Meizu MX5: video, review, analysis and opinions

El Meizu MX5 It is clear evidence of a phenomenon that has been taking place for some time now, and that is that Chinese mobile phones have come to stay and to pose serious obstacles to the big players in the current market. These are my opinions about the smartphone that you can know a little better in this analysis with video included.

Great design

It is not only that it is one of the most remarkable characteristics of this smartphone, it is simply that it is the first feature that one loves as soon as he has this mobile in his hands. The Meizu MX5 convinces from the first moment with its incredible finishes. A highlight would be its rear casing completely made of aluminum. It is a unibody piece, which has also been specifically designed so that it is not necessary to include plastic bands like those of the iPhone that would spoil the appearance of the mobile. However, it should also be noted its beveled edges, very much in the style of the iPhone, its SIM card tray, and in general, the minimalism that is appreciated in the design. Even on the front, special care has been taken on the mobile, for example, on the fingerprint reader, with an aluminum edge.

Its dimensions are also appreciated, as it is a smartphone in which space is highly optimized. It is smaller than the iPhone 6 Plus, even with a screen of the same size. It is 146 millimeters high, 74,6 millimeters wide, and 7,6 millimeters thick. The weight of the mobile is 149 grams. It feels quite light, and is comfortable to use in the hand. However, with a 5,5-inch screen we cannot expect it to be as easy to use as 5-inch screen phones. However, its side bezels are very small, and it is difficult to get a better use of the mobile with a screen of this type. Still, it does have some software feature that makes it easy to use with one hand.

If there is something negative to highlight about the design, it would simply have to do with the beveled edge of the mobile, which is perhaps the easiest thing to scratch on the mobile. It is actually a very difficult thing to avoid if the edge is beveled. The aluminum of the back case does not have that problem, of course. In addition, the volume and power buttons have some play. If it is a mobile of 800 euros, it would be something to criticize. In a mobile of 300 euros, it is something that is acceptable and until you wait.

An amazing screen

Something that worried me about this Meizu MX5 is its screen. On the one hand, some users had already stated that the whites were rather yellowish. And they claimed that it was a problem with the Super AMOLED screen of the mobile. Well, at least in my case, I have not encountered those problems. Yes, I have found a screen of incredible quality. Its Super AMOLED technology makes it very similar in colors to the high-end Samsung Galaxy. And of course, it has the advantage that dark colors are more realistic, thanks to the fact that the LEDs may not light up individually, something typical of AMOLED screens. This benefits as far as the battery is concerned. On the other hand, if we want a wallpaper that looks really good, a black one will not be a good idea, since it will look less. And it is not a play on words, it is simply the reality, as the LEDs do not turn on, the background will not be seen as much, although any icon that is on them will be. They are simply more real black, because there is no color, contrary to what happens in LCD screens, in which black is not black, but a gray product of being illuminated black.

The screen resolution is Full HD, 1.920 x 1.080 pixels. Could it be Quad HD? Yes, it is true, it could be even better. But if you have to do without any feature, this is undoubtedly the best choice, since the difference between this screen and those with higher resolution is scarce. It is very difficult to perceive the pixels, and since today there is hardly any content for mobile in Quad HD, the Full HD screen seems the best.

The screen reaction is very good. This is mainly due to the processor and RAM, but even so, it must be said that there are no problems as far as the touch screen is concerned, as there were, for example, in the OnePlus One. And all this would have to be add that it has a Gorilla Glass 3 glass, so we could hardly achieve greater resistance to scratches.

By the way, with respect to those who say that whites are more yellowish on this screen, it must be said that in the Mobile Settings we are given the option to modify the tonality of the colors, so we can select if we want them to whites are even more yellowish, or more bluish. Indeed, with the default configuration they are somewhat more yellowish than other screens, although that is a matter of adjustment. I wear it a bit more bluish, but only one level.

Very good performance

El Meizu MX5 It has the MediaTek Helio X10 processor, the best in the company right now, an eight-core processor capable of reaching 2,2 GHz and 64 bits. Its RAM memory is 3 GB. And in the version that I have been able to use, it has an internal memory of 16 GB. For me, it is a smartphone with very good performance. I have not had a single fluidity problem on the smartphone, but rather the opposite, the reaction when typing with the keyboard is really good. In fact, I had the opportunity to lend the smartphone to an iPhone 6 Plus user, well known for its fluidity, and he was surprised by how well the mobile reacted to scrolling the screens, pressing the keys, etc.

However, we will talk more about this in another article, since it will be better to cover it more fully when we also talk about your software. It deserves a separate article.

An impossible camera

The flagships have great cameras, but the truth is that it is one of the characteristics that mobile manufacturers previously dispense with when it comes to going down the range. Thus, finding a mobile with a great camera with a price of 300 euros, is impossible. Or at least, it was until this Meizu MX5.

The smartphone has a main camera whose sensor is Sony's 20,7 megapixels. Its resolution is really good, and not only when it comes to capturing photos, but also when recording video, being able to record videos in 4K. But all this without forgetting a 5 megapixel front camera. To this should be added the double LED Flash, and the laser focus, which gives us many possibilities when focusing, and can even try to take macro photography. However, what has caught our attention the most are all the manual settings offered by the mobile camera application. It allows us to modify the ISO, the shutter speed, the exposure compensation and the focal length. But are all those values ​​good for anything? If you know photography it can be useful. For example, below you have some photographs taken a few days ago when we went out to photograph shooting stars. Obviously, there is not a single shooting star, but we managed to capture shots of the stars, and even in one of them you can see the Milky Way. Of course, there is noise and grain in the photo. But keep in mind that they are not easy to get photos or with a DSLR camera if you do not have the appropriate knowledge. And this is simply a smartphone.

(Enlarge the photographs to appreciate the detail of the stars)

A good fingerprint reader

Can a mobile fingerprint reader react fast? You can, you just have to look at the iPhone 6. But what if the mobile costs half of what other high-end phones cost that do not even include a fingerprint reader?

The Meizu MX5 has the fastest fingerprint reader that we have ever tested on an Android mobile. As we have already said, in a future article we will talk about the performance of the mobile, and its operation in action, as well as its software, and you can see how the fingerprint reader reacts and its great speed. Using the mobile with two hands, failure is very difficult. Using it with one hand, the failure rate is close to 10%, but probably due to my inaccuracy rather than the reader himself.

Battery

Finally, we are going to talk about the battery. It is a battery with a capacity of 3.150 mAh, in principle enough for a smartphone with a 5,5-inch screen. However, it will not last more than one day. And it will be necessary to learn to use all the functions it has to optimize energy use. It has smart modes that help us achieve greater autonomy. We can choose which apps are activated in the background and which are not, or which ones will remain activated when we turn off the screen and which ones will be closed to save resources and battery. We will also delve into this feature in the future article on the day-to-day use of this Meizu MX5, when we have been able to test it more in depth. The battery is what I liked the least of all, I always take the brightness to the maximum, and I usually use the smartphone without ever thinking about the battery, with screen off times of up to 5 minutes (remember that I I dedicate myself to writing on mobiles). Even so, if you charge your mobile at night, and take it with you in the morning, unless you are playing all day, the autonomy will be enough for the whole day. By the way, it has mCharge 2.0 technology, and it comes with a high-speed charger. Of course, it comes from China, so you will have to try to make the plug compatible.

Meizu MX5 price and availability

El Meizu MX5 It is a great smartphone with a really affordable price. It is available for about 300 euros at the current exchange rate on GearBest, thanks to whom we can carry out the analysis of this smartphone. It is available in three colors: white, black and gold. This is the version with 16 GB internal memory, although there is another version with 32 GB memory that is available in black, and whose price, at the current exchange rate, is 355 euros.

If you have any questions about the smartphone, or want to know more information, you can use the comments to ask. Soon we will publish another article talking about the smartphone software, and with an action video of how the interface reacts and all the functions that come with Flyme OS 4.5, based on Android 5.0 Lollipop. In any case, we have already told you that it is a mobile with a performance of the highest level.