Compact LTE smartphone at an affordable price

The Meizu m2 smartphone is currently the most affordable offer from the entire line of Meizu devices, which, it should be noted, has recently become more active in the market mobile devices. Just a couple of years ago, the company slowly released one model per season and felt good about it, but new times forced even such leisurely manufacturers to move.

Now in portfolio Chinese company There are several current models at the same time, which, according to modern fashion, are clearly distinguished by segments. There is a premium segment (represented by Pro models), flagships (MX), affordable tablet phones with big screen(Note), and representatives of the m (mini) line are now closing the niche of budget devices, although the concept of budget for Russian market Now it is quite distorted. The price of the new product will be discussed later, but for now it’s worth noting that the original name does not have any “mini” prefix on the device being reviewed today - in China itself, the hero of the review is called Meizu m2.

Main characteristics of Meizu m2 (mini)

	Meizu m2	Wileyfox Swift	Xiaomi Redmi 2	Nubia Z9 mini	Honor 4C
Screen	5″, IPS	5″, IPS	4.7″, IPS	5″, IPS	5″, IPS
Permission	1280×720, 294 ppi	1280×720, 294 ppi	1280×720, 312 ppi	1920×1080, 441 ppi	1280×720, 294 ppi
SoC	MediaTek MT6735 (4 cores ARM Cortex-A53 @1.3 GHz)		Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (4 cores ARM Cortex-A53 @1.2 GHz)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 (8 cores ARM Cortex-A53) @1.5 GHz	HiSilicon Kirin 620 (8 cores ARM Cortex-A53) @1.2 GHz
GPU	Mali-T720	Adreno 306	Adreno 306	Adreno 405	Mali-450MP4
RAM	2 GB	2 GB	1/2 GB	2 GB	2 GB
Flash memory	16 GB	16 GB	8/16 GB	16 GB	8 GB
Memory card support	microSD	microSD	microSD	microSD	microSD
operating system	Google Android 5.1	Google Android 5.1	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 5.0	Google Android 4.4
Battery	non-removable, 2500 mAh	removable, 2500 mAh	removable, 2200 mAh	non-removable, 2900 mAh	non-removable, 2550 mAh
Cameras		rear (13 MP; video 1080p), front (5 MP)	rear (8 MP; video 1080p), front (2 MP)	rear (16 MP; video 1080p), front (8 MP)	rear (13 MP; video 1080p), front (5 MP)
Dimensions and weight	140×69×8.7 mm, 131 g	141×71×9.4 mm, 135 g	134×67×9.4 mm, 132 g	141×70×8.2 mm, 148 g	143×72×8.8 mm, 162 g
average price	T-12748971	$109	T-12086724	T-12411658	T-12423732
Meizu m2 retail offers	L-12748971-10

• SoC MediaTek MT6735, 1.3 GHz, 4 cores, ARM Cortex-A53
• GPU Mali-T720 @450 MHz 3 cores
• operating room Android system 5.1, Flyme OS 4.5
• Touch display IPS 5″, 1280×720, 294 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 2 GB, internal memory 16 GB
• Nano-SIM support (2 pcs.)
• Supports microSD cards up to 128 GB
• GSM communication 900/1800 MHz
• Communication 3G HSDPA 900/2100 MHz
• Data transmission LTE Cat.4 (150/50 Mbit/s) 1800/2100/2600 MHz
• Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n (2.4/5 GHz), point Wi-Fi access, Wi-Fi Direct
• Bluetooth 4.0 BLE
• GPS, A-GPS, Glonass
• USB 2.0, OTG
• Camera 13 MP, f/2.2, autofocus, 1080p video
• Front camera 5 MP, f/2.0, fixed. focus
• Gyroscope, proximity, lighting, gravity, electronic compass
• Battery 2500 mAh, non-removable
• Dimensions 140×69×8.7 mm
• Weight 131 g

Contents of delivery

Meizu m2 goes on sale in an unreasonably large package, although the smartphone itself is small and the contents of its kit are minimal. The box is really too big, for some reason it has a square shape, although everything that is in it could fit in a quarter of that volume. The box is designed in a minimalist style: only a couple of logos are printed on the outside on a snow-white background. The younger model did not receive the usual inner box, made in the form of a book.

The set of accessories is quite limited: the box contains only standard Charger with an output current of 2 A and a Micro-USB connecting cable, nothing more.

Appearance and ease of use

In appearance, Meizu m2 is no different from others modern models family of this Chinese company, which now uses the same design for all its products, from top to budget. This is still the same simple shape, streamlined boat lid on all sides without any additional decorating elements such as a side frame or inserts.

There is no metal in the outer part of the Meizu m2 body, everything here is made of polycarbonate, there is not even a rim around the glass of the rear camera. In part, this makes the case somewhat unattractive, but in any case, the design remains a matter of taste.

As for the assembly, there are no complaints here: monolithic, non-separable Meizu body m2 does not squeak when squeezed, does not bend in the center of the back cover, the parts fit perfectly. The smartphone (in gray version) has a matte plastic surface, so that the device is held in the hand quite securely, although it cannot be said that fingerprints are completely invisible on it. However, even more of them remain on the front glass - the oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating here is apparently quite weak.

To secure the cards, a single side connector is used, into which two SIM cards are inserted simultaneously, placed on a metal slide one after another. Nano-SIM format cards are used. You can install a memory card in place of one of the SIM cards, but then you will have to limit yourself to working with only one SIM card, which is not very convenient.

On the opposite side, the right, there are both mechanical control keys (lock and volume). The buttons are made of the same plastic as the entire body. They are large in size, protrude beyond the body to a sufficient height, have an elastic, springy stroke, and are easy to find blindly.

There is another mechanical key on the front panel; it is located centrally under the screen and has an oval shape, like Samsung smartphones. Only, unlike them, there is no built-in fingerprint scanner, but it is possible to go back a step in the interface with one touch without pressing, which is no less useful. By the way, a fingerprint scanner is integrated into such a button in Meizu devices, but only in flagship ones (Meizu MX5). Pressing this key here performs the action of returning to home screen. Thus, this button replaces the two main navigation buttons of Android smartphones, and there are none nearby. The developers did not take care of the event indicator.

There are no surprises on the back of the case: the large round camera window without any rim is covered with protective Gorilla Glass 3, and the camera module does not protrude beyond the surface of the case. There is a single LED flash nearby that can be used as a flashlight.

The main speaker is located at the bottom end - in the same place where the Micro-USB connector is located, supporting the connection external devices in USB OTG mode. The audio output for headphones is located on the opposite, upper end. There are no covers or plugs on the connectors; the smartphone is not equipped with protection against water and dust. There is also no strap mount on the case.

As in the case of Meizu m2 Note, the hero of the review is available for sale in four different versions: three body colors (white, blue and pink) have glossy surfaces, and the gray version, as in our photographs, has a matte, non-stainable finish , but too slippery to hold securely in your hand. So this is an infrequent case when ergonomics greatly depend on the color of the case: glossy options are more easily soiled, but are held in the hand much more reliably, their coating seems to “stick” to the skin. By the way, the pink version of Meizu m2 is not yet available in official deliveries to Russia - perhaps it will appear with us later.

Screen

Meizu m2 is equipped with an IPS touch matrix (using GFF technology with full lamination). Unlike the rear camera, the screen is protected not by Gorilla Glass 3, but by AGC Dragontrail. Physical Dimensions The screen size is 62x110 mm, diagonal - 5 inches, resolution - 1280 × 720 pixels, pixel density is 294 ppi.

The frame around the screen can be called thin: its width on the sides is less than 3 mm, and on the top and bottom - 14 mm; The ratio of screen area to body area exceeds 75%.

The display brightness can be adjusted manually, and there is also an ambient light sensor on which it works automatic adjustment. Multi-touch technology here allows you to process 10 simultaneous touches. When you bring the smartphone to your ear, the screen is locked using a proximity sensor. The screen can be unlocked by double tapping the glass or using special gestures.

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 sample under study.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the switched off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Meizu m2, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen of the Meizu m2 is still lighter (brightness according to photographs is 126 versus 110 for the Nexus 7), which is at odds with the initial subjective assessment. The ghosting of reflected objects in the Meizu m2 screen is weak, this 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 - One Glass Solution type screen). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. There is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating on the outer surface of the screen, its efficiency is high, even higher than that of the Nexus 7, so fingerprints are removed much easier and appear at a lower speed than in the case of regular glass.

With manual brightness control and when the white field was displayed in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 410 cd/m², the minimum was 5 cd/m². The maximum brightness is not very high, but given the good anti-glare properties, readability even on a sunny day outdoors should be at a more or less acceptable level. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker slot). In automatic mode, as external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of 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 160 cd/m² (too much), in an office illuminated by artificial light (about 400 lux) it sets it to 230 cd/m² (okay), in a very bright environment (corresponding to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more), the brightness increases to 410 cd/m² (to the maximum - this is how it should be); if the adjustment is approximately 50%, then the values ​​are as follows: 48, 130 and 410 cd/m² (suitable combination), the regulator at 0% is 6.5, 36 and 405 cd/m² (the first two values ​​are slightly underestimated, which is logical). It turns out that the auto-brightness function works absolutely adequately and 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.

IN this smartphone An IPS type matrix is ​​used. In the micrograph, if desired, you can see the subpixel structure typical for IPS:

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

The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift even with large deviations of the view from perpendicular to the screen and without pronounced inversion of shades. However, in the case of the darkest shades, there is an inversion of the brightness of shades along one diagonal. For comparison, here are photographs in which identical images are displayed on the screens of Meizu m2 and Nexus 7, with the screen brightness initially set to approximately 200 cd/m². There is a white field perpendicular to the screens:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And a test picture:

Color saturation is moderately high, but color balance varies noticeably. 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 have not changed much on both screens, but on the Meizu m2 the contrast has decreased to a greater extent due to the strong brightening of black. And a white field:

The brightness of the screens at an angle has decreased (by at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), but the Meizu m2 has a slightly brighter screen (average brightness in photographs is 238 versus 234 for the Nexus 7). When deviated diagonally, the black field is brightened greatly, but remains conditionally neutral gray. The photographs below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same!):

And from another angle:

When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is not ideal, since in some places the brightness of the black increases noticeably:

The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is good - about 880:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 26 ms (13 ms on + 13 ms off). The transition between halftones of gray 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 41 ms. The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal any blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.16, which is close to the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve almost does not deviate from the power-law dependence:

The color gamut is slightly different from sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components with each other:

However, the deviations of the coordinates of the primary colors from the vertices of the sRGB triangle are not very large, so the colors have almost natural saturation and hue. The balance of shades on the gray scale is average, since the color temperature is higher than the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is more than 10, which is not considered a very good indicator even for a consumer device. However, ΔE and color temperature change little from hue to hue - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since there is no color balance of great importance, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

This device has the ability to adjust the color balance by adjusting the color temperature.

However, any change in the position of the slider from the initial one leads to a significant increase in ΔE, so it makes no sense to make such an adjustment, especially since the color temperature is not very much higher than 6500 K.

To summarize: the screen has a fairly high maximum brightness and has good anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors even on a sunny summer day. For conditions of complete darkness, you can set a comfortable brightness level. There is also a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works quite adequately. The advantages of the screen include an effective oleophobic coating, the absence of air gaps in the layers of the screen and flicker, a color gamut close to sRGB and a color balance acceptable for visual assessment. Among the significant disadvantages we will attribute low black stability to the deviation of the gaze from perpendicular to the screen plane. Nevertheless, taking into account the importance of characteristics for this particular class of devices, the quality of the screen can be considered high.

Sound

Meizu m2 sounds pretty good, especially with headphones. When you connect high-quality headphones, you can get good sound, the sound is clear, bright, rich and loud, there is no extraneous noise or distortion. To connect some headphone models, there are prepared profiles, including for Apple EarPods. The sound in the main speaker is also clear, but, as usual, you need to use engineering menu to increase the maximum volume, otherwise the volume headroom of this speaker may seem insufficient. In conversational dynamics, the intonation and timbre of the voice of a familiar interlocutor remain recognizable, no special distortions are observed, and the system copes with ambient noise quite adequately.

To play music, a proprietary player is used, in the settings of which it is possible to use an equalizer with preset values. When you connect headphones, you have the aforementioned ability to choose from several different Dirac HD Sound system profiles.

The device can record telephone conversations from the line; to do this, just click on the corresponding button in the interface phone application right during the call. There is no FM radio in the smartphone.

Camera

The smartphone is equipped with two digital camera modules with a resolution of 13 and 5 megapixels. The front camera is equipped with a 5-megapixel sensor and a wide-angle lens with an f/2.0 aperture; it does not have autofocus or flash. You can take pictures using the hardware volume control key. Among the settings front camera there is also manual mode, in which you can manually control aperture, shutter speed, ISO. The developers call the camera installed here “the top solution in this price segment”, and also mention a certain “FotoNation 2.0 intelligent selfie enhancement system, which provides precise white balance adjustment and allows you to create excellent photos.” However, we did not notice anything special in the resulting selfie pictures; the quality is satisfactory for the selfie level, but nothing more. When there is insufficient external lighting this system definitely doesn't help.

The main camera received the same familiar 13-megapixel Samsung sensor and a 5-element lens with f/2.2 aperture. There is a single flash, the lens is protected by Gorilla Glass 3. Autofocus here, according to subjective feelings, is quite slow, but rarely makes mistakes. There is no stabilization system - neither optical nor electronic.

The shooting control menu is exactly the same as that of other modern Meizu models, only there are fewer different shooting modes here. In manual mode it is also possible to set shutter speed, ISO, etc. Third party applications These settings cannot be controlled via the Camera2 API.

The camera can shoot video in a maximum resolution of 1080p, which generally does it well, but the system does not cope well with noise when recording audio. Apparently, the sensitivity of the only microphone installed in the device is extremely high, while there is no noise reduction system. As a result, when playing sound, a “mess” of various sounds superimposed on each other appears, each of which the microphone tried to record as clearly as possible, including wind noise.

• Video No. 1 (56 MB, 1920×1080@30 fps)
• Video No. 2 (43 MB, 1920×1080@30 fps)

	Good sharpness across the field and plans.
	A small area of ​​blur in the upper right corner.
	The camera copes with macro photography.
	The text is well done.
	Sharpness is generally good, but there are some areas of blur.
	The left side of the frame is definitely sharper than the right. The grass merges only into distant plans.
	Sometimes there are practically no areas of blur.
	Despite the blurred area on the right, the license plate of the nearest car is visible.

The camera turned out to be quite good. It is not without minor flaws, but overall it produces good results. In some places the noise reduction is overworked, and in some places blur zones simply appear, which is disappointing. Also, the camera does not always capture details well. Otherwise, the quality of the image can be described as “above average.” The camera is quite capable of handling not only documentary shooting, but also artistic shooting.

Telephone and communications

The smartphone works as standard in modern 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks, and also has support for fourth-generation networks. LTE generation Cat.4 (FDD-LTE: 1800/2100/2600 MHz), that is, the hero of the review will be able to operate in two of the three most common bands among domestic operators (B3, B7), while B20 (800 MHz) is not supported by this phone. In practice, with SIM cards from Beeline and MTS operators in the Moscow region, the smartphone was confidently registered and worked in 4G networks. The quality of signal reception is not satisfactory; the device confidently maintains communication indoors and does not lose the signal in areas of poor reception.

Rest networking opportunities smartphones are also quite satisfactory: there is support for Bluetooth 4.0 BLE, two Wi-Fi bands are supported (2.4 and 5 GHz), Wi-Fi Direct, you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi channels or Bluetooth. There is no NFC, but connecting external devices to USB port supported in OTG mode.

The operation of the navigation module does not cause any complaints; the speed of satellite detection during a cold start is less than a minute. The module supports work with GPS/A-GPS and the domestic Glonass system. Among the sensors there is a magnetic field sensor, on the basis of which the electronic compass of navigation mapping programs operates.

The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing phone number A search is also carried out immediately using the first letters in contacts. There is no Swype support. In addition to the standard keyboard, there is an alternative TouchPal X with a wider range of settings and capabilities.

The smartphone supports dual SIM cards. Traditional for the interface Meizu smartphones When making a call, you can select any desired SIM card, but you cannot pre-assign one as the main one for organizing voice calls or sending SMS messages. Unlike the previous model (Meizu m1). here a SIM card in any slot can work with 3G/4G networks, but, as usual, only one of the cards can function in this mode at a time. To change the assignment of slots, cards do not need to be swapped - this can be done directly from the phone menu. Work with two SIM cards is organized according to the familiar Dual standard SIM Dual Standby, when both cards can be in active standby mode, but cannot work at the same time - there is only one radio module.

OS and software

The device is used as a system software platform Google Android versions 5.1 with its own Flyme OS version 4.5 shell installed, which supports over-the-air (OTA) updates. The interface is well known from previous models of the family, there are practically no differences, and among the features we can only note the presence of the so-called “Easy mode”. This is a simplified mode, in which the smartphone interface becomes as simple as possible, there is a minimum number of icons on the screen, only the most necessary settings are left, virtual buttons are maximized, that is, in general, everything is done so that the smartphone becomes convenient to use for older people and, possibly, children. It's interesting that this mode Of all Meizu smartphones, this feature is implemented only in this model.

Otherwise everything is as usual. As always, a lot of attention is paid to working with gestures. Although the screen of Meizu m2 is not the largest, it also provides virtual button SmartTouch. It can be installed anywhere on the screen, and can be used to move the image halfway down to make it easier to reach the top elements. Gestures are also used to interact with the latest menu. open source software, notification curtain, unlocking home screen etc. For example, you can not only unlock the screen, but also use special characters (letters of the Latin alphabet) to immediately launch a specific application at the same time as unlocking.

Also, a lot of attention is paid to security: it is very convenient that with the help regular funds you can set a password to launch any application - for example, you can hide your photo gallery, mail, and even limit access to games for children from prying eyes. The built-in explorer has a special folder (Disk / storage), and if you move any other folder into it (the same photos, movies or music), then it will no longer be possible to enter them without a password. There is also an option remote control smartphone with anti-theft protection, but domestic users are not yet able to use it because the interface personal account implemented only in Chinese.

There is no standard set of touch buttons below the screen, so some of their responsibilities are assigned to the only central hardware button. It is very convenient that in the latest Meizu models, simply touching it returns one step back in the interface; this solves many problems with the lack of additional keys. Generally user interface Flyme OS is currently one of the most attractive, neat-looking, well-thought-out and systematized alternative shells for working with Android OS.

Performance

The Meizu m2 hardware platform is based on a single-chip system (SoC) MediaTek MT6735, which has four Cortex-A53 processor cores operating at frequencies up to 1300 MHz. This is a 64-bit entry-level solution; the capabilities of this SoC are modest. Graphics processing is handled by a triple-core Mali-T720 GPU with core frequencies up to 450 MHz. Random access memory The device has 2 GB, the built-in memory is 16 GB, of which 10.5 GB is initially free for the user’s needs. It is also possible to use a memory card, but to do this you will have to remove the second SIM card. In practice, our 128GB Transcend Premium microSDXC UHS-1 test card was reliably recognized by the device. Connecting external devices and flash drives to the Micro-USB port in USB OTG mode is also supported.

According to the test results, the MediaTek MT6735 platform showed rather modest results, which was to be expected from a budget solution. Although this is a 64-bit SoC, and the Android OS used here is also 64-bit, the difference in AnTuTu tests between versions is minimal (about 27K points in the 64-bit test).

However, even this budget platform turned out to be faster in all tests, both complex and specialized, than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 410, positioned at the same level. Actually, this is the only thing that can be highlighted here, since in all other respects the platform entry level MediaTek MT6735 is quite simple, and most others modern platforms it is overtaken, including by all representatives of the MediaTek line itself.

Testing in latest versions complex tests AnTuTu and GeekBench 3:

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that at one time they passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions test programs.

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

When tested in 3DMark for the most productive 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 m2 (MediaTek MT6735)	Wileyfox Swift (Qualcomm Snapdragon 410)	Xiaomi Redmi 2 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 410)	Nubia Z9 mini (Qualcomm Snapdragon 615)	Honor 4C (Hisilicon Kirin 620)
3DMark Ice Storm Extreme (more is better)	3086	2632	2667	5382	3838
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited (more is better)	4973	4374	4362	7625	5383
GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Onscreen)	14 fps	—	10 fps	14 fps	13 fps
GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Offscreen)	8.5 fps	—	5 fps	15 fps	8 fps
Bonsai Benchmark	2953 (42 fps)	1655 (24 fps)	1594 (23 fps)	1639 (23 fps)	2322 (33 fps)

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always. For Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

Thermal photographs

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

It can be seen that the heating is clearly localized in the upper part of the device, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. Below you can see the contours of the battery, which heats up a little during intensive discharge. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was 40 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), this is the average heating in this test among modern smartphones.

Playing video

To test the omnivorous nature of 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 Internet. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a table.

Once again, the Meizu smartphone pleasantly surprised us with support for all the decoders that are necessary for full playback of most of the most common multimedia files on the Internet. That is, to successfully play them you don’t even have to resort to the help of a third-party player - for example, MX Player, although playback there will also support the AC3 audio format, which is good news.

Format	Container, video, sound	MX Video Player	Standard video player
DVDRip	AVI, XviD 720×400 2200 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL SD	AVI, XviD 720×400 1400 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL HD	MKV, H.264 1280×720 3000 Kbps, AC3	plays normally	plays normally
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280×720 4000 Kbps, AC3	plays normally	plays normally
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920×1080 8000 Kbps, AC3	plays normally	plays normally

Tested video output features 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 “Method for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 frames/ With). In the tests we used the MX Player video player in the “Hardware” mode. The test results are summarized in the table:

Note: If in both columns Uniformity And Passes Green ratings are given, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and frame skipping will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems related to the playback of the corresponding files.

According to the frame output criterion, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is good, since frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and almost without skipping frames. With the exception of files with 60 fps, in which case many frames are skipped, and at first the playback is slow, then it speeds up, and so on, repeating. We note that the screen refresh rate appears to be lower than the typical 60 Hz and is approximately 53 Hz. When playing video files with a resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels (720p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen, one to one in pixels, that is, in the original resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - all gradations of shades are displayed in shadows and highlights.

Battery life

Meizu m2 is equipped with a non-removable battery of 2500 mAh, standard for modern smartphones. Thanks to this, as well as the not too powerful and fairly economical hardware, the smartphone demonstrated a quite decent level of autonomy in all standard use scenarios.

Testing, as usual, was carried out at the maximum level of power consumption without using proprietary energy-saving functions and modes, although the device has them. With Meizu smartphones, everything has been simple lately: in the battery section, you can choose one of three operating modes (productive, balanced and energy-saving). At first, in the very first models, this function was buried deep in the settings section for developers, where not everyone could find it.

	Battery capacity	Reading mode	Video mode	3D Game Mode
Meizu m2	2500 mAh	14:30	9:30 a.m.	4:00 am
Wileyfox Swift	2500 mAh	12:20 pm	9:00 a.m.	4 hours 30 minutes
Xiaomi Redmi 2	2200 mAh	14:20	10:00 am	4 hours 40 minutes
Lenovo A6000	2300 mAh	15:00	9:00 a.m.	4 hours 50 minutes
Alcatel OT Idol 3 (4.7)	2000 mAh	15:00	6:00 am	4 hours 10 minutes
LG Magna	2540 mAh	13:30	10:00 am	4:00 am
Honor 4C	2550 mAh	12:00 pm	8 hours 40 minutes	4 hours 20 minutes
Nubia Z9 mini	2900 mAh	18:00	10:00 am	3 hours 30 minutes
Samsung Galaxy A5	2300 mAh	14:00	11:00 am	4 hours 20 minutes

Continuous reading in the Moon+ Reader program (with a standard, light theme, with auto-scrolling) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) lasted 14.5 hours until the battery was completely discharged, and when continuously watching videos in high quality(720p) with the same brightness level through home network The Wi-Fi device lasted 9.5 hours. In 3D gaming mode, the smartphone worked for 4 hours. The smartphone battery takes a long time to charge; the time to fully charge the Meizu m2 battery is at least 3 full hours.

Bottom line

Unfortunately for Russian buyers, the official price of certified Meizu m2 was not so low that the smartphone could be confidently classified as a true budget segment. Currently, a smartphone can be purchased at a price of 12-13 thousand rubles, which is not so little. However, it is worth considering that for this money the user gets a model that is quite decent in all respects, with an excellent bright and fairly large IPS screen, an excellent sound system, a good set of communication interfaces and a more than satisfactory level of autonomy. A high-quality polycarbonate case with an aluminum chassis inside promises to “wear for a long time” and look good (if you like appearance Meizu m2), in addition, the smartphone is offered in several colors to suit every taste. Among the weak points, we can only note that the camera is not of the highest quality, but this question is relative: the camera is weak compared to flagships, but for its level it is quite satisfactory. Well, of course, you shouldn’t expect anything special from the hardware platform of this model - it’s frankly budget-friendly. In general, as usual, Meizu has released a very good product that you can safely purchase without fear of running into any hidden defects or shortcomings - the company treats its business with full responsibility, and we are for this last years We were able to verify this more than once by the example of other previously tested products from this manufacturer.

Advantages

1. Price (if it weren’t for the crisis, it would have been around 6-7 thousand, most likely) 2. Workmanship (no creaks, no play, everything is decently assembled) 3. Performance (the interface never lags in two weeks , applications open without delays, etc. I haven’t tested powerful games because I don’t play them. Sea battle and checkers run fine) (in new version AnTuTu (it seems the sixth) scores about 32,000 points) 4. Flyme (For me this is a definite plus. An extremely convenient shell. Especially for one-handed control. Nothing superfluous, everything to the point) 5. mBack button (another FAT PLUS! Even to it no need to get used to it. This is exactly what I really wanted in Android! Just a gorgeous thing!) 6. 2 Sim and LTE (well, let it be a combined slot. For me personally, this has never been a problem because, again, I don’t play heavy, voluminous toys. 11 GB of memory (or so) is quite enough for me) 7. Battery (a day of active VK sticking on Wi-Fi, with two SIM cards inside + music + plus just surfing the Internet + an hour and a half of Skype + 30 minutes of calls). I can easily leave the house with 30% or even less and not worry that it will run out on the road) 8. Dimensions + 5 INCH SCREEN! (see comment) 9. The quality of the music (it’s not cosmic, but it’s normal to listen to music from VK on the way somewhere, it doesn’t cause disgust. I haven’t downloaded FLAC yet, so I can’t say how it really sounds)

Flaws

Let me make a reservation right away that these are not shortcomings, but simply nit-picking. So: 1. The battery discharges from 10% to zero within 2-3 minutes (already used to it) 2. External speaker (I became sad when I put the melody of one very famous Trance DJ on the call. Although on another phone the same melody is very good I called. And it’s not just her, it’s just that the external speaker is more suitable for standard audio files)

Commentary

I chose a smartphone no larger than 5 inches. Unfortunately, now the choice is small. I myself considered 3 options: 1. Xiaomi Redmi 2 2. Huawei Honor 4C 3. Meizu m2 mini All these smartphones cost around 10 thousand rubles (Xiaomi is cheaper). Xiaomi was the first to fall out due to Russian localization and relatively weak hardware (but the 4.7-inch screen really attracted me) Honor 4C has very little internal memory (but the SIM card slot is not combined with a memory card) In addition, I read a lot of reviews about dead batteries on them (I don’t know whether this is true or not, perhaps they have already been fixed, but I didn’t want to risk it because for me it’s time battery life one of the determining factors) Somehow I chose Meizu m2 mini and I don’t regret a single ruble of the money spent! The thing is definitely worth it! The version is Chinese, but the firmware is with the letter i (apparently the store has already updated it themselves). Everything is in Russian, LTE of the new Moscow telecom operator works fine. People, DO NOT be fooled by the MANUFACTURER ICON! I myself have a lot of respect for the famous South Korean manufacturer (almost all the equipment of this brand is at home), BUT in the smartphone segment it (like many other well-known brands) does not offer anything worthwhile in the price range of 9-12 thousand rubles. And the point, first of all, is not even in performance (although it is also in that too), many users will not feel it (performance) (what difference does it make how many “parrots are in AnTuTu, if the interface does not lag, and a person except VK, Viber, etc. .p. doesn’t use anything), namely in those things that the owner of a smartphone uses almost every day (interface (I want it to not lag, screen (resolution and color rendition are better, and therefore the picture is more pleasing to the eye), camera, Internet ( speed, it would be better LTE), and the amount of memory (to take photos, for example, and not often upload them to a computer or to the cloud due to a lack of it). For all these parameters, this smartphone is simply IDEAL (with a caveat to the cost. Yes, there are better ones, but then you pay two or three times more) I hope I helped those choosing!

Actually, it should be Xiaomi review Redmi Note 2, but in the two days I spent with it, I was so disappointed in it that I had no desire to complete the review. Because reviews are just a hobby and entertainment for me, then the smartphone was quickly sold at a good price for me and forgotten. And then iXBT canceled the previous competition without really explaining what would happen to the reviews that participated in it. Of course, you can’t popularize blogs like that, but the owner is a gentleman. Well, you can try to participate in the new competition.

Location determination

The device supports GPS and GLONASS. I realized that everything was perfect in determining the location in this device back in the apartment, when the smartphone found several satellites and determined the location in the room. For a detailed check I went outside. Rebooted the phone and launched test programs.

2 seconds, and a bag of satellites spilled onto the screen. The signal is very strong, he sees GPS satellites and GLONASS. The error is 2 meters! The result is excellent.

For navigation programs The smartphone contains a digital compass.

Telephone and communications

The smartphone supports TD-LTE (1900/2300/2600 MHz), FDD LTE (1800/1900/2600 MHz), WCDMA/HSPA+ (850/900/1900/2100 MHz), GSM/GPRS/EDGE (900/1800 MHz) . Those. Our (Russian) main LTE bands B3 and B7 are supported. I checked two operators: MTS and Megfon. There were no problems with the operation of 4G and 3G.

You can install two SIM cards, but, as is the case in most cases, there is only one radio module. Those. Both are in standby mode, and one is in operation. To work in 4G/3G networks, you can assign any card in the settings, the other will automatically work in GSM.

I liked that the system has a built-in recording feature. telephone conversations. You can record individual conversations or all at once.

The speaker has a good volume reserve. Speech can be heard clearly.

The M2 only has one microphone. Surprisingly, this did not have a negative impact. The other party heard me clearly and clearly, without echo or extraneous noise, even when I was outside with a strong wind. But the lack of a second microphone had a huge impact on video recording, but more on that later.

In the courtyard, 4G Internet from MTS worked well. Browsing and watching YouTube did not cause any problems.

The Wi-Fi module supports 802.11a/b/g/n (2.4/5.0 GHz). Speed ​​indicators at 3 meters from base station with direct visibility they are simply excellent.

2.4 GHz:

5 GHz:

I had a momentary shock when I went to the far corner of another room behind two reinforced concrete walls and measured the speed of the 2.4 GHz network. None of the devices I have had or have even come close to this speed in this location:

With Bluetooth everything is simple. I connected the Samsung HM1700 headset, it works.

Sound

Forgive the sinner, but I am not an audiophile or a music lover. I can’t objectively evaluate the sound quality of the headphones.

I found the sound to be good with the simple in-ear headphones from Sony. All frequencies are in place. I, as an ordinary consumer, enjoyed watching one episode of the series and listening to a couple of music tracks. I had no dissatisfaction. The volume reserve is good. With M2 you can transfer from a car to the metro, the volume is enough.

The external speaker is quite loud. He's alone. There is no kick drum effect. There are no rattles or overloads. Even with a software volume increase of up to 200% in MX Player, no deterioration in sound is observed. Due to the fact that the speaker is located at the end, the volume does not decrease when the device is lying on the table.

The phone rings loudly. You can hear it well in your bag. The power of the vibration motor is flawless.

Camera

Now we get to the worst thing about this smartphone. In words, everything is great: 13 MP Samsung CMOS, f/2.2, 5-element optics.

I will write my opinion, and then look at the pictures and videos for yourself and draw your own conclusion. Maybe your assessment of beauty is a little different. .

The camera program itself has an excellent and user-friendly interface. There is even a manual mode with all operating parameters. There's even manual focusing. But the problem is with quality. Full Camera API 2 (from Android 5) is not supported: in third party programs no access to shutter speed control, RAW is not supported.

Very small dynamic range, low contrast, low but uniform sharpness. Intrusive and strong software processing, even in good lighting, the noise reduction works tirelessly. For a budget smartphone this is a good camera. But among all smartphones the level is below average.

Everything is in order.

Night video shooting

Artificial lighting. Tripod. The smartphone recorded 1080p video with an average frame rate of 16. The average bitrate is 9.5 Mbit/s. The quality is bad throughout. The camera is not suitable for video shooting in poor lighting. There is a lot of unnecessary noise in soundtrack. I then recorded the video in complete silence - it makes noise.

Daytime video shooting

Good lighting. Handheld shooting. The smartphone recorded 1080p video with an average frame rate of 30. The average bitrate was 17 Mbit/s. The quality is average - low sharpness, jerky exposure changes, software stabilization is not supported.

Main camera at night

In automatic handheld mode, the smartphone decided to increase the shutter speed to 1/10 of a second. Shumodav chopped everything into cabbage.

Main camera at night (tripod)

The camera has a manual mode. We put it on a tripod. We set ISO 100, shutter speed - 2 seconds. Already good. But here, too, software processing never stops working.

Main camera during the day

Handles macro. All images have the same problems: very small dynamic range, low contrast, low sharpness across the entire field, too much software processing.

Main camera indoors

Front-camera

According to MEIZU, the front camera uses some kind of FotoNation 2.0 processing and something to improve facial exposure. It would be better if they didn't write this at all. The software determines the area of ​​the face and begins to automatically retouch and wash it so that nothing human remains there. The second photo is in a room with artificial lighting.

That's it with the camera. Join the fight in the comments.

Playing video

I understand correctly that you want to ask: “What can such a state employee do?” You do not want? Then I’ll ask myself and answer myself. This is a real media combine. It can play literally everything... that is required from a smartphone.

2 files were used for the test:

• MKV container, 1080p24 H.264 video (8 bit, 11 Mbps), AC-3 audio, DTS audio.
• MKV container, 1080p24 HEVC/H.265 video (8 bit, 8 Mbps), AAC audio

The test used the standard video player and the most popular MX Player.

The only downside is that there is no MHL support.

Internal storage, work with microSD cards and flash drives via USB OTG

A new system has 11 GB of free space on the internal storage.

The OS supports the exFAT file system, i.e. You can safely use cards up to 128 GB. For the test I will use quick map A-Data Premier 32Gb UHS-I. The actual linear read speed via a USB 3.0 card reader is 45 MB/s, linear write speed is 18 MB/s.

Let's see the internal speed of working with ROM and microSD. Although this information is not of practical use, you need to know it for the next step.

For ROM, the speed is normal for modern smartphones. But the reading speed of microSD let us down. Maybe the budget SoC has some limitations in the controller, or maybe there is a software reason.

Now let's check what is really important in practice - the speed of writing files to the device from the computer and from the device to the computer. Devices are mounted in the system using the MTP protocol.

A 3 GB file is written from the computer to the internal memory in 4 minutes 21 seconds, i.e. 11 MB/s. Very slow for modern device. But the reading speed (copying from the device to the computer) is much better - 29.5 MB/s, almost at the limit of USB 2.0.

A 2 GB file is written from a computer to a microSD card in 2 minutes 50 seconds, i.e. 13 MB/s. Reading speed – 26 MB/s. Reading is at the internal speed limit, but writing is not up to internal speed.

WITH via USB OTG you can connect flash drives to the device. I was surprised when I connected the flash drive with file system NTFS. The smartphone accepted it with pleasure. Access was read and write. In the file manager, I could freely delete files from the flash drive and write something to it. A pleasant unofficial surprise.

Performance

The heart of the smartphone is the budget SoC from MediaTek MT6735. It contains 4 Cortex-A53 cores that operate at 1.3 GHz. The ARM Mali-T720 controller is responsible for the graphics part. The smartphone has 2 GB of RAM. In the smartphone settings, you can choose one of three performance modes. All tests were run in maximum performance mode. The results of other smartphones are taken from the iXBT website, they are obtained in the default mode (they may be underestimated due to a less powerful mode).

AnTuTu and Geekbench 3

	MEIZU M2 (MediaTek MT6735)	Xiaomi Redmi 2 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 410)	MEIZU M2 Note (MediaTek MT6753)
AnTuTu v5.7.1	27047	20899	30332
Geeckbench 3	616/1714	483/1466	563/2627

3DMark and GFXBench

Charger

The kit includes a charger with a maximum current of 1.2A.

This immediately alerted me to the fact that the device consumes low current. I put the standard charger back in the box. Charging was performed using a high-quality Tronsmart TS-UC5PC charger. M2 has been connected high quality cable micro-USB, which is guaranteed to use a current of 2.5A. When charging, we used a port with a maximum current of 2.4A and closed Data contacts through a “harness” (Tronsmart calls this VoltIQ, but for most devices it is enough that they are simply closed).

The M2 does not support accelerated charging in any form. The maximum current was 0.9A. In 30 minutes the device was charged to 21%. 1 hour up to 43%. In 2 hours 20 minutes to 100%. If the full charge time is quite normal, then 21% in the first 30 minutes is too little for a modern smartphone.

Battery life

In general, the smartphone easily lasts for a day of use. An hour of video, browsing, using the camera, calls, messages. By evening I had 30% charge left.

The default performance mode (balanced) was used to test battery life.

Playing video

All radio modules are disabled. Brightness at 50%. We play a 1080p24 H.264 file. A full charge was enough for exactly 9 o'clock continuous playback.

3D games

For testing I will use new feature in GFXBenchmark. The T-Rex test is launched for 30 minutes, the program analyzes how the battery is consumed, and then gives the predicted operating time with such a load and with such consumption.

278 minutes. Those. for games full charge a smartphone will last approximately 4 hours 30 minutes. This is a good result. The graph shows that the battery was discharged evenly. During the test, the heating of the smartphone was slight. GFXBenchmark showed 35 ºC. There was no throttling during the test.

Conclusion

This is great budget smartphone. The main complaint is only the camera. For $120, you probably won't find anything better. If your schoolchild has an old or budget smartphone, then it’s time to give him a MEIZU M2.

Meizu continues to conquer the Russian smartphone market, and, unlike its compatriots like Oppo, even during a difficult economic situation, it did not deprive users of the company’s official representative office in the Russian Federation. While things may still change, this is a good sign for business reputation. As they say, “friends are made in adversity.”

This time our guest is the compact class smartphone Meizu M2 mini. Personally, it would be difficult for me to equip a model with a five-inch screen with a “mini” prefix, but the manufacturer, of course, knows better. Let's see what it can offer in the most popular segment of the market, and let's start, as usual, with the technical characteristics.

Technical characteristics of Meizu M2 mini

Device type	Smartphone
Model	Meizu M2 mini
CPU	MediaTek MT6735, 4 x 1300 MHz, Cortex-A53
Video processor	Mali-T720 MP3
operating system	Android 5.1, Flyme 4.5 shell
RAM, GB	2
Internal memory, GB	16
Screen	5.0" IPS, HD 1280 x 720
Cameras, Mpix	13.0 + 5.0
Net	GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Number of SIM cards, pcs.	1+1 (combination slot)
MicroSD support	Eat
Data transfer	Wi-Fi, WAP, GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, 3G, LTE
aGPS/GPS/GLONASS/Beidou	Yes/Is/Is/No
Battery, mAh	2 500
Dimensions, mm	140.0 x 69.0 x 8.7
Weight, g	131
price, rub.	~10 000 / ~13 000

The characteristics look quite modern, but, as one might guess, there is no talk of an “uncompromising mini-version of the flagship”; this is a regular entry-level device with balanced characteristics.

Of course, we are pleased with the sufficient battery capacity for such a modest single-chip system, as well as network support fourth generation.

Packaging and equipment Meizu M2 mini

Alas, the Meizu smartphone was tested without packaging and a set of accessories, but there is hardly a surprise waiting for us there. Presumably the package will be identical to that of Meizu M2 Note:

• Documentation;
• Charger;
• MicroUSB cable.

There is no information yet about the availability of a protective film and a stereo headset included with the model for the Russian market.

Appearance and design of Meizu M2 mini

At first glance at the front, the Meizu M2 mini resembles a symbiosis of the iPhone 4/4s on top and not the latest Samsung models on the bottom. I imagine that the designers were faced with the task of creating a “win-win option”.

But on the reverse side, the Meizu style is unconditionally guessed: the lack of relief on back cover, one-piece plastic panel design and wide fields near the lenses.

As we have already seen in previous reviews, the manufacturer loves to be inspired by the style of presenting Apple products, and this is what happened in this case. There are different body colors to choose from: pink, grey, blue and white.

We received a gray version for testing, but it is not quite gray. The paint contains a slightly “cool” sheen, which is very difficult to convey through photography, but owners of well-calibrated monitors will most likely pick up this nuance.

The arrangement of the elements is typical for Meizu: at the bottom there is one mono speaker, a MicroUSB port and a conversational microphone. On top you can find the AUX output.

All hardware keys are located on the right, so using them during a conversation is not very convenient. On the opposite end there is a slot for SIM cards and memory cards.

And this is what the combined slot looks like. It is possible to install either two SIM cards, or one SIM card and a memory card. The positive thing is that LTE will work on both SIM cards.

The tray itself was inserted neatly into the case; no gaps were noticed.

But the hardware keys still have some play, especially the volume button.

What is pleasing is the quality of the plastic processing: there are no seams or painting defects, although the resistance of this paint to damage is an open question.

On the front side we see a standard set of sensors, a front camera and an LED event indicator, which lights up in white and for some reason does not always respond to incoming messages, and there is no built-in utility for setting up the operation of the LED.

There is a hardware Home key, which is not equipped with a fingerprint sensor or backlight. Traditionally, standard touch buttons have been eliminated for Meizu devices, so some applications may experience problems, especially with calling the context menu.

On the reverse side we find a rear camera module equipped with a flash containing one large LED.

Although protective glass Slightly recessed into the body, this hardly protects it from scratches. Even the test sample showed minor scratches.

But the build quality of the lenses was disappointing - a lot of dust got inside, the coating was applied with minor defects. I'm afraid that this may affect the final quality of the pictures.

The lenses of the front camera, on the contrary, are well assembled, and their diameter is respectable.

In general, the build quality is at a very high level, and the structural rigidity is sufficient. However, there were some complaints.

You can often hear that a smartphone becomes slippery when heated when your hands become a little wet, this is especially noticeable on glossy cases. But here the problem is the opposite: the Meizu M2 mini becomes more slippery the drier your hands are. This is the paradox associated with the type of paint.

And just 6 months later, the hero of our review – the model Meizu M2. Why did the manufacturer update the line so quickly, while visually it is quite difficult to distinguish these two brothers? The thing is that these “brothers” differ not only in cost, but also in the positioning of their company.

Appearance and features

Some controls have undergone slight changes compared to the first version. But in appearance Meizu M2 remained as attractive as its predecessor. The glossy plastic case is pleasant to the touch, although it slips a little, which can result in the gadget falling.

Feature Meizu M2 is the ability to use two SIMs (Micro and Nano). In this case, instead of the latter, you can insert a micro SD memory card. This is quite specific, but is practiced even among famous manufacturers (Samsung and Huawei).

In general, the smartphone leaves a pleasant impression. But what happens if we press the power button?

Display, filling

When you turn on your smartphone, you immediately notice the large 5” display. Its resolution is 1280x720 pixels. This indicator is quite enough to clearly display information on the screen without a hint of pixelation.

The internal filling of the smartphone is as follows:

1. Processor – Mediatek MT6735, 4 cores 1.3 GHz, 64-bit architecture;
2. RAM – 2 GB;
3. Video processor - Mali T720 MP3, frequency 450 MHz.

Drawing a conclusion from these parameters, we can say that this gadget has inside itself “organs” that are typical for mid-price class smartphones.

It is worth noting that the gadget is equipped internal memory on 16 and 32 GB, which is very pleasing given the possibility of expansion. To this volume you can save not only movies, games, but also photo and video materials taken with one of the built-in cameras. The main one is equipped with a 13 MP matrix, and the front one is 5 MP.

Performance and battery

The device runs on Android 5.1 OS. With branded shell Flyme OS. The manufacturer says that this solution completely eliminates performance drawdowns, which are surprisingly quite high (benchmarks give indicators close to high).

The gadget’s battery, to be honest, is not designed for long-term autonomy. For a 5” display, the 2500 mAh reserve is frankly small. With average usage, the battery lasts only 15-18 hours.

Competitors and results

Surprisingly, competitors Meizu M2 not so much. If we take smartphones that are within +/- $10, then there are no worthy competitors here at all. The lower price category is not even worth attention, and among the more expensive models, ASUS Zenfone 2 ZE500CL, Lenovo S60, Xiaomi MI3 are notable.

If you look at it in general, the quality of the gadget is very good. Photos, videos, application processing speed and display - everything is on par for the price category of the device. As a result, we can say that Meizu M2 worth the money that the manufacturer asks for it.