Micromax has recently launched Micromax Evok Note at a price tag of Rs 9,499. Here we compare the Micromax Evok Note with a popular smartphone – Xioami Redmi Note 4 which is currently retailing in India at Rs 9,999 for 2GB RAM with 32 GB internal storage variant. There is also a 3GB RAM with a 32GB variant of Redmi Note 4 which is available for Rs 10,999 and a 4GB RAM with a 64GB variant of Redmi Note 4 which is available for Rs 12,999 exclusively on Flipkart.
Here we have compared the two phones on the basis of their features and specification only, and after reading this we are pretty sure you can make an informed decision. The Xioami Redmi Note 4 could be considered the elder brother here, thanks to its earlier launch. But in tech, does age really help? Let’s find out.
Design and Display
Starting with Micromax Evok Note, the smartphone boasts a metal unibody, which is a welcome move, especially at this price point. The device has a brushed metal finish at the back, which resembles Micromax’s sister brand Yu Yunicorn. The front is dominated by a 5.5-inch Full HD display with a screen Resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and minimum side bezels coupled with a glass protection, which gives a premium look. The navigation buttons are on-screen and there is a fingerprint sensor at the base, which also acts as a home button.
On the other hand, Xioami Redmi Note 4 also has a metal unibody design and full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) 2.5D curved glass display. The Redmi Note 4 comes with a slightly curved back with flat edges and three capacitive touch buttons below the screen. Alike, Evok Note, the Redmi Note 4 fingerprint scanner placed on its rear panel, which is more convenient, in our opinion. The Micromax Evok Note measures at 153 x 75 x 8.5 mm and weighs at 162 grams while the Redmi Note 4 measures 151 x 76 x 8.5 mm and is slightly heavy at 165 grams.
While both the devices will give you a pretty solid experience in the display department, the final verdict purely depends on your preference.
Processor & Memory
Micromax Evok Note is powered by an octa-core MediaTek MT6753 Processor along with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, which can be further expanded up to 64GB via microSD card slot. Though this is not something new we have seen in a smartphone, but still it can be considered to be decent specs at this price point.
The other side of the picture i.e. Xioami Redmi Note 4 is powered by a 2.0GHz 64-bit Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor coupled with Adreno 506 GPU. In addition to this, we get 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage which is also further expandable up to 128GB via hybrid Dual SIM tray.
In terms of performance, the Redmi Note 4 clearly has an upper hand here with a relatively powerful Snapdragon 625 Chipset and the fact that it is built on a 14nm process makes it more efficient as well. Note that the MediaTek MT6753, in no way, is a poor chipset and will get you through most of the tasks, however, it apparently falls short when compared to the Snapdragon 625 present on the Redmi Note 4. However, Evok Note has a higher RAM configuration of 3GB as compared to Redmi Note 4 of 2GB. But nevertheless you have other options of Redmi Note 4 with 3GB RAM and 4GB RAM variants.
Camera
On the camera front, the Micromax Evok Note features a 13-megapixel rear camera with PDAF, 5P Largan lens, while for the front, there is a 5-megapixel front-facing camera for selfies and video calling. The camera UI is pretty simple to use and also have a host of filters. There are different modes like HDR, smile to capture, slow motion etc, and one can also control exposure, scene preference, white balance and so on in the setting menu. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 offers a 13MP rear camera with PDAF, Sony IMX258 sensor, dual-tone LED Flash and f/2.0 Aperture while on the front we get a 5-megapixel f/2.0 selfie camera.
We have reviewed Redmi Note 4 smartphone and its camera is quick to capture and the photos come out to be decent as long as it is taken under good lighting conditions. Although we have not reviewed the Micromax Evok Note, but since the device has 13-megapixel rear camera, we expect it to offer good camera output.
Spec wise, the phones are on the same footing in the camera department. If you are not into smartphone photography and don’t care to take many photos from your primary smartphone, both these devices will do the job.
Battery
Big battery smartphones are now becoming a rage these days with many manufacturers offering bigger battery at an affordable price point. This is another segment where both these smartphone come neck to neck at least on paper. The Evok Note is juiced up by a 4000mAh battery while Redmi Note 4 is backed up by a slightly larger 4100mAh battery. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 is obviously a winner in this round with a higher battery capacity offering a better standby time.
OS and Connectivity
On the software front, the Micromax Evok Note runs with Android Marshmallow, which is pretty standard across this range. One thing we didn’t like about the UI is that it comes with lots of bloatware apps, which kind of spoils the mood. Though you can delete some apps, but the most of them are indestructible. Xioami Redmi Note 4 also runs on same Android 6.0 Marshmallow with MIUI 8 on top. However, Xiaomi has already rolled out the first developer preview based on Android Nougat for the Redmi Note 4. So it can be said that the Redmi Note 4 has a slight EDGE over Evok Note here.
Meanwhile, in terms of connectivity, both these devices comes with 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11, Bluetooth, GPS with A-GPS, Micro USB 2.0 etc. So not much thinking here.
Wrapping Up
Both the smartphones have a price difference of Rs 500 but offer competitive hardware specification in this mid-range space. For the conclusion, the decision really gets tough if we just look at the specs. While the two phones have some similar specifications like octa-core processor, screen size, operating system and camera resolution. However, what primarily differentiates them is the use of processors. If we compare specs sheet on paper, Redmi Note 4 looks to have edged this battle with its relatively powerful Snapdragon 625 SoC and bigger 4100 mAh battery.