Android fight: Note 8 vs OnePlus 5T vs Huawei Mate 9 Pro vs Google Pixel XL 2
All the phone companies are getting ready for the upcoming events in the next few months which might make some of you wait for the next big thing. However, if you have already made up your mind and don’t want to wait that long, we have gathered some of the best Android phones available at the moment. We will be pitting these phones against each other in different categories to help you pick the right one among these four phones which means: Samsung Galaxy Note 8 vs OnePlus 5T vs Huawei Mate 9 Pro vs Google Pixel 2 XL.
Design
Before we begin, it should be mentioned that three of these phones were released after August, 2017. Most of the smartphone manufacturers started to go for near bezel-less displays at this point which leaves us with the Google Pixel 2 XL, OnePlus 5T and Samsung Galaxy Note 8. However, the Huawei Mate 9 Pro was released way back in January, 2017 and comes with fat bezels and a 73.2% screen to body ratio. If it’s just a good-looking phone you want, you are going to love the look and feel of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 as it comes with Gorilla Glass 5 on both front and back side of the phone. The OnePlus 5T and Huawei Mate 9 Pro comes with glass only on the front side and some part of the Google Pixel 2 XL is covered with glass. When it comes to practical use, the Google Pixel 2 XL is slightly ahead of these phones as the glass back is also a finger magnet and may require using a back cover. Only the Huawei Mate 9 Pro comes with a physical home button but there is a 3D Touch home button in the Samsung Galaxy Note 8. The Google Pixel 2 XL is also the only smartphone here that doesn’t include any headphone jack.
Another notable feature among these phones is, only the Google Pixel 2 XL and Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is certified for dust and water resistance. There is no clear winner here so if you want a phone with a really big display, you should go for the Samsung Galaxy Note 8. However, if you want a smaller phone packing a big display with better screen to body ratio, you should check out the OnePlus 5T.
Winner: Draw between Samsung Galaxy Note 8 vs OnePlus 5T.
Display
Samsung phones are quite popular for their bright and vivid display and it gets only better with Gorilla Glass 5 protection and IP68 rating in the Samsung Galaxy Note 8. The screen to body ratio is also impressive in this one, 83.2%. It’s also packing the biggest display among these phones, a 6.3-inch Super AMOLED Display showing 2960 x 1440 pixels resolution, 18.5:9 ratio and 521ppi of pixel density. Next, we have the OnePlus 5T with a big 6.01-inch Optic AMOLED display covering 80.0% of the body. This one shows 2160 x 1080 pixels resolution, 18:9 ratio and 401ppi of pixel density. It’s also protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The Google Pixel 2 XL is also packing a 6.0-inch P-OLED display showing 2880 x 1440 pixels resolution, 18:9 ratio and 538ppi of pixel density. Among all these phones, only the Huawei Mate 9 Pro comes with a 5.5-inch AMOLED display showing 2560 x 1440 pixels resolution, 16:9 ratio and 534ppi of pixel density.
If you want a smaller display with higher resolution, you can pick the Huawei Mate 9 Pro. However, if you want a big, vivid display with more resolution, you should go with the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note 8.
Camera
We have two of the best camera focused smartphones currently leading the market in this list which are: the Google Pixel 2 XL and Samsung Galaxy Note 8. As the other two phones are in the same price range as well, we will be comparing those phones later.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 comes with dual 12-megapixel cameras on the back while there is only one 12.2-megapixel camera on the back of Google Pixel 2 XL. One of the cameras in the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 comes with f/1.7 aperture, 26mm and the other one comes with f/2.4 aperture, 52mm and Optical Image Stabilizer as well. This extra camera is there in the Samsung phone for a better portrait shot but according to Google, the Google Pixel 2 XL can do that with just one camera. Their camera comes with f/1.8 aperture, OIS, phase detection and dual-LED flash. The Google Pixel 2 XL offers accurate colors and better low light performance while the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is the best one available in the market for capturing videos. When it comes to the overall performance, the Google Pixel 2 XL is the winner here. All the phones here except the OnePlus 5T is packing an 8-megapixel front camera. The OnePlus 5T here comes with a 16-megapixel front camera with gyro EIS. If it’s just a good selfie you want, you can think about the OnePlus 5T as well.
Now let’s take a look at the other two phones: the OnePlus 5T and Huawei Mate 9 Pro. The Huawei phone comes with Leica optics but the OnePlus 5T supports capturing 720p videos at 120fps (both the Google Pixel 2 XL and Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is capable of capturing 720p videos at 240fps). If you really want to choose one of these two phones for it’s camera, the OnePlus 5T is the phone to go for.
Winner: Google Pixel 2 XL
Battery Life
On paper, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 comes with a 3300mAh battery with Quick Charge 2.0 for fast charging, the Google Pixel 2 XL comes with 3520mAh battery with fast charging, the OnePlus 5T comes with 3300mAh battery with fast charging and the Huawei Mate 9 Pro comes with 4000mAh battery. We don’t have the exact calculations and battery life also depends on how each user handles their phone. However, some of the tests done by various sites suggested that the OnePlus 5T offers the best battery life among all the recently released phones. After this one comes the Huawei Mate 9 Pro with a big 4000mAh battery which should give the OnePlus phone a run for it’s money. Considering the specs and battery size, OnePlus 5T is ahead of the other phones.
Winner: OnePlus 5T
Performance
To be honest, most of the high-end phones are not really lacking on the performance side whether it’s from Samsung, Google, Huawei or OnePlus. Three of the phones here: the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, OnePlus 5T and Google Pixel 2 XL are packing Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. However, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 comes with 6GB of RAM, the OnePlus 5T comes with optional 8GB or 6GB of RAM and the Google Pixel 2 XL is only packing 4GB of RAM. The Huawei Mate 9 Pro here is packing an older Hisilicon Kirin 960 octa-core processor paired with 4 or 6GB of RAM. Only the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 here includes a microSD card slot but storage shouldn’t be a problem as all the phones have an 128GB built-in storage option.
Performance is more or less similar in these phones but if you want a raw and smooth Android experience, you can either get the Google Pixel 2 XL or OnePlus 5T. Samsung did improve their launcher but it’s not completely raw.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note 8
Extra Features
We will be talking about the unique features of these smartphones here so it won’t be a direct comparison. The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 comes with some unique features like Samsung DeX for a separate desktop experience, Bixby, S-Pen and Samsung Pay. S-Pen was considered as a gimmicky feature before but now this is what keeps the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 different from the Samsung Galaxy S series phones. Moreover, users can connect this phone with the Samsung DeX dock to get a separate desktop experience by connecting it with a monitor. This is also the only phone to pack Iris scanner which means an extra layer of security. The Google Pixel 2 XL will offer you a smooth Android experience and will always ensure you get the latest Android operating system in your phone before all the other phones. However, there is no major feature in the other phones.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note 8
Price
One of the major deciding factors when it comes to choosing a phone is definitely it’s price. We won’t pick a winner here by only checking how expensive it is but what we get for the price. The Huawei Mate 9 Pro is the cheapest one among these phones but it’s also packing older specs. Both the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and Google Pixel 2 XL are packing the best specs available at the moment but the Google Pixel 2 XL is quite expensive. Keeping all these things in mind, it’s the OnePlus 5T that offers a high-end specs at a mid-range like price. It’s packing the same specs as the other two high-end phones on this list but is not outrageously expensive. The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is a close second if you want those extra perks like an S-Pen or a really good camera.
Winner: OnePlus 5T
