Topps Blog: Xiaomi Redmi 3S vs Moto E3 Power: Battle of the Budget Stalwarts

When it comes to buying a phone on a limited budget, there are many things that make a difference. Right from the availability to battery performance to build. Since two years now, the budget smartphone category has grown stiff in competition, especially with the Chinese giants selling millions of handsets online, but then what good a phone is if you have a hard time buying it.

Today, we are taking a look at Xiaomi’s popular Redmi 3S vs Lenovo’s Moto E3 Power. Priced almost same, the difference is substantial, and if you have a hard time figuring out, the details will help.

Availability

Before we go ahead, and deep dive into the finer details, availability of any device plays a major role. Even though Xiaomi phones have broken records on selling millions of handsets, grabbing one in flash sale is not easy for many. On the other hand, Moto E3 Power is readily available on Flipkart. Having said that, the demand for Redmi 3S has subsided in recent times and credit to Xiaomi for keeping up with the supply too.

Design & Build

Redmi 3S sports a partial metallic build which not only feels solid, but also delivers premium feel. While Moto E3 Power carries the traditional Moto look and feel with rubberised rear which is also prone to oil and dust. So we have a clear winner for this segment.

Hardware

Redmi 3S comes equipped with a 5-inch HD display and is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 430 SoC clocked at 1.1GHz and paired with a 2GB/3GB RAM. The graphics are handled by an Adreno 505 GPU. On the memory front, the Redmi 3S offers either 16GB/32GB Storage depending on the variant. However, the Hybrid microSD card slot common to both the variants can accommodate up to 128GB.

The Moto E3 Power comes equipped with a 5-inch HD display and draws the power from quad-core MediaTek MT6735P processor clocked at 1GHz and paired with 2GB of RAM. The graphics are handled by ARM Mali-T720 GPU. On the storage front, the device offers 16GB of internal memory along with a dedicated microSD card slot that accommodates up to 32GB. The RAM and the storage both have been considerably bumped up as opposed to its predecessor.

Software & Performance

Redmi 3S trumps Moto E3 Power here. Xiaomi phones are known to deliver performance, thanks to tuning between the software and hardware, and Redmi 3S stands by it. This clearly shows up when it comes to gaming. One should note that Moto E3 Power does not support DirectX 11.2.

While both run on Android 6.0, Redmi 3S is now powered by MIUI 8.0 which comes with a plethora of features including Second Space, Dual Apps, Native Fingerprint App Locking, and so on. Those who are looking for more customization and features, Redmi 3S is the way to go. One thing you should know that MIUI is that it’s very aggressive with RAM management and it kills applications from running in the background pretty quickly to increase battery life.

Moto E3 Power has Stock Android on board which comes with vary basic features and minimal customization. It runs smoothly to what I have experienced, but let me get this straight. Moto E3 is not a power house. If you are looking for causal usage on day to day basis, Moto E3 Power lives up to it. Anything beyond? Look away.

Battery Life

Redmi 3S packs in 4100mAh battery which lasts for around 14-15 hours which can vary depending on your usage. If you only end up using few apps, it could be more, but if you are a gamer, it would be less. You get the Idea. Moto E3 Power packs in 3,500mAh user replaceable battery, which gets you around 12 hours on mixed usage. The basic idea is that both the phones can get through your complete day with moderate usage. Technically, Redmi 3S is nose ahead of Moto E3 Power.

Camera

Even though the price is almost the same, there is no comparison between both the phones. In my experience, the Redmi 3S is a better of the two here. The Redmi 3S stacks a 13 MP shooter with F/2.0 aperture and phase detection AF with LED flash. It also supports slow motion video capture. Moto E3, on the other hand, houses an 8 MP camera with LED flash which records video at 720P. Both phones also include a 5MP selfie shooter. However, both phones lack Auto HDR mode.

Now let’s talk about the photo quality of both the phones. Moto E3 captures blown out and overexposed pictures and has a yellowish tinge to them. Compared to this, Redmi 3S takes photos which look attractive to the eyes with its boosted colors and saturation levels. Also, HDR comes out nice on Redmi 3S.

When it comes to low light, Moto E3 takes blurry photos more often than not because of a huge amount of light intake, but when done properly, it gets good amount of details. In extremely low light, Redmi 3S does better thanks to its aperture but is still not very impressive.

When taking pictures, Redmi 3S does better autofocusing, but when in low light, both the phones struggle.

Moto E3 Power

Redmi 3S

Value for Money

There is only a marginal difference between the phones when it comes to pricing, and they both are worth their price. Keeping in mind that both the phones perform decently, you need to consider other factors which we mentioned above.

If you’re someone who’d consider all the details, it’s pretty clear that Redmi 3S is a clear winner, however, the lack of availability adds to the advantage of Moto E3 Power. Which device will you choose?

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