A week with the “beautiful” Meizu MX5

Meizu, creators of the popular MX series of devices in China, unveiled their latest premium flagship device a week back in China. At the tightly well-presented event, equipped with high resolution projectors, we were shown beautiful images of the MX5. Usually, the real deal is underwhelming compared to its more-than-perfect renders, but this time it was different. The Meizu MX5 was as beautiful as its renders, and consistently stands out from other slabs with its beautifully crafted design which is familiar, yet unique in execution. After a week with the MX5, here are our initial impressions of this beautiful device.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmEdGUupXh8

At first glance, one can’t help but look at the strikingly black display that blends well with its narrow bezel. Highlight is, of course, the frame around the flat glass at the front. While most premium manufacturers are striving to create a more organic look with curved glass, Meizu has stuck to a flat one, which actually enhances the uniqueness of the device. Coming to the frame, it is obviously a full metal one, running all around the screen, with small black strips of plastic.

The metal frame has reflective chamfered edges and the whole metal body seems to have gone through a rigorous 43-step refinement process to give a finer grainy look to it back, which curves inward from the front to the back.

Unlike the iPhone 6, the curve is not outward, so the grip on the phone is much better. The metal also has a finely grained texture which is slippery, but thankfully the shape helps in balance, with proper weight distribution. The top and bottom pieces are plastic and only have the texture painted on them. They create a small bump, so the seamless-ness is apparent here between the pieces of metal and plastics.

The centrally placed camera is accompanied by a compact unit that fits both the dual tone flash and the laser auto-focus unit, which is again an indication of the amount of attention to detail, which we found to be slightly lacking on the Galaxy S6. Except for the small bump that inhibits the seamlessness, the Meizu MX5 is a beautiful device to use.

Beauty is not skin deep, because Flyme 4.5 on the Meizu MX5 is delightfully designed to match with the premium aesthetic of a digital slab. The Meizu MX5 joins the ranks of the Oppo Find 5, the Galaxy S6 Edge and the iPhone 6 in bringing a futuristic look to slabs. Thankfully, the MX5’s performance enables the slickness in UI navigation too, making it an ideal home for modern design.

Yes, the Meizu MX5 is slick and modern, but how does it actually perform? And is it really worth the asking price of 1799 Yuan? We’ll be testing the Mediatek Helios X10 in the next one, so keep checking the blog for the results soon and of course, we’ll answer everything in the full review. Let us know if you have any questions, in the comments section below.