LeTV Le 1S vs. Honor Play 5X: Which one is the new benchmark for thousand-yuan mobile phones?

How to achieve the quality of a flagship phone with a price of one thousand yuan? Perhaps on October 27 this year, more than one domestic mobile phone manufacturer has given its answer.

On the afternoon of October 27, LeTV officially released its "killer-level" new product Le 1S in Beijing at a price of 1,099 yuan, shaking up the thousand-yuan phone market. On the same night, Honor also brought the brand new Play 5X to Chengdu, with a starting price of 999 yuan, also attempting to "define a new standard for thousand-yuan flagships."

Who is the "killer"? Who is the benchmark? The duel between LeTV Le 1S and Honor Play 5X is undoubtedly exciting.

Appearance: Whose metal is better?

It seems that Samsung's flagship mobile phone has just gotten rid of the nickname of "big plastic", but unexpectedly, domestic thousand-yuan mobile phones have quickly put on full metal coats one after another.

Both LeTV Le 1S and Honor Play 5X use all-metal bodies, but the treatment styles of the metal surfaces on the back shells of the two products are obviously different. Le 1S feels more like Apple iPhone, while Play 5X uses gorgeous brushed metal. However, from a visual point of view, the former is more youthful and fashionable, while the latter highlights a low-key and steady temperament.

As Android phones with fingerprint recognition, the fingerprint recognition areas on the back of both phones are very delicate. On the contrary, the protruding camera may be complained by more people. Compared with the slightly protruding Le 1S, the camera "surface" of Honor Play 5X is really too rough.

The treatment of metal edges and corners of the two thousand-yuan phones definitely exceeds your expectations for thousand-yuan phones. LeTV's double chamfers on the sides are extremely refined, especially the Le 1S also chose the USB Type-C interface, which is a very forward-looking approach. However, considering the current popularity of the Type-C interface, it may be more convenient to find a data cable for the Honor Play 5X in real life.

The front designs of the two phones are quite interesting. Some people say that LeTV phones can't get rid of the shadow of Huawei's Mate 7 when viewed from the front, but Honor Play 5X doesn't look like its own Mate "big brother" at all. It is worth mentioning that LeTV Le 1S finally made the two eyes of the "big white" on the top round this time.

More than half a year has passed, and there is really nothing to worry about the "borderless" issue. Including the black borders inside the screen, LeTV Le 1S beats Honor Play 5X by a very slight margin. For phones with 5.5-inch screens, both phones are easier to hold in one hand than the iPhone 6 Plus.

Performance: Fever principle or practical principle?

In terms of parameters, both have a 1080P full HD display. The LeTV Le 1S is equipped with a 2.2Ghz "chicken blood version" MediaTek Helio X10 processor and a 3GB+32GB memory combination. It can be said that its performance level is completely above the Honor Play 5X Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 processor and 2GB+16GB combination. This gap is most obvious from the comparison of running points, and Honor does not use Huawei's own Kirin processor.

However, the difference in parameters and running scores does not mean that the experience can really make a world of difference. Whether it is MediaTek Helio X10 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 616, it is naturally no problem to support the smooth operation of the system. Using the large-scale game "Need for Speed: No Limits" downloaded from the mobile phone's built-in app store for testing, the fluency of the two machines is maintained at a satisfactory level. Although LeTV Le 1S has a relatively better picture, the game has a texture error, which shows that the compatibility of a small number of mainstream games with the PowerVR G6200 GPU needs to be improved, and it is at most a tie with Honor Play 5X.

In addition, it is worth noting that the excellent signal performance of Honor Play 5X truly reflects the consistent strength of Huawei's products. In the same location and the same network environment indoors, Honor Play 5X downloads a 200MB game nearly twice as fast as LeTV Le 1S. I wonder if there are differences between individual products.

Both products use a 3000mAh non-removable battery, so their battery life is not too short of a task, and they are basically “not enough for two days, but more than one day” for daily use.

Interface: EUI is maturing and EMUI is becoming more stable

LeTV's EUI operating interface, which started from 5.0, has received its first major update with version number 5.5 on Le 1S. We have lost count of how many times Huawei's EMUI has been updated. The version equipped on the Honor Play 5X this time is EMUI 3.1. Both systems have not undergone major changes compared to the previous generations.

From the perspective of most ordinary users, EUI5.5 and EMUI3.1 do not feel much different from most Android phones. However, like most Honor phones, the Play 5X uses a virtual three-button design on the screen, while the LeTV Le 1S places the touch buttons at the bottom of the screen, retaining the complete display area.

The multi-tasking interface with rich EUI options is a major feature of the system. LeTV phones, which excel in "ecosystem", have a unique feature on the left side of the main page. The LeTV desktop that integrates LeTV content is different from the experience of installing a LeTV video APP separately on other phones.

Both phones are equipped with a 500W+1300W camera combination. After adding modes such as "Food", the camera interface of Honor Play 5X appears to be richer, but the big trick of LeTV Le 1S is that it can support 4K video shooting, which can be regarded as a "killer" feature for thousand-yuan phones. After all, Apple iPhone didn't have anything to do with 4K until the 6s.

Conclusion: It is hard to tell the difference between a thousand-yuan phone and a flagship phone

It has to be said that with the persistent and unremitting "price war" efforts of major domestic mobile phone brands, today's thousand-yuan phones have long lost the initial inherent impression of cheap appearance, low-end performance, and sluggish operation. Even in the experience of LeTV Le 1S and Honor Play 5X, people can get some of the feeling of past flagship phones.

Some people say that the emergence of Xiaomi and Redmi phones has truly kicked off the competition for entry-level domestic mobile phones. However, whether it is the veteran Honor or the newcomer LeTV, latecomers are using more radical means to rewrite the situation in the thousand-yuan phone market.

Finally, it is a pity that both LeTV Le 1S and Honor Play 5X are not very friendly to users of telecom networks. The version of Le 1S that supports telecom is not included in the release lineup, and the price of the full network model of Play 5X is directly 400 yuan higher than the mobile 4G version. Even if the price increase is weighed by increasing the running memory and other means, the difference of 400 yuan is still a bit too high for a thousand-yuan phone.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.