Meizu MX4 Pro First Impressions

During a mini launch event that took place last Friday, we were able have a first look at Meizu’s latest flagship smartphone – the Meizu MX4 Pro – which was officially launched back in November and was recently made available locally courtesy of Novo7 Tech.

As far as design is concerned, the Chinese firm already had a good thing going with the Meizu MX4 and the company decided to implement the same on their new flagship smartphone which resulted into a near-identical look to its predecessor.

From the placement of the buttons, down to the shiny silver trims around the edge of the device, the MX4 Pro looks and feels like the MX4. In fact, had it not been for the rimmed rectangular physical button of the MX4 Pro (which by the way is equipped with a fingerprint sensor), it would be really tricky to identify the new one from old when both these handsets are placed side-by-side and viewed at a distance.

Despite the likenesses that the MX4 Pro has with its predecessor in terms of design, the feature set of the former paints an entirely different picture. Apart from the rear camera (which was already top-of-the-line since the MX4), all of the components of the Meizu MX4 Pro have been revamped to match those of other flagship smartphones both from reputable brands and otherwise.

The most evident improvement on the MX4 Pro is on its display. From the 5.36-inch full-HD display of its predecessor, the MX4 Pro now sport a bright and vibrant 5.5-inch 2560 x 1536 IPS One-Glass Solution (OGS) screen made by Sharp, complete with a sheet of Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for extra protection against scratch.

Meizu also decided to give their new flagship smartphone a shot in the arm in the processing department. Instead of a more affordable option from MediaTek, the MX4 Pro is powered by an 8-core Samsung Exynos 5430 Octa which boasts better power efficient which is, in part, thanks to its new 20nm manufacturing process.

The able processor is paired with an Mali-T628 MP6 graphics processing unit that’s clocked at 600Mhz, 3GB worth of LPDDR3 RAM, and sizeable 32GB of internal storage which, unfortunately, is non-expandable.

Needless to say, an impressive benchmark test results is to be expected from this bad boy given its beastly hardware configuration. That’s exactly what we saw when we ran our usual set of benchmark tests during our time with the handset.

Quadrant Standard: 9826
AnTuTu: 45574
Vellamo: 1546 (Metal) / 1252 (Multicore) / 2759 (Browser)

Initial Verdict

People who were expecting a complete design overhaul on the MX4 Pro will be completely disappointed. However, as the old saying goes, don’t fix something that’s not broken. This is, in our opinion, is the reason behind Meizu’s decision to keep the same design on their new flagship device. That being said, users who liked the design of the first model will certainly like the implementation on the new release.

Meizu MX4 Pro Specs:
5.5-inch Sharp IPS Display, 2560 x 1536, 542ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Samsung Exynos 5430 chipset (Quad-core 2.0GHz Cortex-A15 + Quad-core 1.5GHz Cortex-A7)
Mali-T628 MP6
3GB of RAM
16GB, 32GB, 64GB internal storage; non-expandable
20.7-megapixel rear camera with Sony IMX220 Exmor RS sensor and dual LED flash
5-megapixel front camera
NFC, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, Bluetooth 4.0, GNSS (GPS, GLONASS, BDS), LTE
mTouch Fingerprint sensor
Retina Sound (Hi-Fi audio, ES9018 and OPA 1612 chips)
Flyme 4.0 OS based on Android 4.4 KitKat
Colors: Gold, Gray, White

The lack of storage expandability option and the company’s proprietary UI will also play a big role in the success of the MX4 Pro in the local scene as some users prefer a more familiar Android experience (which you can do so by installing third-party launchers) and having a Micro-SD card slot. Gripes aside though, the Meizu MX4 Pro should be a should be in a really comfortable spot to go head-to-head with other flagship devices thanks to its impressive feature set and enticing price tag.

The new Meizu MX4 Pro is now available locally and can be had for Php20,990. Novo7 Tech is giving away Php1,000 discount for those who will purchase the handset today. On top of that, the local distributor is also giving away a free Nillkin case/cover for those MX4 users who will be upgrading to the MX4 Pro.

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