Screen: let's figure out whose image is better.

Pro 7 Plus, then it is in such a black matte finish.

If we evaluate the design of the smartphone and its packaging, it becomes clear that Meizu really wants to get away from the image of cheap smartphones somewhere in the premium segment. I'm not sure if this is a good idea for the company as a whole, because premium means high price tags, and we already see Meizu prices creeping up, but ... But at least the packaging of the Pro 7 Plus does not look like competitive models, and it is interesting to twist it in hands. The outer case is made of hard plastic with black cardboard boxes inside. The smartphone is inserted into one of the boxes, like a cartridge into an old game console.


What's in the box

The package bundle of the device, as for a flagship smartphone, is rather poor. There is a powerful Charger, a decent case for the back cover and ... in general, everything. Although for Meizu Pro 7 Plus they could at least put good headphones.

Even in the box with the Meizu Pro 7 Plus, a VIP card with a unique number was found, but, unfortunately, it is not yet clear why it is needed and what benefits it will give to the owners of the devices. Offhand, the idea is interesting, especially if you remember that Meizu opens fan clubs around the world and holds parties for fans. Maybe the company will really become generous with some real bonuses for its “VIPs”. Or maybe not generous - even Meizu's regional offices do not yet have exact information on the cards.

As in hand

Of course, Meizu Pro 7 Plus is not suitable for one-handed operation. Such dimensions. But Meizu designers at least made their “shovel” non-slip and more or less grip due to sloping sides and narrow frames on the sides of the display. Well, plus to this, the notification curtain in the Flyme shell is pulled out with a swipe anywhere, you don’t need to stretch your finger to the very top.

I don’t want to talk about the location of connectors and buttons for a long time, everything is standard. But you can praise for the preserved 3.5 mm audio jack and scold for one speaker. For a flagship, they could be generous on stereo.

Well, the Meizu universal button still helps a lot. If it were a smartphone from another manufacturer with three buttons, such a “shovel” would have to be constantly twisted in the hands. But since everything is tied to one button, both "Back" and "Home", Meizu Pro 7 Plus is at least somehow ergonomic and easy to operate.

Take off the "fingers"

It is quite difficult to get used to the operation of the fingerprint scanner after other smartphones. And I'm not talking about reading speed, I'm talking about convenience. To unlock the screen, you need to press the hardware button and hold your finger a little so that the sensor has time to read the fingerprint. At the same time, if you hold your finger a little longer than necessary, the phone will call the voice assistant.

Screen

I liked the large 5.7-inch Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 2560x1440 pixels. The maximum brightness could be higher, and the minimum a little lower, but the colors are normal and by default the color reproduction is close to neutral with a slight bias towards warm colors.

You can adjust the color reproduction by either choosing one of the four presets, or tweaking the slider to suit your tastes. There is also a “Night mode” with a schedule so that in the dark your eyes do not get tired of reading endless social network feeds.

Overall, the Meizu Pro 7 Plus has a good flagship screen. Moderately bright, with normal color reproduction. However, there are questions about the display resolution. Well, to be honest: why? A 2K screen outside of virtual reality is of little use. And since Meizu doesn't have its own headset or VR content store yet, I doubt anyone will buy the Meizu Pro 7 Plus for their $15 Chinese VR glasses. So why all this riot of pixels? Meizu could easily put a Full HD screen, as in just Pro 7, and cut down a little hype on excellent results in synthetic performance tests. Oh, and the battery lasts longer...

Second screen

Having told why the second screen of the Meizu Pro 7 Plus is needed, we did not dwell on how it works in order to wait for the final smartphone with the final firmware. We waited. Alas, the screen still does not work perfectly, sometimes not responding to the touch of your fingers. I even deduced a pattern: if the camera does not wake up from one vertical swipe, as instructed, make two very fast swipes in a row. Then the camera will definitely start.

Again, the very idea of ​​the second screen seems to me very successful. And now it’s not even a “selfie” on the main camera and not a pedometer. Meizu gave us all a working tool that will show itself if it doesn't turn out to be a disposable topic like. And this somehow revives the market, which, it would seem, has already been buried forever under a shaft of faceless smartphones. More such boring solutions!

How it works

We have already said everything about the MediaTek Helio X30 processor in the first video. This is really a top-end processor that carries any tasks and heats up moderately under load. Heating the battery up to 50 degrees and the case up to 40 degrees is nothing compared to previous top-end MediaTek processors. And for the market as a whole, this is a very good indicator.

Games, applications - MediaTek Helio X30 pulls everything, and the average user will not notice the difference with any Snapdragon 835 at all. Moreover, in the case of Meizu Pro 7 Plus, there is simply no RAM and permanent memory in abundance and there are simply no bottlenecks.More sophisticated users, of course, blame the graphics accelerator (in vain), and the results in synthetics for the Helio X30 are not top-end, but this does not affect the real scenarios for using smartphones.

But with the younger model, everything is not so good. I don’t understand how to be the owners of the youngest Pro 7, for which the MediaTek Helio P25 processor is responsible, especially if the thought is spinning in my head that the recently introducedreceived a chip from Qualcomm. I'm sure that Meizu just became a prisoner of Mediatek in this situation, but what will the fans say about this? That's the main question. In general, the younger Meizu Pro 7 Plus is the case when saving a couple of rubles for the buyer is a very bad idea. If you decide to take this smartphone, take it with Helio X30 on board.

Although with Helio X30, not everything is “Thank God”. As we mentioned in the first video, this hardware platform does not support LTE Band 20, so high-speed Internet will fall off in many regions.

What does he think

Smartphone works on new version operating system Flyme 6.0, and we have already dedicated a separate video to it. In short: this is an interesting shell, with original control ergonomics.

The Meizu Pro 7 Plus that came to us worked on Chinese firmware, where Google services are absent as a class, and they cannot be installed even from Chinese application stores. The situation was saved by w3bsit3-dns.com, from where I downloaded the APK file Google Play and then installed everything you need. If you don’t want to bother like that, you have a direct road to the officials. Well, or to competitors - this is a matter of personal choice.

How to play

With the quality of music playback, the Meizu flagships have always been very good, and the Meizu Pro 7 / Pro 7 Plus is no exception. Both versions of the smartphone have a professional dedicated audio chip Cirrus Logic CS43130 with a built-in headphone amplifier. As a result, Meizu Pro 7 Plus plays music perfectly, delivering powerful and rich sound. Detailing is also excellent - all vocal nuances and background sounds are perfectly audible. Therefore, it is extremely important to take good on-ear headphones with your smartphone.

One speaker, medium volume and average quality. No, mid frequencies and partially high frequencies are transmitted perfectly and the volume margin is not bad. But ultra-low frequencies were not predictable, and there could have been more midbass. Still, the flagship. Still, musical. Still PREMIUM!!!111

And, of course, the bottom end is not the best place for a single speaker. During games, I constantly covered it with my hand.

How much does it hold?

A top-end processor, a large 2K screen, an audio chip with an amplifier - all these are very expensive components for a battery. However, the built-in 3,500 mAh battery holds up very well. And here again it is necessary to praise the Helio X30 platform, in which energy consumption is well optimized. With the screen brightness set to 60%, the smartphone lost only 10% of the charge in half an hour of playing tanks.

At the same time, it took 9% on OnePlus 5 for the same half an hour with the same settings. An excellent result for the Media Library, especially considering that the Meizu Pro 7 Plus has a higher resolution! In real-life scenarios, Meizu Pro 7 Plus holds a charge a little less than OnePlus 5. You can expect about a day battery life under mixed load, or even a little more.

Also pleases fast charging mCharge 4.0, which fully replenishes the charge in an hour, and in the first fifteen minutes gives + 35% to the battery.

Here are the exact figures for fast charging:

15 minutes - 35%

30 minutes - 69%

45 minutes - 90%

60 minutes - 95%

Full charge time: 1 hour, 6 minutes

Camera

The main camera received two Sony IMX386 modules with ƒ / 2.0 optics and dual flash. It focuses quickly, all the necessary “fashionable” trends like shooting 4K video and portrait mode are observed. In general, the Meizu Pro 7 Plus camera shoots at an excellent flagship level. Of course, there are some peculiarities here. For example the background in portrait mode, it blurs too aggressively - it turns out, although spectacular, but it is very far from the “real” optical bokeh.

But just looking at the photos is not interesting. Let's better compare the pictures from Meizu Pro 7 Plus with one of the best Android smartphones this year's OnePlus 5. The results are interesting and mixed. In landscape shots, you can see how Meizu tints photos and lifts up contrast. At the same time, in terms of detail, Meizu is somewhat inferior to OnePlus 5, which produces clear pictures with natural colors more often.

Shot on Meizu Pro 7 Plus:



Shot on OnePlus 5:



Shot on Meizu Pro 7 Plus:

Shot on OnePlus 5: 


But in portrait shots, skin tone and texture are better conveyed by the Meizu Pro 7 Plus. It is a pity that the background at the same time Meizu blurs well, very much.

Meizu Pro 7 Plus:



Shot with OnePlus 5:


These and other photos and videos can be downloaded in original quality from this link.

Shooting video

We continue to compare Meizu Pro 7 Plus with OnePlus 5. Here are two videos recorded on the same day, one after the other. Pay attention to the work of the noise reduction near the fountain and the stabilization of the frame when walking - according to these parameters, the OnePlus 5 did much better.

Front camera

It was worth saying on the video that “selfies” in Pro 7 can be taken on the main camera and, therefore, the front camera is no longer needed, as subscribers immediately criticized us to the nines. It's even surprising that so many people still use video, even with our super high-quality mobile Internet. However, the front camera of the Meizu Pro 7 Plus is really good. With autofocus, 16MP sensor and ƒ/2.0 lens. So it pulls both video calls and photos easily. But it’s better to turn off all these fashionable skin improvement algorithms right away - they blur the skin too unnaturally.



Competitors

In my opinion, the most obvious alternative to Meizu Pro 7 is OnePlus 5. Yes, it has a smaller screen and worse sound in headphones, but the price is lower and the processor is much more interesting. We will make a separate material based on the long experience of using OnePlus 5, but now we can say that this smartphone has outgrown childhood illnesses, and for its money it remains an extremely tasty offer.

Specifications

Net :

4G FDD-LTE: B1/B3/B5/B7

4G TDD-LTE: B38/B39/B40/B41

3G WCDMA: B1/B2/B5/B8

3G CDMA: BC0

3G TD-SCDMA: B34/B39

2G GSM:B2/B3/B8/B5

Display: 5.7", 2560 x 1440, Super AMOLED;
Second display: 1.9" 240×536 AMOLED;

Platform: Helio X30 processor, (ten cores, 2.6GHz, 10nm) IMG PowerVR 7XTP graphics;
RAM: 6 GB LPDDR4X;

DAC: Cirrus Logic CS43130;

Memory: 64/128 GB (UFS 2.1);

OS: Android 7.0 Nougat shell Flyme 6;
2 nanoSIM cards;
Main camera : Two 12 MP Sony IMX386 sensors with f/2.0 optics, dual flash;

Front-camera: 16 MP, ƒ/2.0;
Battery : 3500 mAh non-removable
Fingerprint scanner;
Dimensions : 157.34 x 77.24 x 7.3mm

Weight: 170 grams.

Advantages

  • Interesting design
  • Large bright screen with excellent color reproduction
  • Powerful hardware
  • Convenient operating system Flyme OS
  • Audiophile-quality music through headphones
  • Support fast charging technology
  • High quality photos

Disadvantages

  • High price
  • No stereo speakers
  • No optical stabilization in video

CV

In short, the flagship at Meizu turned out. The iron drags, the operating system works stably, the camera is quite a flagship level. The sound in the headphones is simply amazing. And, most importantly, he is not boring. Cool second screen gives us new interesting scenarios and enlivens the design of the smartphone.

But there is also a problem. Price. Given the abundance of smartphones on the market, it will be difficult for Meizu to explain why you need to buy the Pro 7 Plus, and also pay about 50 euros more for it. I'm afraid many will not make such sacrifices and simply buy the same OnePlus 5.

So we are waiting for discounts on Meizu Pro 7 Plus.

Where to buy

Many people asked how it happened that in Ukraine Meizu Pro 7 and Meizu Pro 7 Plus are sold cheaper than on Aliexpress. I found out: this is an initiative of Ukrainian officials. They really sell these smartphones on pre-orders cheaper than the recommended price, and when sales open, the Ukrainian price will be raised to the Chinese one.

And wherever you buy this smartphone, or any other, you can return a percentage of the purchase using Cashback -

Meizu has just announced a couple of new flagship smartphones of the Pro line. The devices will go on sale early next month. In addition to different displays, Meizu Pro 7 and Pro 7 Plus have a number of other differences. In this comparison, we will break down these gadgets to understand the difference between them.

If you are a fan of the brand or just have an interest in new products on the smartphone market, then you will be interested to read to our conclusions.

Specifications of Meizu Pro 7 and Pro 7 Plus:

  • Operating system: Android 7.0 Nougat with Flyme 6 shell.
  • Screen: 5.2" FHD Super AMOLED on Pro 7 and 5.7" QHD Super AMOLED on Plus, 2.5D glass (secondary screen 1.9" AMOLED 240 x 536 pixels ).
  • Cameras: 12-megapixel main f/2.0 aperture, 6 lenses with dual flash, 16-megapixel front f/2.0 aperture, 5 lenses.
  • Chipset: 8-core MediaTek Helio P25 @ 1.9GHz or 10-core Helio X30 @ 2.2GHz on Meizu Pro 7 and MediaTek Helio X30 @ 2.6GHz on Pro 7 Plus.
  • Video adapter: Mali-T880MP2 | PowerVR 7XTP-MT4.
  • Memory: 4 GB random access memory LPDDR4X in Pro 7 and 4/6GB LPDDR4X in Pro 7 Plus 64GB (eMMC 5.1)/128GB (UFS 2.1) | 64/128 GB (UFS 2.1) internal memory, respectively.
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11n / 802.11ac | 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, two Nano SIM cards.
  • Battery: 3000 mAh with mCharge 3.0 (Pro 7) and 3500 mAh with mCharge 4.0 (Pro 7 Plus).
  • Other: mTouch 2.1 fingerprint scanner, USB Type-C 3.1, GPS, GLONASS, Cirrus Logic CS43130 audio chip.
  • Dimensions and weight: 147.62 x 70.72 x 7.3 mm for the 7 and 157.34 x 77.24 x 7.3 mm for the 7 Plus, 163 grams and 170 grams respectively.

Screen differences

The Meizu Pro 7 features a 5.2-inch sAMOLED display with a 423ppi pixel density and FHD resolution, while the Pro 7 Plus boasts a 5.7-inch QHD AMOLED panel with a 518ppi pixel density. Thus, on a more compact model, the picture will not be as clear, although the contrast ratio is the same on both devices 10,000:1. The maximum brightness on the 7 is 350 nits, and on the 7 Plus it is 430 nits.

As for the secondary screen, these flagships have 1.9-inch touch panels that can work when the phone is in standby mode. In this regard, both devices are completely identical to each other.

Filling

There are two versions of Meizu Pro 7 and Pro 7 Plus smartphones. The model with a 5.2-inch screen was released in two versions, which, in fact, differ in processors and the amount of internal memory. A version with a 5.7-inch display appeared on store shelves only with different amounts of ROM on board. The new Pro 7 can be purchased with the MediaTek Helio P25 chipset and 64 GB of internal memory in the base configuration and MediaTek Helio X30 with twice the amount of ROM.

In addition, the entry-level Pro 7 model, which is powered by the Helio P25 processor, is equipped with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, while the more expensive model boasts Wi-Fi 802.11ac. Meizu Pro 7 Plus received a fast module wireless communication WiFi 802.11ac. All versions, without exception, have Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, GLONASS and USB Type-C 3.1 on board.

The younger model is equipped with a 3000 mAh non-removable battery with mCharge 3.0 fast charging, while the older one has 3500 mAh with fourth-generation mCharge fast charging. We have yet to find out how fast the batteries are charged with these technologies.

For your information, in the case of the 5.2-inch Pro 7, the user gets a dual-core GPU Mali-T880MP2, and the Pro 7 Plus comes with a quad-core PowerVR 7XTP-MT4 accelerator.

conclusions

Unfortunately, neither Meizu Pro 7 nor Pro 7 Plus is water resistant. Inside both smartphones is the relatively old Bluetooth 4.2, not 5.0 like many flagships from other brands.

Meizu's new flagships are even deprived of the NFC module, which is necessary for the operation of mobile payment systems. Moreover, there is no microSD card slot either. The disadvantages also include the use of the old eMMC 5.1 memory, which the base model of the 5.2-inch phone acquired.

I am glad that these devices have on board USB port Type-C, support for two Nano-type SIM cards, the latest fingerprint scanner and the Cirrus Logic CS43130 audio chip. The familiar audio jack is in place. From this we can conclude that the sound on the flagship Pro 7 series will be excellent.

  • Innovative secondary display looks very cool
  • good software
  • Great main display
  • Excellent audio configuration
  • Excellent performance
  • mCharge 4.0 is really very fast
  • Convenient mTouch navigation

Minuses

  • The secondary display doesn't add much in terms of functionality (maybe for now)
  • The camera does not have optical image stabilization
  • No protection against water and dust - the main drawback for a smartphone in 2017

Opinion

Along with the Pro 7 Plus, Meizu has introduced a unique secondary display while making a great smartphone overall. While we don't recommend buying this phone solely for the extra display, we strongly believe it's a great choice for those looking for something truly unique.

Review

When I got my hands on the Meizu Pro 6 Plus earlier this year, I was very impressed with it. I was convinced that it was the Meizu Flyme 6 software that helped the phone stand out among the abundance of mid-range smartphones.

Most likely, you will ask: “Why is it needed?” You may be curious, and how the display functions are implemented. Or you might be wondering if the Pro 7 Plus is a good smartphone, regardless of the secondary display. I will try to answer all these questions and some others.

Design


If you do not take into account the appearance of an additional display for just a second, then the design of the Pro 7 Plus is very similar to that of the Pro 6 Plus. However, this should not be viewed as a disadvantage. I really like the design of the Pro 6 Plus and I'm glad to see the familiar good design here, although I wouldn't mind a bigger change.

The first thing you'll notice when putting the Pro 7 Plus together is how good it feels in the hand. This may seem a little too corny, but the Pro 7 Plus is really very good in this regard. The selection of materials especially helps the phone feel much more expensive.

The aluminum body is not only strong and sleek. The smartphone actually feels nicer than expected, making the Pro 7 Plus feel more comfortable and enjoyable in the hand.

Unfortunately, that softer-feeling aluminum also means the Pro 7 Plus is pretty slippery. Luckily, Meizu includes a plastic case in the box.

Returning to design, the Pro 7 Plus is available in matte black, black, silver and gold. There is also a smaller Pro 7 model available in bright red. As you probably understood, I received a black matte model.

The matte black block definitely looks more minimalistic and austere. The curved antenna strips at the top and bottom of the phone are barely visible.

Small details like dynamic light and proximity sensors and symmetrical top and bottom bezels add to the seriousness of the overall design. It was these details that made me constantly admire the assembly of the reviewed smartphone.

Unlike many true flagships, the Pro 7 Plus is not water or dust resistant. This may not be very surprising, given the cost of implementing such protection, but it is something to keep in mind if you are considering more expensive options in addition to this smartphone.

One of the most controversial aspects of Meizu smartphones is their "unidirectional" shell navigation. With the Pro 7 Plus and mTouch, you can get to the home screen by physically pressing the home button, and simply go back by touching the same button. Some may never get used to it. And to call up the list of applications, you need to swipe up with your finger on the left or right side of the bottom panel.

Almost every android user used to a three-button control model, where each function is visually represented. It may take a day or two to get used to. And after a few days, you might even appreciate this approach for its elegant simplicity.

Navigation isn't all the Pro 7 Plus's single button can do - it's also a fingerprint scanner. Although it does not break records in terms of speed, it is still comparable to smartphones such as samsung galaxy S8 or LG G6.

Since the Pro 7 Plus runs on the same Flyme 6 software as its predecessor, it has the same additional functions fingerprint reading. For example, App Lock, which allows you to add an extra layer of fingerprint protection to each app.

There are also functions for each finger individually. For example, you can select certain contacts, apps, and files that will only be available in privacy mode. Next, you can make it so that one finger gives to them, while the other fingers do not. The real applicability of this function is not entirely clear, but it is available.

Main display


Just like its predecessor, the Pro 7 Plus features a 5.7-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display. I thought the Pro 6 Plus display was one of the best in its price range. Well, the display on the Pro 7 Plus is even better.

Color reproduction is excellent, the display has excellent saturation and is fully readable outdoors in direct sunlight. It's an excellent screen in every way.

I also really like the size of the smartphone. While 5.5 inches is the more obvious option for the older model, it's good that Meizu is giving customers the choice between the smaller 5.2-inch display on the Pro 7 and the larger 5.7-inch screen on the Pro 7 Plus. If you watch a lot of videos and surf the Internet a lot, then this size will be perfect for you.

There is no Always On Display (AOD) feature. In principle, it is logical, because there is another way to check notifications and see the time - using the second display.

Additional display Meizu Pro 7 Plus

The secondary display of the Meizu Pro 7 Plus is undoubtedly its key distinctive feature. Perhaps this is the only reason why you are reading this review.

The secondary display is on the top left of the back of the Pro 7 Plus. The display has a diagonal of 1.9-inch with a resolution of 240 × 536 pixels. This is a fairly high resolution for this size. It is also made using AMOLED technology.

So what can he do anyway? Well, there are three main dashboards that you can switch between: time, pedometer, and weather. Pedometer and meteorological panels have colorful animated icons, looks nice.

The pedometer works independently of any app and seems to be very accurate when walking with a phone in hand, but too inaccurate when walking with a phone in a pocket. The weather corresponds to that shown in the Weather application, which for its part receives data from Accuweather.

If you swipe up or down on any of the information panels, you get into the viewfinder mode. In which you can take selfies ... with the rear camera! This allows you to take significantly better selfies than if you were using a regular front camera.

Plus, you don't have to unlock your phone every time and look for the camera app, making it easy to take a quick photo.

In addition to these basic features, the secondary display also shows notification alert, music app music controls, an alarm, and battery percentage while charging.

At first, I did not quite understand how the second display works. When exactly it displays or turns on something. It is activated when the smartphone decides that you are turning the phone upside down / away from you. If the phone first lies face down for a long time, then simply lifting the phone is not enough to activate the secondary display. First you need to turn the phone on the screen towards you, and then turn it back to your back.

Luckily, there's a double tap feature that allows you to activate the secondary screen manually by simply tapping it twice.

The second display only shows time in 24-hour format and temperature in degrees Celsius, even if you select 12-hour clock format and degrees in Fahrenheit in the settings. For Russia, this is absolutely unimportant, but the people of the United States immediately began to complain. And to admit, although the Fahrenheit scale is very illogical - you can read about it on Wikipedia, but at the same time it is quite convenient in everyday use. I will say this - more visual, or something.

Overall: I'm quite happy with the secondary display. This is one of the most interesting smartphones I've seen this year and that says a lot.

However, with that said, I believe the second display could be improved. The purely technical variation is very good (AMOLED, good resolution), but the software has room for improvement. In fact, at such moments, it becomes a little embarrassing for Android in general. I mean this: look at Apple - they "lick" every little bit of interesting feature to a shine and pass it off as almost an incredible innovation (it doesn't matter that this appeared on Android more than a year ago). But the problem is that Apple implemented it almost perfectly (not counting Face ID, of course), while Android manufacturers often implemented it as something experimental.

I would like to see up-to-date real notifications (or at least which application sends them), be able to control third-party music applications and record videos with it. I think that the additional screen can be used for other functions as well. I would like to be able to view the daily agenda, turn silent mode on and off, and set a timer.

Most likely, all my wishes and many others can be implemented in a future software update. This is a pretty promising story, given Meizu's historically proven craving for regular software updates.

In any case, it is worth recognizing that now the second screen does not provide a large number of functions or some additional convenience, without which it would be impossible to live without when switching to a new smartphone. Yes, without a doubt, it looks very interesting, but its presence will not change much the way you usually use your smartphone.

Performance

Meizu chose 10nm ten nuclear processor MediaTek Helio X30 for its Pro 7 Plus. The Pro 7 Plus is actually the only popular smartphone that uses the Helio X30. This is the top processor from MediaTek in 2017.

If you evaluate smartphones solely on benchmark results, then you would definitely think that the performance of the Meizu Pro 7 Plus is below average. Perhaps this is why my smartphone software blocks outgoing connections that most popular benchmarks create ... Although I can’t really prove this yet, it seems to me that Meizu is trying to do something not entirely honest in this regard. I honestly thought that similar numbers in 2017 are no longer possible, especially given the openness of information and real high level competence of many buyers. In any case, I have not been able to do anything with this nuance so far, so it was not possible to conduct a comprehensive benchmark test.

However, in my experience, the performance of the Meizu Pro 7 Plus was excellent, albeit marginally better than the Pro 6 Plus. There are a few important things that help offset the shortcomings of the processor: 6 GB of RAM, fast UFS 2.1 storage, and well-optimized software.

Meizu One Mind AI software optimization, combined with many well-designed animations, especially help to achieve the effect maximum performance. When compared side by side with the Galaxy S8, the Pro 7 Plus often loaded apps and menus a little faster.

Iron


It is possible to use two nanoSIM cards.

Like its predecessor, the Pro 7 Plus doesn't have the option to expand the memory. Probably this choice avoided mixing slow storage microSD cards with fast UFS 2.1 internal storage of the phone. base model 64GB of storage should be enough to store most users' files, and if you think you might need more, there's also a 128GB model.

Oddly, Meizu removed NFC from the Pro 7 Plus. Perhaps there was not enough internal space due to the second display to implement the NFC antenna, or perhaps Meizu has data that it is not being used. Regardless of the reasons, some users may really miss this ability to connect devices and use contactless payments.

The built-in speaker of the Meizu Pro 7 Plus is surprisingly very good and a huge improvement over the Pro 6 Plus. It is very loud, while at maximum volume, distortion is minimal. A speaker of this quality is rare to find in smartphones in this price range.

There is also 32-bit Hi-Fi audio output via the 3.5mm headphone jack. All thanks to the DAC + amplifier Cirrus Logic CS43130. By the way, this chip is also used in the Galaxy S8. Sound through the headphone jack is loud and clear, just as we'd expect.

Battery life

Meizu has increased the battery capacity from 3,400mAh on the Pro 6 Plus to 3,500mAh on the Pro 7 Plus. Overall, we got similar battery life. This is good news because the battery life work Pro 6 Plus was pretty big.

In general, we can say that Meizu Pro 7 Plus will work without problems for a full day with fairly active use (average screen time 4.5 - 5 hours). With less active use, you can safely count on a day and a half of using this phone.

If you need to quickly charge the Pro 7 Plus battery, you can do it with mCharge 4.0 fast charging. We were able to get a 65 percent charge in just thirty minutes, which is very fast. That's even 12 percent faster than Dash Charge on the OnePlus 5, based on capacity.

Meizu Pro 7 Plus camera

The Meizu Pro 7 Plus features the same Sony IMX386 12 MP f/2.0 main camera as its predecessor. However, it has received some changes, and not for the better: there is no more laser autofocus, the 10-LED ring flash has been replaced by two LEDs, and the camera is no longer optically stabilized.

Another one has been added sony camera IMX386 12 MP f/2.0, making this a dual camera module. The second camera shoots monochrome photos, which allegedly help create higher quality images. I would prefer the second camera to be wide or telephoto.

The shots look very similar to those taken with the Pro 6 Plus. Color reproduction is excellent, contrast levels are good, and images are fairly detailed. The overall photo quality is what I expected to get at this price. Unfortunately, the lack of optical image stabilization results in blurry shots more often than usual.

Thanks to its dual lenses, the Pro 7 Plus also has a blur mode. This mode works by isolating the subject from the background and then applying an artificial background blur. Most likely, you have already seen something similar on other smartphones. In theory, the added bokeh effect should make the photos more "professional", as if taken on a SLR camera.

I've tested this function in a few different situations and found that it often doesn't work exactly or the way you'd expect it to. Sometimes it works almost perfectly with precise edges on the subject and gradual blurring. However, in other cases, the edges are inaccurate and the blur is too strong, or vice versa.

This is Meizu's first implementation of this feature. It is hoped that this feature can be improved with future software updates.

As expected, low-light shots didn't turn out as good as during the day. Colors aren't as saturated, there's a loss of detail, and there's quite a bit of digital noise in most test photos. But in general, we can say that it shoots no worse and no better than the cameras of other smartphones in this price range.

Photo examples

Although you can use the main cameras for selfies, thanks to the secondary display, there is still a front camera with f / 2.0 aperture and 16 megapixels. Photos taken with front camera came out pretty good.

You can record videos up to 1080P at 30fps with the front camera and up to 4K at 30fps with the rear camera. The video recorded with the main camera is quite nice. Colors are rendered quite well, with plenty of detail.

Meizu uses the new HEVC codec to process video files. This codec saves more high quality video, while producing smaller, more compressed files. The only drawback is that there may be playback issues on some devices. Don't worry too much, as you can easily convert files if you run into problems.

The system camera app will be very familiar to you if you have used a Meizu device before. There are several modes and some filters with which you can even play a little.

You can quickly access the camera app by double-clicking the home button. This can be done at any time, also when the phone is locked. I really liked this solution.

Software

Meizu Pro 7 Plus works under Android control 7.1.1 Nougat, but the software is very different from stock Android. Meizu uses its Flyme 6 skin, which I liked back in the Pro 6 Plus. It's probably not for everyone, but it's great for those who are looking for something other.

I confirm what was said earlier that Flyme 6 is one of the most well-designed Android skins to date. Polished user interface Flyme really adds value to the Pro 7 Plus. You'll love the clean design, nice animations, and extra features that come with the software. Software Pro 7 plus.

I also appreciated the extra security features that Meizu has added to Android. For example, safe mode payment and security scan WiFi networks help users stay more protected from possible hacker attacks.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Meizu system updates focus on Flyme changes more than Android versions. While it's unlikely that Meizu will bring Android 8.0 Oreo to the global Pro 7 Plus, you should know that most of the new Android features are implemented in Flyme anyway. However, we understand that the lack of software support may be a turn off for some.

Specifications Meizu Pro 7 Plus

Main display 5.2 inch Super AMOLED display 1080 x 1920 Resolution 423 ppi 5.7 inch Super AMOLED display 1440 x 2560 resolution 518 ppi
Additional display 1.9" AMOLED display 240×536 resolution 307 PPI
CPU Processor Mediatk Helio P25 Octa-core up to 1.6GHz Meditatek Helio X30 Deca-core processor up to 2.6GHz 10nm manufacturing process
GPU ARM Mali-T880 IMG PowerVR 7XTP
RAM 4GB LPDDR4X 6 GB LPDDR4X
storage 64 GB 64 GB (UFS 2.1) 128 GB (UFS 2.1)
cameras Rear: (x2) Sony IMX386, 12 MP, f/2.0 Front: 16 MP f/2.0
Battery 3000 mAh non-removable 3,500 mAh non-removable
Ports USB Type-C (USB 3.1) 3.5mm headphone jack
Waterproof No No
Connection Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g n dual band Bluetooth 4.2, LE Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac dual band Bluetooth 4.2, LE
Software Android 7.1.1 Nougat Flyme 6 Android 7.1.1 Nougat Flyme 6
Dimensions and weight 147.6 x 70.7 x 7.3mm 163g 157.3 x 77.2 x 7.3mm 170g

Price

The global version of the Meizu Pro 7 Plus is available in matte black, black and white, silver and gold for around $530. In Russia, a 128 GB version can be purchased for 30,000 - 33,000 rubles.

Conclusion

The Pro 7 Plus is one of the most unique smartphones I've seen this year. Meizu not only gave consumers a new software experience, but also implemented a very attractive secondary display.

The second display helps the Pro 7 Plus really stand out from countless other smartphones. However, don't buy this phone just for the second display. It's good, but you should think of it as a nice addition, not the only reason to buy.

This does not mean that the Meizu Pro 7 Plus is not worth the money. Its well thought out software and excellent hardware make it a very serious competitor to the Xiaomi Mi 6 and OnePlus 5.

If you are looking for something really unique, then the Meizu Pro 7 Plus could be a great option.

As always, please leave any questions or comments in the comments below the review!

Video review and owner's review of Meizu Pro 7 Plus, comparison with OnePlus 5

In 2015-2016, Meizu released new smartphone models one after another. In two years, the company announced twenty-one new products. The devices differed little from each other, sometimes the difference between the models had to be looked for, if not under a microscope, then with a magnifying glass. All the more unexpected is the experiment with an additional screen on the rear panel, which the company went for in the flagship Pro 7 model. Let's study it and see how successful this experiment turned out to be and what, besides it, is interesting for Meizu's compact flagship.

It should be noted that Meizu worked closely with MediaTek on many aspects of the smartphone, and for both companies, the implementation of the second display was a curiosity. The Pro 7 model is available with Helio P25 and Helio X30 processors, but the smaller X30 variant will not be available outside of the Chinese market. Therefore, hereinafter we will talk about Pro 7 on Helio P25.

Specifications Meizu Pro 7:

  • Network: GSM (Band 2, 3, 5, 8), CDMA (BC0), WCDMA (Band 1, 2, 5, 8), TD-SCDMA (Band 34, 39), FDD-LTE (Band 1, 3, 5, 7, 20), TDD-LTE (Band 38, 39, 40, 41)
  • Platform: Android 7.0 Nougat with Flyme OS 6 firmware
  • Main display: 5.2", 1920x1080 pixels, 423 ppi, 10,000:1, 350 nits, SuperAMOLED, 2.5D glass, 10-point multi-touch
  • Secondary display: 1.9", 536x240 pixels, 307 ppi, 10,000:1, 350 nits, AMOLED
  • Camera: dual (b/w + color), 12 MP + 12 MP, Sony IMX386, f/2.0, phase focus, 6 lenses, dual LED flash in different tones,
  • Front camera: 16 MP, f/2.0, 5 lenses
  • Processor: 8 cores Cortex-A53, 4 at 2.6 GHz + 4 at 1.6 GHz, 16 nm, MediaTek Helio P25
  • Graphics chip: Mali-T880MP2, 1GHz
  • RAM: 4 GB LPDDR4X
  • Internal Memory: 64 GB (eMMC 5.1)
  • Memory card: no
  • A-GPS, GLONASS
  • WiFi (802.11a/b/g/n)
  • Bluetooth 4.2LE
  • Ports: USB Type-C, 3.5mm
  • Two nano-SIM slots
  • mTouch 2.1 fingerprint reader
  • Audio: Hi-Fi DAC Cirrus Logic CS43130, SmartPA
  • Battery: non-removable, 3000 mAh, fast charging mCharge 3.0
  • Dimensions: 147.62 x 70.72 x 7.3 mm
  • Weight: 163 g

Video review and unboxing

Equipment and design

Meizu Pro 7 comes in an unusual black plastic box. The kit includes the smartphone itself, a SIM eject needle, a USB cable, an mCharge 3.0 charger (up to 24W), documentation, and - which is very unusual for Meizu - a case. A simple hard case that protects the smartphone from the back and sides, and also protrudes slightly above the front panel to protect the screen. The case scratches easily and deprives you of the thrill of touching the metal case, but the smartphone protects - and this is the main thing.

In Russia, Meizu Pro 7 is available in black, red and gold colors. All colors are matte. I like the red and black colors the most. Red - because the combination of a red back and a black apron, which, unfortunately, Apple did not think of, looks very cool. And black - because in this color the second display does not stand out. In the red version, the display also, surprisingly, fits organically. What can not be said about gold - there the screen looks completely alien.

I liked the design of the black Meizu Pro 7. The device looks very neat, all elements are in their places. Plastic strips merge with the body. If you don't know about them, you might not even notice. Perhaps it would be better to beat the second screen, but the option chosen by Meizu does not seem unsuccessful. And the recessed vertical company logo, sent to the lower right corner, looks very appropriate and advantageous. Above the screen there is no scattering of round holes - only a front camera eye. Light and proximity sensors are neatly placed in the cutout for the speaker grille. Interesting solution, this was at Smartisan.

The smartphone is small (5.2 "plus small bezels on the left-right), the location of all controls is good, the fingerprint scanner is in its best place - under the screen, so ergonomics should be on top. However, not everything is so smooth. More precisely, everything is too smooth: Meizu overdid it a little with polishing the phone, and it turned out to be slippery. No matter how you take it, the feeling of a secure grip does not arise. You have to put on a case: (But the matte back feels just like the iPhone 7. I think the company was striving for this. And I will voice an engineering miscalculation - the only multimedia speaker is located on the left side of the bottom end, and it is very easy to block it. By the way, some other Chinese manufacturers sin by the same way (OnePlus 5 is one of the examples). The assembly is perfect.

The main SuperAMOLED screen has a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels with a diagonal of 5.2". The pixel density is 423 ppi. The display brightness is 350 nits. It is enough for outdoor use on a sunny day. As is traditional for OLED screens, the black color is very deep, but white is not up to par (but not particularly annoying. PenTile is noticeable if you look closely, but during normal use it also does not cause discomfort. Viewing angles are maximum, noticeable inversions appear only when looking almost along the display. Oleophobia is present. And the company scored on 3D Press.

At first glance, it might seem that LED indicator Meizu Pro 7 does not, but it is available - to the left of the speaker, it reacts to missed events. The mTouch fingerprint scanner is in its usual place - below the screen. This is a button, pressing on which means the action “home”, and touching it means “back”. The multitasking menu opens with a swipe up (or from right to left, if you change it in the settings), there is no button for it. For those who switch to Meizu, such a control system may be unusual at first, but in one or two days you completely get used to it and begin to consider it convenient and thoughtful.

Software

Meizu Pro 7 is based on Flyme OS firmware based on operating system android version 7.0 Nougat. The version of Flyme OS itself is 6. As I already said in the Meizu M3E review (link), it has a lot of small changes, but nothing revolutionary. All the features that we have never seen before touch the second screen, and we will talk about them separately. The shell is pleasant and comfortable, I have no complaints about the stability of its work.

Second screen

It's time to talk separately about the main feature of Meizu Pro 7 - an additional screen on the back. It has a diagonal of 1.9 "and a resolution of 536x240 pixels (307 ppi), the brightness is still the same 350 nits, the technology is AMOLED (this time, for some reason, without the Super marketing prefix). There is an oleophobic.

By default, the secondary display interface consists of three horizontally scrolling screens: clock, steps, weather. With a swipe up or down, we get to the camera menu, where three modes are offered: background blur, face beauty, original. Taking a photo is done by touching the screen (with a three-second timer) or the volume down button (without a timer). When removing the volume rocker, especially when there is a lack of light, try to hold the device firmly - otherwise the frame will be blurry. A timer in such a scenario would also not hurt. The ability to use a second screen is also available in the camera app. When you press a special button, the rear display starts to play the role of an additional viewfinder. As a result, the frame is seen by both the photographer and the person being photographed. Why else do you need a second screen? To show notifications and animated splash screens, of course!

But that's not all about the second screen! Many people know that Meizu started its journey with the release of players. It is not surprising, therefore, that the smartphone can be turned into a pure music player which may come in handy during the flight. To switch to music mode, you need to hold down the power button and select the appropriate option. After that, all phone functions will be inactive, the main display will turn off, and tracks will be displayed on the additional one. As for the sound from the phone in general, I would put it at the Pro 6 level. The volume is enough, the tracks play cleanly, assertively, this is enough for most users. It is better not to connect high-impedance headphones. What to connect? Well, Meizu HD50 and the new Flow plugs played great with the device. I am glad that Meizu and MediaTek do not ignore the musical roots of the Zhuhai vendor and agreed to enhance the audio capabilities of the device by integrating the Cirrus Logic CS43130 Hi-Fi DAC into the Helio P25 platform. But they could put it on the stock codec!

The chips of the second screen do not seem far-fetched to me. These are mostly interesting and convenient things that cannot be implemented without an additional display on the rear panel. I hope Meizu does not abandon an interesting development, and in new models we will continue to see a second screen, which will eventually receive new interesting features.

Camera

Meizu Pro 7 is the first among the company's smartphones to receive a dual main camera. And who came to the rescue? That's right - MediaTek! The Helio P25 chip received an advanced digital signal processor (ISP) optimized specifically for dual cameras with a monochrome matrix. This ISP can handle two 13MP sensors (or one at 24MP), but for the Pro 7 they took a pair of 12MP Sony IMX386 sensors, equipping them with six-lens optics (f / 2.0). Additional camera devoid of a color filter and can be used to create black and white photographs. It also serves to blur the background in portrait mode. The phone puts a watermark on the pictures it takes by default, but this can be turned off (and it's better to turn it off, I think).

Meizu Pro 7 is capable of doing very nice photos. The smartphone camera is practically not mistaken with white balance and color reproduction, and the detail is often pleasing, and this also applies to pictures in poor lighting conditions. Sometimes there were problems with autofocus, which could not fully tune into the distance and he had to help with his finger. This is noticeable in early comparison shots next to the Pro 7 Plus. The photos of the Pro 7 are not as clear and it can be seen that the focus has not been finalized a little. Fortunately, this has already been fixed. We, as reviewers, were sent test firmware several times, and one of them just corrected the camera's work. With commercial devices, everything was fine right away.

By the way, despite the absolute identity of the Pro 7 and Pro 7 Plus cameras on paper, they still take pictures in different ways. The difference in color reproduction is very rare and the pictures look the same with rare exceptions (a photo of a sunset, for example), but differences can be traced in noise and detail and they are not in favor of a small one. Why? Because the drivers are different and the chips are different - the P25 is a mid-level one, and the X30 is a flagship one. However, the differences are so small that they can be noticed only by direct and close comparison, and even then not always. In general, do not worry about the photo.

Meizu Pro 7 - Pro 7 Plus:


Meizu Pro 7 - Pro 7 Plus


Photo with old software - photo with new software
Each pair has Pro 7 on the left, Pro 7 Plus on the right

The portrait mode of the Meizu Pro 7 and Pro 7 Plus works the same way - quite accurately, although the boundaries of objects are not always determined accurately. The main point of Meizu portraits is the "aggressive" bokeh, which makes the picture in the background very blurry. You can’t adjust the bokeh strength, it doesn’t always look natural, and there’s no one like it. Some people like the naturalness of portraits from the iPhone 7 Plus, while others like Meizu's wow-blur.


Meizu Pro 7


Meizu Pro 7 Plus


Meizu Pro 7 - Pro 7 Plus

Although it’s easy to take selfies with the main camera with the Meizu Pro 7, the smartphone also has a front camera, and a good 16-megapixel one is useful for video calling. Selfies are good, but they are still inferior to the images on the rear module. We compared them for fun. Comparison in favor of the main camera, of course. This is the very moment when the resolution does not speak about the quality.


Main camera, facial beauty - main. camera, blur - front camera

Video shooting is limited [email protected] Moreover, for Helio P25, 4K recording at 24fps is declared. Meizu deliberately did not include this mode on the Pro 7, as the result would be inferior in smoothness to Full HD (judging by other models on the P25, where 4K is active). Nevertheless, the smartphone picks up sound with high quality, the detail for 1080 is not bad. You can shoot slow motion videos (480p, slowed down by 4 times) and time lapses (acceleration from 15x to 240x).

Performance and Benchmarks

Meizu Pro 7 hardware caused a lot of controversy. People wondered why the company put a mid-level chipset in a smartphone from the flagship line. However, MediaTek positions Helio P25 as a “premium solution for thin smartphones”, that is, it is still a top-end processor in the understanding of the Chinese side. The eight-core processor includes four "slow" Cortex-A53 cores (operating at a frequency of up to 1.6 GHz) and four "fast" Cortex-A53 cores (up to 2.6 GHz). The video accelerator Mali-T880MP2 with a frequency of up to 1 GHz is responsible for the graphics. It comes with 4 GB LPDDR4X RAM and 64 GB eMMC5.1 internal memory (52.6 GB free). There is no microSD slot. The more powerful version of the compact Pro 7, which features the Helio X30 chipset and 128GB of UFS 2.1 storage, is not available outside of China.


performance mode

Meizu has long had several performance modes in smartphones. We tested the Pro 7 under heavy load in the maximum performance mode and in the balance between performance and autonomy mode, and did not notice a difference in speed. Therefore, you can bet any or play it safe (if you are a gamer) and turn on the maximum performance mode, there will be no problems. According to Meizu, Flyme OS 6 introduced One Mind, an intelligent system that studies user habits and suggests optimization solutions based on the analyzed data. The system allegedly can reduce the launch time of the most frequently used applications, finds unclaimed processes running in background to make the entire smartphone work more efficiently. I don't know which of these is true, but the Pro 7 is really fast in everyday life.


Balance mode between performance and autonomy

What about performance in real games? The lack of speed is felt only in the most demanding titles, for example, World of Tanks - 60 fps rarely happens there, although there are no wild lags. And Injustice 2 is better not to include. But with maximum graphics, we played Unkilled, Dead Trigger 2, Asphalt Extreme, Modern Strike Online, Last Day on Earth and Air Attack 2 without any problems. Definitely a complete disappointment for someone who wants to play something, the “firmware” will not . It is a pity that many users, before the appearance of real tests and reviews, managed to label the Pro 7 with Helio P25 as “a phone not for games”. For interest, see the Meizu Pro 7 Plus gaming test on Helio X30:

Unlike the Helio X30, which is based on the latest 10nm process technology, the Helio P25 is based on the older 16nm FinFET+ technology. Despite this, the Meizu Pro 7 cannot be blamed for running out of battery quickly (figures in the next paragraph) or for getting very hot. Yes, there is heating, but for me it has never reached such a level that it became unpleasant to hold the case.

For autonomy in Meizu Pro 7, a battery of 3000 mAh, which is standard at the present time, is responsible. When playing video at maximum brightness and all included wireless modules discharge from hundreds to zero took fourteen hours. For an hour in Asphalt Extreme, the smartphone lost 19% of the charge, that is, it will last for five hours of the game. With normal use, the smartphone lasts one and a half to two days with 4-7 hours of screen, and it can be discharged in one day only with a very heavy load. We have not been able to do this. Colleagues also speak very positively about the autonomy of the Pro 7. Like it or not, the combination of the SuperAMOLED screen and the MediaTek Helio P25 processor turned out to be successful. From Meizu Pro 7 turned out to be a compact long-lasting flagship, which copes well with games.

conclusions

After two years of self-copying and stagnation, Meizu decided on an unexpected experiment by installing an additional screen in its flagship smartphone. This idea caused a lot of controversy, but I personally liked it. Firstly, it distinguishes the device from the crowd. Secondly, it offers a number of interesting user-friendly features. Another experiment was the use of the MediaTek Helio P25 chipset. In terms of gaming capabilities, it did not turn out to be top-end, but it did not disappoint either, and also had a positive effect on the autonomy of the device.

Otherwise, we have Meizu in the best traditions: a calm, pleasant design, an excellent fingerprint scanner, decent autonomy and functional Flyme OS firmware. The cost of Meizu Pro 7 in Russia is 35,640 rubles. You can get more information on the official website of Meizu in Russia.




Xiaomi Mi6 and Meizu Pro 7 are the best flagships in the lines of manufacturers at the beginning of 2018. Both phones are based on cool mobile processors, equipped with TOP cameras, screens. Which one is better? This is an important question, let's try to answer it.

Xiaomi Mi6

Feature Comparison

In the table, we indicate the main parameters of both phones for clarity.

At approximately the same price, the flagships have different characteristics. The obvious differences are the screen, the processor. Also, “Meizu” uses a cool audio chip and an additional screen on the back side – Xiaomi cannot boast of this. But he got more RAM and battery. There are differences in the cameras - below we will present the photos taken on both smartphones. Let's start the comparison with the most significant difference - the central processor.


Comparison: Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 vs Mediatek Helio P25

Qualcomm and Mediatek are competing brands. Xiaomi, Google, OnePlus, and even Samsung use Snadpragon chips in their phones, while Meizu buys Metiatek processors. They are also used in other smartphones from lesser known brands. It is believed that chips from Qualcomm are better.

Snapdragon 835 is the company's latest processor at the beginning of 2018. It is created using a 10nm process technology and has the following characteristics:

  1. 8 cores Kryo 280 with a frequency of 2.45 and 1.9 GHz.
  2. Dual channel LPDDR4X 1866 GHz memory.
  3. Adreno 540 graphics core with a frequency of 710 MHz.
  4. Dedicated Hexagon 682 DSP.
  5. Separate chip to support Specrta 180 ISP dual camera.
  6. Record video in 4K resolution at 60 frames per second.
  7. Support for 4K displays.
  8. Built-in LTE Cat.16 modem providing data transfer rates up to 1 Gbps. Unfortunately, there are no networks in Russia that could provide such a speed.
  9. Qualcomm QuickCharge 4.0 fast charging (more on this). According to the manufacturer, the technology allows you to charge your phone up to 50% in 15 minutes.
  10. Performance in Antutu on Xiaomi Mi6 - 181118 points. This is a record among Android platforms.

Used in Meizu Pro 7 Helio P25 was introduced in early 2017. At that time it was the flagship, but today its characteristics are much inferior to the top chips, including the 835th snap. Its parameters are:

  1. 16nm process technology (competitor's 10nm).
  2. 8 cores of energy-efficient Cortex-A53 cores (against 8 high-performance ones in Snapdragon 835).
  3. Support LPDDR4 frequency 1.6 GHz.
  4. Integrated ARM Mali T-880 MP2 graphics at 900 MHz.
  5. ISP chip to support dual camera.
  6. Support for FullHD displays with a maximum frame rate of up to 30 per second.
  7. Ability to record video in 4K resolution at 30 FPS (835th snap in this resolution can record video at 60 FPS).
  8. Built-in LTE Cat.6 modem (versus LTE Cat.16).
  9. Supports fast charging technology.
  10. The test result in the Antutu benchmark is 67521 points.

Obviously, Xiaomi Mi6 outperforms its competitor in terms of performance. Its Snapdragon 835 processor is head and shoulders above the weak Helio P25. However, it is worth recalling that the flagship Meizu Pro 6 plus (older version) received a more powerful 10-core Helio X30, which can compete with the latest chip from Qualcomm.

We will not consider the screens - they are almost the same. And although the technologies are different (AMOLED vs IPS), the picture is perfectly displayed on both.

Camera Comparison

And although the phones received dual-module sensors, which in theory should affect the quality of images due to the supply of more light to the matrices, they are poorly implemented. Of course, the detail and color reproduction of the cameras has increased, as well as the dynamic range, but nothing extraordinary has been achieved.

Let's start with Mi6. The phone received sensors with different focal lengths. The main lens is wide-angle with optical stabilization. During the day, the photos are cool, in the evening - noisy. Sometimes in daylight, weakly dynamic scenes are blurred.

Examples of snicks on Xiaomi Mi6

All images open in full resolution when clicked.

The dynamic range is wide - this is especially noticeable in the second photo. Notice the gray clouds and clear blue sky, and the dark visible areas under the bridge.

As for Meizu Pro 7, here even the camera characteristics raise questions: why is there no optical stabilization in the flagship? Is it possible that a modern phone of this level has f / 2 optics? Even some state employees use f / 1.8 lenses. And most importantly, this phone does not even have laser focusing, although Meizu Pro 6 had it.

Sample photos on Meizu Pro 7

All images are clickable - open in full resolution when clicked.


Night shots with strong noise
bokeh effect

To be honest, the pictures are not bad, although initially it seems that the results should be worse. If Meizu used optical stabilization and laser focusing, then the camera would surpass the sensors of Xiaomi Mi6. Until then, they are on the same level. The quality of the picture taken in the evening was very disappointing - a lot of noise despite the overly active noise reduction.

Peculiarities

Meizu's main feature is an additional screen on the back. This is a 1.9-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 240x536. There is a “Second screen” category in the phone settings, where you can set different display modules: camera, pedometer, weather, notifications, etc. This display, although touch-sensitive, is not very functional. On it you can not answer the call and even more so call, there is no way to rewind the music. However, it conveniently displays the number of steps taken, weather, date, time. This screen can be used as a selfie mirror, and that's where its capabilities end.

The second feature is the Cirrus Logic CS43130 audio chip. Meizu traditionally installs cool sound chips in its phones that provide high-quality sound in headphones and speakers. However, nothing special can be singled out.

Xiaomi Mi6 does not have any unique features. Its main “weapon” is a powerful modern Snapdragon 835 processor. It is thanks to it that Mi6 wins this rating, and this victory is well deserved. Pro 7 is a weak smartphone, which by modern standards can hardly be called a flagship.

Meizu Pro 7 based on Mediatek Helio X30 processor

These phones are mainly sold in stores with Helio P25 processors, but there are also more advanced versions (Pro 7 Plus) with Helio X30 chips. These are powerful processors created using a 10nm process technology, they are equipped with 10 cores divided into 3 clusters.



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