The Meizu 4-core review [updated 0801]

Just quickly: BUY… But wait till after the 12th July. I’ll be sure to update the review post-firmware update.

Meizu is not afraid to try something different. Whether this is a good or a bad thing depends on the user’s perspective. But wait, we’ve seen this before and that device is called the iPhone. Apple tries their darndest to control the user experience by placing stringent restrictions on the OS- and this is exactly what’s going on here with FlymeOS. Down to the hardware design.

Not iOS.

So much for Flyme’s individualism.. they really should have taken the opportunity to redesign and separate themselves from their iPhone knockoff image. If not for dignity, they should’ve done it so as not to incur the wrath of Apple’s lawyers.
Some of the design changes may seem strange and unfitting. it’s not difficult to understand what Meizu is trying to do though- and it’s an amalgamation of both iOS and Android. On the one hand they take after apple in (not just) the OS design philosophy- to control user experience, draconian controls have to be implemented. Some of the advanced options and menus Android users are used to are no longer visible or even accessible. But at the same time first time users will find this flavour of Android much easier to pick up and not be intimidated by the maze of options usually on offer. Heck it even forces users to use its native (admittedly fast) browser, launcher [setting the default launcher is possible. Customise>Launcher once a new one has been downloaded off the Market] and various other apps by not providing a way to set or clear defaults.

a quick UI walkthrough plus quadrant benchmark (plus shameless self promotion)

So just what is the MX 4-core’s appeal? Geeks may love the fact that it runs on Sammy’s Exynos 4412 chipset but they’ll not likely take well to the fact that customisation options are severely limited. Regular consumers on the other hand might find FlymeOS an Android variant that’s far more user-friendly but they may not be able to appreciate and fully utilise (not that many apps can) the quadcore goodness that lies within.
But there’s more! Meizu has promised to release a vanilla ICS ROM so this will definitely appeal the former group. So let’s hope they keep their promise.
But hey what’s done is done. And believe it or not there is nary a negative point left to rant about the Meizu MX 4-core after this point (actually there are- see the full list). Everything else the MX 4-core tries to do, it does so with the grace and fluidity of a baby’s bottom that’s been coated with baby oil.

fast fluid UI? check.
benchmark-setting state-of-the-art CPU? check.
stuffed with a mind-boggling number of sensors? check.
graphic equalizer? (yer this one’s a must-have imo) check.
big battery? check.
beautiful display? check.
plenty of storage? check.
solid build quality? check.

So what more could you ask for? (somebody at the back said “stability”?)

The bottomline is that the Meizu MX 4-core is suffering from version 1.0 blues [and it’s now all fixed after 2 updates!] and it’s the only thing keeping it from attaining godhood. With the looming 12th July firmware update, Meizu had better get its engineering together in order and fix these high priority issues lest they start leaving a more permanently damaging impression for potential worldwide customers.
But other than that, the MX 4-core really really deserves a chance. And your money (USD400, or HKD3099). Speaking of which, this is by far the best value for money quadcore phone you could buy. There is little to no compromise if you can see past the slightly weaker display resolution (on paper only, see below).

You most likely will not regret this purchase.

it’s speedy.

[Meizu has not yet responded with an ETA for the vanilla flavoured ICS, nor confirm a bugfix release for various issues I presented them with]

[UPDATE2: a phone call to Meizu cleared up the update situation. They acknowledged stability problems and that the upcoming update WILL address them. No dates were given but they said “end of July”.

On another note, Meizu’s official China forum says 12th July.]

[UPDATE 20120801: china’s flyme1.0.3 firmware totally fixed all the deal-breaking crashes and hangs! as a reference, I flashed this to my HK variant and the phone never complained. No idea when Meizu HK is bringing out an official update.]

Here’s the full breakdown of all the pros and cons:

Pros

Meizu’s biggest Pro- ability to draw graphs. Just kidding- check that out: 8am till 3pm the next day.

+++++ battery life is absolutely solid. 1700mah is no longer considered big these days- just look at the GS3’s 2100mah and the Razr Maxx’s 3000mah. And yet on Low CPU (800mhz) setting, the phone lasted 30 hours. on High (1400mhz) the phone lasted 24 hours. This is with autosync off, native email client synching every 15mins, 3 benchmark tests per charge cycle tested and other normal usage scenarios. in other words, other than gaming, there is no need for any frugality whatsoever. 

Low- 800mhz, Normal- 1000mhz and High- 1400mhz

++++ native browser is very fast, smooth and speedy. feels faster than Chrome, even.

++++ notification area is the most minimalistic and yet the most functional yet- the notification comes down only as much as is needed, and within it, there is quick access to all available wifi signals, 2G, 3G and auto network selection options and you can also toggle wifi on or off, data connection on off, GPS, autosync..

have you seen anything better than this?

+++ gpu (Mali 400 MP) is fast. see how it stacks up with similarly spec’d phones. http://www.glbenchmark.com/compare.jsp?benchmark=glpro21&showhide=true&certified_only=1&D1=Meizu%20M032&D2=Samsung%20GT-I9300%20Galaxy%20S%20III&D3=HTC%20One%20X

+++ FlymeOS is wonderfully user-friendly. Meizu has gone the extra length to ensure most the unnecessary complexities of Android are left out.

++ excellent viewing angles from the ASV (Advanced Super View) panel. colours are fine and contrast levels are as you would expect of any regular LCDs.

++ the 4 inch display resolution (640×960) may not win any awards for having the highest PPI as is the current unhealthy obsession these days, but it was impossible (without extra equipment) to discern the pixel differences. More so, coming from the One X, I no longer need to zoom and adjust for slightly larger text which is what I’m more comfortable with. This may be something to consider for people who don’t have perfect eyesight.

++ native voicemail (it actually bypasses your network’s if you set if to do so) and automatic call-recording are nice features and works seamlessly. To play them back, you either tap the new vmail notification or open up the Recorder app.

+ display legibility under the sun is just fine. While the screen is a little too reflective for its own good, despite the excessive glare, everything is legible under the sun after the brightness gets kicked up to the max.

+ screen is allegedly Gorilla Glass. I’ve not been able to find any official reference as such but through normal use, there has been no accumulated scratches whatsoever.

+swipe to select multiple items. this is available across native apps that may have multiple items i.e. Mail. very handy.

+ finally an Android that’s not afraid to let its brightness level go a little bit lower in the dark. you’ll have no risk of being blinded when using the phone in bed. this is also a plus indoors as it helps keep the battery usage in check.

+ various physical key combination shortcuts- while not intuitive, once you get used to them they become convenient shortcuts because most importantly, they can be used while in the lockscreen i.e. by pressing Volume Down and Home, you can launch the anywhere [correction Vol+Home launches the camera and then takes an instant snapshot seemingly without AF!]. Other useful combos: Home+Pwr to take a screenshot, Vol Down+ Pwr for silent mode, Vol Down+ Home to launch camera etc

the camera UI

+ camera is fast. Pity that didn’t implement a One X -like UI and instantly accessible burst mode.

and more camera settings

+ base model offers 32gb of storage, and goes up to 64gb.

+ ”Light keys” are gimmicky but have potential. They also double as notification lights, however.

+ FlymeOS has its own cloud storage for your settings and installed apps

+ phone finder is available but it’s not quite in full working order at the time of this review.

+ 9 GSM bands!– sadly this is not something I was able to test out.

+ FlymeOS’s code lock is very similar to that of iOS’s. There’s no need to tap OK after entering the code. Those who have been waiting (can’t just be me?…) for this rejoice.

Photo samples- click to enlarge.

Cons

—— OS has stability problems- phone crashes and restarts once a day (when I was looking). At first I attempted to find the app that was causing it but really, there’s no reason why the OS can crash and burn because of one little app. There’s got to be something wrong deep down. Meizu needs to fix this. [ALL fixed in Flyme 1.0.3!!]

—– unable to set defaults- that includes Launchers, browsers etc.

Not even with a 3rd party app.

—– native browser does not support sharing to other apps- a very odd but an obviously deliberate decision.

Y u no let me share???

—– Google+ instant upload FC (force closes)- as of this moment, 5 days after the release of the device, Google+’s instant upload still force closes every time. This may be very disappointing for people who rely on this feature to automatically upload their photos. It’s not yet possible to identify who is responsible here.

— audio / system stutters slightly when the phone’s been in use for around a day without a reboot. this happens especially when 3G data is in use. Makes for a rather unpleasant media performance, mostly.
— FlymeOS is overly user-friendly and hid or moved a lot of the useful under the hood features. Fear not- an official vanilla ICS ROM has been promised.

— glossy display exhibits excessive glare. it doubles as a mirror very well. (as you can probably see in the embedded hands-on video)

— no app drawer- FlymeOS plays the iOS card a little too close to the chest by repeating the bane of MIUI (well, and itself?). what compounds the issue is that unlike MIUI, Meizu does NOT let you pick an alternate launcher as the default.

no app drawer. duplicate icons have been fixed in a recent firmware update.

— random reboots when using Low and High all three CPU setting. This happened to me once a day….and for some strange reason, at nearly the same time.

– stock Music app’s stereo effect is over-aggressive (e.g. music becomes wide, voice becomes less prominent) and cannot be turned off. as a test, other music and podcast apps are able to play sounds and music as normal.

– bugs: native software keyboard has a bug that prevents you from editing text unless you toggle between text and number mode; equalizer settings can be slightly buggy in that they somehow stick even after switching to another preset. Thankfully, a quick “Reset” of the equalizer settings corrects this.

Reset solves the equalizer bug.

– native mail app new mail notifications needs tweaking- Mail doesn’t seem to want to wait for new mail notifications to accumulate before flashing so if you have 40 new messages, the notification will spaz out 40 times. Alternatively they can be turned off altogether, which is what I’ve done for now.

say no to email notifications (until we get a bugfix)

– the battery cover is a b*tch to remove. While it does feel nice and secure with very very little flex, it’s not an excuse for difficult removal. Take the S2 as the shining example- secure, and easy to remove both at the same time.

– 2G GPRS headphone interference. this happens usually only when the phone is seeking a 2G or GPRS signal. who still uses 2G anyway?
Just quickly: BUY.

Meizu is not afraid to try something different. Whether this is a good or a bad thing depends on the user’s perspective. But wait, we’ve seen this before and that device is called the iPhone. Apple tries their darndest to control the user experience by placing stringent restrictions on the OS- and this is exactly what’s going on here with FlymeOS. Down to the hardware design.
So much for Flyme’s individualism.. they really should have taken the opportunity to redesign and separate themselves from their iPhone knockoff image. If not for dignity, they should’ve done it so as not to incur the wrath of Apple’s lawyers.
Some of the design changes may seem strange and unfitting. it’s not difficult to understand what Meizu is trying to do though- and it’s an amalgamation of both iOS and Android. On the one hand they take after apple in (not just) the OS design philosophy- to control user experience, draconian controls have to be implemented. Some of the advanced options and menus Android users are used to are no longer visible or even accessible. But at the same time first time users will find this flavour of Android much easier to pick up and not be intimidated by the maze of options usually on offer. Heck it even forces users to use its native (admittedly fast) browser, launcher and various other apps by not providing a way to set or clear defaults.
So just what is the MX 4-core’s appeal? Geeks may love the fact that it runs on Sammy’s Exynos 4412 chipset but they’ll not likely take well to the fact that customisation options are severely limited. Regular consumers on the other hand might find FlymeOS an Android variant that’s far more user-friendly but they may not be able to appreciate and fully utilise (not that many apps can) the quadcore goodness that lies within.
But there’s more! Meizu has promised to release a vanilla ICS ROM so this will definitely appeal the former group. So let’s hope they keep their promise.
But hey what’s done is done. And believe it or not there is nary a negative point left to rant about the Meizu MX 4-core after this point (actually there are- see the full list). Everything else the MX 4-core tries to do, it does so with the grace and fluidity of a baby’s bottom that’s been coated with baby oil.

fast fluid UI? check.
benchmark-setting state-of-the-art CPU? check.
stuffed with a mind-boggling number of sensors? check.
graphic equalizer? (yer this one’s a must-have imo) check.
big battery? check.
beautiful display? check.
plenty of storage? check.
solid build quality? check.

So what more could you ask for? (somebody at the back said “stability”)

The bottomline is that the Meizu MX 4-core is suffering from version 1.0 blues and it’s the only thing keeping it from attaining godhood. With the looming 12th July firmware update, Meizu had better get its engineering together in order and fix these high priority issues lest they start leaving a more permanently damaging impression for potential worldwide customers.
But other than that, the MX 4-core really really deserves a chance. And your money (USD400, or HKD3099). Speaking of which, this is by far the best value for money quadcore phone you could buy. There is almost no compromise if you can see past the slightly weaker display resolution (on paper only, see below).
You most likely will not regret this purchase.

[Meizu has not yet responded with an ETA for the vanilla flavoured ICS, nor confirm a bugfix release for various issues I presented them with]