Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 vs Moto G4 Play: Can Motorola win this battle of budget smartphones?

Motorola has a knack for attracting buyers towards its budget smartphone series, if not the premium flagship ones. After announcing the all-new Moto G4 series in May, the Lenovo-owned company is preparing a new variant, the Moto G4 Play, to fully take advantage of the demand for budget smartphones. But Motorola must put a tough fight as there are players such as LeEco, Xiaomi, Meizu and others that offer competitive devices at a very low price.

These companies have strong devices, such as Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, Meizu M3 Note, and LeEco Le 1s that are not only priced in the most effective way but also convince the consumer to invest in an upgrade. While the Moto G4 Play is yet to be released in India, the handset's specifications were released by the company, showing that it will be among the budget offerings. So here's a comparison of the Moto G4 Play ahead of its launch to see how it competes against one of the best sellers in the industry, the Redmi Note 3.

Display

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 features a 5.5-inch display with 1920x1080 pixels. The display has a 78-degree viewing angle with Sunlight display tech and a special night mode. As for the Moto G4 Play, the budget smartphone features a 5-inch screen with HD 720p resolution. By comparison, the Redmi Note 3 offers a better display and even design.

Camera

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 packs a 16-megapixel rear-facing camera with PDAF, dual-tone LED flash, dual ISP and HDR and a 5MP front-snapper with 36 smart beauty profiles. The Moto G4 Play, on the other hand, offers an 8MP primary camera with f/2.2 aperture, LED flash and Full HD recording. The front camera matches that of the Redmi Note 3 with 5 megapixels with f/2.2 aperture. The Moto G4 Play offers screen flash for brighter selfies in low light.

Processor, RAM and storage

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 CPU, which is backed by 2GB RAM and 16GB onboard storage. Motorola's handset also uses a Qualcomm processor, but doesn't match the performance of the Redmi Note 3. Moto G4 Play is powered by a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 410 quad-core CPU, but the RAM and storage configuration is same as the Xiaomi handset.

Battery and software

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 has a bigger 4,050mAh battery, which the company claims, lasts 14 hours with GPS navigation. Moto G4 Play uses a 2,800mAh battery, which reportedly can last up to 24 hours with mixed usage but it is yet to be tested. There's no mention of the TurboPower charging, but a battery of this capacity wouldn't take long under standard charging.

Both phones run Google's Android OS. While the Moto G4 Play gets treated with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, the Redmi Note 3 has Android 5.1 Lollipop-based MIUI 7.

Price and availability

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is also priced at Rs. 9,999 and is available through Amazon India, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Paytm, Tata CLiQ and its official site. But the handset is out of stock as of this writing.

Motorola is yet to officially launch the Moto G4 Play, but the word is that it will be priced below Rs. 10,000, most likely Rs. 8,499.