Gauntlet: iPhone 6 vs. THL 5000

We’re still running one of Apple’s latest iPhones through the gauntlet and in this round we face it off against an octa-core smartphone with a beast of a battery that’s running a homegrown OS – the THL 5000 from Novo7 Tech.

Body

As expected, the iPhone 6 easily wins this category with its seamless design and thin body made from a combination of anodized aluminum, stainless steel, and glass compared to the generic design and plastic body of the THL 5000. The iPhone 6 is also marginally thinner and considerably lighter at 6.9mm and 129 grams, respectively, while the THL 5000 measures 8.9mm thin and weighs 170 grams.

Screen

In spite of its design, the THL 5000 does pack quite a decent screen at 5-inches with a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels compared to the smaller and lower resolution screen of the iPhone 6 (4-7-inches at 750 x 1334 pixels). This means the THL 5000 ends up with the sharper screen at a 441ppi compared to the 326ppi of the iPhone 6 but even if both use IPS panels the iPhone 6 does seem to have better color reproduction and contrast ratio.

CPU, GPU, RAM, and Storage

Looking at the specs of both phones, it seems that the THL 5000 should run better than the iPhone 6. The THL 5000 runs a faster-clocked MediaTek MTK6592 processor (2.0GHz) with more cores (eight) and is equipped with double the RAM compared to the iPhone 6’s 1.4GHz dual-core A8 processor and 1GB of RAM but even with these number advantages the THL 5000 seems to have a hard time keeping up with even older flagship phones while the iPhone 6 is one of the best performing phones in the market. This could be due to the iPhone 6’s 64-bit architecture and PowerVR GX6450 GPU combined with better overall optimization. The THL 5000 does provide a bit more flexibility in the storage department with its expandable storage via microSD card compared to the fixed storage options of the iPhone 6.

Camera

This is another category where the on-paper stats don’t convert into superior performance because while the rear and front cameras on the THL 5000 may seem superior to the iPhone 6’s, the sensors and image processing on Apple’s iPhone cameras are, as always, stellar in spite of their lower megapixel count which always challenge the notion that more megapixels is better so while photos taken with the THL 5000’s camera may have more detail the iPhone 6’s photos will have better color saturation, contrast, and overall image quality.

Battery Life

This is the one area where the THL 5000 wins out by a mile and the reason why its body is a whole 2mm thicker than the iPhone 6. The THL 5000’s gigantic 5,000mAh battery gives it at least 2 days’ worth of usage in between charging compared to the 1 day battery life of the iPhone 6 with its smaller 1,810mAh battery.

Software & Apps

While the iPhone 6 runs iOS 8 which is an excellent and beautiful operating system, the THL 5000 runs a fairly new and homegrown/pinoy-made operating system called Hydroid OS which is based on Android 4.4 KitKat. Hydroid OS does show some promise and it’s great that there’s actually a locally-developed mobile OS in the market but iOS is the tried and tested operating system along with its superior App Store.

Extra Features

The THL 5000 doesn’t really have anything in the area of extra features but the iPhone 6 has a few of them including compatibility with the company’s new Apply Pay service, a new M8 motion sensor, and a fingerprint sensor.

Cost

As usual, the iPhone 6 is a premium device at a premium price. It currently retails at around Php37,000 for the smallest 16GB variant while the THL 5000 can be had at an insanely affordable price of Php12,000 which, considering the THL 5000’s specs, is really hard to beat.

Verdict

The THL 5000 is an excellent phone for those who are always on-the-go and don’t have the luxury of charging their device on the regular but the iPhone 6’s clearly superior performance is hard to pass up unless you’re on a tight budget as the THL 5000 costs less than a third of the price of the iPhone 6. If you’re after superior performance and quality then the iPhone 6 should be your choice but if you’re looking for insane battery life and performance on a budget then the THL 5000 is a very good candidate.