Meizu MX5 review: A decent performer with good design and camera

Meizu is another Chinese vendor which has announced its presence in India. Its MX5 phone, competing against OnePlus One, Xiaomi Mi 4 and Asus Zenfone 2, outperforms them.

Design: Meizu MX5 has a premium design. It has a metallic unibody and is sleek at 7.6mm. The design language seems to be inspired by Apple iPhone but only when you look at it from a distance.

It has got a 5.5-inch full HD display at the front and curved edges. Meizu has added a fingerprint scanner.

Performance: Meizu MX5 has just one home key. Physical/virtual back key are missing. So, one has to figure out how to go back - which you can do by swiping the home button. It has got a Flyme 4.5UI based on Android 5.0 Lollipop. It doesn't look like the stock Android OS as there isn't any app launcher tray and everything has been placed on the home screens itself. The multiple windows are named as A, B, C, D, etc. The UI offers great customisation and comes pre-loaded with apps such as Instagram, Snapdeal and Facebook. It is powered by an Octa-core 2.2 GHz Mediatek MT6795 Helio X10 processor and is paired with 3GB of RAM. The phone only offers 16GB onboard storage, which is slightly less as only 10GB is accessible; it doesn't support expandable memory. Overall, the phone felt fast to use but it took me some time to get used to the UI. Gaming and steaming of videos was smooth. The phone could handle multiple apps at the same time without showing any signs of slowing down.

Camera: The optics are impressive. It has got a 20.7MP camera with laser focus and dual tone flash. The laser focus works well and the camera captures images quickly.

Bag it or junk it: A value for money smartphone

Price: Rs 19,990

Plus: Design, camera

Minus: Storage