The MX6 looks promising, but has a lot of competition to beat

Before Meizu released their Pro line of devices, the MX series of phones was their go-to high-end device. And just like rival Xiaomi in China, Meizu priced the MX line aggressively relative to their specifications, and quickly gathered a small, hardcore group of fans here in the PH when Novo7 Tech was still selling them.

Meizu, now duking it out in the PH by their own, are looking to impress with their lineup which includes their premium-looking budget M5 series. Today we’ll be taking a quick look at the MX6, which is their mid-range anchor for the Philippines.

Meizu MX6

• MediaTek Helio X20 MT6797 deca-core processor
• Mali-T880 MP4 GPU
• 3GB/4GB of RAM
• 5.5-inch full HD IPS display, 1920 x 1080 resolution
• 12-megapixel rear camera, f/2.0 aperture, PDAF, dual LED flash
• 5-megapixel front camera, f/2.0 aperture
• Dual SIM
• 3G, LTE
• WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS, Fingerprint sensor, USB Type-C
• 3060mAh battery
• Android Marshmallow

Similar design to the M5 lineup, but with a premium unibody design

The M5 series of devices caught our eye because of their solid design and hardware sold with enticing SRPs. The MX6 has roughly the same design cues of the budget phones, but with a sturdier metal unibody construction. It’s one of the main differentiating attributes of the phone in the market, since only a few mid-range phones under in the 10K to 15K mark actually use a unibody design.

The unibody construction of the MX6 make it a little bit tougher than simple metal phones being sold in the market today, giving it a sense of rigidity that many metal phones lack.

The design is typically Meizu though, as it takes several design cues from Apple’s own efforts. That slab sided back, rounded frame and curved corners scream iPhone no matter what side you look, though to be fair the design looks pretty solid from any angle.

The MX6 has a fingerprint reader much like most other phones in the market today, though its scanner is located in the front, just below the 5.5-inch full HD display. The back holds the 12-megapixel rear camera with f/2.0 aperture lens, PDAF and dual tone LED flash.

All of the phone’s controls are located on the right, which includes the power and volume buttons. The left side holds the microSD/SIM tray, while the 3.5mm jack, USB Type-C port and single speaker grille is on the bottom.

The phone uses a 5.5-inch display TDDI panel on the front. Just like Meizu’s other phones, the MX6 does not use typical Android navigation keys, instead relying on a single key home button for the navigation duties. It acts as the home button when physically pressed, and goes back a level when tapped. It’s a bit confusing at first, though you do get used to it after a while.

Inside the MX6 runs MediaTek’s Helio X20 chipset, running at 2.3GHz, paired with fairly powerful ARM Mali-T880 GPU plus 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. The MX6 feels relatively quick, though battery life is going to be a concern since the X20 SoC is fairly power hungry. Still, the phone has a 3060mAh battery that should last it the entire day.

like most of Meizu’s other phones, the MX6 uses Flyme OS, a completely re-skinned Android OS based off of whatever Android version that’s prevalent during a phone’s release – in the MX6’s case, it’s Android Marshmallow. It adds a few new tricks like tap to wake, gesture recognition and themes at the cost of losing your app drawer. Just like the M5 series of phones, the Google Play store doesn’t come pre-installed when you buy the phone from stores – you’ll have to install and download it yourself via the Hot Apps section of the phone.

Priced at Php 14,990 Meizu has a lot of competition to face in the mid-range market. While it offers up a tough, unibody metal design it has quite a number of competitors in the same price range that has compelling features that’s hard to beat. We’ll have to see in our full review if the phone is worth the money they’re asking for.