Two Displays Are Better than One?

Chinese brand Meizu launched their Pro 7 and it has finally made its way to the Philippines. While another phone from a Chinese brand coming to our shores may be a regular occurrence, Meizu promises something a little different with their current release. The Meizu Pro 7 and Pro 7 Plus has a secondary display on its back to let you utilize its dual rear cameras for framing selfies. Before we give you our initial thoughts, let’s have a look at the Pro 7’s spec sheet.

Meizu Pro 7 Specs

• 1.6GHz MediaTek MT6757T Helop P25 octa-core processor
• 4GB of RAM
• Mali-T880 MP2 GPU
• 5.2-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display; 1920×1080 resolution
• 2-inch Secondary AMOLED display; 240×536 pixels
• 64GB of internal storage
• 4G, LTE
• Dual SIM
• Twin 12-megapixel rear cameras, f/2.0 aperture, PDAF, Dual LED flash
• 16-megapixel front camera, f/2.0
• WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC
• GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
• Fingerprint scanner
• USB Type-C
• 3000mAh battery
• Android 7.1 Nougat; Flyme 6

Meizu Pro 7 Plus Specs

• 2.6GHz MediaTek MT6799 Helio X30 deca-core processor
• 6GB of RAM
• PowerVR GT7400 MP4 GPU
• 5.7-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display; 1920×1080 resolution
• 1.9-inch Secondary AMOLED display; 240×536 pixels
• 64GB of internal storage
• 4G, LTE
• Dual SIM
• Twin 12-megapixel rear cameras, f/2.0 aperture, PDAF, Dual LED flash
• 16-megapixel front camera, f/2.0
• WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC
• GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
• Fingerprint scanner
• USB Type-C
• 3500mAh battery
• Android 7.0 Nougat; Flyme 6

Initial Impressions: Selfie-Centric In a Different Way

The Meizu Pro 7 and Meizu Pro 7 Plus are primarily made out of aluminum. They have a matte finish that feels premium but can be a bit of a fingerprint magnet. In terms of ergonomics, the phone has rounded corners but the edges aren’t as rounded off as some of the phones we’re accustomed to seeing. We’re guessing this was a move to accommodate the secondary display on the device. Despite that, the size of the Meizu Pro 7 still makes the devices easy to hold and operate with one hand, even for those who have dainty digits, though they may have to use two hands for the larger Meizu Pro 7 Plus.

Let’s take a look at where the ports and buttons are placed.

You’ve got the volume rocker and power button on the right side of the phones and access to the SIM tray on the left.

On the bottom, you’ll find the 3.5mm audio jack, USB C port, and the speaker grille.

On the back of the devices, you have the twin 12-megapixel cameras and the secondary 1.9-inch AMOLED display. The main camera on the Meizu Pro 7 has phase detection autofocus and shoots in full color, while its twin has a monochrome sensor; much like how Huawei setup up the dual cameras on the P10 and P10 Plus.

Let’s talk a little bit more about the secondary display while we’re here.

The secondary display can show you the time and date, the weather, your notifications, and the steps you’ve taken that day. It’s primary function, however, is to help you frame your self-portraits using the dual rear shooters. All you have to do is swipe up to turn on the cameras, swipe through its three shooting modes (Normal, Beauty, and Blur), and tap on the display to activate the timer or use the volume down button to take a snap.

You have the 5.2-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display dominating the front of the Pro 7, while its bigger brother gets a 5.7-inch QHD display. As expected with these types of panels, it produces great colors with really great contrast and enough brightness to use when you’re outdoors. Up on top is the very capable 16-megapixel front camera at an f-stop of f/2.0 on both devices in case you want to take selfies the traditional way.

You’ll also find the quirky home button on the chin of the device that’s used for most of the navigation on the Meizu Pro 7 and it’s bigger bro, the Meizu Pro 7 Plus. No capacitive keys flanking it or on-screen navigation here. You simply tap on the home button to go back or swipe up from the bottom of the screen to bring up the most recent apps. Yes, it also doubles as the fingerprint scanner as well.

As far as internals go, the Meizu Pro 7 sports a 1.5Ghz MediaTek MT6757T octa-core processor AKA the Helio P25. The processor is paired up with 4GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage, and runs on Android 7.0 Nougat with the company’s Flyme 6 on top of it. Initially, navigation was nice and smooth while using the main display, but we did notice some lag while operating the secondary display to take a few initial photos, but we’ll take the device for a spin before we deliver our verdict. Powering the device is a 3000mAh battery, which is pretty much standard for most phones out in the market.

It’s bigger brother is armed with a MediaTek X30 deca-core processor, which has been paired with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. As expected navigation through the Meizu Pro 7 Plus was a lot snappier than its smaller sibling and may be the better choice if play games that need more oomph. You’re also getting a larger battery on the Meizu Pro 7 Plus at 3500mAh to help push all those pixels on its displays for a longer duration.

The Meizu Pro 7 is priced at Php 22,990, while the Meizu Pro 7 Plus gets a heftier Php 31,990 price tag. Both devices should be available in their retail stores and via Lazada soon though the company’s local arm was playing a little coy as to the actual release date.

That’s it for our quick review for the Meizu Pro 7 and Meizu Pro 7 Plus. We’ll be taking the smaller of the two devices for a spin for the next few days, so do check back for its full review.