We unbox the Meizu MX4!

We first glimpsed Meizu MX 4 when we visited Novo7 Tech’s Binondo office a few weeks back, and boy did it make an impression. The phone managed to grab everybody’s attention because of its monster AnTuTu score and relatively affordable pricetag. Now, we finally have a review device in our hands, and today we’ll be unboxing it to show you what to expect from this smartphone.

Meizu MX4 specs

• MediaTek MT6595 processor with big.LITTLE architecture, 2.2GHz quad-core Cortex-A17 processor, 1.7GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 processor
• PowerVR H6200MP4
• 2GB of RAM
• 5.36-inch full HD IPS display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection
• 16/32/64 GB of storage
• 20.7-megapixel rear camera, Sony sensor with image stabilization
• 2-megapixel front camera
• WiFi, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, USB OTG, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
• 3G, LTE
• Android 4.4 Kitkat
• 3100mAh battery
• 144 x 75.2 x 8.9 mm

Packaging and contents:

The MX4 comes in a nice little box that has a very Apple-ish vibe. In the box is the phone, a USB cable and the MX4’s charger.

The unit itself actually resides in a small hollowed out booklet of sorts, whose pages tell you more about the device and custom OS, Flyme, that powers it. Unfortunately, there’s no headphones included in the package.

Initial impressions: Still as beautiful when we last saw it

The Meizu MX4 is one of those phones that instantly sticks with you when you see it. To be honest, the MX4 has a strong resemblance to Apple’s iPad when you look at it dead-on from the front. Unlike most other Android smartphones, the MX4 has a single capacitive button on the bottom of the rather uniquely sized 5.36-inch display. Even the chamfered aluminum sides of the MX4 remind us alot of Apple’s product offerings, which isn’t a bad thing.

 

The display of the MX4 is a bit unique. Instead of going with a typical 5.5- or 5-inch display, Meizu has opted to go with a 5.36-inch display. Technically it’s full HD, but it has a bit more pixels compared to a typical full HD panel – 1920 x 1152 – with a screen ration of 5:3 which is quite different compared to the normal 16:9 aspect ratio on most phones. Colors are vibrant, and viewing angles are generous, but we’re concerned that the weird aspect ratio may cause problems with apps later on, since apps are usually formatted to the typical aspect ratios we mentioned earlier.

The MX4 uses Meizu’s Flyme OS, which, to be honest takes a lot of getting used to. Much like the other customized efforts by other companies, Flyme completely takes away the app drawer and lays everything out in the open. Flyme also removes some capacitive keys on the bottom, making do with just the back software back key. It’s quite a different experience for sure, one that we’re still trying to figure out as we go forward with the review.

As far as hardware goes, the Meizu MX4 uses MediaTek’s newest and fastest octa-core processor, the MT6595. While on paper the MT6595 looks to be a beast – because of its insanely high AnTuTu score – that’s not always the entire story. Things like heat management and real-time performance matters, and it’s going to be something we’ll be looking at in the next few days.

That’s it. We’ll be using the Meizu MX4 in the next few days, stand-by for our full write-up.