Recent rumors have said the Meizu M5 Note will come in two versions like the previous models: a standard edition sporting a polycarbonate body called the M5 Note name and another version clad in metal called the M5 Metal. Both phones are expected to be priced at ¥999 ($145) and ¥1099 ($160) respectively.

If the Meizu M5 Note is indeed going to share a design similar to the M1 Note, we should expect the same iPhone 5C glossy kind of plastic but which is available in bright colors.

The M5 Note will retain the 5.5-inches screen size the series is known for. It will however be settling for a smaller RAM, 2.5GB to be exact. There will be a Helio P10m processor under the hood and the phone will be powered by a 4000mAh battery.

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While there’s no doubt that Xiaomi dominates the sales in China, there are manufacturers like Meizu, OPPO and Vivo who also have a considerable share in this domestic market. Meizu in particular launched a number of new and affordable product in the past few months alone which will have definitely changed the numbers for the company in the Q1 2015. Now, we have some unofficial information about the sales figure of the company in the first three months of 2015.

Sun Changxu revealed on Weibo recently that Meizu along with other Chinese manufacturers are doing quite well in the first quarter of 2015. The sales was mainly driven by the Chinese Spring Festival season.

Sun also revealed some more information about Meizu’s sales figures. According to her, Meizu sold around 1.5 million units in January, 1.2 million units in February and 1.9 to 2 million units in March. The company’s quarter on quarter growth has been impressive. Last December, it sold around 1 million units, but in recent months, the company has reached the 2 million units sales mark, which is commendable.

The timing of the growth in sales hint that Meizu’s newest Blue Charm range could be responsible for such an amazing growth. Both, the Blue Charm Meizu M1 Note and the Meizu M1 (Mini) has attracted praises from experts and users alike, which is why we see a spurt in its sales. And given this rate, it looks like Meizu will easily reach its target sales of 20 million+ units by the end of 2015.

In comparison, Xiaomi sold over 61.12 million units in 2015, averaging about 5.1 million per month. Sun also said that Meizu is aiming to increase its production to 2 million units a month.

Meizu definitely has converted itself as a quality brand with affordable hardware. The M1 Note in particular has been the company’s best value for device.

So, do you like Meizu? Do you think the company will ever be as big as Xiaomi?

The post Meizu had a very strong Q1 2015 reveals analyst appeared first on Gizmochina.

Meizu announced the Meizu M1 smartphone last month to directly take on the Redmi 2 and Huawei Honor Holly in the budget segment. Even before the release of the handset, we saw three different versions of the device in a leaked picture. Now, Meizu has just made the second version available for pre-order.

The regular version will run on Android 4.4.4 KitKat along with the company’s own Flyme 4.0 UI on top. In this edition, the Meizu M1 will run on Alibaba’s own YunOS for smartphones. This is not the first time we are seeing a YunOS powered Meizu device (MX4 also had this edition) and after buying a large stake in the company, we don’t think this will be the last one too.

Apart from the OS underneath, there is practically no difference between the Android Flyme edition and the YunOS edition. A previous leaked had shown the three editions in action and the AnTuTu benchmark for all the three models were almost the same. So, we kind of knew that there will be no change in specs or even the design in this new edition. Fortunately, the pricing too is the same as the regular edition i.e. 699 Yuan.

The YunOS Meizu M1 was available for pre-order from yesterday and it will go on sale starting March 2nd.

The earlier leak also showed off an Ubuntu Edition too, but as of now, this particular model is not yet available for sale. It would be interesting to see how Ubuntu powered Meizu M1 performs and if it is indeed real, then we may hear more about this version in the coming weeks.

Stay tuned for more information.

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Meizu made a breakthrough in the market by announcing the two new affordable yet powerful smartphones, Meizu M1 Note and the 5-inch Meizu M1. Both the devices bring tremendous value in this once boring low end segment. Only a few other smartphones like the Xiaomi Redmi 2 and a handful of Chinese phones, can even come close to the value for money quotient that these devices bring to the table.

Since, both the devices are from the same family and even looks similar, we decided to review them together. So, lets take a look at the Meizu M1 Note vs Meizu M1 comparison.

Like always, we will take a look at a number of parameters such as the design, display, hardware, battery, camera and even software.

DESIGN

Well, both the Meizu M1 Note as well as the Meizu M1 have derived inspiration from the two smartphones in the Meizu’s top end lineup, the Meizu MX4 and the Meizu MX4 Pro. In fact, the design is a very good indicator of the phone’s brand. If you have ever seen the Meizu MX4, you’ll instantly recognize that both the M1 Note and the Meizu M1 come from the same family.

Meizu M1 Note, like the name suggests is the bigger model of the two. It comes with a 5.5-inch display, which makes it even bigger than the flagship MX4. The measurements of the M1 Note comes to 150.7 x 75.2 x 8.9 mm which is pretty decent for a phone with a 5.5-inch screen. On the other hand, the M1 comes with the measurements, 140.2 x 72.1 x 8.9 mm. As you can see, both the models have the exact same thickness, 8.9mm.

Since the M1 Note is larger, it feels as though the device is narrower than the M1. But as you can see from the measurements, the phone is indeed a bit more broad around 3.1mm. This makes the M1 Note look more like the MX4 Pro and the M1 like the Meizu MX4.

On top of both the device’s displays, you have the exact same components. So, there’s the receiver mesh and sensors and front camera on the right. One thing to note here is that the front camera on both the models are exactly the same – OV5670 5-megapixel sensor, F / 2.0 aperture and wide-angle 69 ° lens.

Even below the display, things are similar. So, you have the trademark Meizu round home button with a breathing notification light. The bezels on the phones are pretty thin considering their competitors. They are narrow and blend well with the display.

The sides are a bit protruding on both the phones which can actually save your display from directly hitting the ground if its falls. While this may cause some issue while using the touch screen display, we think its actually a better design especially when it can save the display.

The back cover is made of polycarbonate material on both the devices. This gives it a very appealing look, which is something that’s not usually found on phones in this price range. However, you will have to be careful while handling the device, especially if you have sweaty palms. Also, the Meizu M1 being the smaller model, is more comfortable to hold as compared to the M1 Note.

On top of both the devices lies the 3.5mm headphone jack, a microphone opening as well as the power button. At the bottom, you have the speakers, microUSB and microphone.

On the left side, you have the volume keys while on the right, you have the slot for the SIM card slot(s). Now, here things get interesting. Meizu M1 Note comes with NO MicroSD card slot. Instead, the slot on the right will habor two SIM cards making it a dual SIM dual standby supported phone. On the other hand, the 5-inch Meizu M1 comes with a MicroSD card slot too (Yay!) but then supports only one SIM card. It was essential for M1 to come with a memory card slot since it features just 8GB of storage. On the other hand, the M1 Note comes with 16GB / 32GB storage options.

Overall, both the phones look well built and premium. However, if we had to change one thing from both the devices, it will have to be the power button on the top. It simply doesn’t feel natural to reach out to the top side just to power on the device. This is especially a big problem when the phone becomes larger like in the case of 5.5-inch M1 Note. But its not something we couldn’t manage and hence, we feel a few hours of use will make the action more natural.

DISPLAY

This time, we could analyze the display to a great extent on both the devices. First of all, we have two other top end flagship phones for comparison with these two Blue Charm devices namely the Meizu MX4 and the HTC One M8. This should give you guys a better idea as to how these budget phones compare with those two top end phones.

The Meizu M1 Note comes with a 5.5-inch IGZO display with a full HD 1920 x 1080p resolution. On the other hand, the Meizu M1 features a 5-inch 1280 x 768 resolution TFT capacitive LCD display. Both the displays are protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3. The M1 Note features a screen to body ratio of 72.9% while the Meizu M1 sports a ratio of 69.9%. Interestingly, the Meizu M1 features dual domain pixel technology on its display which will help in improving the viewing angles of the phone.

Coming to the screen contrasts, the four models that we will be comparing use different display technologies. As a result, don’t expect similar results and any difference that you may see could be just because the phone uses a different panel.

Have a look at the images below. On top row there is the Meizu MX4 and the HTC One M8 on the right. At the bottom row, there is the Meizu M1 Note and then the Meizu M1 lying on its right.

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Here are some images displayed on these devices.

 HARDWARE SPECS

Meizu M1 Note naturally comes with the better hardware of the two. The phablet features the recently announced MT6752 64-bit octa-core processor from Mediatek clocked at 1.7GHz. On the other hand, the Meizu M1 features the 64-bit MT6732 quad-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz. Both the processors are based on ARM’s Cortex A53 architecture and comes with Mali T760 GPU.

M1 Note has an additional RAM module, which adds up to 2GB as compared to M1’s 1GB RAM. Also, the storage is much higher, 16GB / 32GB options as opposed to Meizu M1’s 8GB storage. However, as mentioned above, the for the slightly additional storage and Dual SIM support, you’ll have to live with whatevery storage that comes inbuilt on the Meizu M1 Note, as there’s no slot for a memory card.

Performance wise naturally Meizu M1 Note outdid the MT6732 quad-core processor on the M1 by a considerable margin. In the AnTuTu test we consistently got around 41,000 points on the M1 Note. On the other hand, the M1 could only score upto 30,000 in the same test.

You will experience some slight lag while using the M1, but its only when there are a lot of heavy duty applications opened. Under normal usage, the device performed pretty well.  We could get a maximum of 568MB RAM free on the device at any time. This reduced to around 100-150MB when we opened up a new app. However, in practical usage, it doesn’t cause much issues. Like we mentioned above, just make sure you don’t open a lot of apps and things will be pretty smooth.

Coming to the MT6752 octa-core M1 Note, we had no issues with this device. Everything was butter smooth and apps too opened up very quickly.

Connectivity features are exactly the same, except for Dual SIM support on the Meizu M1 Note. The supported network bands are as follows:

 CAMERA

Camera is one of the most important features that users look for in a smartphone these days. In this regard, both the phones does not disappoint. You will be happy with its camera if you are reasonable with your expectations. To be frank, you won’t get Galaxy Note 4 like picture quality and that’s acceptable. What you will get though is decent image quality especially when there’s enough light. There is noise prevalent on images captured on both the devices, but then Meizu is not really famous for its stellar camera phones and hence, it isn’t surprising.

Moreover, the rear camera module is the same on M1 Note as well as the M1. So, you get the Samsung’s 13 million-pixel CMOS sensor size of 1 / 3.06 inches with F / 2.2 aperture. So, camera performance under normal lighting conditions should be more or less the same. But it will differ a bit at night shooting as the M1 Note comes with dual LED Dual Tone flash as opposed to the single LED flash on the Meizu M1. The rear camera module is capable of recording 1080p videos at 30 fps. However at this resolution, the video files tend to be quite large, which will definitely be a concern on the 16GB Meizu Blue Charm Note without expansion slot!

We have already specified the details about the 5MP front camera, but in case you skipped that part, here are the specs: OV5670 5-megapixel sensor, F / 2.0 aperture and wide-angle 69 ° lens.

Here are some samples for you to see of both the devices.

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Macro shots on the Meizu M1 came out pretty good.

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BATTERY

Both the phones feature non-removable batteries. The Meizu M1 Note comes with a 3140 mAh battery which is actually pretty good for a device in its price range. On the other hand, the Meizu M1 features a 2500 mAh battery. The capacity was initially 2160 mAh but Meizu recently reduced it to 2500 mAh.

The battery life on both the phones are pretty good. You get a day’s usage with moderate usage. To give you a figure, expect around 4.5-5 hours of dscreen on time on the Meizu M1 Note and a slightly less figure on the Meizu M1.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to test out the battery, so this is all we could get from our initial tests.

SOFTWARE

Both the phones come with the company’s latest Flyme 4.2.0 version which is based on Android 4.4 KitKat OS. Meizu has improved the Flyme OS considerably in the past few months and you can instantly see the difference. The transition effects were pretty smooth and so were the other animations.

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

Due to the immense popularity of Meizu M1 Note and Meizu M1 its very hard to get hold of the device directly from the company. So, you will have to resort to various online resellers to purchase the device.

While we checked out the various resellers to find out the prices online, we found a website where there were many reputed resellers listed with their prices. So, its better you check out the the website link given below if you are interested in purchasing the device.

The cheapest price we could find for the Meizu M1 Note was on aliexpress, for $199.99. But if you are not sure about aliexpress, then you can also check out Pandawill, which is a reputed reseller where the phone is listed for $209 but you can get it for around $205 with a coupon from discountion.com.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any trusted resellers selling Meizu M1, but we expect them to stock up in the next few weeks. We’ll update you guys with more information at that time.

We think both the models offers great value for money! What do you think about both the devices? Would you pay up a little extra to get the M1 Note or will you be happy with the $112 Meizu M1?

The post Meizu M1 Note vs Meizu M1: A detailed Comparison appeared first on Gizmochina.

Even before the announcement of the low cost 699 Yuan Meizu M1 we got reports that the phone could come in three different OS variants. We have already seen the Flyme powered Meizu M1 Blue Charm device, which leaves us with two more editions, the YunOS version and the Ubuntu version.

Looks like the second model namely the Meizu M1 YunOS edition will soon hit the market. The device was recently spotted on the Chinese TENAA certification agency which revealed that the phone will come with Alibaba’s Aliyun OS. The other specs of the phone are the same, so this won’t be the rumored 2GB RAM version that will take on the Xiaomi’s new Redmi 2 model. The phone has the same MT6732 64-bit quad-core processor, 13MP + 5MP cameras, 5-inch display as the regular version.

This YunOS edition for Meizu M1 is not really surprising given that the company had previously partnered up with Aliyun for the YunOS powered Meizu MX4 model. At that time, we thought it could be a MX4 exclusive deal, but now we know that there are more such versions planned.

Meizu and Alibaba group recently struck a deal wherein the Chinese e-commerce giant invested about half a billion dollars for an undisclosed minority stake in the Chinese smartphone maker. So, Meizu would advantage from the vast financial as well as physical resources of the e-commerce giant, while Alibaba can finally revive its dying OS which was unveiled almost 4 years back.

After the deal, the Alibaba group made an announcement that the company aimed to provide support to Meizu in a number of fields like e-commerce and mobile operating system.

“Alibaba Group will provide Meizu with resources and support in the fields of e-commerce, mobile Internet, mobile operating system and data analysis with the aim of developing Meizu’s smartphone ecosystem,”

So, this partnership could give a boost to Meizu, which is still behind Xiaomi and other companies in China. In fact, the company is yet to make it to the top 5 smartphone manufacturer list in its home country. But the manufacturer has shown promise especially by selling around 1.5 million smartphones in just January alone.

Both the Meizu M1 and the Meizu M1 Note have received positive response from customers and hence, they could be quite popular in the international markets too. So, with this newly announced partnership with Alibaba, Meizu is all set to take things to the next level.

But only till will tell whether Meizu can compete with well established manufacturers in the international markets.

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