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Journalism of Courage
There are just too many Chinese smartphone manufacturers in the Indian market now. It won’t be long before we lose interest or become unable to keep a tab on them. However, Meizu is different for at least some people were waiting for this phone to make it Indian debut. And that is because for quite sometime their phones have been on the top of all the benchmarking scores across the world. Which geek wouldn’t want to get their hands on a device that is better than the rest of the pack on benchmarks, especially when it is affordable?
Meizu MX5
The Meizu MX5 was in the news for being an iPhone lookalike. I couldn’t disagree more. Yes, it does look like the iPhone 6 from far away and in a dark room, but that is about it. In fact, the phone reminded me more of an HTC M8, at least from the rear. Still I think this is a phone with some individuality on the design front.
Watch video review of Meizu MX5 below: (App users click here for video)
Specs: 5.5 inch AMOLED (1080x1920p, ~401 ppi), Octa-core 2.2 GHz Mediatek MT6795 Helio X10 processor | 3GB RAM | 16GB storage | 20.7MP rear camera + 5MP front | 3150 mAh battery with fast charging | fingerprint sensor | FlyMe UI based on Android 5
Rs 19,999
What is good?
The best thing about the phone is definitely its performance. This phone has been made to take on load and you will love multi-tasking or playing games on it. In fact, the MX5 is much ahead of the competition in most of the benchmarking scores.
While that does not say much, this MediaTek powered phone will not give you much reason to complain at least in the short run — this disclaimer because some Android phones have been acting weird after a few weeks in recent times.
The other good thing is the camera and it is among the best in the Android space. In fact, I don’t mind putting this very close to the OnePlus 2 camera which I really love. But then comes the added advantage that this offers a bunch of photo settings which the OnePlus phone does not. Also, it is a really fast auto-focus on the camera. Then 4K camera is good and stays relatively cool while you are shooting.
This phone has a decent, though temperamental battery. I got well over 12 hours on one day despite being on 4G and just 10 hours the next. But still this seems to have among the better batteries in this range.
The FlyMe UI is very easy to navigate and has fewer elements to complicate your life. Also, the phone has the bare minimum apps out of the box and leaves it to the user to fill up as he needs.
What is not that great?
This phone has just one home button and not physical or virtual buttons for back or recent apps. So you need to figure out how to use the Home button to get back, to the homescreen or to open recent apps. That takes some getting used to and all the while you are clicking the blank spaces flanking the home button.
The phone UI has some issues that need to be solved. Random Chinese text keeping appear here and there, the settings menu is the most complicated you will ever see and the keyboard has some tricky spots that you keep hitting involuntarily. It is highly recommended to use the Google keyboard on this phone.
Verdict
If you can learn to use an Android phone without a back button, Meizu MX5 is among the better phones available for under Rs 20,000. Buy this if you want a phone that can be pushed to the limits when it comes to performance.
