Nokia 3.1 Plus vs Redmi 6 Pro: New Kid Meets the Budget King

With the newNokia 3.1 Plus, HMD Global is looking to make a splash in the budget market with the phone’s massive screen and the stock Android experience. In fact, if you read myfirst impressionsof the phone, then you’ll know how much I like it. But I decided to do a customary comparison to find out if it holds its head against the competition.

Now, this comparison may sound ridiculous due to some obvious reasons. On one side, we have theRedmi 6 Prothat’s powered by theSnapdragon 625 SoC, whereas, on the other hand, we have the Nokia 3.1 Plus that’s powered by theHelio P22.

Yes, looking at the specs alone, it may seem that they both would attract different customers. However, Nokia decided to attach an odd-ball price tag to the Nokia 3.1 Plus, making it difficult for me to compare it against the devices in its “league”. It seems like a bold move, but hey, the performance of a phone is not always defined by its price tag, right? Cue the comparisons.

Design And Build Quality

Logic dictates that the Redmi 6 Pro, with an almostfull-metal body, would give it an edge over the Nokia 3.1 Plus in terms of the design and build quality. But I beg to differ. The Nokia 3.1 Plus, in my opinion, takes the cake. The Nokia 3.1 Plus is an eye-catchy device, thanks to itsdie-cast metal back. It looks and feels good in the hand, whereas the Redmi 6 Pro, looks just like, well,any other Redmi phone out there.

The Redmi 6 Pro, despite itsnotched display, doesn’t get rid of too much of the bezels, but the Nokia 3.1 Plus keeps it classic. I also love the silver accents on the Nokia 3.1 Plus’ dual camera unit and the fingerprint scanner. Both phones weigh almost the same, but the Nokia 3.1 Plus has an edge when it comes to the in-hand feel.Nokia 3.1 Plus (left) vs Redmi 6 Pro (right)

Look, neither of them is a head-turner, but theNokia 3.1 Plus looks and feels arguably better than the Redmi 6 Pro’s plain Jane looks.So, if you ask me, I’ll say the Nokia 3.1 Plus should be your pick if you don’t want to compromise on the looks.

Moving on, both the phones also come with a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a micro USB port. I’d like to give bonus points to Nokia for throwing in adedicated slot for a microSD cardas well. Good job, Nokia!

Display: Notch or No-Notch?

The Nokia 3.1 Plus sports a6-inch HD+ 18:9 aspect ratio display, whereas the Redmi 6 Pro has a5.84-inch FHD+ 19:9panel. Yes, the Redmi 6 Pro is a clear winner here. I personally had no issues with the Nokia 3.1 Plus display, but there’s no denying that the FHD+ display looks way better than the Nokia 3.1 Plus.

That being said, I still prefer the classic no-notch design of the Nokia 3.1 Plus. It could be just me, but I had a great time-consuming media on the Nokia 3.1 Plus without having to put up with a notch.

Cameras

The Nokia 3.1 Plus comes with a13MP + 5MP dual camera setupon the rear, which on paper seems to be better than the Redmi 6 Pro’s12MP + 5MP combination. On the front, again the Nokia 3.1 Plus’8MP selfie shootersounds better than the Redmi 6 Pro’s5MP shooter. So, does the Nokia 3.1 Plus takes better photos than the Redmi 6 Pro? Take a look for yourself:

As you can see, the sample shots are not too bad on either of the phones for this price point. There are instances where I prefer Nokia’s camera over the Redmi 6 Pro, but there’s no significant difference. That being said, I found the Redmi 6 Pro’s camera to be more reliable. Unlike the Nokia 3.1 Plus, the Redmi 6 Pro’s cameras arenot plagued by the focusing or shutter lag issues, which, in my opinion, makes a huge difference.

Hardware And Performance

As mentioned earlier, both phones are not in the same league when it comes to the internal specs. The Redmi 6 Pro’sSnapdragon 625 processor easily outperforms the Helio P22found inside the Nokia 3.1 Plus. The Redmi 6 Pro also comes with up to4GB RAM and 64GBinternal storage, whereas the Nokia 3.1 Plus maxes out at3GB RAM and 32GBinternal storage.

But that’s not to say that the Nokia 3.1 Plus is pathetic when it comes to the performance. I am glad to report that the stock Android running on the Nokia 3.1 Plus keeps thing nice and smooth. I found it to be sluggish at times, but it shouldn’t have any trouble handling day-to-day tasks with ease. When it comes to running games and intensive applications, though, the Redmi 6 Pro is a clear winner.

Software

As mentioned earlier, the Nokia 3.1 Plus is running a stock version ofAndroid 8.1 Oreoout of the box. I don’t hate theMIUI 9on Xiaomi’s Redmi 6 Pro, but I’ll pick a device running a stock version of Android any day of the week over the other.

The stock Android helps the Nokia 3.1 Plus churn out a decent performance even with a slightly under-powered processor. That being said, the MIUI 9 brings a ton of great features likeparallel apps, app-locking and more. So, I’d say this comes down to your personal preference.

Before moving on to the battery performance, I’d like to point out that there’sno Face Unlockon the Nokia 3.1 Plus. The fast and reliable fingerprint scanner makes up for it, but it’s hard to justify the omission of Face Unlock feature when other entry-level devices likeRedmi 6, etc. have it, even if it’s not the most secure implementation.

Battery

On the battery front, the Redmi 6 Pro edges out the Nokia 3.1 Plus with a better battery. We are looking at4,000 mAh batteryon the Redmi 6 Pro against the3,500 mAh batteryin the Nokia 3.1 Plus. However, I’d say it is a close one considering the fact that Nokia 3.1 Plus is running a stock version of Android and it has fewer pixels to work with. I’ve been using the Nokia 3.1 Plus for the last few days myself, and I can confidently say thatthis phone can easily power through a full day of usage. I consider myself a moderate-heavy user, and as you can see from the screenshots below, I am ending my days with 6 hours of screen-on-time (SoT).

Nokia 3.1 Plus vs Redmi 6 Pro: Which One Should You Buy?

Well, if you are looking for a simple answer, I’d say theRedmi 6 Pro is undoubtedly a better phone. The Nokia 3.1 Plus, though it shares a lot of similarities, fails to impress on various parameters. Yes, it has an impressive build quality and it runs on stock Android, but the performance is frankly middling.

It is also worth pointing out that the base model of Redmi 6 Pro costs Rs. 500 less than the Nokia 3.1 Plus (at the time of writing this article). So, if you are fishing for pennies, then just go for the Redmi 6 Pro.

Karthik Iyer

Karthik is a Contributing Author for Beebom. Be it mobile devices, laptops, etc. he brings his passion for technology wherever he goes. When he’s not dwelling on the latest tech, you can usually find Karthik wasting time on Instagram or feeding his incessant obsession for video games.

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