This material will be considered in detail the flagship device with impressive features - Meizu MX5. A review will indicate its strengths and weaknesses. A comparison will also be made of this gadget with the other flagship decision of 2014 - iPhone 6. It is on the basis of a comparison with the "apple" smartphone that a verdict will be handed down on the appropriateness of buying this Chinese "smart" phone.
The market segment to which the device is oriented
All hardware characteristics, the operating system of the device, as well as its cost clearly indicate that this is the flagship device based on the Android OS of this manufacturer at the moment. Of course, a more efficient smartphone - Meizu MX5 Plus has already been announced. Compared with today's flagship, it will increase the display diagonal to 6 inches, use a more productive hardware platform from Samsung - Exynos 7420, install more RAM - 4GB. Well, the camera is built on a better sensor of 27 megapixels. But these are matters of the future, but for now, the best by right is simply MX5. Its parameters allow you to easily compete with the "apple" flagship of 2014. At the same time, the cost of such a gadget is much lower, and the capabilities that it has are no worse than the iPhone 6.
Equipment
Typical MX5 equipment, like previous Meizu flagship solutions. It includes:
- The gadget itself with a built-in battery.
- Typical charging adapter with 2A output.
- High-quality stereo headset with improved sound quality.
- Interface cord.
- Warranty card.
- Detailed user manual for the device from the manufacturer.
- A special paper clip to remove the SIM card slot.
There is no slot for installing an external drive in this device, and there is no need to purchase an additional flash card for the owners of this gadget. But the protective film for the front panel will definitely not be superfluous. Although it is protected by shock-resistant glass of the latest generation, this constructive solution does not guarantee 100% protection against possible accidental damage. But the protective film does an excellent job of this task. For similar reasons, it is also recommended to purchase a case for Meizu MX5. Only in this case will complex protection of the device case be provided.
Design
In terms of design, the MX5 has a lot in common with the "apple" flagship gadget. Most of the front panel is occupied by a 5.5-inch display. Only one button is displayed at the bottom, as in the smartphone from Apple, which provides device control. A fingerprint scanner is also built into it . The only difference in this case is the shape of the button. If in iPhone 6 it is round, then in MX5 it is rectangular, with rounded corners. Above, above the touch screen, a number of eyelets of the sensor elements, a round opening of the front camera and the speaker are displayed. In terms of ergonomics, the controls are much better located on the MX5 compared to the iPhone 6. If the American device has control buttons located on different sides of the device (the lock button is displayed on the right edge, and the volume control buttons are on the right side of the gadget), then on the MX5 these The controls are grouped on the right side of the machine. This design solution greatly simplifies the process of controlling the device with just the fingers of one hand.
The side faces and the back cover of the Meizu flagship device are made of solid metal sheet. The case of this device does not disassemble. This allows you to ensure the perfect build quality of the device. But in the event of a battery failure, it will be difficult to do without the help of a service center.
On the top edge of the smartphone is a standard audio port. At the bottom, the micro-USB port, a loud speaker (it is hidden behind stylish holes) and a conversational microphone are displayed. On the back cover, in addition to the manufacturer’s logo, is the peephole of the main camera. Here, nearby, there is a dual LED backlight for it. In total, there are three color options for the case of this gadget. The most practical of these is the Meizu MX5 Gray. On it, dirt and possible damage to the gadget's body are not so noticeable. The white version is more suitable for the weak half of humanity: mothers, wives, daughters, sisters. Well, the golden corps is focused on directors, their deputies and other managers. He perfectly emphasizes their status.
CPU
MT6795T - Meizu MX5 was built specifically on the basis of this chip developed by MediaTek. A review of its technical specifications is really impressive. This is an overclocked version of a semiconductor crystal: the “T” - “Turbo” index indicates this, that is, this is an accelerated modification of the CPU. It consists of eight computing modules, each of which can dynamically accelerate to 2.2 GHz, depending on the complexity of the task. At the same time, it has two clusters. The first of them uses the more efficient A57 architecture and includes 4 computing modules. The second consists of a similar number of computing cores, but is built on the basis of a more energy-efficient architecture - “A53”. Such a solution allows you to dynamically adapt the smartphone to the task at hand. If you need the maximum level of performance, then the main load falls on the first module. But in the power saving mode, the second computing cluster is used more intensively. It should also be noted that this chip has an excessive level of performance, and it easily copes with any task today, including the most demanding three-dimensional toys.
In contrast, the MX5 iPhone 6 can count on only 2 cores capable of overclocking at the most intense load up to 1.4 GHz. As a result, the computational capabilities of Meizu's flagship solution are much better. A certain compensation in this regard is a significant optimization of software. But all the same, the excessive performance of the computing "heart" of the smartphone allows the owner not to think about the level of complexity of the task to be solved, and the "apple" gadget certainly cannot boast of this. We can say that Apple shifted the problem of the lack of performance of the device to the shoulders of programmers, and this modest Chinese manufacturer laid such a processor solution that allows you to run any program code on the gadget.
Device display
Of course, the quality of the screen is not satisfactory in Meizu Mx5. His characteristics are really impressive. Its diagonal is equal to a solid 5.5 inches today. In this case, the screen resolution is 1920 × 1080, and the pixel density in this case is equal to an impressive 401ppi. That is, the image on this smartphone is displayed in 1080p format. The display matrix is made using the AMOLED technology. In the same way, the latest generation of Samsung flagship matrixes - S6 and S6 EDGE - are made, and this is good news. In addition, it is necessary to note the presence of a sensor that provides automatic adjustment of the screen brightness level. Also, the front panel together with the display is protected by the latest generation of impact-resistant glass - Gorilla Eye 3. Similar screen options can boast a more advanced version of the iPhone 6, which has a prefix Plus. She has a similar display diagonal - 5.5 inches, exactly the same resolution - 1920x1080. The only significant difference is that in this case, another technology is used in the manufacture of the display matrix - Retina HD. But from the perspective of the end user, this is not so serious. So the display quality in these devices is almost identical.
Graphics Accelerator
One of the main weaknesses in comparison with the iPhone 6 is the graphics accelerator in Meizu MX5. A comparison of their hardware specifications clearly indicates this. The iPhone 6 uses the PowerVR GX6650 video adapter. Its clock frequency can reach only 550 MHz, but at the same time it boasts the presence of 192 computing streams. This puts him on a par with such graphic accelerators as the Adreno 420 or Tegra K1. But the MX5 is equipped with a PowerVR G6200. Its peak clock frequency reaches 700 MHz, but there are only 64 computational streams. That is, they are almost three times less than the “apple” smartphone. But, on the other hand, the computational capabilities of this graphic solution are quite enough to display a picture on a 2K screen. In our case, a more modest resolution is used - 1080p. Accordingly, there should certainly not be any problems with the output of the graphic image in this case. So for the end user, this difference is not so significant.
Cameras
But in terms of the camera, the iPhone 6 loses an order of magnitude to the Meizu MX5. Photos using the latter are really much better. The camera in it is based on a sensor element of 20.7 megapixels produced by Sony. Additionally, it implements technologies such as laser autofocus, dual flash from LEDs and a panoramic lens. This camera can record video in 4K quality with an update of 30 frames per second. Against this background, the 8 megapixels of the iPhone 6 look really modest, and no proprietary technologies can achieve a similar level of quality. The situation is similar with front cameras. The front camera sensor in the MX5 is based on a 5 megapixel sensor. The "apple" gadget in this regard has a more modest sensor: only 1.2 megapixels. Therefore, for video calls and "selfies" the Meizu flagship is better.
Memory
The minimum capacity of the built-in drive in Meizu MX5 is 16Gb. Part of the specified volume will be occupied by preinstalled software (about 4 GB). The rest of the space is allocated to the needs of the user. For most tasks of the average user this is enough. But it is preferable to buy a more advanced version of this smartphone with 32 GB on board. Unlike the iPhone 6 (which can be equipped with 64 GB or even 128 GB), there is no larger capacity integrated drive in these flagship solutions. If for some reason there is a lack of free space on the built-in drive, you can upload some of the information to various cloud services (for example, Mail.ru. Cloud or Yandex.Disk).
An alternative way to solve this problem is to purchase an additional OTZ cable with the usual USB port and connect an ordinary USB flash drive with it. But in this case, the convenience of working on a smartphone is lost: it is necessary to ensure that the flash drive does not accidentally fall off. An excellent situation with RAM in this device. Its capacity is 3 GB. About 1.2 GB after the download of the system software will be occupied. The rest (and this is 1.8 GB) the user can use to run their programs. Against this background, the iPhone 6 with 1 GB looks really bad. But the increased capacity of the built-in drive is not such a serious advantage.
Battery and autonomy
Almost the same batteries are installed in these two flagship devices. The iPhone 6 uses a 2915 mAh battery. A bit more battery power in the Meizu MX5. A review of its technical specifications indicates that its capacity is 3150 mAh. Given the fact that the flagship of the Cupertian company has a more modest hardware filling, its autonomy will be slightly better. In reality, iPhone owners can expect 1.5-2 days of work on a single charge. In turn, the MX5 can last 1-1.5 days on a single battery charge. These values apply to average load levels. If you increase the load, the battery life of the devices will be reduced to 8-12 hours. Well, in the highest saving mode, the indicated values will increase by 1.5-2 days.
Information transfer
A complete list of all currently existing interfaces is in Meizu MX5. Reviews of the owners of the “smart” phone distinguish these from them:
- Mobile networks GPRS, EDGE, 3G and LTE. Moreover, both the first SIM card and the second can work with them.
- A complete set of all Wi-Fi interfaces, including the latest most high-speed AC.
- There is also a “Bluetooth” version 4.1.
- The navigation capabilities of the smartphone allow it to interact immediately with two systems: GLONASS and GPS.
- The list of wired interfaces consists of a micro-USB and a standard audio port.
System software
Quite an interesting situation with system software in Meizu MX5. Its firmware is based on the “Android” version 5.0. At the same time, it has been substantially redesigned, and the operating system itself is called "Fly". Her version is 4.5. The need to modify the user interface is due to the presence of only one button under the display in the control panel instead of three. As a result, the interface looks more like iOS than Android. There is also no separate menu for programs.
All shortcuts of installed software are displayed on the desktop. If necessary, you can group them into folders. Well, all system parameters are set in the Meizu MX5 settings: date, time, modes of operation of mobile networks, and more. Well, the rest is a set of software typical for this software platform: Google applications, social networks and built-in mini-programs. It is important to note that there are several versions of this device: I, C, A and U. All of them, except I, are focused only on the Chinese market. Install in such a Meizu MX5 Russian language untrained user is problematic. They only have Chinese. But you can change the interface language by installing special software or a comprehensive flashing of the device. Well, the version with the index I is adapted to international markets and is free from this drawback. So when buying, we pay attention to the marking of the gadget to eliminate possible problems with the software part of the smartphone.
Price
In most cases, the key criterion when choosing a new smartphone is its cost. And here the device from the Apple Meizu MX5 leaves far behind. Reviews only confirm this. The basic version of this gadget with 16 GB costs $ 310. A more advanced modification of this flagship, already with 32GB, costs about $ 340. For comparison: the most affordable version of last year’s Apple solution is now priced at almost $ 700. At the same time, the total capacity of the built-in drive in it is 16 GB. So it turns out that for one of the most modest iPhone-6 you can buy immediately 2 MX5. This raises one question: why overpay for a brand? There can only be one answer: you are an avid Apple fan. In all other cases, it is most rational to buy a more affordable solution from Meizu, which is almost inferior to iPhone-6.
Reviews
The Meizu MX5 turned out to be very balanced. Comparison with iPhone 6 shows almost complete parity of the software and hardware of these devices. But the price is half as much. And this serious plus is highlighted by users. Almost in no way inferior to the flagship “Apple” 2014 MX5. Well, some of its components are generally an order of magnitude better (for example, RAM and cameras). So there was another serious competitor for smartphones of the "apple" company. But there is one serious minus in the Meizu MX5. The firmware on some versions of the gadget lacks support for the Russian language. Again, when buying, you need to look at the markings and buy only the device with the “I” index.
Comparison with last year's flagship Apple
In almost all respects, the 2014 flagship from Apple loses to the Meizu MX5. iPhone 6 boasts only slightly better autonomy, a larger capacity integrated drive and optimized software. Everything else is on the MX5 side. This is performance, and the amount of RAM, and high quality sound, and cameras. Well, the key advantage of Meizu solution is the price. With a cost of 2 times less and with very similar characteristics and an identical level of quality, why pay more for a branded device? Justification can only be personal preference.
If you prefer iPhone 6, then buy it. Moreover, its price is 2 times higher. But in all other cases, the decision from Meizu is more justified.
Summary
In any case, the price, hardware specifications and software component allow you to easily solve any problems on the Meizu MX5. Overview it confirms its capabilities once again. At the same time, the cost of this smartphone is really modest, which makes its purchase even more justified.