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The Meizu M5 Note gets officially launched, but it’s boring

AirylDecember 6, 2016

As expected, Meizu has gone ahead and launched their latest Meilan device, the M5 Note earlier today. It follows the typical Meilan formula, with a metal build and affordable pricing, as well as a decent chipset.

The M5 Note gets the same 5.5-inch display as its predecessors, meaning it’s another full HD LTPS unit. This time however, it’s 2.5d glass, which is something noteworthy for a budget device. Meizu promises a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, which is similar to their previous M Note devices.

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Specs-wise, the M5 Note comes with the Helio P10 backed by 3GB/4GB of RAM and 16GB/32GB/64GB of internal storage. Only the 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage variant comes with a microSD slot, which doubles as the second sim slot.

The rear camera on the device is a standard 13MP shooter, with an f/2.2 lens and 1080p video recording. Above that you’ve got your 5MP selfie camera and below that you’ve got your front facing fingerprint reader.

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The main selling point this time is the M5 Note’s decently large 4000mAh battery, which is larger than the average I suppose. The device is 8.15mm thick, while it weighs in at a fairly good 175g.

Overall, it’s the same old song and dance from Meizu’s Meilan line. I have no doubts the device will be stellar just like the previous M Note device, but it’s starting to get pretty stale. At least there’s a new blue color to spice things up (finally), but Meizu should really start innovating soon.

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The 3GB/16GB M5 Note will set you back at 900 yuan ($131), the 3GB/32GB model at 1000 yuan ($145), and the 4GB/64GB model at 1500 yuan ($218), granted you live in China. If you’re somewhere else, you can expect the prices to be slightly higher than that.

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About the author
Airyl
Enjoying life as a student, gently flowing in the stream known as life. Likes playing the piano, isn't very good at it. Likes playing games, is good at it. Constantly sleepy. Also does some tech stuff, but who cares about that?

Moose
December 6, 2016
You say that “it weighs in at a fairly good 175g.” But the M3 Note with the same large battery was only 163 grams while the M2 Note was a mere 149 grams. It seems to me that OEM’s are making their phones heavier every year. At this rate we will all be carrying around 200+ gram phones in a couple of years. Xiaomi’s Redmi 4 is heavier than the Redmi 3 series, same with their Note 4 vs Note 3.
- Airyl
  December 7, 2016
  It’s decent compared to the rest of the 4000+ club. It’s still outshined by its predecessor in nearly every way.
flipp0
December 6, 2016
A huge disappointment! M3 Note also have 2.5d glass. USB-C is the only (!) reason for choosing M5 Note over M3 Note.
Muhammad Yasir
December 6, 2016

December 6, 2016
Funny how a 140$ device that has a quality buid, a usable camera, great battery life, a large, USB-C and great display and all the sensors is boring, but Elephone devices that have horrible cameras, overheat and are riddled with bugs are exciting.
I’ll take a boring Meizu and Xiaomi device anyday, when compared to gimmicky Elephone, UMi and Doogee.
I believe this to be a superb package at the price, sure the SoC, could have been the P20, but that would drive the costs up. You can pay 20-30$ more and get a Redmi 4 or Redmi 4 Note if you want more speed.
- Stef
  December 6, 2016
  As for me it has to do with price more than anything else. I got the same specs from Elephone at the same price ($140) a year ago. Just updated it with the latest CM12.1 sources too.
  The phone actually goes better than last year mostly due to the better software (near AOSP infused with the latest patches).
  Of course it completely lacks a camera, it would be foolish to buy Elephone and expect a good camera. Thankfully I do have a cameraphone as well.
  For its price my Elephone served me well, opinions on either extreme are overblown, it’s nothing too exciting (unlike what gizchina.com would make you think sometimes) nor is it as terrible as the fanbase here would make you think. It’s something in between, and having the released sources actually makes it (still) a better choice than this Meizu… Which is why I agree with giz’s assessment, the above phone is a boring phone…
- quodvadis
  December 6, 2016
  funny how you oh so readily blast those gimmicky companies yet glorify xiaomi and meizu like they’ve never made shit devices.
  both sides are guilty of bad phones when you get bad phone, and good phones when you get good phone. it’s all a luck of the draw otherwise none of these companies would have survived today.
- Airyl
  December 6, 2016
  This isn’t really about the quality of the device. The quality of the Meilan devices are very good. It’s just that they’ve been become incredibly boring.
  The M3 Note was launched, and it’s essentially the exact same phone, just with slightly better specs. It’s a similar case with the M1 Note and M2 Note, which were launched last year.
  On top of the small changes between models, the company also releases them very close to each other, which is why it feels so stale.
  Quality wise, they’re all good, great even. I’d recommend them to a friend, it’s just that writing about them isn’t exciting.
  - December 7, 2016
    They want to be price competitive, but not sacrifice quality, so they had to sacrifice some performance. I’m pretty sure this is a new revision of the P10m and will perform better than the M3 Note, also the storage will be faster.
    - Airyl
      December 7, 2016
      Which doesn’t really change how boring it is. It’s like when Apple makes an ‘S’ version of a device. It’s an improvement, but it’s basically the same thing with minor changes. Not exciting.
- Jh1
  December 6, 2016
  I still like meizu’s products. My m2 note served me very well, though I am currently using a Redmi 4 prime. It is disappointing that they have made so little progress in the M note series though. All of them have been decent phones, but there is very little to differentiate them. Still far far better than anything elephone has ever produced.
- sere83
  December 7, 2016
  The thing is though redmi note 4 is not really more expensive. On international sites there is like $5 difference and there is a pretty huge difference in processing between the p10 and X20. And lets not forget the new M3X which is priced extremely high yet again is outpaced a lot by the less expensive redmi note 4. Obviously Meizu and xiaomi are better than any elephone, Umi or doogee crap but they are all much smaller companies with less resources. I dont have an issue with meizu styling, i like their hardware and I like Flyme. My issue is they are releasing a huge number of handsets all very similar, like m3s and m5 which are extremely similar and m5 note and m3e which are basically the same handset. Then they are offering less than competing devices from xiaomi for the same price. In addition meizu are not improving their cameras in the mid or low range at all really and they are not offering the latest version of android either. Even at the top end of the market they are still nowhere near class leading when it comes to cameras. So a load of new handsets are coming out duplicating old handsets basically with minimal hardware and software improvements is not a good strategy in my mind.

Moose
December 6, 2016
You say that “it weighs in at a fairly good 175g.” But the M3 Note with the same large battery was only 163 grams while the M2 Note was a mere 149 grams. It seems to me that OEM’s are making their phones heavier every year. At this rate we will all be carrying around 200+ gram phones in a couple of years. Xiaomi’s Redmi 4 is heavier than the Redmi 3 series, same with their Note 4 vs Note 3.
- Airyl
  December 7, 2016
  It’s decent compared to the rest of the 4000+ club. It’s still outshined by its predecessor in nearly every way.
flipp0
December 6, 2016
A huge disappointment! M3 Note also have 2.5d glass. USB-C is the only (!) reason for choosing M5 Note over M3 Note.
Guest
December 6, 2016