Meizu M3 Max first impressions: Work of art, design fused with premium specs, affordable price

A little over a year ago, a Chinese smartphone company, like many others, forayed into India. Meizu, the fifth largest smartphone company in China, has been recognized for its true disruption in the Indian market with its budget smartphones featuring premium specs. Since Meizu is taking it slow in India, most phones are primarily released in China.

Meizu M3 Max is one such device, which was launched in China last month. The premium-looking phone quickly rose to fame with its sub-$300 price tag and worthy specifications. The handset costs ¥1,699 in China, which would roughly translate to Rs. 17,000 if launched in India.

We received the M3 Max for review, but the company has no immediate plans to launch it in India. Going by the company's history, the newly-released M3 Max will arrive in India sooner or later. When we unboxed the Chinese-variant of the M3 Max for review, it lacked Google services (as expected), but we managed to set it right for our use in India.

While we will be reviewing this phone over the next couple of days, here's our preliminary review of the M3 Max.

Design

Meizu M3 Max looks a whole lot like the iPhone 6s Plus, but considering its ultra-low price tag, we would call it a win for Meizu for capturing the perfect balance between design and ease-of-use. The handset measures 7.94mm thick and weighs 189 grams, which makes it easier to use despite a large 6 inches display.

The power/lock button alongside volume controls are placed on the right side of the device and a SIM card tray is found on the left. The physical home button houses a fingerprint scanner and the microUSB slot, 3.5mm headphone jack and the speaker grille are placed at the bottom.

Turning over to the rear side, the M3 Max has the camera sensor with a dual LED flash below it. Meizu logo can be seen at the center of the rear panel, which has mirror-finished chamfered edges.

Meizu M3 Max is beautifully crafted device, which is bound to turn many heads.

Display

Meizu M3 Max has a large 6-inch display with Full HD resolution. Due to the large screen and the widely-distributed pixels, the M3 Max may not seem as bright as other Full HD smartphones. But that doesn't compromise on delivering the right colours when needed.

It has decent viewing angles and does a fairly well job under direct sunlight. A 2K display would be better for this, but considering the price tag we would like to give the M3 Max a pass here.

Camera

Meizu M3 Max sports a 13-megapixel primary camera with dual LED flash and a 5MP front snapper for selfies. This is an average setup, and we do not expect anything exceptional.

We haven't had the chance to explore the M3 Max's camera in detail, but it appears to do a decent job. Low-light photography was commendable, but lack of details in photos kept the phone from reaching its full potential.

Fingerprint scanner

Meizu has mastered the art of security in its budget phone series. The M3 Max's home button, which also works as a back function, has an integrated fingerprint scanner. As expected, the sensor is accurate and snappy. It unlocks the device in less than half a second and having a fingerprint scanner in the home button is quite comfortable than having it at the back, which is a norm in most phones these days.

Battery and Performance

It is too soon to tell how good the M3 Max's battery is without having to spend at least a few days with the device. But given the specs-sheet of the device, it is likely to perform well under extreme conditions.

Meizu M3 Max is powered by an octa-core 1.8GHz CPU, Mali T860 GPU, 3GB RAM and 64GB expandable storage. There is a really impressive 4,100mAh battery, which supports fast charging. It runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow-based Flyme OS 5.2 and has dual SIM support with 4G LTE and VoLTE.