About the Chinese company Meizu in the world, not many have heard. In 2016, the company sold about 22 million phones, almost 90% of which were sold in China. In the most populous country in the world, Meizu is one of the largest manufacturers of smartphones, and in connection with such popularity, those who have heard about the brand may be surprised: what is special about them? Do they work outside of China? Some models are already sold by European retailers, but their choice is mostly random. M5 is the most affordable smartphone manufacturer. The entry-level 5.2-inch handset with MediaTek chip is equipped with a security-critical fingerprint scanner and a number of other add-ons.
Design
Meizu M5 16GB reviews are called a budget phone, and this is clearly evidenced by its design. The completely plastic case, depending on the color, from afar is similar to a metal one. Semi-gloss plastic is pleasant to the touch and does not collect annoying fingerprints. The phone itself is neither too thick nor the thinnest - its thickness is 8 mm. The smartphone is quite lightweight - it weighs only 138 g. The dimensions of the screen and the body are a subjective question, but perhaps 5.2 inches are approaching the golden mean. This size will suit many.
The design of the M5 is not bright, but comfortable thanks to the rounded edges and 2.5D glass. The frame of the screen is not too wide and gives the smartphone a nice look. Near the front camera and the top speaker there is an LED indicator, which for some reason is slightly biased.
The smartphone is equipped with a physical button to go to the home screen with a built-in fingerprint sensor. There is nothing next to it, since Meizu uses its own navigation system. One click takes you back a step, and the list of active applications can be called up by swiping up at the bottom of the display. Without a tutorial with a demonstration of how to actually use this navigation method, it's hard to figure it out.
The volume and power off buttons are located on the right and are easy to use.
On the left is a hybrid tray with two SIM cards. In the second slot, you can install microSD memory up to 128 GB. According to the manufacturer, the M5 inside is reinforced with a metal anodized frame, but it is not visible behind the plastic. The build quality is good, and the owners did not encounter large bends of the phone, although the metal design would be more pleasant.
The rear camera does not protrude beyond the surface of the housing. At the bottom is the microUSB port, speaker grill and headphone jack. The kit includes a standard cable and charger.
Fingerprint scanner Meizu M5 16GB user reviews are called a nice addition to this budget model: it is fast, reliable and does not cause problems. In addition to unlocking the phone, you can use it to block applications, access a protected folder with personal files and activate guest mode. You should also keep in mind that the microUSB port is used for charging, and there is no USB-C connector. There are 5 color options: mint green, champagne, matte black, white ice and blue sapphire. This is more than enough.
In general, the Meizu M5 is nice to hold in your hand, although it does not look impressive. The assembly and plastic are of high quality, ergonomics are good.
Display
The screen, as a rule, is one of the weakest points in an affordable phone, and this model was no exception. Firstly, in the upper part of the display and a little below, a backlight leak is noticeable. Secondly, the colors of the Meizu M5 16GB reviews are attributed to the cold gamut: white looks bluish (average color temperature - 7805 K), and in general the colors are not balanced. The screen is clearly not enough liveliness, the colors look a little faded. The good news is that the display is quite bright (up to 466 nits) and reflects glare poorly, so it’s easy enough to read from it even on a bright sunny day.
A resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels is equivalent to a density of 282 dpi. This means that a small pixelation and jagged edges are visible. According to users, this is not a serious problem (at least in comparison with bluish colors), but this is worth remembering.
An ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts the brightness of the screen is. His work on the Meizu M5 16GB smartphone is called a bit slow, and he does not gradually adjust the brightness, but instead suddenly switches from dark to bright. Nevertheless, the sensor is functioning, and users are satisfied not only with the brightness of the screen during the day, but also with the fact that at night it will not hurt their eyes when reading in bed (2 nits). The contrast is excellent - 1: 1104, Delta E is 5.45.
Interface and Functionality
The international version of the Meizu M5 16GB Black smartphone, according to owners, comes with the Flyme operating system, built on the basis of Android 6.0 Marshmallow. If Google services are not preinstalled, you can download them using the Hot Apps program. This is a simple task, but it is another inconvenience that has to be endured.
Like most user interfaces of Chinese origin, Flyme OS draws inspiration from iOS: it lacks an application box and allows you to place, for example, swipe up to call a quick search. In programs such as a browser, you can even touch the status bar and go to the top of the page. Getting used to Flyme OS is easy, but it seems a little alien. In return, the user gets a platform with surprisingly elegant animations.
The M5 comes with a TouchPal keyboard. It works fine, but the keys are unsightly, and, in terms of accuracy and vibration feedback, you can make much more mistakes on it than on Samsung and LG. Nevertheless, there are some good points: careful sliding down allows you to instantly enter alternative characters, which simplifies the set of passwords.
A preinstalled application for changing smartphone themes. The Security program contains tools to clean your phone of unnecessary files, monitor data usage, block contacts and even antivirus. The Tools application includes tools such as a flashlight, mirror, compass, level, ruler and magnifying glass. The smartphone offers its own Meizu software store, which seems superfluous with the Play Store.
CPU and memory
M5 runs on a MediaTek MT6750 chip . This is a basic SoC with 8 Cortex A53 cores in 2 clusters. Without going into technical details, it can be compared with the iPhone 5, although the Apple A6 chip surpasses the MT6750 in the popular Geekbench performance testing. AnTuTu test gives the smartphone 40042 points and GFXbench - 20 fps, which is the average result.
Smartphone Meizu M5 16GB Gold reviews are called quite well-optimized and in most cases a smoothly functioning device without fading. But this does not mean quickly: every time you launch an application, delays are noticeable, the screen turns white, and you have to wait until the program loads. And this happens with almost all software, even with a dialer. After launch, the smartphone works without delay and does not miss frames. According to reviews, in Meizu M5 16GB Blue software installation lasts an amazingly long time: it is not known why, it takes several minutes on Facebook and Messenger.
And this is clearly not a smartphone for gamers or heavy use. Opening applications requires a little more time, and although the phone can handle basic games, you should not count on more serious games here.
Available in 2 versions of the M5: 16- and 32-gigabyte options. This applies to the built-in storage, but it can be expanded with a microSD card up to 128 GB.
Internet and connectivity
M5 comes with a browser that owners recommend using instead of Google Chrome. The most popular browser for Android, for some reason, works very poorly here - it often freezes and slows down, so it's best to avoid it.
Meizu M5 is a phone for China, the Asian market, India and some European markets. This is especially noticeable in connection options: the smartphone supports 4G LTE, but there are no frequency ranges for US carriers. The full list of supported 4G LTE bands for the Meizu M5 international version includes FDD-LTE bands 1, 3, 5, 7 and 20, as well as 38 and 40 TDD-LTE. Support for groups 3, 7 and 20 is good news for European users. Meizu sells the phone in Spain and Italy, where it supports the required 4G LTE bands, even if purchased in other countries. There is no VoLTE support.
As for other connectivity options, the smartphone supports dual-channel Wi-Fi, which is an important point for an inexpensive smartphone, since many budget models support only single-channel Wi-Fi, and in urban areas these frequencies are already crowded, which leads to a decrease in network quality. The owners are happy with this decision. There is also Bluetooth 4.0, A-GPS and GLONASS, but the phone does not support NFC. The latter means that the device cannot be used for wireless payments.
FM radio is missing, as is the gyroscope.
Camera
Meizu M5 is equipped with a 13-megapixel main camera with autofocus, LED flash and f / 2.2 lens, as well as a 5-megapixel front sensor. According to reviews, the Meizu M5 16GB Blue smartphone is characterized by a large number of photo and video options. The user can choose between different modes: manual (with ISO control, shutter speed, etc.), video, skin smoothing, panorama, light field (combining several images into one with focus that can be changed after shooting), slow motion, QR scanning, Macro and Gif.
Having a lot of options can be a good thing, but owners find it difficult to find a video option that should be easily accessible. Meizu, unfortunately, has complicated its application too much. Simple things, such as changing permissions, are unnecessarily complex. Instead of a simple figure of 13 megapixels or 5 megapixels, the resolution is indicated in the form of 4160 x 3120. The camera settings do not flip when using the phone in a landscape position, which is a little annoying.
Photo quality
Pictures taken by Meizu M5 16GB, reviews are praised. Owners are impressed by the presence of autofocus with phase detection in such a cheap smartphone. It works very quickly and accurately - the number of photos out of focus has become less. AF sometimes wanders, but overall it does an excellent job. Colors are true, and macro shots are pretty good. But with poor lighting, miracles should not be expected: the details quickly become blurry, and the flash gives an unpleasant cold tint.
The 5-megapixel front camera Meizu M5 16GB Black reviews are called not very impressive. Of course, she is able to take pictures, but not those that she will definitely want to share with the world: they lack detail and color saturation, so most selfies look lifeless and a bit blurry.
The capture time of the 1st frame is 1.5 s, and in the HDR mode - 3.2 s.
Video quality
Meizu M5 records video with a rear camera in FullHD resolution at a speed of 30 fps and decent quality, but nothing more. Without any stabilization system every small hand movement is recorded. This is the biggest flaw of the Meizu M5 16GB phone. User reviews positively note fast autofocus, which is a good asset for video recording, mostly good color reproduction and decent detail.
The front camera is also capable of recording video with a resolution of 1080p, but its quality is worse.
Sound
The speaker of the Meizu M5 16GB smartphone is called loud enough, but its sound is devoid of any depth and is not very clear. It is located on the bottom panel and will satisfy the needs of most users with the volume level set to a maximum (76 dB). But if you dig deeper, it becomes obvious that the speaker does not have sufficient clarity or any depth. On the contrary, its sound is a bit harsh and lacks articulation. This is enough for a regular voice call with a speakerphone or watching a video, but nothing more.
According to user reviews, they did not experience serious problems with the quality of calls to Meizu M5. Of course, the phone lacks a high-quality speaker and microphone, but it is capable of transmitting the voices of subscribers loud and clear.
Battery life
The M5 is equipped with a decent 3070 mAh battery that lasts longer than usual. According to the owners, on one charge it lasts a day and a half. The official battery life data is as follows: 5 hours of video recording, 9 hours of games, 37 hours of telephone conversations and 66 hours of music playback. Not bad. The user test of the battery, which was carried out at a screen brightness of 200 nits, suitable for indoor use, turned out to be above average: 9 h 18 min.
However, owners are unhappy with the long battery charging time. When using a network charger with a power of 10 W (5 V, 2 A), this requires 3 hours and 9 minutes. This is not a problem for overnight recharging, but those who want to restore the strength of their smartphone during lunch will find it too slow. The solution to this problem may be, for example, the choice of Meizu M5 Note 16GB Gold. According to the owners, this model is characterized by a more capacious battery and a quick charge function that can cope with its task in 96 minutes.
Advantages and disadvantages
According to users, the smartphone is inexpensive, with good battery life, an operational fingerprint scanner, fast focus and high-quality photos. The disadvantages of the model include the lack of proper maintenance and repair, a bluish and faded display, noticeable delays before launching applications, and slow battery charging.
Conclusion
Judging by the reviews, the Meizu M5 LTE 16GB is a pretty affordable phone made in China for China, India and a limited number of European countries. If we talk about the price, then in its homeland it costs $ 100 (for the 32-gigabyte version you will have to pay $ 130). Buying from dealers or importing from a third-party retailer will cost 1.5 times more. With rising prices, the smartphone is losing its competitive advantage.
Keep in mind the lack of proper 4G LTE support. Among the more important shortcomings of the Meizu M5 16GB, customer reviews call a slightly faded display, a slightly otherworldly interface and slightly slowing down when you run each application.
An alternative is the Moto G4 Plus, whose price is just above $ 200, but it is much better in all aspects: more powerful, with a western interface and the ability to quickly charge. The Honor 6X is also a great option with a metal design, a more productive chipset, a better and clearer screen and a larger battery. Even more affordable phones, such as the Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) and Alcatel Shine Lite are worthy rivals of the Meizu M5 16GB Gold. Owner reviews call the smartphone a profitable acquisition in the domestic Chinese market, but in Europe the model is faced with fierce competition from well-known brands, which often offer more in terms of design and support.