With the number of flagships flooding the market these days, it’s very hard for any particular smartphone to stand out of the crowd. Things get even worse when you are a small time company, especially in the premium segment where Huawei, Xiaomi, Vivo, and OPPO have some really compelling options. Still, there are a few smartphones that do stand out because of its design and features and the Meizu 16 series can definitely be tagged as one of such devices. The phone offers tremendous value for money, starting under $400 in China, even beating the Xiaomi Mi 8 and OnePlus 6 in its pricing. So, let’s move on to the Meizu 16 hands on.
In this age where notches are taking over the smartphone market, its very refreshing to see a different design. Yes, I know there are notch-less options like the Vivo Nex and the OPPO Find X, but they do feature mechanical pop up cameras that may not be everyone’s cup of tea due to a number of reasons. Also, some users prefer a little bit of bezel around their smartphone and the Meizu 16 could be a perfect blend of bezel and screen. I say this because the Meizu 16 takes the screen to body ratio to up to 91.18%, and that’s almost the same as the full screen Vivo Nex!
Another important revelation from this Meizu 16 hands was its light weight feel. The phone is super light and as compared to competitors like the OnePlus 6, OPPO Find X and even the Xiaomi Mi 8, the Meizu 16 comes in as a significantly lightweight option weighing just 152 grams. Its quite thin as well, measuring just 7.3mm in thickness.
So how did Meizu limit its bezels to such a level? The company revealed that it spent millions of dollars squeezing in all the components like camera, earpiece and sensors on the thin top bezel by re-customizing its display packaging technology. The end result is a super thin bezel smartphone that comes with a very high screen to body ratio, without sacrificing on durability by adding any mechanical parts. It’s the perfect solution if you don’t mind the small bezels on the top and the bottom.
Coming to the body, the phone is essentially made of glass on both the sides, with the back getting a special 7 layer coating that makes the texture very similar to ceramic. The back isn’t as reflective as the Mirror Black edition of the OnePlus 6, but as you can see in the image, it’s quite glossy.
The back is curved making it comfortable to grip and the 6-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display is compact yet large enough to satisfy your entertainment needs. The buttons are on the right while the SIM slot is on the left. The top is clean save for a microphone opening, while at the bottom you have a USB Type-C port, speakers, and a dedicated 3.5mm headphone jack. The back features a dual camera setup with ring flash just below it. Apart from these, the overall design of the Meizu 16 is simple yet elegant, especially with an in-display fingerprint scanner neatly tucked under the AMOLED screen.
You can check out more Meizu 16 hands on pictures down below. Let me know your thoughts on the design of the new handset.
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