Meizu MX 4-core Review: Best Bang for Your Buck Quad-core Smartphone

Meizu MX 4-core Review: Best Bang for Your Buck Quad-core Smartphone

Meizu MX 4-core Review! Woot!
Meizu MX 4-core Review! Woot!

Meizu MX 4-core Review

If I were to sum up the Meizu MX 4-core in a sentence, it would be this: It is a delightful affordable quad-core Android device that’s inspired by the Apple iPhone. The focus, of course, is on the fact that it is a quad-core device and that it only sells for a remarkably low price of Php13,790 (via Widget City). We were initially skeptical when we found out about this device but after using it for the last three weeks we can definitely say that this is worth every single peso. To those looking for a very competitive Android device that won’t break the bank, read on because this one is definitely for you.

Meizu MX 4-core Spec Sheet

  • 1.4GHz Samsung Exynos Cortex-A9 Quad-Core Processor
  • Mali-400MP GPU
  • 1GB RAM
  • 32GB Internal Storage, No microSD
  • 4-inch Capacitive Touchscreen, 960×640 Pixels (~288ppi)
  • 8.0-megapixel rear-facing camera, 3264×2448, LED flash, auto focus, panorama mode
  • Can record video 1080 HD @ 30fps
  • VGA front-facing camera
  • Bluetooth, WiFi, WiFi Hotspot, GPS
  • 3G, HSPA+
  • Li-Ion 1700mAh Standard Battery
  • Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with Flyme Custom UI

Definitely inspired by the iPhone

Meizu definitely adopted several design elements from the Apple iPhone. The style of the bezel, shape of the phone, and even the circular physical home button are dead giveaways. The capacitive touch buttons are still there though but they just light up when in use. The standard ports are also there including the micro USB, volume rocker, and power lock. Note that while the back plate is removable the only thing you’ll find is the micro SIM slot. You’ll have to make do with the 32GB internal storage as this isn’t expandable via micro SD.

Design elements from the Apple iPhone
Design elements from the Apple iPhone

Despite the similar design elements, don’t think for a second that this is just a cheap iPhone imitation. In fact this is actually a very solid and good smartphone that can give a lot of higher-end Androids a run for their money. The Meizu MX 4-core is very solid to hold in your hand and it doesn’t feel cheap at all. In fact you’d easily think it was priced twice the amount you paid for it.

circular physical home button
circular physical home button

I’d say that the phone is just the right size. Perfect for one-hand use. Just like the… iPhone, hehe.

Display quality is beautiful for the price

Meizu also managed to put in a high quality screen for the MX 4-core. The 4-inch capacitive touchscreen has 960 x 640 resolution which comes out to around 288 pixels per inch. It’s not super Retina Display like the iPhone 4 but it is far superior when compared to the screens that you see from the dual-core Androids that came into the market recently.

20130107_215924

iPhone Inspiration goes down to the operating system

The Meizu MX 4-core runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich but using a custom user interface called Flyme. This UI tries to iOS (as a verb) the Android experience. For example, you don’t get an app tray with the Meizu MX 4-core. When you tap the usual icon to show the different apps installed, you’ll get a browser, lol. Instead of the traditional Android app tray, all the apps you download appear on the home screen. The more apps you download, the more screens are automatically added. You can group the apps in different folders as well. Again… just like the… iPhone. Hehe.

Sample of app folder. Looks familiar right?
Sample of app folder. Looks familiar right?

Despite the change in UI, all the usual Android stuff works smoothly on the Meizu MX 4-core. Games (casual or graphics intensive), social networking, e-mail, RSS readers, photo editing tools, and everything else from the Google Play store can be used on the device.

All the usual Android top apps run smoothly on the Meizu. Thank you quad-core!
All the usual Android top apps run smoothly on the Meizu. Thank you quad-core!

If you don’t want to use the Flyme UI and you want traditional Android then you can just download a launcher. Try either Nova or Apex. Both are very good launchers that you can customize to your liking.

Quad-core is quad-core even at Php13,790

One of the biggest selling points of the Meizu MX 4-core is the fact that it has a 1.4GHz Samsung Exynos Cortex-A9 Quad-Core Processor. You don’t usually see quad-core devices priced at Php13,790. So how does this thing perform in real life? Here are the results of the Antutu benchmark test.

Antutu Benchmark Results
Antutu Benchmark Results

It’s slightly lower than the HTC One X+ but it performs better than the SII, Note, and Transformer Prime. That’s still impressive, again given the price.

In read world use you get a very smooth Android experience with the Meizu MX 4-core. Lags and delays are rare and even the most graphics intensive applications start and run quite fast. Of course the downside here though is that if you use high memory and power eating apps like games, the battery drains fast. The Achilles’ Heel of this device is still the 1700mAh battery. More on that later though.

Camera is very competitive, good even in low-light conditions

A pleasant surprise that we got with the Meizu MX 4-core is the camera. It has an 8.0-megapixel shooter and we were initially skeptical since most of the 8-megapixel cameras we’ve seen from China phones failed to impress us. However that’s not the case with the Meizu since it actually takes good pictures, even in low light conditions! Check out some of the sample shots we took below.

Sample Shots

P30107-220356

P30107-220317

P30107-220408

Cool right? It’s not as good as the camera you see with the iPhone 5 or the Galaxy Note II but it’s definitely competitive.

Music player is one of the best

So what else can be good about this phone? Well apparently the Meizu MX 4-Core is the dream phone of a lot of audiophiles. See below for an excerpt of the review of audiophile blog Inner Fidelity about the Meizu:

All this powerful hardware is great, but what about the audio? Meizu has that covered as well. The MX 4-core uses a Wolfson WM8958 CODEC for audio duty. This highly integrated chip features a quality DAC (100dB SNR), 5-band hardware parametric EQ, and an integrated “Class W” headphone driver. Wolfson describes their Class W technology as being an evolution of class G and class H, featuring an adaptive dual drive charge pump and DC servo. The design balances high quality with low power consumption, and is optimized to share noisy power supply rails without compromising performance due to excellent PSRR.

Source

Marcus of local audio blog Headfonics currently has the Meizu MX 4-core. We asked him to do a quick review and as soon as he e-mails us his comments we’ll put it up here on this article.

Battery life is average

As mentioned earlier, the Meizu MX 4-core still has a “bad” side to it. While the screen is beautiful, the processor fast, and the camera is competitive, the battery life is still a bit lacking. Everyday moderate-heavy usage results to around 6-7 hours of life. If you’ll use this as your main phone be sure to have a mobile charger ready.

Verdict: Amazeballs Phone for Php13,790

Meizu MX 4-Core now available locally!
Meizu MX 4-Core now available locally!

Everything considered we believe that the Meizu MX 4-core is an amazeballs deal at Php13,790. It can run circles around a lot of the similarly priced dual-core devices that you can find in the market. Quad-core, good camera, the best audio player, and a gorgeous screen for Php13,790. No matter how you look at it this is a steal.

The Meizu MX 4-core is now available via Widget City for Php13,790. Limited stocks only.

Share:

Facebook
Twitter

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *