The Huawei GR5 or Huawei Honor 5X in the USA is finally released in the Philippines and Asia. Both feature the same specs and features, but different branding name. Offering the same price (Php 11,990 pesos), could the Huawei GR5 beat the Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016 edition) in our comparison and camera review? Which is better between the two? Let’s find out in our Ultimate Comparison.
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Design and build
The Huawei GR5 sports metal back with some areas made from plastic. We really like the metal brush finish as it stands out from the competition. Perhaps, it’s one of the best-looking mid-range Androids today.
On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) departed from the 2015 variant with little changes in design. Addition to its new build is a metal frame while retaining the removable plastic back that gives access to a replaceable battery, dual-SIM, and microSD card slot expansion.
The GR5 has dual-SIM and microSD card support too and features fingerprint sensor right on the back, which the Galaxy J5 lacks.
In terms of handling, both felt solid and nice to hold. But if you really up for a premium-looking mid-range, then the GR5 is more of the choice here.
Display
The GR5 features a 5.5-inch 1080p IPS LCD panel while the Galaxy J5 is stuck at 720p with its 5.2-inch Super AMOLED. As usual, we like the punchy colors of the AMOLED on J5, but we notice some edgy details due to its sub-retina resolution. The GR5 has a sharper screen and way more accurate colors. The brightness level is really good on two displays with modest sunlight readability.
Camera
Taking care of photography side is a 13MP main sensor on each. The Galaxy J5 has a wider aperture. Quality-wise, the detail preservation is really close, but the GR5 edges out the J5 because of the HDR feature and better night shots. Overall selfie shooting, proves higher saturation on Huawei GR5 than the Galaxy J5. But the latter takes brighter images due to a wider aperture and front-facing LED flash support at night.
HDR, Low light, Daylight shooting
Selfie portraits
In video shooting, we prefer the crisper shot of Galaxy J5 despite the colors is a bit bland than the GR5. Let’s know which camera do you prefer between the two.
Performance and benchmark
Under the hood of the GR5 is an octa-core Snapdragon 616 chip and 2/3GB RAM while the Galaxy J5 is powered by a dated quad-core Snapdragon 410 chip. GR5 beats the J5 in Antutu benchmark score, but the Galaxy J5 trumps the GR5 in actual speed test due to the less transition effect and lower screen resolution.
Antutu benchmark
Battery life and charging
Battery life on both is really good and more than average and could power your whole day usage without looking for a socket to charge in. The 3000 mAh battery of the GR5 produces 4-5 hours screen on time and 30 hours endurance rating while the 3100 mAh of Galaxy J5 could last for 31 hours.
Charging the GR5 takes more time for about 2 hours 45 minutes because of the low amperage charger bundled in the box, luckily it still supports faster charging using higher amp adapters.
Battery endurance
Speaker
In terms of audio, the mono speaker on GR5 is conveniently placed at the bottom but it is less powerful compared to the back-firing of the J5. The bass and vocals on J5’s speaker are quite crisper and more solid. Though, none of the phones support high-res audio.
Pricing and Verdict
With the same price at Php 11,990, we felt that Huawei GR5 has more value for you money and is a better buy than the Galaxy J5 (2016). Few of the main reasons is the more appealing design, sharper screen, better still camera performance, and faster chipset.
The Galaxy J5 has its few advantages, including the quite pleasing selfie and video shooting quality as well as the clearer loudspeaker. But it just lags behind GR5 or Honor 5X overall mainly because of the dated chip, boring design, and low-resolution display.
| Specs, PH Price | Huawei GR5 (Honor 5X) | Samsung Galaxy J5 2016 |
| Display | 5.5-inch 1080p FHD IPS LCD, 401 ppi, Scratch resistant | 5.5-inch 720p HD Super AMOLED, 282 ppi, |
| Size | 8.2mm thick, 158g weight | 8.1mm thick, 159g weight |
| Design | Metal back | Metal frame + plastic removable back and battery |
| Colors | Silver/Grey, White, Black, Gold | Black, White, Gold, Rose Gold Pink |
| Chipset & CPU | Snapdragon 616 octa-core | Snapdragon 410 quad-core |
| Graphics | Adreno 405 GPU | Adreno 306 GPU |
| Memory | 2/3GB RAM, 16GB storage, microSD up to 128GB | 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, microSD up to 128GB |
| Camera | 13MP main, f2.0 lens, 1080p video, LED flash | 13MP main, f1.9 lens, 1080p video, LED flash |
| Selfie | 5MP f2.2 selfie front-facing, LED flash | 5MP f1.9 selfie front-facing, LED flash |
| Connectivity | 4G dual LTE micro SIM (dedicated), WiFi n, Bt 4.1, GPS | 4G dual LTE nano SIM (dedicated), WiFi n, 4G LTE, Bt 4.1, GPS, NFC |
| Software | Android 5.1 Lollipop, up to Marshmallow | Android 5.1 Lollipop, up to Marshmallow |
| Battery | 3000mAh | 3100mAh |
| Security | Fingerprint sensor | N/A |
| Release date | April 2016 | April 2016 |
| Price | Php 11,990 / $260 USD in the Philippines | Php 11,990 / $260 USD in the Philippines |
