On November 19, 2:30 PM, Meizu unveiled the upgraded version of the Meizu MX4—the Meizu MX4 Pro. With its outstanding specifications and impressive craftsmanship, the media and the public all had their eyes on this little device. Here are its specifications.

The Meizu MX4 Pro 4G phone sports a 5.5-inch 2K (2560 x 1536) touch screen. The resolution is quite nice and the quality of the screen is very clear. Also because of the inclusion of a fingerprint scanner on the front, the classic small round Home button has been replaced with a long rectangular one. The scanner is covered by a sapphire cover. This phone also sports a 5mp front-facing camera and 20.7mp rear-facing camera. The latter has its lens covered by sapphire glass. It also comes with dual-LED flash. It also uses the 20nm Samsung Exynos 5430 octa-core chipset and has 3GB RAM. Its operating system is the Flyme 4.1 OS.

Now, let’s get this review started.

Design

The appearance of the Meizu MX4 Pro is not that different from the original MX4, other than the fact that the small round circular button has been replaced with a  fingerprint scanner. The Pro’s appearance is based on the Meizu MX4 Silver Wings version, and comes in black, white, and gold. A panda version (black front, white back) will come soon as well.

       The Meizu MX4 Pro’s front is made up of a 5.5-inch 2K touchscreen whose sides are 2.8mm thick, making it the slimmest phone with a 2K screen around.

Speaker/front-facing camera

Fingerprint scanner

Volume switch

Earphone jack/power switch

Speaker/micro-USB port

       The volume switch is located on the left side while the power button and earphone jack are located on the top. The Micro USB port and speakers are located at the bottom. This phone’s audio components include the ES9018 chip and OPA1612 amplifier.

The back

       Other than that, the MX4 Pro has the same design as the MX3. The rear case of the MX4 Pro can fit the palm of your hand. It also has a very comfortable feeling. In addition, it has a 20.7mp camera with a Sony IMX220 Exmor RS sensor, and its lens is covered with sapphire glass. It also comes with dual-LED flash that allows you to take great photos.

Operating System

        The Meizu MX4 Pro runs the new Flyme 4.1 operating system (based on the Android 4.4.4) and comes with many new features. For example, you can access apps by designating certain hand movements to it.

Lock screen

       The Flyme 4.1’s interface is basically the same as the previous version with no big changes. Once you set the password, you can swipe your finger in any direction in the lock screen to type in your password. Of course, if you just want to take pictures, just press the camera icon on the lower right corner to open the camera interface.

Main interface

       When you enter the home interface, you can see that the Flyme 4.1’s design style is still basically the same. A simpler and organized user interface is just right. Of course, if you like installing many apps, you can put together several apps into one group.

App center

Game center

Scroll-down menu/background manager

       One of the features of this Meizu MX4 Pro is that you can wake up your phone by just calling it out. That way, you will not have to go through the inconvenience of using your hands to wake up your phone. Not only can you use the default voice command, but you can also set your own.

App encryption

       Changing the Home button was one of the biggest changes done for the Meizu MX4 Pro. The classic small round circle was replaced with a rectangular fingerprint scanner, making the Meizu MX4 Pro the first Android phone in the world to have a front-press fingerprint scanner. The panel is covered by a sapphire sheet and the fingerprint sensor has 360 degree readability and can unlock your phone in 0.5 seconds.

The fingerprint scanner

      You can use the Meizu MX4 Pro’s fingerprint scanner to do all kinds of encryption. You can lock your apps, files, and the phone itself. Although you need a Flyme account to pay by fingerprint, you can buy things online using it due to the partnership between Meizu and Alibaba.

       The Meizu MX4 Pro can register up to 5 fingerprints. This may be a lot for many users. After all, the fingerprint scanner has a high readability rate. Just simply tap your finger on it to unlock your phone.

When you first record your fingerprints, it takes about 15 attempts to get it right. Although this may sound like a pain in the butt, once you get it right, you won’t have to worry about it not recognizing your fingerprints anymore.

Camera

The Meizu MX4 Pro has a 20.7mp rear-facing camera with a 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor. A single pixel can cover up to 1.4um. In addition, not only does it have a feature that allows you to take 30 photos per second, but it can also focus in just .3 seconds. It also supports 4K video recording. The quality is quite excellent. Below is the Meizu MX4 Pro’s camera interface.

Automatic/Macro

Slow motion/Scan mode

Night/Light field

Panorama/beautification

Manual/settings menu

       The following samples were taken at night and indoors as it was close to dawn when the phone came. Check out the quality.

100% Zoom

100% Zoom

100% zoom

       As you can see from the night shots, the Meizu MX4 Pro’s camera does a good job when it comes to clarity and brightness. Although the photo may be a bit grainier when zoomed 100%, it’s still pretty clear and the outline can still be made out. Overall, those who like to take photos at night should not have much of a problem.

Performance and benchmark scores 

       The Meizu MX4 Pro uses the 20nm Samsung Exynos 5430 octa-core chipset which can decrease power consumption by 20%. It is worth noting that there are only three of these in the world. Below are the benchmark scores:

AnTuTu: 45818

Quadrant: 9009

Vellamo (HTML5): 2262

Vellamo (Metal): 1377

Linpack (measured by FLOPS or floating-point operations per second): 130.785

AndEMark (Native): 19356 iterations per sec

AndEMark (Java): 264 it/sec

CF-Bench: 34855

Basemark X: (On-Screen) 8.849fps, (off-screen) 12.568fps

Basemark ES 2.0 Taiji Free: 43.50fps

Basemark GUI Free: (Native) 57.9465, (with 720p, offscreen) 257.0599

Nenamark1: (Last and best) 57.5fps

Conclusion

        As an upgraded version of the Meizu MX4, the Meizu MX4 Pro has undergone so many changes, especially with the inclusion of the fingerprint scanner. Overall, it is certainly worth its 2499 RMB (408.02 USD) price.

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