Meizu M2 Review

Encased in polycarbonate unibody construction, the smartphone not only looks good but is sturdy as well.

The major change from other phones is the presence of single physical home button at the bottom that packs a lot of functionality into it. Volume controls, power button are located at right side of the device and have good tactile response. Measuring 8.77 mm,  smartphone is thin and weighs 131 grams which is light as compared to packing a 2500 mAH battery.

At the back you will find 13 MP camera with LED flash and Meizu branding at the bottom. The rounded edges do make the phone feel very good in hand and is pleasure to use with a single hand. The hybrid SIM slot located the left allows you to use either two nano SIM cards or one SD card and one SIM card.

Performance

We used the Meizu M2 review unit for almost 15 days and given the price it did impressed us. The 5" HD display delivers good colors and viewing angles, however we did notice slight shift in brightness when viewed off axis, which can be ignored considering the price. But most of the times interacting with the screen and colors looked accurate and natural and has plenty of brightness. In case you are not satisfied with the Auto color temperature, you can also play with color temperature that best suits you.

The Asahi dragon trail glass is reflective and visibility is sub-par when you view in direct sunlight. You need to set the brightness to more than 80% to view more clearly outside, which will drain your battery faster if you are outdoors for a longer time.

Meizu M2 runs on Meizu's custom Flyme 4.5 OS built on Android 5.1 Lollipop and feels smooth and fluidic. Like with most chinese interfaces there is no room for app drawer and all apps are hooked directly onto your home screen.

The device brings its own learning curve. Tap once on the single physical button to go back, press it for home and a gentle slide from the side will showcase recent apps. Additionally long press will shut off the display. While it may initially require a learning to get used to button and its functionalities, once done it is pretty intuitive and allows easy swap through apps.

The 13 MP rear camera has good shutter response and is also relatively quick to focus. The colors and exposure was great however it missed out details. Just swipe down and you will be greeted with various camera modes. The manual mode allows you to set focus and shutter speed among other options, however if you are not pro we recommend you to use Auto Mode. The 1080p recording was good and clear. The 5MP front shooter is good enough for selfies.

Call quality and signal reception was good and we did not notice any call drops. 4G also worked fine. The speaker at the bottom produces average sound. Try investing in some bluetooth speakers if you need more bass and sound

Battery

The 2500mAH battery lasted for almost a day on moderate use which for me includes social media, whatsapp, 3G and Wi-Fi, watching videos etc. In our video loop test it lasted for 4 hour 10 minutes.