Meizu finally unveiled the latest premium smartphone in its MX series in China on Tuesday. The successor to the MX5, aptly named as the MX6, brings a series of developments over its predecessor and also poses as a great competition to the industry's popular premium smartphones.
Meizu revealed all the details about the MX6 at the launch, including its price in China that is ¥1,999, but remained unclear of its plans to launch the device internationally. There are rumours that the MX6 would be launched in India soon and it is likely to cost around Rs. 20,000, challenging handsets such as Xiaomi Mi5, Oppo F1 Plus, LeEco Le Max 2 and OnePlus 3.
Ahead of any plans of MX6's release or its price in India, we got our hands on the review unit of MX6 that the company shared with us. We already shared the details of the MX6's specifications in the launch coverage and here's our firsthand experience of the new smartphone.
Design
Meizu hasn't drifted too far on this front. The MX6 has a close resemblance to the company's flagship Pro 6 as well as the affordable M3 Note. The full-metal unibody brings a premium feel to its holder and the carefully rounded 2.5D glass gives an elevated look to the display. The device is really sleek and measures just 7.25mm thick, which is great for a good grip.
On the rear side of the MX6, we find the camera and the dual-tone LED flash along with the company's logo. The antenna lines shift and curve towards the top and bottom corners instead of straight lines as seen in the M3 Note.
The sides of the MX6 are simple with volume and power/lock controls on the right and the SIM card tray on the left. The top surface is rounded and has no visible openings or connectors. The 3.5mm jack is found at the bottom along with the USB Type-C port and the speaker.
Display
Meizu MX6 sports a 5.5-inch Full HD Full In-cell display with 403ppi and TDDI technology. When we took the handset for a brief spin outdoors, there was no reflection even in day light and readability was intact. The brightness levels are good and they can be adjusted to one's own preference. Also, the colours are vibrant and true to life.
In the MX6, Meizu also has a special night mode feature that fine-tunes the display for a better viewing experience and less strain on eyes, especially during long-hour reading or browsing.
Camera
Meizu is not after the megapixel-war as the MX6 comes with 12-megapixel rear shooter, but the company challenges Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. The Chinese tech giant has worked on perfecting the camera configuration to deliver great photos and videos.
The 12-megapixel shooter comes with an f/2.0 aperture, 6-element lens, PDAF and a circular dual-tone flash. As on the front side, there is a 5MP snapper, which also has f/2.0 aperture for good low light selfies. In addition, the front camera is made up of a 4-element lens and comes with upgraded FotoNation 2.0.
The interface is kept simple for anyone to use without hassles. The capture button, gallery shortcut and mode-changing options are at the bottom (in portrait view) and the filters, flash, setting and selfie camera switch is lined up at the top.
We haven't tested the camera to its full potential, but it is unlikely to disappoint from what we see so far.
Fingerprint sensor
Like most Meizu phones, the MX6 is also equipped with an mTouch fingerprint scanner, which can scan and unlock the device in just 0.2 seconds. It works from all angles and a user can add up to 5 fingerprints. In our test, we found the device to accurately scan and unlock the device in a flash, something we expected considering the M3 Note's impressive fingerprint scanner. Meizu VP Li Nan demonstrated how mTouch can also be used for payment authentication in WeChat.
Interface
Meizu MX6 runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow-based Flyme 5.2.2. The interface is simple, fast and user friendly. There is no special menu option in the MX6 and all apps are arranged on the home screen. Swiping right on the main menu will show other apps.
Battery
Meizu MX6 has a 3,060mAh battery, which comes with mCharge fast charging technology. According to the company, ten minutes charge can give the phone up to 30 percent charge and 30 minute charge can give up to 65 percent. The handset also has a USB Type-C port and a charger, which also enables faster data transfer.
For our review of the device, we will be testing if the MX6 battery lasts as long as the company has promised, which is a full day.
Performance
Meizu MX6 is pretty impressive under the hood. It is powered by a deca-core MediaTek X20 processor, which is backed by 4GB RAM and offers 32GB onboard storage. We will be testing the handset's performance over the next few days and share the details in the review.
Meizu MX6 has dual SIM card slots but lacks a microSD card, which can be challenging as it only has 32GB storage and only 22GB is available for user. The MX6 supports 4G LTE as well as VoLTE calls.
