Meizu officially returns to the Italian market thanks to a distribution in the major sales channels by Concorde Spa. Let’s find out in this review if Meizu M8 deserves the scepter of best entry-level
Just a few years ago Meizu was about to enter the European market through various import channels, upsetting, together with Xiaomi, the entire world of mobile telephony even outside the Asian continent. Shortly thereafter, the multinational specialized in the production of smartphones belonging to all price ranges officially came to sell its devices even within the largest Italian electronics chains. In the last year / year and a half, however, due to some smartphones that certainly did not remain in the minds and hearts of many, Meizu’s sales have suffered a major slowdown.
In this 2019 Meizu aims to resume the important position that it has managed to carve out over all these years to the sound of results. Thanks to the distributor Concorde Spa who provided us with the sample under test, Meizu M8, the company’s entry level device dedicated to the low-end of the market, has officially arrived in the Italian market these days. Meizu M8 was unveiled in China last September and is packed with some interesting features. Let’s find out more in the course of the review.
Data sheet – Meizu M8 | Review
- CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 a 10nm
- GPU: Adreno 616
- Display: 6,2” IPS LCD Full HD+ (2220×1080)
- RAM: 6 GB LPDDR4X
- Rear Camera: dual 12MP f / 1.9 Sony IMX362 + 5MP 1.4μm Samsung 2L7 camera, dual autofocus, dual LED flash; Front Camera: 20MP f/2.0
- Connectivity: dual SIM 4G, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n Dual Band, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS, USB Type-C
- Sim Card: Nano
- Storage: 128 GB expandable with microSD
- Battery: 3210 mAh
- Dimensions: 151.2 × 74.6 × 7.8 mm, 160g
- Operating system: Android 8.1 Oreo con Flyme 7
Meizu M8: nice design and good build quality without innovating | Review
The design of M8 represents a direct evolution of the aesthetics typical of the Meizu M series, with some small variations that wink at current fashions. Within the unboxing video I made a brief comparison with an outdated one Meizu M3 Note just to highlight the small amount of aesthetic updates. Meizu M8 is still a smartphone well done in terms of construction quality and decidedly elegant thanks to a total black front look which, when the display is off, highlights the continuity solution interrupted only by a 2.5D curvature of the glass near the edges.
The chassis of the device is made of resistant and well-finished metal but which makes the smartphone particularly slippery and uncomfortable to use with one hand despite the non-prohibitive dimensions of 147,5 x 72,7 x 8,1 mm and a low weight of 159g. The on / off button and the volume rocker are excellently recessed in the housing sign, once again, of a good build quality. Inside the sales package we find only a micro USB charging cable and a caricatore a 5V/1.5 Ampere.
Front design
On the front side there is a 5.7 “diagonal display with HD + resolution extending with a aspect ratio in 18: 9. In the upper part of the front, in addition to the sensors, there is the ear capsule, the notification LED and a single front chamber.
Back design
The rear is characterized by an entirely metal body interrupted only by the plastic bands for receiving the antennas. There is also a photographic sector characterized by a dual camera da 12+5MP, a dual tone led flash and the sensor for unlocking with fingerprints.
Meizu M8: display that at first glance does not mind but with a big limit | Review
The smartphone is equipped with a 5.7 ”IPS LCD panel with HD + resolution (720 × 1440 pixels) and 18: 9 aspect ratio capable of guaranteeing a pixel density of 282 ppi and free of HDR technology. Aesthetically it is well positioned and do not mind the curvature of the corners to dampen the trend of the sides. On a purely technical level, the panel on board the device does not mind at all. There color rendering in the standard use of the various menus and simpler applications it is discreet, able to guarantee different shades of color in a faithful way, without sacrificing visual fidelity and good contrast, even though it is not an OLED technology. Good response from blacks and whites even at the most extreme angles even if the latter tend to turn to blue tones.
Meizu M8 is certainly not a sample of maximum brightness which is still more than sufficient in every situation, thanks also to the good functioning of the sensor for automatic brightness, although you work a little conservatively. Unfortunately, despite the quality of the panel, only HD + resolution is felt during multimedia playback, in which the limited amount of pixels affects the amount of detail visible on the screen, from photos taken by yourself to content played on YouTube and other streaming platforms.
Meizu M8: a technical data sheet with few regrets | Review
On board Meizu M8 we find a Mediatek Helio P22 processor combined with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal memory expandable with microSD. In daily use I was surprised by the SoC and by the whole hardware sector, capable of guaranteeing remarkable performance in relation to the range to which it belongs. No freeze, no freeze or sudden closure to report. The applications run smoothly except for some screens such as the YouTube home which brings with it some slowdowns in the scroll animation, slowdowns that seem due more to a little software optimization than to a real hardware limit. Good quality of the memoria RAM which allows a well-functioning and immediate multitasking.
The GPU PowerVR GE8320 has the task of processing the requests in the video field, managing to carry out the graphic processing in fluency having, however, to guarantee images with HD + resolution and not higher. In gaming we are certainly not faced with a monster of power, able to perform without obvious frame losses but definitely not going beyond 30fps in expensive titles such as Real Racing 3. No particular overheating to report (probably thanks to the metal that characterizes the body), not even after long stress test or gaming sessions.
Meizu M8: Meizu’s low-end photographic sector still has a lot to learn | Review
Meizu M8 is equipped with a photographic compartment characterized by a rear camera in dual configuration from 12 + 5 MP f2.2 and one 5 MP front chamber. There is also a dual tone LED flash. Leaving aside the technical equipment, what is immediately evident is that the shots taken from the rear chambers are not enough.
If in excellent lighting conditions the photos taken appear acceptable, albeit with one not astounding amount of detail and with shades of color that are not very faithful and tending to reddish, it is in low light conditions that this Meizu M8 does not convince at all. The quality of the shots degenerates in conjunction with a increased digital noise, combined with excessive flare even in the presence of not too bright sources.
The system application dedicated to the camera developed by Meizu is full of settings and shooting modes. L’HDR unfortunately it can only be activated manually, but it is still an effective and well-made aid to optimize the shots that need it. Thanks to the use of the double photographic sensor, used for the depth calculation, it is possible to take photographs of the subjects in portrait mode, even if it is not very convincing and it takes some time during the shooting phase to perform at its best.
It maximum zoom goes as far as 4X but already at a value above 2X the amount of detail drops drastically, to the point of being almost unusable.
Front Camera – Meizu M8 Review
The 5MP front camera gives enough photographs for social use, with a good amount of detail, even if it tends to overexpose and burn the background behind the subjects.
The rear camera records video up to a maximum resolution of 1080p at 30fps. The results are, even in this case, only sufficient, with colors that, as in the case of the photographs, tend to veer too much on red tones. Unfortunately, there is no effective form of stabilization that can improve the quality of the videos made.
Meizu M8: good connectivity, too bad for the NFC | Review
The phone compartment of Meizu M8 convinces, with some reservations. It has never happened to me to have particular signal losses despite, during my stressful day, I constantly changed my phone cell. L’audio from the ear capsule it is comfortable even if I would have liked it with a greater emphasis on bass and with a slightly higher volume to be effective even during calls on public transport.
No problem even with regard to the system microphone, well performing both in calls and used by messaging applications. The system speaker it has a good volume but unfortunately it is excessively unbalanced on the high tones, with evident gaps in the medium and, above all, low frequencies. The connectivity department of Meizu M8 could certainly be more complete: equipped with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 5.0 con A2DP/LE, Micro USB 2.0 e A-GPS/GLONASS, the absence of NFC is evident. The Wi-Fi module was only able to use 40-50% of the available bandwidth.
Meizu M8: ah Flyme, cara Flyme
The software on board of Meizu M8 is the Flyme, now a historic variant of Android customized by the Chinese manufacturer. The build tested in the review phase is a version of Android 8.1 updated only in October 2018. Flyme has always been a certainty in terms of customization and taste in design and continues not to contradict itself, proposing a software variant of the beloved button mBack as well as various gestures and aesthetic customizations. Unfortunately, however, we are sorry to see that a smartphone that is about to enter the market these days, arrives with a build that is stopped in October of last year. Maximum is instead the compatibility with Google services, absolutely no problems had about it.
Meizu M8: autonomy not bad!
Meizu M8 is equipped with a 3100 mAh battery able to close a day characterized by medium-high use with still the 20-25% of residual energy. Definitely an excellent result, also favored by the resolution of the display, combined with the excellent Flyme. The charger included in the sales package a 5V-1,5A allows recharging …