Honor and OnePlus are two brands that have left their mark on the smartphone market in recent years. Despite different philosophies, the two manufacturers have the same product strategy: to offer smartphones with unbeatable value for money.
At the moment the bet is successful for both brands. If in 2016 Honor dealt a massive blow to its rival with a truly impressive Honor 8, OnePlus launched the most explosive OnePlus 5 to take on the Honor 9 in 2017. So which of these two is the best?
Design
Honor 9 and OnePlus 5 have two completely different designs. There are two schools there. Honor has played more of the stability game, taking the foundations of the Honor 8. 15 layers of glass with Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The originality of the Honor 9 is that it is curved on the side edges that come to merge with the edge.
While the Honor 9 is gorgeous, it still has an annoying tendency to slip out of hand, but it can also slide on its own when placed on a table or flat surface. Not ideal for processing. And the glass leaves a lot of fingerprints.
OnePlus 5 opts for an anodized aluminum design with Gorilla Glass 5 protection. It definitely does not leave fingerprints and does not slip. Grip is excellent, with a wraparound 2.5D screen and rounded design. The bevels have been particularly studied to provide a good grip.
Both models have a fingerprint sensor on the front and capacitive keys on both sides. Note that the OnePlus 5’s screen is larger, but so is the format. Both smartphones are not bezel-less, but the two brands have tried to optimize the side borders as much as possible.
In the field of design, everything will be a matter of taste. The biggest difference is the choice of materials and differences in dimensions. To look at it, the Honor 9 is truly magnificent and outperforms the OnePlus 5. But in terms of use, the OnePlus 5 is much more comfortable, despite its less compact format.
Technical document
| honor 9 | One Plus 5 | |
| Screen | Full HD IPS LCD – 428 ppi – Corning Gorilla Glass 3 | 5.5 inch Full HD AMOLED 2.5D – Corning Gorilla Glass 5 – 401 ppi |
| Processor | Kirin 960 Octa-core (4 x 2.4 GHz and 4 x 2.8 GHz) | Snapdragon 835 runs at 2.45 GHz |
| GPUs | Mali-G71 MP8 | Adreno 540 |
| data store | 4GB LPDDR4 or 6GB | 6 or 8GB LPDDR4X |
| front sensor | 8 megapixels with autofocus | 16 megapixel Sony IMX 371 – f/2.0 aperture – EIS stabilization – 1080p video at 30fps |
| rear sensor | Dual 20-megapixel monochrome + 12-megapixel RGB sensor. 2x hybrid zoom. Portrait mode for bokeh. 4K video at 30fps. |
|
| to store | 64GB (base) + micro SD (up to 256GB) | 64 or 128 GB UFS 2.1 |
| battery | 3200 mAh – Fast charging (40% in 30 minutes) | 3300mAh – Indicator Charge (5V – 4A) |
| Security | fingerprint scanner | ceramic fingerprint scanner |
| connection | USB type C standard USB 3.0, audio jack, bluetooth 4.2 | USB type C USB 2.0 standard NFC, audio jack, 2×2 MIMO WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 2.4/5 GHz, bluetooth 5.0, Dirac HD Sound |
| BONE | Android 7.0 Nougat + EMUI 5.1 overlay | Android 7.1.1 Nougat + OxygenOS overlay |
| Colors | blue and black | Slate Gray (dark grey) Midnight Black (matte black) |
| Dimensions | 147.3 x 70.9 x 7.5mm | 154.2 x 74.1 x 7.25mm |
| Weight | 155 grams | 153 grams |
| Price | 499 Euro Sapphire Blue (lighter than Honor 8) and Glacier Grey. | €499 Slate Gray 64GB / 6GB RAM 559 Euro Midnight Black 128 GB / 8 GB RAM |
Yield
In the field of performance, the discussion will not last long. We were able to test the two most powerful models, the Honor 9 with 6GB of RAM and the OnePlus 5 with 8GB of RAM. Note that the Honor 9 with 6GB of RAM is not available in France.
In terms of performance, OnePlus 5 literally crushes its rivals. In all benchmarks, the Honor 9 is vastly surpassed. The Snapdragon 835 with 8GB of RAM shows incredible scores. The Honor 9’s Kirin 960 processor and 6GB of RAM are far from doing the job.
In use, however, we won’t feel major differences other than multitasking and gaming. Pushing the Honor 9 to its limits, we’ll quickly feel the phone overheating until it gets really unpleasant. If the Honor 9 really didn’t mind during our testing, it sometimes showed some bugs during our comparison. Nothing bad, but still.
to the side OnePlus 5 works like clockwork, even under extreme conditions. We tried to push the limit, but the OnePlus smartphone never gave up. A real monster.
Interface
We still have two schools between Honor 9 and OnePlus 5. On the one hand, OnePlus offers Oxygen OS, which is a very close overlay to pure Android. On the other hand, Honor offers EMUI which is more like iOS than Android.
Two ways to use your smartphone and two schools. It all depends on individual preferences. However, keep in mind that OnePlus has been adding some very useful little features for a while now that are very similar to what EMUI has to offer.
For example, you might consider closing apps when they are consuming too much energy. At the interface level, so it will be to everyone’s taste.
Camera
The camera is arguably the most important point for many users. Generally We can say that OnePlus 5 and Honor 9 are on par. Both smartphones are equipped with dual photo sensors, but the treatment of the latter is not the same compared to the two models.
That’s why the Honor 9 is challenging in good light conditions with photos full of detail. In good conditions the OnePlus 5 is also excellent. The difference between the two smartphones is barely visible.
On the other hand, models differ in other points. For example, in low light, the Honor 9 loses more quality than the OnePlus 5, which performs quite well. Ditto for bokeh. Software rendering on the Honor 9 is less natural than shots taken by the OnePlus 5.
But Honor 9 has a big strength compared to OnePlus 5: its many features and shooting modes. OnePlus 5’s photo interface looks very smooth next to Honor 9’s. The offered functions and professional mode allow you to really enhance the photos and let your creativity speak. Something you can’t do with the OnePlus 5.
In terms of photo quality, the Honor 9 lags slightly behind the OnePlus 5, but many features of Honor’s latest product allow you to create more artistic photos.
Autonomy
A high-performance smartphone is fine, but it still needs to be durable. On the autonomy side, the Honor 9 and OnePlus 5 perform more or less the same. However, it will be noted that OnePlus 5 is a little more durable but very light.
For the same daily use, we easily exceed a day’s autonomy on two smartphones. For users who are less connected to their smartphones, we can delay it for up to a day and a half or two.
Where the difference is made is the charge level. The Honor 9 may be equipped with fast charging, but the performance displayed is a far cry from the OnePlus 5’s Dash Charge system. difference.
Indeed, OnePlus has integrated a fast charging system that continues to go very fast even when the user is playing games while using their connected smartphone. In such arrangements, Honor 9 slows down the charging speed. And since it has overheating issues, needless to say, playing while charging raises the temperature quickly.
Solution
If we dwell on the purely technical part of the Honor 9 and OnePlus 5, OnePlus’ smartphone crushes its rivals on every level. However, we should not forget that no two smartphones are sold for the same price. The Honor 9 is available at 399 euros versus 499 euros for the OnePlus 5 (for the base models).
Honor, on the other hand, is offering a €549 Honor 8 Pro which is technically much closer to the OnePlus 5 128GB. If you are hesitating between OnePlus 5 and Honor 9 but your budget is big then it is better to go for OnePlus 5.
If you’re on a tight budget, the Honor 9 should keep you happy. If you’re loyal to Honor but want a smartphone as powerful as the OnePlus 5, take a look at our Honor 8 Pro test and it should satisfy you.
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