We gathered 3 5.5-inch devices for today’s specs clash; Oppo F1s, Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, and Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime are all solid devices, offering lots of RAM, very good cameras and one of them also has a very sharp selfie snapper. Let’s see which one is the best buying choice and what are the biggest differences between the three.
Dimensions, Design
Since all three models sport 5.5-inch screens, it’s expected for them to have very similar dimensions. Oppo F1s is the largest of the bunch, measuring 154.5 x 76 x 7.4 mm. The phone is quite thin and also visibly taller than the other two devices. Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime measures 151.7 x 75 x 8 mm; a bit thicker than the F1s, but also visibly smaller and a bit narrower. Xiaomi Redmi 3 Note measures 150 x 76 x 8.7 mm, with dimensions being quite similar to the other two devices.
The F1s sports a minimalistic design; a large Home button below the screen, the back side featuring just camera lens and the company logo. The design is solid, although quite similar to the iPhone’s outer looks.
Xiaomi Redmi 3 Note features a classic Xiaomi design formula characterized by three soft keys under the screen, main camera lens along with a fingerprint scanner placed on the upper middle part of the back, and the main speaker placed on the lower part of the backside.
The Galaxy J7 Prime sports a classic Samsung design on the front (two soft keys along wth a large home button in the middle, below the screen), with the back containing just Samsung’s logo along with the main camera lens over it. It’s a nice looking phone, sporting full metal body. Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime is the design part winner. It looks like a premium device, with metal chassis, cool looking backside, and thin side bezels.
Hardware, Display
Oppo F1s is powered by Mediatek MT6750 (Octa-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 combined with Mali-T860MP2 GPU) chipset. The SoC used can score around 40,000 points in AnTuTu benchmark app; quite low numbers for a 2016 mid-tier device. The phone has 3 Gb of RAM and 32 Gb of expandable (via dedicated SD card slot) internal storage.
The Galaxy J7 Prime packs Exynos 7870 (Octa-core 1.6 GHz Cortex-A53 along with Mali-T830MP2) under the hood. The phone goes up to around 47,000 points in AnTuTu; more than the F1s but still a bit lower than expected. The device packs 3 gigs of RAM and a choice between 16 GB and 32 GB of expandable (dedicated SD card slot) internal storage.
Xiaomi Redmi 3 Note comes with a Snapdragon 650 (4×1.4 GHz Cortex-A53 & 2×1.8 GHz Cortex-A72, with Adreno 510). The device can go over 50,000 points in AnTuTu benchmark app, making it the most powerful of the bunch, by far. The phone sells in two flavors; Standard edition comes with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of built-in storage, while the Special edition packs 3 gigs of RAM along with 32 GB of internal storage. Internal storage can be expanded via SIM 2 slot.
The F1s features a 5.5-inch 720 IPS LCD display, featuring warm colors and wide viewing angles. Sharpness is quite low (267 ppi pixel density) and if you don’t like pixelation look for some 1080p resolution device. The Redmi Note 3 and Galaxy J7 Prime feature 5.5-inch 1080p screens, featuring much higher sharpness value (401 ppi pixel density). Xiaomi equipped its phone with an IPS LCD screen, while Samsung sticks to its Super AMOLED screen type. IPS screens have natural looking colors and offer extremely wide viewing angles, while AMOLED screens have super-saturated colors and deep blacks.
Camera
The main selling point for Oppo F1s is its high-resolution selfie camera. It counts 16 MP (f/2.0) and is capable of recording 1080p videos; no flash or autofocus feature. The main camera also counts 16 MP (f/2.2), supporting phase detection autofocus, LED flash, and HDR. It can record 1080p@30fps videos.
Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime features a 13 MP (f/1.9) main camera, offering autofocus, LED flash, and HDR. It can snag 1080p@30fps videos. The front-facing snapper has 8 MP (f/1.9).
The Redmi Note 3 is equipped with a 16 MP (f/2.0) main camera supporting phase detection autofocus, dual-LED flash, and HDR and being capable of recording 1080p@30fps videos. The selfie snapper counts 5 MP (f/2.0) and is capable of recording 1080p videos.
Battery, Software
The F1s has a 3075 mAh battery, solid choice since the phone features just a 720p display that uses less power than 1080p ones. Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 packs a huge 4050 battery, enough for at least two days of usage. Samsung placed a 3300 mAh battery inside the Galaxy J7 Prime; it should offer at least one day of usage.
Oppo F1s and Redmi Note 3 work under Android Lollipop while the Galaxy J7 Prime runs Android Marshmallow. All three models feature a fingerprint sensor, while Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 also supports fast battery charging.
Conclusion
The Redmi Note 3 is the most powerful, Oppo F1s has that serious selfie camera, and the Galaxy J7 Prime looks the best. For announcing the winner, we must first see their selling prices. The Redmi Note 3 (32 GB version) can be found for around RS 12,000 ($175); Samsung sells Galaxy J7 Prime (16 GB version) for around Rs 18,000 ($265), while Oppo F1s can be bought for Rs 17,500 ($257).
When looking at prices, Oppo F1s can only be recommended to selfie fans. The phone is just too expensive for what it offers (a better chipset and the presence of LED flash and autofocus on the selfie camera would justify the price). The Redmi Note 3 offers the best bang for the buck; powerful chipset, metal body, lots of RAM, solid screen, and nice camera make its price to appear even lower. Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime offers almost the same package as the Redmi Note 3, but for a much higher price. If you don’t like Xioami’s MIUI and want a newer Android version, go for the Galaxy J7 Prime.