Meizu M2 Review – Hands on Experience

Meizu M2 is the latest mid range Android smartphone from the company targeting the budget customers. It is priced at Rs 6,999 ($107). Meizu is competing with the likes of Motorola, Lenovo, Xiaomi, etc in the budget smartphone arena (under Rs 10000).

Meizu M2 runs a 64-bit MediaTek quad-core chipset with 2 GB RAM and 16 GB internal storage. It features 13 MP rear cam and 5 MP front cam and moreover it runs Android 5.1 Lollipop out of the box (upgradable to Android Marshmallow). It is one of the dual-SIM and dual 4G available handsets in Indian market.

Meizu M2 Hands on

Let’s see what Meizu M2 has to offer end users. It is already available for sale and today we are reviewing the Meizu M2.

Meizu M2 Specifications

What’s inside the box?

Meizu M2 comes in a neat white-blue colored small box in which there is 1 handset, data cable, AC adapter, user guide, warranty card, and SIM card tray ejecting pin. Somehow Meizu didn’t provide earphones inside the box (with Grey handset we got white colored AC adapter and USB cable).

Display

Meizu features a 5″ 720p IPS LCD display (720×1280 resolution) protected by Dragon Trail glass. The screen is fully laminated, featuring a contrast ratio of 1000:1 and 75.6% screen-to-body ratio.

Design

As mentioned above Meizu comes in 4 variants of color, we got the grey colored one. It measures 140.1 x 68.9 x 8.7 mm, weighs 131 grams (unibody design), smooth round edges (R-angle curves). It’s thickness seems ok for a budget Android smartphone.

Front Panel: Meizu M2 has a home button on the lower bezel. There is no soft key present on the lower bezel. To initiate back function, just touch the home button on top.

To go to home screen, press the home button. To lock the handset either press the power key on the right side or hold down home button for 3 seconds. Meizu M2 has 3 physical keys on the right side of phone.

The power key and volume rocker keys. SIM card slot is on the left side of phone (where you can put your 2 SIMs, 1 microSD card can also be put in one of the SIM card slot but then dual SIM functionality is lost). Use the SIM card ejecting pin which comes with the handset to bring it out.

On top, Meizu M2 has a 3.5 mm headphone jack. At bottom there is USB 2.0 charing port, secondary microphone and external speakers (No Dual stereo speakers).

Meizu M2 features an elegant metallic finish at the rear side (polycarbonate plastic back) with “MEIZU” branding at the bottom of rear side. At the top-center rear side there is 13 MP camera with LED flash.

Meizu M2 feels very light weight while holding

Dual SIM functionality

It is a dual-SIM and dual 4G enabled smartphone. SIM card slot 1 will take a nano SIM whereas SIM card slot 2 can take a microSD card as well along with Nano SIM.

Camera

Meizu M2 features 13 MP rear camera (Samsung CMOS sensor, 5-element lens modules, 4208×3120 pixels resolution, f/2.2 ultra large aperture) with features like auto-focus, LED flash, geo-tagging, touch-focus, face detection.

 It can shoot full HD (1080p) videos at 30fps. It features 5 MP front camera (f/2.0 aperture, updated FotoNation 2.0 – smart selfie enhancement).

Camera Samples:

Storage

Meizu M2 features 2 GB RAM and 16 GB internal storage (Samsung eMMC 5.0 high-speed flash memory) out of which around 11 GB internal storage is free for usage. It also supports microSD card, upto 128 GB.

Software/UI

Meizu M2 is powered by new Flyme OS 4.5 which is based on Android 5.1 Lollipop. Flyme OS features multi-page UI which is very different from other UI’s we have in smartphones of other brands.

You will find that settings menu are placed vertically in the UI (in dual screen format). So you left side of screen shows the main settings menu and the right side, the chosen menu option from the settings.

White-grey color UI looks very cool and you can change the color style of the screen.

Meizu Apps

Battery 

It is backed by 2500 mAh (Li-ion) non-removable battery (Sony/ATL battery cells). It takes around 2 hour 30 minutes to get fully charged from a 2 mAh output charger, giving a screen time of around 5-6 hours easily.

You will find various power saving modes inside the battery menu (under settings) viz. – Power Saving mode, Balance, Performance Mode.

Network 

It supports 2G, 3G, 4G network. 4G (2300 band) works like charm. It does support data (3G and 4G only, no 2G while calling), and voice call at the same time.

Pros

• Value for money features like 2 GB RAM, 16 GB ROM, 5″ 720 display
• Elegant looking
• Descent performance
• 4g band works well
• Descent display

Cons

• Dual format UI might look complicated to some users
• Average camera (both rear and front)
• Average sound quality (output)

Final Verdict

Meizu M2 is a smartphone with 2 GB RAM, 16 GB internal storage, 13 MP rear cam, 5″ 720p display, descent camera quality (not good enough) with descent performance in multi-tasking at Rs 6,999 is a good deal. Moreover it is one of the dual-SIM and dual 4G enabled smartphone.

Meizu is not a very known brand in India for the time being, though in China, it is already established. Before picking Meizu M2 as your regular smartphone, do think about your requirements (if you are looking for a 3 GB RAM running smartphone, then refine your search).

Meizu M2 is a good budget Android smartphone under Rs 10000 category and is worth considering (for the first time smarpthone users definitely).