As you know, the Chinese do not really like the number "4" because of its unfavorable consonance. That is why the Meizu M3 Note and Meizu M3e models were replaced by a smartphone with the M5 Note index.

8 cores

The design of the phone was inherited from its predecessors, as well as the hardware. The hardware part of the smartphone consists of an 8-core MediaTek Helio P10 processor, 3 GB of "RAM" and a Mali-T860 graphics accelerator. The processor has its own peculiarity: 4 cores in its design are energy efficient and serve to perform simple tasks, and 4 more are connected when it is necessary to provide high performance.

Unpretentious

The screen of Meizu M5 Note has a 5.5 "diagonal, typical for its class, and also has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. There are no claims to the stock of brightness, color quality, and even more so to the viewing angles of the display. Perhaps the only complaints from users are the operation of the camera in conditions low light - night shots are spoiled by a significant amount of noise.In daylight, you can count on a better result, especially considering the possibility of installation manual settings.

Fast charging

One of the significant differences from previous models was smartphone support fast charging technology... The 4000 mAh battery will be able to replenish its reserves up to 80% in just 1 hour, and up to 100% in 1.5 hours. The built-in battery will last for a day of active smartphone use (watching online videos, gaming, chatting on social networks, etc.).

Home key

The model boasts a multifunctional Home key. First, by clicking on it, you return to the main desktop. Secondly, a touch layer is applied to the button, by touching which you return back. And thirdly, a fast and responsive fingerprint scanner is built into the key.

Maximum convenience

Owners of the M3 Note and M3e models hardly need to upgrade to the "five". But for acquaintance with the Meizu brand, a smartphone is perfect. Little by little, everything was improved in it, thanks to which we managed to get a convenient device for everyday use, devoid of "childhood sores".

Balanced model in an all-metal case, with good autonomy and fast charging

At the very end of last year, Meizu presented its new smartphone - Meizu M5 Note. The novelty is the update of the successful Note line of mid-range tablets, which have already sold more than twenty million devices. As one of the most notable features of the Meizu M5 Note, it received an all-metal body, similar to older and much more expensive models such as the MX6. This favorably distinguishes the hero of the review against the background of most competitors and distinguishes it from its predecessors: the previous model M3 Note, for example, had not a one-piece, but a prefabricated body made of metal and plastic.

In addition, the next representative of the Note series received a large amount of memory, a capacious battery with fast charging function and supports the LTE FDD frequency of 800 MHz (Band 20), which better than others meets the requirements for communication indoors, as well as in sparse areas. Read about all this and other features of the new product in the review of the Meizu M5 Note smartphone.

Main characteristics of Meizu M5 Note (Model M621H)

• SoC MediaTek MT6755M (Helio P10), 8 cores @ 1.8 GHz (ARM Cortex-A53)
• GPU Mali-T860
• Operating android system 6.0
• 5.5 ″ IPS touchscreen display, 1920 × 1080, 401 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 3/4 GB, inner memory 16/32/64 GB
• Nano-SIM support (2 pcs.)
• MicroSD support up to 128GB
• GSM / GPRS / EDGE networks (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• WCDMA / HSPA + networks (850/900/1900/2100 MHz), TD-SCDMA
• LTE Cat.4 FDD (B1 / 3/5/7/20), TD LTE (B38 / 40)
• Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n (2.4 and 5 GHz)
• Bluetooth 4.0 BLE
• GPS, A-GPS, Glonass
• Micro-USB, USB OTG
• 13 MP camera, autofocus, f / 2.2, 1080p video
• Front camera 5 MP, f / 2.0, fixed. focus
• Proximity sensor, lighting, magnetic field, fingerprint, accelerometer, gyroscope, step detector
• Battery 4000 mAh
• Dimensions 154 x 76 x 8.1 mm
• Weight 138 g

Contents of delivery

The packaging of the Meizu M5 Note is made in the same style as all the latest mobile products of the company. It is a rectangular box made of solid matte white cardboard with a minimum of labels and logos. Everything is decorated stylishly, concisely, performed with high quality. Inside, the contents are not piled up, but laid out in separate cells and smaller boxes.

The kit consists of a connecting cable of a rather thick cross-section and a powerful mains adapter with an output current of 2 A and a variable voltage of 5/9/12 V. The key for removing the cards is standardly attached to a cardboard folder with paper documentation.

Appearance and usability

We can praise Meizu for the fact that in the mid-price, affordable segment, the company does not try to save as much as possible, but offers maximum opportunities. For example, unlike the recently tested Lenovo K6 Note and Huawei Honor 6X with prefabricated cases, in which the ends are completely plastic and only the middle part of the back is metal, the Meizu M5 Note has an all-metal case, only grooves for the antenna output are cut out in it.

The metal end parts gleam with bevels, real metal can be seen through the slots of the connectors and grilles, and in general the case produces a pleasant feeling of massiveness, solidity and reliability. Meizu M5 Note looks and feels good, which positively distinguishes it from the aforementioned competitors produced by Huawei and Lenovo.

Real metal not only feels more pleasant in the hand and prevents the jacks from loosening over time, but also more resiliently withstands shocks and falls. The surfaces of the case are completely non-slippery and not easily soiled, since the manufacturer has finally learned how to process the metal correctly: a 12-stage sandblasting is used.

In terms of dimensions, the smartphone is quite consistent with modern standards for 5.5-inch devices. It is, of course, slightly more compact than the iPhone 6s Plus, which currently has perhaps the widest bezels at this screen size. The side faces are also selected a little more, they are not as rounded, but not quite straight either. In any case, the Meizu M5 Note case is held in the hand much more comfortably and more securely than the case. apple smartphones Plus series.

All elements are placed on the body in the usual places for Meizu smartphones. What distinguishes them from most products from other manufacturers is the absence of two touch buttons under the screen while there is a central button. Usually, there are either three or none of the buttons under the screen. Here, only one button is installed, but it is even more functional than that of the same iPhone, since it supports the function of returning to the previous screen by a short touch without pressing. By pressing, unlocking is carried out using the fingerprint scanner built into the key. The scanner in our test sample worked rather strangely, sometimes it made mistakes, but this, perhaps, can be attributed to the fact that it was not a serial commercial product that we tested, but a test sample. The good news is that the Meizu fingerprint sensor is installed not on the back of the case, but in front, where it is easier to reach it in any position of the smartphone.

The entire front panel is covered with 2.5D glass with sloping edges and a high-quality oleophobic coating, which makes your finger glide comfortably on the screen, without "sticking". Above the screen, sensors are habitually installed, a front camera peephole without its own flash, as well as an LED event indicator with a pleasant milky backlight.

On the back there is a camera module that does not protrude outward with a dual bright dual-tone flash.

The main speaker here is brought out to the bottom end; it is normally covered by a grill formed by three relatively large holes in the metal of the case. Meizu, unlike many, did not design the bottom end with two symmetrical grilles, one of which is always fake. A small round hole is made for the microphone nearby. It is curious that here, at the bottom end, there is not only a traditional USB port (Micro-USB connector), which supports connecting external devices to uSB mode OTG, but also a 3.5mm headphone output.

Thus, the top end is practically free of elements - with the exception of a small hole for the auxiliary microphone.

But there is still something to find fault with: the Meizu M5 Note, like many modern smartphones, has a hybrid card slot, which is not to the liking of most users, since you have to sacrifice a second SIM card to install a memory card. This slot is designed for two Nano-SIM cards (instead of one of them you can install a microSD card). Hot swap of cards is supported.

There are no complaints about the buttons on the opposite side face: the keys are large, metal, moderately hard, easily groped blindly, have a distinct springy stroke, do not rattle or dangle in their sockets.

Meizu M5 Note is presented in four colors: light silver, dark gray, as well as gold and blue. Meizu never paints the front panel in the general color of the case, so the classic options were used here too: a black facade for dark gray, and white for all other case options.

Screen

Meizu M5 Note is equipped with an IPS display covered with 2.5D glass with sloping edges. The physical dimensions of the screen are 68 × 121 mm with a diagonal of 5.5 inches. The resolution is 1920 × 1080, the dot density is about 401 ppi. The bezel around the screen looks thin: it has a width of about 3 mm at the sides, 15 mm at the top and bottom.

The display brightness can be manually adjusted or automatic settings based on the ambient light sensor. The AnTuTu test diagnoses support for 10 simultaneous multitouch touches. There is an eye protection mode to prevent eye fatigue with blue light filtering.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the "Monitors" and "Projectors and TV" sections Alexey Kudryavtsev... Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the test sample.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, resistant to scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are slightly worse than that of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the turned off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Meizu M5 Note, then they can be distinguished by their size):

The screen of the Meizu M5 Note is slightly lighter (brightness in the photos is 126 versus 118 for the Nexus 7). Duplication of reflected objects in meizu screen The M5 Note is very weak, which indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS-type screen - One Glass Solution). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (such as glass / air) with greatly differing refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of intense ambient light, but their repair in the case of cracked outer glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be changed. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (better than the Nexus 7 in terms of efficiency), so fingerprints are much easier to remove, and appear at a slower rate than in the case of ordinary glass.

With manual brightness control and displaying the white field on the whole screen, the maximum brightness value was about 440 cd / m², the minimum - 5.5 cd / m². The maximum brightness is quite high, and given the good anti-glare properties, readability even on a sunny day outdoors should be at a decent level. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable value. In the presence of automatic brightness control by the light sensor (it is located to the left of the slot of the front speaker). In automatic mode, when the ambient light conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. This function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment slider. If it is 100%, then in complete darkness, the auto brightness function reduces the brightness to 40 cd / m2 (normal), in an office lit with artificial light (about 550 lx) it sets to 210 cd / m2 (suitable), in a very bright environment (corresponds illumination on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) the brightness rises to 440 cd / m² (to the maximum - this is what you need); if the adjustment is about 50%, then the values \u200b\u200bare as follows: 15, 150 and 440 cd / m² (suitable values), the regulator at 0% - 5, 80 and 430 cd / m² (the first two values \u200b\u200bare too low, which is logical). It turns out that the automatic brightness control function works adequately and to some extent allows the user to customize their work to individual requirements. At any brightness level, there is no significant backlight modulation, so there is no screen flicker either.

This smartphone uses an IPS matrix. The micrographs show the typical IPS sub-pixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of photomicrographs of screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift, even with large gaze deviations from the perpendicular to the screen and without tint inversion. For comparison, we present photographs in which the same images are displayed on the screens of Meizu M5 Note and Nexus 7, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to about 200 cd / m², and the color balance on the camera was forcibly switched to 6500 K.

White field perpendicular to screens:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field.

And the test picture:

The color saturation on the Meizu M5 Note screen is higher than natural. Testing has shown that this is achieved by increasing the color contrast. The color balance of the Nexus 7 and the tested screen is slightly different.

Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors did not change much on both screens, but on the Meizu M5 Note the contrast decreased to a greater extent due to the strong black highlighting.

And the white box:

The brightness at an angle at the screens decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in exposure), but in the case of Meizu M5 Note, the drop in brightness is slightly greater. When deviated diagonally, the black field is lightened strongly and takes on a reddish or purple tint. The photos below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same!):

And from a different angle:

At a perpendicular view, the uniformity of the black field is average:

Contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is normal - about 700: 1. The response time for the transition black-white-black is 19 ms (10 ms on + 9 ms off). The transition between gray tones of 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes 31 ms in total. The gamma curve, plotted using 32 points with equal intervals in terms of the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal a blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.16, which is slightly below the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve deviates little from the power dependence:

We did not reveal the presence of dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the displayed image, which is very good.

The color gamut is close to sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components together:

As a result, the visual colors on this screen might not differ from the natural ones, but due to the overestimation of the color contrast this is not the case. As a result, the colors are too saturated, and in the area of \u200b\u200bthe most saturated colors, halftones are no longer distinguished. The balance of shades on a gray scale is medium, since the color temperature is much higher than the standard 6500 K, but the deviation from the spectrum of a black body (ΔE) is below 10, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, ΔE changes little from shade to shade - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since the color balance there does not really matter, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

This device has the ability to correct the color balance by adjusting the hue.

The curves above Without corr. correspond to the results without any color balance correction, and the curves Heat - data obtained after moving the slider to the extreme position, as in the picture above. It can be seen that the change in balance corresponds to the expected result, as the color temperature approached the standard value, but ΔE became too large. It doesn't make much sense to perform the correction.

There is a setting that allows you to reduce the intensity of the blue component.

In this case, the wording about health risks is not extreme, which, however, still does not add to the usefulness of this function. Recall that, in principle, bright light can lead to a violation of the circadian rhythm (see the article about the iPad Pro with a 9.7-inch display), but this problem is solved by adjusting the brightness to a comfortable level, and distorting the color balance by reducing the contribution of blue. there is absolutely no point.

To summarize: the screen has a fairly high maximum brightness and has good anti-reflective properties, so the device can be used outdoors without any problems even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable level. It is also acceptable to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. The advantages of the screen include an effective oleophobic coating, no air gap in the layers of the screen and no flickering. The disadvantages are low stability of black to deviation of gaze from the perpendicular to the plane of the screen and overestimation of the color contrast. Nevertheless, given the importance of characteristics for this particular class of devices, the screen quality can be considered high.

Camera

The cameras appear to be the same as the predecessor M3 Note. The front camera has a sensor with a resolution of 5 megapixels and a four-element lens with an f / 2.0 aperture and a fixed focus; the camera does not have its own flash. There is a manual settings mode in which you can set the light sensitivity (up to ISO 1600), shutter speed up to (1/5000 s), white balance, saturation, contrast, adjust exposure compensation.

The camera shoots well for its level: there are no complaints about detail and color rendition, nor about sharpness in the center of the frame. The proportions of the face in the pictures are slightly distorted, but these are standard problems with wide-angle optics with short focal lengths.

The main camera uses a 13-megapixel sensor module and a five-element lens with a maximum aperture of f / 2.2, and is equipped with fast phase detection autofocus. The flash is installed here quite bright, two-tone, but there is no stabilization system.

There are two control modes in the settings, automatic and manual, as well as several additional ones, such as portrait decoration, panorama, QR code scanning, slow motion, HDR, etc. manual mode, then sliders with variable values \u200b\u200bof shutter speed up to (1/5000 s), sensitivity (up to ISO 1600), manual focusing, white balance, exposure compensation scale will appear. In all modes, it is possible to manually select the metering point. The green frame is the focus point, and the white circle is the metering point. To align the exposure for a specific object, you need to move the round frame to this object, and the camera will set the required exposure.

Using the Camera2 API, you cannot transfer camera control to third-party applications, and there is no possibility of saving images in RAW.

The camera can shoot video in the maximum resolution Full HD @ 30 fps, there is a slow motion mode, there is no stabilization function. In general, the camera copes well with video shooting: sharpness, color rendition and detailing are normal, no artifacts are noticed in the image, there are no complaints about the smoothness of the video sequence. The sound is recorded cleanly, clearly distinguishable, the noise reduction system almost always copes with the wind noise adequately.

• Movie # 1 (42 MB, 1920 × [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)

The camera turned out to be good, although not the most budget smartphones I would like to see better solutions. On the one hand, she pays a lot of attention to small details, on the other, she loses them already in the middle shots. Periodically, areas of confusion appear at the edges of the frame, and the program works too noticeably. However, the camera is quite suitable for documentary shooting.

Telephone part and communications

Meizu M5 Note supports five LTE FDD frequency bands with VoLTE support, including 3 bands used in Russia (Band 3, 7, 20), as well as two TD LTE bands (Band 38 and 40). I am glad that the LTE frequency of 800 MHz (Band 20) is supported - this is not true for all Meizu models. Within the city limits of the Moscow region, the device behaves confidently, the signal reception quality raises no objections.

The smartphone also supports both Wi-Fi bands (2.4 and 5 GHz), there is Bluetooth 4.0 BLE. You can organize a wireless access point through wi-Fi channels or bluetooth. There is no NFC module in the device. The navigation module works both with GPS (with A-GPS), and with the domestic Glonass, but without the support of the Chinese Beidou. The first satellites on a cold start are detected within the first minute. Clarity of positioning is not satisfactory, but as for the speed of work, we have seen faster navigation modules in smartphones. The device has a magnetic compass, which is necessary for navigation programs.

The smartphone does not support dual 3G / 4G SIM cards at the same time. That is, for example, a Tele2 SIM card in Moscow will not work in 3G for voice communications, if a card from another slot is assigned for data transmission in 4G. The interface in Meizu smartphones traditionally does not allow choosing a specific SIM card for voice calls and SMS in advance - only during connection. Cards work in Dual mode SIM Dual Standby, there is only one radio modem.

Software and multimedia

Google Android version 6.0 with its own proprietary Flyme OS shell of the fifth version is used as a software platform. This is the last version so far, but it is no longer new, it has long been used in all modern Meizu smartphones, we met with it in the flagship Meizu MX6 and Meizu Pro 6 Plus. The shell has become even lighter in comparison with the fourth version, all interface and application icons have been redrawn, new animation options have appeared, and themes have been added. AT new version interface, a special Editor's Choice section has appeared, which advises the most common programs, and also allows you to download and install google apps... And this must be done, since now the purchased brand new Meizu smartphone does not even have the usual store initially installed Google play... There are almost no additional programs, as usual, only file manager and a phone manager - a comprehensive utility responsible for security, working with memory, speed, etc. There is also an interesting program with tools: a magnifying glass, flashlight, ruler, compass and mirror. The flashlight, by the way, can work in a flashing SOS mode. The stock keyboard does not support Swype-type stroke input by default, but in Meizu smartphones the user is immediately given the opportunity to switch to the pre-installed TouchPal with a much wider set of features, including stroke input, custom dictionaries, reserve copy and even with its own TouchPal cloud.

To listen to music, we use our own proprietary audio player with the usual set of settings in the form of preset equalizer values, which can only be used with connected headphones. Both in the headphones and in the loudspeaker the device sounds average: the sound is clear, without impurities, the volume reserve is not excessive, high frequencies prevail.

There is no FM radio in the smartphone. The microphone demonstrates satisfactory sensitivity, it is quite suitable for recording lectures on a dictaphone.

Performance

The Meizu M5 Note hardware platform is based on the MediaTek MT6755M (Helio P10) single-chip system, made using 28-nanometer technology. This SoC includes eight 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53 cores up to 1.8 GHz. A dual-core GPU Mali-T860 is responsible for graphics processing. The RAM is 3 GB or 4 GB, and the built-in flash memory is 16, 32 or 64 GB. The version with 16 GB of memory is initially free for the needs of the user about 10 GB. There is the possibility of expanding the memory by installing a microSD card, but then you will have to remove one of the SIM cards. In addition, you cannot install applications on a memory card here. It is possible to connect external flash drives in USB OTG mode.

Helio P10 is a fairly popular platform for mid-range smartphones at the moment. In general, this is true, although it is slightly inferior in all respects to the same mid-level SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, it turns out to be closer to the lower level and performance Snapdragon 430. Nevertheless, there are no special complaints about it, the smartphone confidently copes with any tasks, including quite demanding games.

Benchmarking AnTuTu and GeekBench:

All the results obtained by us when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks, we summarized for convenience in tables. Several other devices from various segments are usually added to the table, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry numbers). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison, it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, therefore, many worthy and relevant models remain behind the scenes - due to the fact that they once passed the "obstacle course" on previous versions of test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in gaming tests 3DMark, GFXBenchmark and Bonsai Benchmark:

When testing in 3DMark for the highest performing smartphones, it is now possible to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

	Meizu M5 Note (MediaTek Helio P10 (MT6755))	Honor 6X (HiSilicon Kirin 655)	Lenovo K6 Note (Qualcomm Snapdragon 430)	Asus Zenfone 3 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 625)	Meizu MX6 (MediaTek Helio X20 (MT6797))
3DMark Ice Storm Sling Shot ES 3.1 (more is better)	326	378	288	466	969
GFXBenchmark Manhattan ES 3.1 (Onscreen, fps)	4	5	4	6	10
GFXBenchmark Manhattan ES 3.1 (1080p Offscreen, fps)	4	5	4	6	10
GFXBenchmark T-Rex (Onscreen, fps)	14	19	15	22	34
GFXBenchmark T-Rex (1080p Offscreen, fps)	14	19	16	23	—

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for evaluating the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowances for the fact that the results in them significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so that the comparison can be truly correct only on the same OS and browsers, and this possibility is available when testing not always. In the case of Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

AndroBench memory speed test results:

Thermal images

Below is a thermal image back surface obtained after 10 minutes of battery test in GFXBenchmark program:

It can be seen that the heating is more localized in the upper part of the device, which, apparently, corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was 36 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), which is not very much.

Video playback

To test the "omnivorous" video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Web. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is often impossible to process modern versions using processor cores alone. Also do not wait from mobile device decoding everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are tabulated.

According to the test results, traditionally for Meizu smartphones, the hero of the review was equipped with all the necessary decoders that are needed to fully play most of the most common multimedia files on the network, including sound files (AC3).

Further testing of video playback by Alexey Kudryavtsev.

We did not find the MHL interface, like Mobility DisplayPort, in this smartphone, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see "Methodology for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)" Red marks indicate possible problems related to the playback of the corresponding files.

According to the criterion for outputting frames, the quality of video files playback on the screen of the smartphone itself is good, since in most cases frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) to be displayed with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without frame drops. The screen refresh rate is 61 Hz, so in the case of files with 60 fps, at least one frame per second is displayed longer than the others. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the edge of the screen, one to one pixel by pixel, that is, in its original resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235: in the shadows about a couple of shades merge with black, but in the highlights all gradations are displayed.

Battery life

Fixed accumulator batteryinstalled in Meizu M5 Note has a capacity of 4000 mAh. With such a battery, the smartphone could not fail to demonstrate impressive results of autonomy, with this question the hero of the review is doing very well. In real scenarios of use with a normal average operating mode, the hero of the review is quite capable of holding out quietly without recharging for a couple of days or even more.

Testing has traditionally been conducted at typical power consumption levels without using power saving features.

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at the minimum comfortable brightness level (the brightness was set to 100 cd / m2) lasted about 18 hours until the battery was fully discharged, and with continuous high quality video playback (720p) with the same brightness level through home wi-Fi network the device has been functioning for almost 13 hours. In 3D games mode, the smartphone can last up to 6 hours depending on the specific game.

The smartphone supports mCharge fast charging. Thanks to it, the smartphone is charged from the supplied power adapter for 1 hour 40 minutes with a current of 1.14 A at a voltage of 12 V.

Outcome

The Meizu M5 Note smartphone is available in three versions depending on the amount of RAM and ROM memory: 3 + 16 GB, 3 + 32 GB and 4 + 64 GB. With a maximum version of 4 + 64 GB, a proprietary Meizu wired headset is included. The smartphone has not yet entered the official sale in Russia. It was assumed that this would happen in April, and the prices were supposed to be about 16-18 thousand rubles, depending on the modification. Unofficial import is already in full swing offering this device at a price of 8-9 thousand.

It is hoped that the blue version of the Meizu M5 Note color will reach us - the most unusual of all, and therefore the most curious. For example, the Chinese released Meizu M5s in pink only for the domestic market, and this option is not officially supplied to our stores. However, the gray import, of course, has long been offered by Meizu M5 Note Blue.

Well, Meizu has a decent balanced tablet phone of a confident mid-range. We can safely assume that this successor to the worthy Meizu Note series will become as popular and in demand as its predecessors. An excellent screen and a good hardware platform, acceptable cameras, a practical and attractive body, as well as a good set of communication modules and a high level of autonomy, coupled with a solid workmanship without defects and flaws, make it possible to count on this.

"Fotosklad.ru"

Meizu recently, 10 months ago, presented to the public its budget flagship smartphone M3 Note. After just six months, the company is releasing an update to the line, jumping over the index 4 and immediately releasing the M5 Note. At first glance, they are trying to give us the same smartphone, but with a different number. Well, let's take a closer look at whether this is really so.

First, let's give a table where we compare two brothers in the line:

	Meizu M3 Note	Meizu M5 Note
Display	IPS, 16 million colors	IPS, 16 million colors
Display diagonal	5.5 inch	5.5 inch
Display resolution	1920x1080	1920x1080
operating system	Android 5.1 (Flyme)	Android 6.0 (Flyme)
CPU	Mediatek MT6755 Helio P10	Mediatek MT6755 Helio P10
Video accelerator	Mali-T860MP2	Mali-T860MP2
RAM size	2/3 GB	3/3/4 GB
Permanent memory	16/32 GB	16/32/64 GB
Memory card slot		Yes, microSD, up to 128 GB, combined with a slot for a second SIM card
Main camera	13 MP, dual flash	13 MP, dual flash
Front-camera	5 megapixels	5 megapixels
Filming	1080p @ 30 fps	1080p @ 30 fps
Number of SIM-cards	2, nano-SIM	2, nano-SIM
Interfaces	Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz); Bluetooth 4.0 (A2DP, LE); microUSB 2.0; GPS (A-GPS, GLONASS)	Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz); Bluetooth 4.0 (A2DP, LE); microUSB 2.0; GPS (A-GPS, GLONASS); 3.5mm headphone jack
The fingerprint scanner	Yes, frontal	Yes, frontal
Fast charging	No	there is
Battery	4100 mAh, non-removable	4100 mAh, non-removable
The weight	163 g	175 g
Overall dimensions	154 x 76 x 8.2 mm	154 x 76 x 8.2 mm
Colors	Gray, white, golden	Gray, silver, golden, blue

As you can see from the table, there are practically no differences. Meizu M5 Note received an increased size of RAM and permanent memory, a fast charging function, and also slightly increased the weight of the device. Also "out of the box" in the smartphone is Android 6.0.

Let's take a closer look at it.

Box and equipment

The smartphone is delivered in a standard white box, in which the device itself, a USB cable, a charger, an extractor for a SIM card tray and instructions are tightly packed. Standard equipment, neither add nor subtract.

Housing

The body of the smartphone is made of aluminum. There are almost no changes compared to the previous model. Sits well in the hand. No backlashes, gaps and creaks were noticed. The design of the M5 Note practically does not differ from the M3 Note.

Screen

The screen of Meizu M5 Note is made using IPS technology. Nothing new, most smartphones are now manufactured using this technology. The colors are bright, contrasting. There are no complaints against him.

Operating system and software

As noted above, the smartphone comes with Android 6.0 Marshmallow on board and Meizu's proprietary Flyme shell. The shell is nice, there is not much extra software and it does not interfere. There are no lags when switching to the menu.

Separately, I must say about the Home button. Control in Meizu M5 Note is carried out, in fact, using this single button. It is both sensory and mechanical. In addition, it has a built-in fingerprint scanner. Pressing the touch button is similar to the "Back" action, pressing the mechanical button is similar to the "Home Screen" action. Long press brings up Google Now. To get a list of running applications, you need to swipe your finger from the bottom up from the subscreen space on the right or left.

Processor and memory

Meizu M5 Note comes in three configurations:

• 3 GB of RAM and 16 GB of ROM;
• 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of ROM;
• 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of ROM.

If the RAM is enough for most needs, then the permanent memory in the younger model is still not enough. We recommend that you refrain from buying the weakest version. Of course, there is a slot for a microSD card, but when installing it, you will have to abandon the second SIM card.

The processor in the smartphone is not the newest, Mediatek Helio P10. The frequency of the main processor cores does not exceed 1.8 GHz. In demanding games, its power will not be enough - they will go only at low settings. Picky users will not be thrilled. Nevertheless, the performance is quite sufficient for everyday use in the "surfing - social networks - navigator - music" mode.

The fingerprint scanner

The scanner in Meizu M5 Note is combined with the Home button. By pressing the mechanical button and correct finger reading, the smartphone is unlocked. When correct settingBy the way, the scanner works almost always.

Interfaces

The smartphone is equipped with a standard set of interfaces: dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP and LE profiles (sorry, not 4.2); Equipped with a microUSB 2.0 port supporting OTG and a 3.5mm headphone jack; there is a GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS support. There is no infrared port and FM-radio, NFC, traditionally, too.

Battery

Meizu M5 Note is equipped with a very capacious 4100 mAh battery. The declared capacity should be enough for 1.5-2 days of work. In order to charge such a battery, the mCharge fast charging function is provided. You can charge the smartphone 90% in just over one hour, the remaining 10% the smartphone “catches up” in half an hour. The total charging time is thus about an hour and a half. The charger is rated for 3A at 5-8V and 2A at 12V.

Communication and sound

There are no complaints about the quality of communication - the interlocutor hears us well, as we do. The speaker sound is a little quiet but clear. The vibration is not strong, you may not feel it in your jacket pocket. In headphones, the sound quality is average and lacks maximum volume.

Two nanoSIM cards are provided. By the way, Meizu M5 Note started supporting LTE 20 range, which is good news. Now, along with the 7 and 38 bands, the smartphone supports LTE almost throughout Russia.

Camera

The rear camera has a resolution of 13 MP and is equipped with a dual flash, the front camera is 5 MP.

There are many shooting modes.

When shooting with the front camera, various enhancements are available that we believe will be useful for girls:

The main camera shoots mediocre. Periodically smears autofocus. In good lighting conditions, there is no nagging about the camera, even with a backlight it shoots acceptably, especially if you enable HDR mode. When shooting with flash, colors are almost natural. Examples can be seen below.

Outcome

Summing up, we can say with confidence that the Meizu M5 Note turned out to be a good update for the M3 Note - fast charging and increased memory capacity are necessary for a modern smartphone. If you already have an M3 Note, there is probably no point in buying this device, but it is quite good as a first device.

Meizu used to produce exceptionally expensive devices with top-end filling. Later it became clear that seriously compete with other brands, having only flagship smartphones, will not work. The company moves to manufacturing phones on average price segment... One of them is the Meizu M5 Note phablet. The price when the device went on sale ranged from 11 to 17 thousand rubles, depending on the memory of the device.

Meizu M5 Note is an inexpensive, but serious enough smartphone with average technical characteristics... The model is produced in a metal case, available four colors - gold, silver, dark gray, blue. In all cases, except for a dark gray smartphone, the front side is made in white. Meizu M5 Note specifications are presented in the table below.

Meizu M5 Note has combo sim card slot, instead of one of them, you can add memory up to 128Gb, \u200b\u200bthis option is relevant for a device with 16Gb memory. Connector for connection charger type microUSB, there is support for OTG, that is, through the adapter you can connect a USB drive.

The device may differ in random access memory... For models with 16 or 32Gb memory, the RAM can only be 3Gb, the version with 4Gb is available only for devices with 64Gb memory.

Meizu M5 Note 32GB Smartphone

Design

Meizu M5 Note is sold in a traditional white cardboard box. Inside, the user will find a warranty card, instructions, device, tray key, cable and 2 amp power supply. It was mentioned above that the device is available in four colors. In general, the design is quite standard. Behind in the middle is located camera and two-tone flash underneath... Both have a round shape, they look laconic on the metal case, there is a border that emphasizes them.

The front side traditionally has branded mTouch button with different pressing mechanisms and swipe recognition. It also contains a finger scanner. Above the screen is a camera, a notification LED, a light sensor, and an earpiece. The sound quality is very decent.

All control buttons are collected on the left side - volume and power. On the right is the SIM card slot. Plastic buttons, metal slot. Headphones, charger, speaker and microphone jacks are located on the bottom edge. The top face has no connectors.

Important! The device has excellent build quality and ergonomics. It's easy to get used to its size, the phone doesn't seem too bulky in the hand.

The screen has fHD resolution, the picture is pleasant, the white color does not slip into blue or gray, the black is not very deep, but it looks good. The viewing angles are large, although distortion is noticeable at maximum tilt, nevertheless, in practice, this does not interfere with the work. The maximum brightness makes it possible to view the image in bright sun, and at the minimum, the screen is quite comfortable to look at at night. Oleophobic coating high quality, prints are erased without much difficulty. Multi-touch is designed for 10 touches.

operating system

Meizu M5 Note works under the control of the Android system and with flyme proprietary firmware version 5.By the time the device was released, an update of the proprietary shell to version 6 was announced, but out of the box version is still 5. Visually, it is not too different from the usual Android or shells from other Chinese manufacturers. However, there are some peculiarities, and one of them is related to the mTouch button.

Despite the fact that the control button is one, it supports gestures and different pressing mechanisms, which makes it multifunctional. With it, you can switch between applications, go back a step, exit to the desktop and do a lot more. At first glance, this may seem complicated, but numerous reviews agree that mastering the button is intuitive and very fast.

On a note! Before Meizu, other Chinese manufacturers tried to create one-button control of a smartphone, but they failed to implement the idea in a high-quality way.

In addition, the phone has a range of special features... In the settings you can choose:

• switching tracks right on the lock screen;
• enable unlocking by writing a letter on the display;
• turn on the screen by double-clicking the display.

Several functions of the smart button make the phone very comfortable to use given its size. Often, phablets cause difficulties for users when they try to reach with their finger to an icon or button. Most often, phones with a diagonal of 5.5 inches are used with two hands. In the Meizu M5 Note smartphone, this really do with one hand. The device has three power modes, and you can get access to Root rights with just one click.

The Meizu M5 Note camera has resolution 13 megapixels, optics of five lenses, phase focusing. There is a backlight with two tones - warm and cold. The application installed in the phone has 10 modes. Even in auto mode, the device copes well with photos. Macro photography gives detailed photos, portraits are just as good. The weak part of the device is shooting distant shots. This is where the picture starts to float.

Important! In Meizu M5 Note, the standard disease of any budget phone is night shooting. Even in the special mode, the pictures are quite mediocre if there is not enough lighting.

The Meizu M5 Note phone has the ability to make GIFs, their duration is 6 seconds, but the resolution is ridiculous - 320 * 320 pixels. An interesting point - selective focus. Even with one camera, the device can focus on different objects, and if you shoot the same picture with different focuses, then after all the pictures can be stitched. The device does a very decent panorama, it is worth noting that it turns out to be an order of magnitude better than other budget devices.

Videos can be shot in FHD, frame rate - 30 per second. The sound level on the video is decent, but the automatic focusing works poorly. there is slow-motion mode, the deceleration is four times. Selfie camera with a size of 5 megapixels, the pictures are good. Traditionally, there is an image enhancement mode (retouching).

Performance and autonomy

Meizu M5 Note is powered by mediaTek processor with eight cores... The company liked this processor so much that the M5 Note is already the fifth phone of the brand on this platform. This is not surprising, thanks to the differentiation of cores by frequency, the phone works comfortably for any tasks: if it is not loaded, then four weak cores work, if the user is going to play, then more productive cores are turned on. Due to this, the phone keeps charging quite well, does not heat up and works quickly.

Important! The installed processor will not cope with heavy games, more precisely, it is able to reproduce them, but at the same time it will start to get very hot, which is uncomfortable given the metal case.

The Meizu M5 Note reviews put a lot of emphasis on the battery. Her the capacity is 4000mAh. Many people still believe that this is a lot, but in fact such a battery allows a smartphone to work under loads for a day, but nothing more. For the test, a video without sound was launched on the device, and all wireless interfaces were turned on. The result is 8 hours.

During games, the battery drains on average by 20% in one hour. If we talk about more mundane use, then the device will last a couple of days of work. In the description for the phone, you can see what is support for fast charging and this option is supplied in the kit. Plus - it charges 100% in 1.5 hours, minus - it's almost impossible to use the phone at this time, since it gets very hot.

Conclusion

The Meizu M5 Note is a quality smartphone with a good build, nice display, user-friendly interface and interesting camera modes. Minuses:

• the device cannot be called very powerful, and it will not work for avid gamers;
• the phone gets very hot while charging;
• the camera shoots well under certain conditions.

You can buy a model, but you should understand that the phone, although it is a good alternative to its competitors, is not considered the leader among them.

Meizu M5 Note 16GB Smartphone

Meizu M5 Note - the continuation of the bestseller M3 Note, with slightly modified characteristics. The body is completely metal, streamlined, the corners are very nicely beveled. 5.5-inch FHD-matrix has become better, but almost falls short of the more expensive models of the company in terms of color rendition and contrast. Instead of standard touch buttons, there is a proprietary mBack key with a fingerprint scanner. The audio jack was moved to the lower edge, to the charging port and speaker. Volume control and "Power" remained in their positions - on the right side, a hybrid slot for SIM cards and a flash drive - on the left. As for a budget employee, the phone looks great and sits very nicely in the hand.

The camera is represented by a 13 MP module. Compared to its predecessor, the photo quality is better here, especially in the dark. But this is still a minor update, which improved the detail of objects, increased the dynamic range, but the autofocus sometimes misses, the exposure is sometimes determined incorrectly. In general, the level of photos is bearable, while you can find phones that take better pictures. The clips are shot at maximum in FHD, there is no electronic and even more optical stabilization. But there is a "Pro" mode, where the shutter speed, ISO, etc. are regulated. The front camera is 5-megapixel, the result of its work can be described by the word "mediocre".

Regarding hardware, unfortunately, everything is the same. The heart of the device is the Helio P10 from MediaTek (eight-core) with a dual-core Mali-T860 graphics chip. In synthetic tests, this "couple" scores below average, behaves in the same way. True, the system speed is quite high. But games lag on settings that are higher than the minimum due to a weak video accelerator. The power efficiency of the processor is not the best. The battery with a capacity of 4000 mAh provides a runtime of two days. We added fast charging, now the battery is replenished a little less than half in half an hour.

The gadget can have 3 or 4 GB of RAM, and permanent memory - from 16 to 64 GB. The fact that the minimum amount of RAM was increased is a big plus, there is a reserve for the future. Meizu M5 Note turned out to be more interesting, but did not please with cardinal improvements. The cameras are lame in it and, especially, the performance in 3D programs. But good firmware Flyme 6, loud sound, extremely hardy battery, decent screen and gorgeous appearance... The smartphone can be bought, however, if there is a little more money, take a closer look at the sixth generation of this lineup.