As the flagship technology of smartphones seep into the lower stages of the market, entry-level phones are not as simple as before. Fingerprint sensors and fast processors are now quite easy to find in budget models.
This fully applies to the budget smartphone M5, released by Meizu. The device is available in two versions, differing in the amount of RAM and permanent memory - 2/16 GB and 3/32 GB. In cost, the model competes with the corresponding versions of Xiaomi Redmi 4. How competitive are the characteristics of the Meizu M5 32GB phone and does it offer enough to be recommended?
Design and Build
Meizu M5 has become larger, but its appearance has not changed since the release of M2. The entire back panel of the phone is made of plastic, and the side surfaces have beautiful bends, thanks to which the case seems a little smaller.
The delivery set includes only the most necessary items - a standard mains charger with an output voltage of 5 V and a current of 2A, and a micro-USB cable. There are no headphones.
Since the back is completely plastic, there is no need for antenna lines. Regardless of the color of the smartphone, its entire front part is black.
An interesting mTouch key located under the display. It performs 3 functions - a touch returns back, pressing opens the home screen, and the built-in fingerprint scanner is activated when the phone is locked. Although the biometric sensor is not always turned on, it is very fast, accurate and capable of recognizing a fingerprint in any direction.
The Meizu M5 32GB Gold speaker has low characteristics, except for the volume level.
A battery with a capacity of 3070 mAh is installed in the M5, which is 200 mAh more than the M3. According to user reviews, the M5 battery shows a very good 76-hour endurance indicator. Unfortunately, there is no support for fast charging.
Connectivity options
The smartphone supports 2 SIM cards, but since a hybrid slot is installed, you will need to choose between a second SIM and micro-SD. The phone is made with 16 or 32 GB of internal memory, so choosing a larger amount will allow you not to give up a second SIM card.
At the bottom of the M5 is a headset jack, micro-USB port and speaker. The main microphone is nearby.
Meizu M5 32GB: display specifications
The 5.2-inch screen is an IPS-matrix with a resolution of 720p, which corresponds to a rather low pixel density of 287 dpi. The viewing angles are excellent and have no color distortion, and the clarity in direct sunlight is above average and equal to 2.710.
The maximum brightness of the display is 480 nits, which at a black level of 0.453 nits gives a good contrast ratio of 1: 1060. Color reproduction is fine, although not the most accurate (but better than the M5 Note). The average color deviation DeltaE = 6.5, playing with the settings will not help to improve this value.
Software
The smartphone runs on the Android 6.0 operating system with the Flyme 5.2.4.0 add-in. The latter, like iOS, is a single-level user interface in which each program or widget is located directly on the main screen without an additional application box specific to Android. All other functions of the system can be configured either in the settings menu or in the powerful “Security” application.
In China, many Meizu models come with the so-called Yun OS, which is a branched version of Android with exclusive services aimed at replacing everything that Google has. For this reason, the Chinese company is not a registered partner of Google Services and cannot even supply its international variants of API and Google applications, which are mandatory for use in Western markets. The company found a workaround that allowed users to get everything they need. Hot apps on the desktop is a mini-software store that immediately offers to download the Google installer, which will add everything you need to enjoy the usual Android experience and provide access to the Google Play store.
Flyme has many customization options, including various themes. Useful system gestures are available that can be used even when the screen is off. There are advanced features such as the Do Not Disturb mode, turning the smartphone on and off on a schedule.
Flyme 5 supports multi-view, which is controlled via a task switching interface. Supported programs have a Multi button, and you can immediately activate a split-screen application. Unfortunately, only Video and Settings belong to them.
Meizu provides everything you need - a gallery, multimedia players, a calendar, weather forecasts, and the rest can be found on the Play Store.
Performance
The characteristics of the Meizu M5 32GB smartphone are largely due to the outdated and mediocre MediaTek MT6750 chipset , which was a step backward after the Helio P10. The processor includes 8 Cortex-A53 cores with a clock frequency of 1.5 GHz. The GPU Mali-T860 MP2 is no better. You can choose between options with 2 or 3 GB of RAM.
The processor performance is sufficient when it comes to operations with Android, but it lags behind the competition when performing heavy tasks requiring all 8 cores.
There have been no changes in graphics processing since the release of M3. If off-screen test results are not worth mentioning, then the frame rate has improved due to the lower resolution of 720p, therefore, the M5 is ahead of Redmi 4.
Combined tests, such as AnTuTu 6 (40831 points) and BaseMark OS II (846 points), give a more adequate idea of the overall performance. Here, the smartphone also looks better due to the lower screen resolution.
The test results show that according to its characteristics, the Meizu M5 32GB is mid-range, so the phone provides an acceptable user interface.
Sound quality
Unlike Note, the characteristics of the Meizu M5 32GB Black do not impress in any of the work scenarios. With an active external amplifier, the smartphone only has a decent volume level, which when connected to headphones drops significantly below average.
Clarity of sound, excellent initially, is also quite disappointing when using a headset. Everything is deteriorating : stereo sound quality, intermodulation distortion and frequency characteristics of the Meizu M5 32GB, and user reviews confirm this. The phone will definitely not become an audiophile's dream.
Camera
The updates did not affect the main camera Meizu M5 32GB, the characteristics of which remained the same. She has the same 13-megapixel sensor with f / 2, 2-aperture, which was on the M3 and, probably, on the M2. The sensor captures a 4x3 image in a resolution of 4208x3120. Dual-tone LED flash is designed to provide more pleasant colors when shooting in low light conditions.
There are quite a few shooting modes available: HDR, macro, manual (allows you to set the shutter speed to 10 s, ISO, exposure compensation and focus), panoramic, GIF, face retouching and even Light Field - the ability to defocus any part of the scene in the finished photo.
You can get good 13-megapixel pictures, but the characteristics of the Meizu M5 32GB are not perfect. The detail is mediocre, the noise level is high. But the colors are accurate and the contrast is very good. The dynamic range is above average, which is rare in smartphones of this class. Photos are softer than desired, and in manual shooting mode there is no sharpness adjustment to fix this. Sometimes there are problems with focusing, and you have to take repeated pictures.
However, mediocre detail, noise, lack of sharpness and problems with focus are offset by good color reproduction, contrast and dynamic range.
The smartphone shoots video in 1080p at a speed of 30 fps. There is no slow motion mode. All videos are recorded in MP4 format. The bitrate is about 17 Mbps, the frame rate is stable. Stereophonic sound. The AAC codec is used with a data rate of 128 Kbps and a sampling frequency of 48 kHz.
Advantages and disadvantages
Features Meizu M5 3 / 32GB classify it as entry-level smartphones. The model was a successful update to the M3, which is offered at an attractive price. The phone has more improvements than the M5 Note: the screen and battery are larger, there is a fingerprint scanner and the version of Android has been updated. Although the chipset is outdated, it manages to provide enough performance to fit most budget models. Of course, there are better ones, but they are not much ahead of the M5. User reviews call the 5.2-inch screen the best part of the phone - it is in a convenient niche between the phablet and compact size.
Conclusion
Xiaomi Redmi is Meizu's main competitor, as it is one of the most affordable phones with excellent design, excellent performance, excellent battery life, a good camera and regular MIUI updates. More power and updates outweigh the benefits of Xiaomi. Lenovo K5 and K6 also deserve attention due to the quality of the screen and a good processor.
In general, Meizu did an excellent job with the M5, much better than with the M5 Note, and although the test results are average, the smartphone is almost inferior to its competitors.