The Nokia dominance now seems like a fairy tale, but thankfully HMD went ahead so as to script a new chapter for Nokia. While they are making headway, it is not the same market as it used to be ten years ago. Brand hardly matters, especially for budget or entry-level smartphones, and of course, iPhone is an exception here.

Nokia 7.1 though managed to stand apart from the crowd but there are lots of other smartphones standing right beside the 7.1.  Huawei’s Honor Play has what it takes and in several categories come out as the winner. Let’s see how they go head to head against each other.

Also Read: Nokia 6.1 Plus vs Nokia 7.1: Specs, features, & pricing comparison

Nokia 7.1 vs Honor Play: Price

The duo was launched at a similar price point but it is until recently the price of Nokia 7.1 dropped down to Rs. 18,994 on Amazon. It’s little complicated for the Honor Play as there are two variants and so the disparity in price segment. For the entry-level model, Huawei asks for Rs. 19,999 and Rs. 23,999 if you want more Random Access Memory.

HMD made Nokia 7.1 with Airtel as a carrier can fetch you 1TB of 4G data on selected plans starting from Rs 199. Furthermore, Airtel postpaid customers with the Nokia 7.1 get 120GB additional 4G data plus three months of Netflix subscription and one year of Amazon Prime subscription on plans starting from Rs 499. Huawei’s Honor Play has no such offerings.

Recommended: Nokia 7.1 vs Huawei Nova 3i vs Vivo V11: Specs, features, & pricing comparison

Nokia 7.1 vs Honor Play: Display and design

Honor Play has a metal unibody which is a plus and While having glass has its own benefits, it never really come close to a metal design when it comes to durability. HMD and its obsession with glass body design continued with the Nokia 7.1. And speaking of glass body design, if you alienate the fear of getting the glass panel broken, the 7.1 is way more premium looking than the Honor Play.

There is not much talk about the display as they do full justice to the price point and produces excellent results. However, Honor Play is slightly ahead than the 7.1 in terms of display resolution. Add to that, if you are buying a smartphone for media consumption then it is always advisable to go with a slightly bigger screen and in this case Honor Play has 6.3-inches while you find a decent 5.84-inch display on the Nokia 7.1.

Nokia 7.1 vs Honor Play: Camera

Honor Play is not a camera phone, I would argue that it is even well behind the camera quality that you find on Nokia 6.1 Plus. But aside from capturing photos, both Honor Play and Nokia 7.1 can capture 4K recording.

On the 7.1, you have 12MP+5MP dual set up backed by ZEISS optics at the backside and 8 MP at the front and on the Honor Play, it is 16MP+2MP at the back and 16MP at the front. You can check our Nokia 7.1 Camera review by clicking here,

Nokia 7.1 vs Honor Play: Performance and battery

While SD 636 is good and does perform when called upon to do so, the Kirin 970 is better in terms of power, speed, etc. It is ahead than the 636 in literally every sector. The Kirin 970 powered Honor Play is powerful, really powerful with a battery back up of 3750mAh while the Nokia 7.1 has a comparatively slower SD 636 and a 3060mAh of battery back up. Honor Play is more like Huawei’s answer to POCO F1.

Also Read: Nokia 8.1 vs POCO F1: Specs, features, & pricing comparison

Nokia 7.1 vs Honor Play: Price, specifications, features compared

 

 

Nokia 7.1 Honor Play
PriceRs. 18,994($349)Rs. 19,999 / Rs. 23,999
ConnectivityGPRS: Yes,

Edge: Yes,

WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/ac/g/n, hotspot Bluetooth: v5.0, A2DP, LE,

USB: USB Type-C 2.0,

GPS Facility: with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS,

Browser: HTML5,

3G Speed: HSPA, LTE NETWORK SUPPORT,

2G: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz,

4G: Dual VoLTE

GPRS: Yes

 

Edge: Yes

 

WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot Bluetooth v5.0, A2DP, LE

 

USB: 2.0, USB Type-C

 

GPS Facility: with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS,

 

Browser: HTML5,

 

3G Speed: HSPA, LTE

2G: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz,

 

4G: VoLTE

Design149.7 x 71.18 x 7.99 mm157.91 x 74.27 x 7.84 mm
Color VariantsGloss Midnight Blue, Gloss SteelBlue, Black, Ultra Violet
Display5.84 inches, Touch, 1080x 2244 pixel, Capacitive Touchscreen, IPS LCD (Corning Gorilla Glass 3)6.3 inches, Touch Screen, 1080 x 2340 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen, IPS LCD (Corning Gorilla Glass 3)
PlatformAndroid OS, v8.1 (Oreo) (Android One)Android OS, v8.1 (Oreo)

EMUI 8.2

Selfie Camera8 MP (f/2.0) Camera16 MP (f/2.0, 1.0µm) Camera
Primary Camera12 MP (f/1.8)+ 5 MP (f/2.4)Dual Camera with Dual LED Flash

Video Recording: 1080p@30fps

Camera Features: Geo-Tagging, Touch Focus, Face Detection, HDR, Panorama, EIS, ZEISS optics

16 MP (f/2.0) + 2 MP (f/2.4) Dual Camera with LED Flash

Video Recording: 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30fps

Camera Features: Geo Tagging, HDR, 4K video, recording, AI Beauty, Panorama, Portrait Mode, Time Lapse, Slow Motion

ProcessorSnapdragon 636, Octa Core 1.8GHz, GPU Adreno 509Huawei Kirin 970

CPU: Octa Core(4×2.4 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4×1.8GHz Cortex A-53)

GPU: Mali-G72 MP12(MP Turbo)

RAM4GB4GB/6GB
Inbuilt Storage64GB64GB
SensorsFingerprint Sensor, Ambient light sensor, Proximity sensor, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, G-sensorFingerprint Sensor, Accelerometer, Gyro, Proximity, Compass, G-sensors, Ambient Light Sensor

 

BatteryNon-removable Li-Ion 3060 mAh batteryNon-removable Li-Ion 3750mAh battery