Xiaomi and Motorola (which now has been acquired by Lenovo) are two of the most popular brands in the midrange smartphone market today. A few years back, their devices particularly the Moto E and Redmi 1s changed the budget smartphone market for good. Without those two, the affordable smartphone market in India might have looked pretty different. Both of these brands have recently launched some more affordable phones particularly the Moto G4 Play and Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime. The G4 Play is the lighter version of the popular Moto G4 series, while the 3s Prime seems to be a miniature version of the popular Redmi Note 3. So how both these devices fare against each other on various fronts, let’s compare and find out.
Display
Both the phones have a 5-inch IPS LCD display of HD resolution with pixel density of 294ppi. However in the display category, the G4 Play races slightly ahead thanks to the the protective layer of Corning’s Gorilla Glass v3 coating on the top of its screen that keeps it safe.
Read : Top 10 Android Phones Below 8000 (4G)
Built and Design
The design of Moto G4 Play looks a tad bit similar to its bigger siblings. It comes in plastic body that has flat back cover and speaker on the top of the front panel. The Redmi 3s Prime, one other hand has a much more premium and sturdier built, with a full metal unibody design and curved edges on the back that makes it comfortable to hold. Although Moto G4 Play seems to be lagging over here as well, but it does have a major factor working in its favour. The G4 Play has water repellant nano coating that gives it a certain amount of water resistant.
Platform
Although both these phone runs on Android v6.0 (Marshmallow) operating system, the Moto G4 Play comes with nearly stock version of Android OS while Redmi 3s Prime features brand’s own customized skin (MIUI 7) on top. Though the near stock Android of G4 Play will run faster, MIUI will offer users many different options to tailor built their phone.
Must check : Asus Zenfone 3 vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 3: Which one you should buy?
Configuration
Under the hood, Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 chipset while the Moto G4 Play features a slightly less powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 chip. For handling graphics, the 3s Prime contains Adreno 505 GPU while the G4 Play has pretty old Adreno 306 graphics processor, that can possibly lead to the device experience lagginess while gaming. For multitasking, there is 3GB of RAM present in 3s Prime while G4 Play only has 2GB of it. On paper, the 3s Prime looks to be clear winner however the stock Android UI present in G4 Play consumes less resources and battery, thereby boosting its performance.
Camera
For photography, the Redmi 3s Prime comes with a 13MP camera of f/2.0 aperture on the back along with LED flash, phase detection autofocus feature. It is accompanied by 5MP camera of f/2.2 on the front for selfies and video calls. Compared to that, the Moto G4 Play has an 8MP camera of f/2.2 aperture along with LED flash and autofocus feature. It comes along with 5MP camera on the front having an aperture of f/2.2. Camera lovers will find the Redmi 3s to be a more appealing option compared to G4 Play.
Storage
With regards to storage, the Redmi 3s Prime has double the amount of storage present inside it which is 32GB as compared to G4 Play which only has 16GB of storage space. However this advantage can be negated by the fact that the G4 Play has a dedicated memory card slot while the Redmi 3s Prime comes with a hybrid SIM slot, meaning you cannot use a microSD card to expand the phone’s memory if you are using its dual SIM connectivity.
Connectivity
On the connectivity front, options available in Moto G4 Play are dual SIM, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi with hotspot, Bluetooth v4.1, GPS with A-GPS and microUSB 2.0. Options included in the Redmi 3s Prime are Hybrid SIM, 4G with VoLTE, Wi-Fi with hotspot tethering, Bluetooth v4.1, GPS with A-GPS, Glonass and microUSB 2.0. Though, the G4 Play offers dedicated dual SIM connectivity, however the 3s Prime steals the show here thanks to its VoLTE support.
Sensors
As far as the sensors are concerned, the G4 Play only has light, proximity and accelerator present inside. The Redmi 3s Prime on the other hand comes with all of the sensors required in a smartphone which are light, proximity, accelerometer, compass, gyroscope and a fingerprint sensor stationed on the back.
Battery
The Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime boast of a monstrous 4,100mAh battery while the Moto G4 Play features only 2,800mAh of battery backup. Granted the stock Android UI on G4 Play consumes comparatively less battery, but still the difference of such a big amount would make the disparity of battery backup provided by these two device pretty noticeable. Here the Redmi 3s Prime looks to be miles ahead.
Conclusion
After a detailed comparison of these two devices, the Redmi 3s Prime looks to be a clear winner at least on paper. The device offers huge battery great built and design, better cameras, enormous battery backup and many other features and functionalities. The G4 Play on the other hand has slightly humble built and spec, but still has many good features that provides that makes it reasonable option to purchase. It has a splash resistant design, runs on bloat free software and is also a good choice for people looking to buy an affordable phone with removable battery.
Also see : OnePlus 3: Everything you need to know before buy
