The race of budget Chinese smartphones continues, and today we will tell you about one of its participants.
Meizu M5 was officially introduced on October 31, 2016, the smartphone can be called the successor to Meizu M3. The novelty has received improved hardware, some design changes and a proprietary mTouch 2.1 fingerprint button. We will tell about everything in order in the review of the gadget.
Specifications and equipment
- Processor: 8-core MediaTek MT6750 with a clock frequency of 1.5 GHz.
- Graphic controller: Mali-T860.
- Display: 5.2 inches, 1280×720 pixels, 282 ppi, IPS, GFF, 2.5D glass.
- RAM: 2/3 GB LPDDR3.
- Built-in memory: 16/32 GB (supports microSD cards up to 128 GB)
- Main camera resolution: 13 MP (f / 2.2, dual-tone LED flash, phase detection autofocus).
- Front camera resolution: 5 MP (f/2.0).
- Battery: built-in, capacity 3070 mAh.
- Platform: Android 6.0 Marshmallow with Flyme 5.2 firmware.
- Interfaces: LTE 4G with VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, GPS, GLONASS, OTG, USB HOST.
- Fingerprint scanner mTouch 2.1.
- 3.5mm headphone jack.
- Dimensions: 147.2 x 72.8 x 8 mm.
- Weight: 138 grams.
Meizu M5 is sold in a regular cardboard box, inside you can find a white 1.5A power supply with a Chinese plug, a white charging cord, a branded paper clip to remove the SIM card tray, a protective film for the display and documentation.
We bought Meizu M5 on AliExpress. The seller via the link sent the smartphone as quickly as possible, put a charging adapter and a silicone case as a gift. The smartphone arrived in Rostov-on-Don in just 3 weeks.
Design and ergonomics
Meizu M5 is in a plastic case in the branded and familiar design of the manufacturer. The smartphone is available in five colors: black, white, dark blue, green and gold. We have a black version, the back cover is matte.
The front panel of the device is absolutely standard - above the screen there is a speaker hole, a proximity sensor and an LED indicator that notifies you of missed calls and notifications.
Below the display is an mTouch 2.1 button with a built-in fingerprint finger, as on all modern smartphones from the manufacturer.
The rear panel placed the main camera and LED flash, located on the same level with a common surface. Just below is the Meizu logo. On the black color option, the camera module is almost invisible, as are the branding at the bottom of the heel counter.
On the right side face in the usual and convenient position are the power and volume buttons. They are plastic and are pressed without discomfort, do not stagger or dangle.
On the left, you can find a slot for a SIM card and a memory card, which is removed with a special paper clip.
There is nothing on the top edge, on the bottom there are perforations of the main speaker, a microUSB connector for charging, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a small noise-canceling microphone hole.
Ergonomics of the device can be characterized positively. The plastic back cover is rounded at the edges, so holding the Meizu M5 in your hands is very convenient. The materials are not easily soiled, not slippery and durable to the touch. No extraneous noises and backlashes were found when using the gadget, it is pleasant to hold the device in your hand.
Display and picture
Meizu M5 is equipped with a 5.2-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels and a pixel density of 282 ppi. The display is covered with a protective 2.5D glass, the oleophobic coating performs its function well.
The screen is quite high quality, many Meizu smartphones are famous for this, but HD resolution is not enough for a 5.2-inch diagonal. We also note the insufficient contrast of the picture, sometimes it seems that there are simply not enough colors.
In the screen settings there is a color temperature adjustment and an eye protection mode.
Performance and benchmarks
Meizu M5 is powered by a budget MediaTek MT6750 octa-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz. It is this chipset that is used in Meizu M3 and Meizu U10. The Mali-T860 controller is responsible for graphics processing, the amount of RAM is 2 GB (there is a 3 GB version), the physical memory is 16 GB (there is a 32 GB version).
The smartphone does an excellent job of ensuring the smoothness and high speed of the interface. All internal functions work quickly and without delay, with a large number of open background applications, no problems were found.
Of course, demanding high performance from a budget $100 smartphone is unreasonable. It copes with simple games without problems, however, when 3D graphics and other “bells and whistles” appear, slowdowns will be noticeable. At the same time, you can comfortably play Angry Birds 2, Subway Surfers, Clash Royale and Shadow Fight 2 on your smartphone.
Benchmark run results:
Cameras and photos
Meizu M5 is responsible for the photographic abilities of the main camera with a resolution of 12 megapixels, phase detection autofocus, f / 2.2 aperture and dual-tone LED flash. Specifications are standard for the budget segment, but these are just numbers. In fact, the camera behaves perfectly, sometimes creating wonderful pictures.
The main conditions for creating a high-quality photograph are a sufficient level of natural light, no rush (point and wait for the autofocus to "adjust") and the ability to take a couple of shots at once. In this case, you can select the best ones from the received pictures. Here are some examples of daytime photos:
At night, everything is more difficult - even a professional photographer will not help to avoid noise, but why be surprised in a smartphone for 6500 rubles?
The camera handles macro photography perfectly, objects are clear and detailed.
Selfie turns out to be the most common, for social networks it should be enough.
Interface and fingerprint scanner
The smartphone runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow and proprietary firmware Flyme OS 5.2, which is well known to all owners of Meizu smartphones. It is convenient, customizable and stylish in its own way, but in our case, the main thing is that it works smoothly and quickly - there are only positive impressions.
