A few days back, I wrote an in-depth article on how we can expect Meizu to bounce back in the coming months. At that time, I had assumed that the company would take at least a few months more to get things in order and release a Snapdragon powered smartphone in the market. It turns out, we don’t have to wait that long, as the company’s latest mid-ranger, the Meizu M6 Note comes with a Qualcomm chip, namely the Snapdragon 625 inside. This is the first ever Snapdragon smartphone from the company, which also makes it an important one.
But how good is the Meizu M6 Note? We try to find that out in this article!
At this moment, we cannot analyze the real feel and performance of the device but what we can do is see what it offers at a starting price tag of 1099 Yuan (~$165)
DESIGN
There’s nothing extraordinary about the Meizu M6 Note, at least, not in terms of design. But, with its all metal body, the phone is well built. There’s a 5.5-inch 1080p display up front along with a physical home button. I personally like having the fingerprint on the front, so extra marks for its mBack home button. The back features dual cameras in a simple vertical arrangement. But what’s unique about this phone is that it integrates the Quad-LED flash right inside the Antenna band. It may not be a significant design element, but it makes the design looks balanced.
Note that the dimensions 154.6 x 75.2 x 8.35mm and weight (173 grams) are very similar to that of the Redmi Note 4X.
And with a beautiful Peacock Blue option available, I’m sure design is not going to be an area where you’ll be disappointed.
CPU
At $165, the Meizu M6 Note makes no mistake getting the most popular mid-range chipset in the market today. The Snapdragon 625 is powerful enough to tackle everything that you throw at it and is efficient enough to give you a great battery life. So, Meizu mid-rangers are no longer inferior to Xiaomi’s offerings, as the latest Redmi Note series also come with the same SD625 chip inside.
MEMORY
The M6 Note starts at 3GB + 16GB. There are two other variants, 3GB + 32GB and 4GB + 64GB. There’s a MicroSD card slot as well. This is similar to what Redmi Note 4X offers in China. Right now, the Redmi Note 4X is available in 3+ 32GB and 4GB+64GB variants, priced at around $150 and $195 respectively.
PRICES
The Meizu M6 Note is priced aggressively, starting at 1099 Yuan ($165) for the 3GB+16GB version, 1299 Yuan ($195) for the 3GB + 32GB version and 1699 Yuan ($254) for the 4GB + 64GB version. If we were to directly compare the price of the Redmi Note 4X, you would see that the Xiaomi model is cheaper. You get 32GB instead of 16GB at $150. But the Meizu M6 Note manages to justify this additional price in the camera specs, making it a better choice for customers looking for the best value.
CAMERA
The camera is one major area where Meizu out classes the Redmi Note 4X. The phone comes with dual camera setup at the back in 12MP + 5MP arrangement. Note that the primary, 12MP sensor is the top-end Sony IMx362 / Samsung 2L7 with 1.4µm pixel size and f/1.9 aperture. To support the primary sensor, there’s a 5MP secondary sensor. Together, the dual camera setup should be able to give you good quality shots, even in low light situations.
In case you missed it, the IMX362 is one of the best sensors from Sony in the market today. This is the same sensor that powers HTC U11’s amazing rear camera. So, we can expect some great things from the M6 Note’s dual camera setup. Of course, the sensor is just one part of the story. We will have to see how the M6 Note processes these images, as it will determine the quality of images taken from the sensor. Meizu has partnered with Arcsoft to get customized software for its camera, but it’s best to wait for some real life samples to judge the camera quality.
Up front, there’s a 16MP f/2.0 camera.
BATTERY
Meizu has made no mistakes in this department, equipping the M6 Note with a large 4000mAh battery. There’s mCharge fast charging as well, which should be quick as it supports 18W charging.
SOFTWARE
In the software department, the Meizu M6 Note comes with Android 7.1.1 with Flyme 6 OS on top. The phone features OneMind AI as well.
Overall, as you can see, the Meizu M6 Note, at a starting price of $165 offers amazing value for money. The phone gives you the best in practically every department, like display, CPU, memory, camera, and even battery! There are hardly any mid-rangers in the market today that manage to do better than the M6 Note at its amazing $165 price tag. And if the IMX362/ 2L7 +5MP combination does as well as it should, there’s no reason why the phone won’t be a best seller.
My Meizu M6 Note vs Competition article (similar to the Nokia 8 vs competition article) should be out soon, so stay tuned for that.
Also, let me know your thoughts about the M6 Note down below.
