Best Mobile Phone Plans: Review and test the smartphone Meizu M3 Note … – iXBT.com

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The Chinese manufacturer Meizu smart phones continues annual update and expand its range of mobile devices. At the moment, among them we can count three main popular MX and the Pro, as well as the budget M Note, where, as usual, it is best to seek a favorable combination of price and quality. As for quality, then this at the Meizu full order: all the smartphones of the manufacturer down to the cheapest always evoke respect for users, since in their case is very rare to come across a frank marriage or slipshod attitude towards the assembly. To date, the most popular among the available Meizu models are, of course, representatives of the junior series – M1 Note and M2 Note, released fairly quickly one after the other. Today we look at already third modification called M3 Note and find out whether it is worthy to rank with its popular predecessors, and that the new can show in the new season fans of the brand.

Main features Meizu M3 Note

SoC MediaTek Helio P10 (MT6755M), 8 cores, 4 × 1.8 GHz and 4 × 1 GHz (ARM Cortex-A53)
GPU ARM Mali-T860
Operating system Android 5.1
The touch screen IPS 5,5 “, 1920 × 1080 resolution, 403 ppi
memory (RAM) 2/3 GB internal memory 16/32 GB LPDDR3
SIM-card: Nano-SIM (2 pcs.)
Support for memory cards microSD
Network GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz
Networks WCDMA 900/2100 MHz, TD-SCDMA
Network LTE FDD Band 1/3/7, TD-LTE
Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n (2 ranges), Wi-Fi Direct
Bluetooth 4.0 BLE
USB 2.0, OTG
GPS / A-GPS, Glonass
Sensors direction, proximity, light, accelerometer, geomagnetic
fingerprint Reader
Camera 13 megapixel, f / 2,2, autofocus, LED-flash
The front camera is 5 megapixel, f / 2,0
Battery 4100 mAh
Dimensions 154 × 76 × 8,2 mm
Weight 163 g

Meizu M3 Note 2/16 GB	Meizu M3 Note 3/32 GB
Average price
T-13747914	T-13747917
Retail offer
LS-13747914-10	LS-13747917-10

appearance and usability

The design of the latest generation of smart phones Meizu hardly varies from model to model, is a well-recognized, and this also applies to the flagships, and budget decisions. The hero of this review refers to the average level of affordable smartphones, but its design and the materials do not differ from high-end models of the MX and Pro lines.

Most of the housing Meizu M3 Note is metal cover made of anodized aluminum, and only at the ends, as usual, there are plastic inserts, painted in body color overall. The corners and sides quite rounded, thanks to their streamlined body of the smartphone turned on all sides, like a pebble grinded sea.

All surfaces are solid, but a matte finish, which not only does not collect fingerprints, but does not slide in hand. The smartphone itself is quite large and heavy, but due to its cover held comfortably. The appearance of scratches, of course, possible, most likely they will appear on the ends of the plastic, but on the whole body Meizu M3 Note can be called a practical and sturdy.

Meizu M3 Note received 2,5D-glass with sloping edges, covering the entire front panel. Used glass production AGC Dragontrail (T2X-1) – is the same as the previous model was installed in M2 Note. In this unit on top of the screen in addition to the sensors, camera and the speaker grill is present LED indicator events.

At the bottom of a screen, as usual, three buttons, and one, it is located in the center and has an oval shape. It is a mechanical key, which has a built-in fingerprint scanner platform. Fulfills the function button return back at the touch function and go to the home screen by pressing, unlocking can be performed with the finger, swipe from any angle. Fingerprint Scanner mTouch 2.1 high speed (0.2 seconds) can recognize the owner’s fingerprints, not only to unlock the screen, but also to authorize access to any application. Highlights of the center key is not; has she and the neighboring keys, usual for other smartphones on the Android OS.

The back side of the case is given over to a large peephole main camera and powerful dual LED flash, consisting of colored elements. The camera is protected by glass Gorilla Glass 3. The camera module sticks out beyond the surface, so lying on the table to use the smartphone comfortable, it does not jiggle when you touch the screen.

side connector is provided for the installation of cards, it is a hybrid, that is, drawer slides, you can install two SIM-card Nano-SIM format or microSD memory card instead of one of them. It supports hot swapping.

Mechanical buttons are located on the opposite side edge. The keys are large, easy to find blindly move them, perhaps a little harsh, but get used to it quite possible.

The main speaker is displayed in the lower end, for one of reshetochek, while the second is a sham, sound it does not go through. Between the two bars is a connector Micro-USB, supports external device USB OTG mode.

At the top end is placed on a standard audio minijack headphone jack (3.5 mm), adjacent to the microphone for noise reduction.

Colours for buildings Meizu M3 Note selected are the same: light gray with a white front panel, dark gray with black façade, as well as gold, which has a front panel glass white.

screen

The smartphone has a touch IPS screen with the physical dimensions of 68 × 121 mm, diagonal – 5.5 inches. The resolution is 1920 × 1080 pixels with a density of 403 ppi. The frame around the screen on the sides has a width of about 3.5 mm.

The display brightness is automatically adjusted on the basis of the light sensor. There is also a proximity sensor that locks the screen during presentation to the smartphone to your ear. multitouch technology can handle 10 simultaneous touches.

The detailed examination using measurement instruments held partition editor “Monitor” and “Projector and TV” Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the test sample screen.

The front of the screen surface is a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, resistant to scratches. Based on the reflection properties of objects anti-glare screen is not worse than that of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) (hereinafter referred to just the Nexus 7) screen. For clarity, we present the photo, which is reflected in the screen off the white surface (the left – the Nexus 7, right – Meizu M3 Note, further they can be distinguished by size):

The screen Meizu M3 Note slightly darker (brightness Picture 110 against 113 in the Nexus 7). Ghosting objects reflected in the screen Meizu M3 Note there is little, it indicates that there is no air gap (screen type OGS – One Glass Solution) between screen layers (specifically between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass / air type) with very different refractive indices such screens look better in high ambient light, but in the case of repair cracked outer glass is much more expensive, because have to change the entire screen. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease repellent) coating (effective, even better than the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much easier, and appear at a slower rate than in the case of ordinary glass.

with manual control the brightness of the derivation of the white box at the top of the screen the maximum value of brightness was about 420 cd / m² minimum – 4 cd / m². The maximum brightness is not very high, but given the excellent anti-glare properties, readability, even on a sunny day outdoors should be at a good level. In complete darkness the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. Available automatic brightness control according ambient light sensor (located to the right of the slot of the front speakers). In automatic mode, when the external lighting conditions, the brightness of both increases and decreases. This function depends on the position of the slider to adjust the brightness. If he is 100%, while in total darkness automatic brightness adjustment function reduces the brightness of 75 cd / m² (too much) in a brightness is increased to 140 cd / m² (normal) illumination artificial office light (400 lux), very bright environment (appropriate lighting clear day outside, but not direct sunlight – 20,000 lux, or a little more) is set to 420 cd / m² (normal). Slider brightness by 50% – the values are: 34, 50 and 420 cd / m² (average value is underestimated) at 0% – 8.5, 22 and 420 cd / m² (now the first two values are too low). It turns out that locked the brightness function is not quite adequate. At any level of brightness of the backlight modulation is not significant, so there is no flicker and no screen.

This smartphone uses a matrix of type IPS. The micrographs show the typical IPS subpixels structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery micrographs screens used in mobile machinery

The screen has good viewing angles without any significant color shift even when large deviations sight. from the perpendicular to the screen and without inverting the colors. For comparison photos, which screens Meizu M3 Note and Nexus 7 displayed the same image, with the brightness of the screen is initially set at about 200 cd / m², and color balance on the camera is forcibly set to 6500 K. perpendicular to the screen white box:

It should be noted a good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white area. And the test image:

Color saturation is close to the natural color balance in the norm. 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 slightly changed both screens, but Meizu M3 Note the contrast decreased largely due to a strong tint of black and more Brightness . And the white box:

The brightness of screens at an angle decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in exposure), but Meizu M3 Note screen is still a little darker. Black box with a deviation strongly diagonally lightens and becomes purple or reddish tint. Photo below is the show (the brightness of the white areas in the perpendicular plane of the screen towards the same!):

And from a different angle:

When a perpendicular view the uniformity of the black field is very good:

Contrast (approximately center of the screen) normal – the order of 800: 1. Response time when moving the black-white-black is 14 ms (7 ms incl. + 7 ms off.). The transition between shades of gray 25% and 75% (according to the numerical value of the color) and back in the sum is 25 ms. Matrix a little faster than usual in the case of smartphones. Built on 32 points equally spaced on the numerical value of the shades of gray of gamma curve revealed no blockage of any lights or in the shadows. Index approximates the exponential function is equal to 2.16, that quite a bit below the standard value of 2.2. At the same time a real gamma curve hardly deviates from the power dependence:

Dynamic adjust the brightness according to the nature of the displayed image in this case we do not find that very well.

Color Gamut close to the sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mixed ingredients to each other:

As a result, the colors have a natural saturation. The balance of colors in the gray scale is good, as the color temperature is not much higher than the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) of less than 10 is considered an acceptable indicator for consumer devices. At the same color temperature and ΔE little vary from shade to shade – a positive effect on the visual assessment of the color balance. (Darkest gray scale region can not be ignored, as there are color balance does not really matter, and error color characteristics measurement in low brightness large.)

In this arrangement, it is possible to adjust color balance by adjusting shade warmer-colder

However, attempts to change the color balance so were unsuccessful, as color temperature correction leads to the fact that a halftone tint changes, and white point -. no, it looks disgusting. However, in this case, touch the setting in general there is no need

To summarize:. The screen is not very high maximum brightness, but it has excellent anti-glare properties, so the device without any problems can be use outdoors even sunny summer day. For the conditions of total darkness, you can set a comfortable brightness level. with automatic brightness adjustment mode works, but it works is not entirely adequate. To display the advantages need to include effective oleophobic coating, no air gap in the screen layers and flicker, good uniformity of the black field, as well as close to the sRGB color gamut and almost standard color balance. By the significant shortcomings we assign a low stability of the black in the rejection of sight from the perpendicular to the plane of the screen. Nevertheless, taking into account the characteristics of the importance of it for this class of devices, screen quality can be considered high.

Sound

It sounds smart phone is much easier than it higher the level of family MX 5 and Pro 6. The sound is pretty shrill, monotonous, mostly heard only the high frequencies. That high-pitched sound enough for a call, but for listening to tunes lacks the width of the frequency spectrum, the depth and brightness of the sound, although there is sufficient volume of stock. The headphones sound is certainly interesting, is on the whole satisfactory, but in any case it is not a music solution. . The settings available to the user only equalizer with several presets

By the earpiece and microphone no complaints: the intonation and timbre familiar voice remains recognizable, the sound is clear, though not thick, is also quite high. Microphone sensitivity is normal, the sound from the recorder is written purely and playing clearly distinguishable, noise reduction system does its job adequately.

FM-radio in your phone is not present, automatic recording of telephone conversations with the line with the help of regular funds provided by .

Camera

Meizu M3 Note is equipped with two cameras with a resolution of 13 megapixel and 5. The front camera is a 5 megapixel sensor and four-element lens with aperture f / 2,0 without autofocus and flash their own. You can use Face After Effects technology for decorating photos. Pictures front camera produces average quality, overexposed and sometimes blurred. From modern selfie camera, we can expect more.

The main camera has a 13-megapixel sensor and a wide-angle lens with a five-element aperture f / 2,2 with PDAF (Phase) autofocus and vibrant two-tone flash. Maximum sensitivity is manually set up to ISO 1600.

Both modules, apparently, there are set the same as in the previous smartphone M2 Note, and the camera control menu has been updated with the release of new versions of Flyme. Overall, the interface is almost the same, but an opportunity to more clearly choose the size and resolution of pictures and videos. Now this is a list of several options to choose from, but previously could only move the pair of horizontal sliders. In manual mode it is possible to exhibit sensitivity, shutter speed, exposure compensation, saturation, contrast and white balance; there are additional modes – portrait, panorama, macro. Third-party applications to manage these settings via Camera2 API is not available, and there is no possibility to store images in RAW.

The camera can not shoot video in 4K is the maximum resolution is 1920 × 1080. Functions stabilization there, but overall smartphone with Video camera copes well: a bright image without visible artifacts, with good color, smooth video, without jerks and delays, the picture looks good. Sound is recorded at the same time, too, it is high quality, noise reduction system to cope with their tasks, microphones here – average sensitivity

The following are examples of photos with our comments on the quality.. The work of the camera said our expert Anton Solovyov .