon-removable Li-Po 3300 mAh batteryNon-removable Li-Po 3400 mAh batteryNon-removable Li-Ion 3000 mAh ba
Price469399739

Looking at the specifications side by side, there are so little differences you have to wonder where the extra money goes on the Samsung.  It has a higher resolution screen, and you get a MicroSD slot.

The cameras all have different specifications, and if you are a keen photographer you may have a preference, the Samsung has a lower MP count and only a single lens, but its sensor size is larger. For most users, you probably won’t tell the difference.

The Honor and come with much larger 128GB storage which makes up for the lack of a MicroSD slot. Both the Honor and OnePlus has more RAM than the Samsung too.

Galaxy S9

The Samsung has the smallest battery of the three, which is quite a big thing for me, nothing worse than having to charge your phone halfway through the day.

Overall, while it is great that premium brands offer some exciting features to make themselves stand out from the crowd, I am not sure they justify their increasing costs. If I were to buy a new phone right now, the only choice would be the Honor 10 or the OnePlus 6

[button link=”https://amzn.to/2wUkRi4″] Buy the Honor 10 from Amazon[/button] [button link=”https://amzn.to/2KBxNvh”] Buy the Galaxy S9 from Amazon[/button]

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