After four press conferences and four new models, Meizu finally completed its year of running in 2014. Compared with the more strategic Meilan series and the more targeted MX4, the MX4 Pro, as an orthodox sequel, seems to be a little too high. When this model comes on stage with Hi Fi sound quality and stronger and bigger features, can the MX4 Pro carry the title of king.
Although the name carries a Pro, it represents the enhanced and professional version. But I believe that Meizu MX4 Pro is a serious MX3 upgrade and the flagship of Meizu's new generation, no matter for Meizu or kerosene. In fact, from all aspects of hardware configuration and price positioning, it can be seen that MX4 Pro is an orthodox continuation of Meizu.
As a true king, Meizu MX4 Pro is naturally no inferior to others in terms of hardware configuration. It still implements its own definition of golden ratio. The 15:9 5.5 inch screen uses 2K+resolution, bringing a better visual experience. The sensor from Samsung seems to be the convention. The performance of Exynos 5430 used on the MX4 Pro is worth considering. The new 20.7 million pixel camera and new shooting algorithm in the rear are very desirable.
Of course, we can see more and more ambitious attempts of Meizu on the MX4 Pro. MX4 Pro is the first mobile phone of Meizu that can be called Hi Fi sound quality. What's more interesting is that it has wonderful chemical reaction with the EP-21HD launched. The symbolic round Home key has become a fingerprint identifier. The mPay behind the mTouch is the largest layout. It has more imagination with the life service officially launched in Flyme 4.2.
In terms of release time, Meizu MX4 Pro is not the final product like Meilan, but it undoubtedly represents Meizu's biggest ambition and strength at present.
Appearance design:
In terms of appearance design, Meizu's four products released in 2014 obviously remain highly similar, which may be a way to deepen the family design. As can be seen from the name, MX4 Pro can be simply regarded as a large screen enhanced version of MX4. MX4 Pro and MX4 are highly consistent in terms of shape design and key layout.
The various details of the MX4 Pro have been introduced in detail on the MX4, which also makes the MX4 Pro seem less innovative this time. In addition, due to the screen, the frame of the MX4 Pro does not have the visual impact of 2.6mm on the MX4, but it is also excellent.
As a material controller, I commend the aluminum alloy frame and anode sandblasting process of Meizu MX4 and MX4 Pro. Comparatively speaking, the CNC highlight edge of MX4 Pro is wider than that of MX4, and the process requirements are higher.
Of course, the same as the MX4, the MX4 Pro still uses the glue dispensing process in the frame to reduce the possibility of screen fragmentation. The dispensing process this time is not much better than the MX4, which still exists in the obvious color difference of the panel, the overflow of the dispensing material and other problems. It can only be said that in order to narrow the border, these need to be compromised. Of course, the effect of this dispensing process is really good. The MX4 has also undergone actual unexpected experiments, which really reduces the possibility of screen fragmentation.
If there is something unsatisfying about the design of the MX4 Pro or Meizu family, I think the most important thing is the placement of the power key. For a smart phone with a screen size of 5.5 inches, although the addition of screen double click wake-up, voice wake-up or fingerprint recognition reduces the demand for the power key in daily use to some extent, I think you always think where the side power key is when you lock the screen.
Meizu has always used its round Home key as an LED indicator for the same reminder. What will happen on the MX4 Pro? As we all know, the MX4 Pro has a fingerprint identifier, which is located on the Home key and does not have an integrated LED light. The MX4 Pro's approach is to return the indicator light to the position of most smart phones, that is, next to the sensor. Strangely, the original Flyme OS version lights up when charging, but the latest version cancels this action, which is really puzzling.
In the detailed evaluation of the MX4, we found that there was a significant color difference between the back cover and the frame, and there was also a significant gap after fitting, which seriously affected the visual effect and grip feel. This is due to the different materials of the frame and the back cover, as well as the process. Meizu also said that it has improved the rear cover process, which uses matching multiple rear covers to select the best for shipment. This statement performed well in the retail version we received later. (Of course, color difference still exists, which is inevitable for two different materials.)
Meizu MX4 Pro and MX4 have the same hardware configuration in the rear camera. They use the 20.7 million pixel IMX220 sensor from Sony. However, on the lens protection glass, the MX4 uses gorilla reinforced glass, while the MX4 Pro is sapphire glass. Perhaps this is the reason why the rear camera of the MX4 Pro is more prominent than the MX4.
What Meizu shows off most on the MX4 Pro is, of course, the fingerprint recognition of "the first positive press on Android", which is located on the Home key. Meizu MX4 Pro uses the GF66X8 scheme from Huiding Technology for fingerprint recognition. It claims to be able to achieve 360 ° use, 0.5 second response and 508DPI recognition accuracy, which is more powerful than iPhone in terms of technical parameters. Of course, the specific use experience will be written separately below.
Screen contrast:
Meizu pursues a "better large screen mobile phone". Its solution is to narrow the border as much as possible, and this has basically become one of the promotional selling points of every new product. The 5.5-inch MX4 Pro has a good advantage in width compared with products of the same screen size. It is 1.8mm wider than the 5.36-inch MX4, and its volume control is quite good.
In terms of parameters, the contrast of the MX4 is 1100:1, the color gamut is 85%, the brightness is 500cd/m2, and the screen proportion is 79%. The MX4 Pro is 1500:1, 72%, 450cd/m2, and 76.5%, respectively. It seems that the MX4 Pro is even worse than the MX4. The main reason for this result is that Meizu uses a 2K resolution screen, which requires high technology.
Meizu MX4 Pro uses a 15:9 5.5 inch screen with a resolution of 2560 * 1536, slightly higher than the general 2K resolution, which is why Meizu claims to be 2K+. In the case of small difference in screen size, the actual appearance of screen resolution of MX4 and MX4 Pro is not obvious.
In terms of screen brightness, the actual test shows that the maximum brightness of the MX4 Pro center reaches 535cd/㎡, the top reaches 578cd/㎡, and the bottom reaches 632cd/㎡. The brightness difference is within a reasonable range, but the light leakage at the bottom is obvious. In terms of screen brightness index, the MX4 Pro, as a 2K resolution screen, is a very excellent performance, even if it is placed on the 1080P screen. It needs to be noted again that the automatic brightness adjustment of Flyme OS is quite jumpy, and it is recommended to use manual adjustment in daily life.
When it comes to color performance, we still need to talk about the difference between parameters and technology. Meizu MX4 screen has a color gamut of 85%, and uses New Mode2 display technology with a screen brightness of 500cd/㎡. The color gamut of the MX4 Pro screen is 72%, using Nega negative LCD display technology, and the screen brightness is 450cd/㎡. In brief, in theory, the MX4 is more colorful and brighter than the MX4 Pro.
As far as the actual visual experience is concerned, it really reflects the screen advantages of the MX4 over the MX4 Pro. Compared with the rich color performance of the MX4, sometimes it is tiring to see too much, while the MX4 Pro is more suitable. Compared with mobile phones with the same 2K resolution screen, the MX4 Pro, which was launched late, naturally has more advantages.
System UI:
After a long time, Meizu MX4 Pro's system has also been upgraded to Flyme 4.2, adding various features such as life services. The previous MX4, Meilan Note and Meilan have introduced various parts of Flyme OS and the new features of Flyme 4.2 in detail. This time, we will not introduce them in detail.
After several versions of the update, Flyme 4.2, which is updated on Meizu MX4 Pro, finally has enough fluency for normal use in daily use after opening the performance mode and ART mode. The latest version of Flyme 4.2 has solved the problems of insufficient fluency and frame dropping in the application in previous versions, but there is still a probability that the application will stop running and restart automatically. The overall system has room for further optimization.
At Meilan's launch conference, in addition to releasing Meilan, what is more important is the official debut of Meizu's smart ecosystem. Meizu smart ecosystem is naturally a one-stop solution with Meizu as the core, Flyme OS as the core, and different manufacturers.
LifeKit is a collection of this intelligent ecosystem. In addition to accessing third-party product SDKs in the system layer, it also develops interconnection protocols with Alibaba and Haier, and directly completes the corresponding connection in one system and one app. This ecosystem is of great significance to the follow-up development of Meizu.
Shooting ability:
In terms of hardware configuration for shooting, Meizu MX4 Pro is almost the same as MX4. The two also use the Sony IMX220 sensor with F/2.2 aperture, 20.7 million pixels, 5-piece lens, and blue glass filter. The only difference is that the protective glass of the MX4 gorilla third generation lens is changed to the sapphire protective lens on the MX4 Pro. To put it simply, the MX4 Pro strengthens the screen saver on the basis of the MX4.
At this point, some people may wonder that there is nothing better than the MX4 Pro? The answer is, of course, that the use of new ISPs and new algorithms announced at the press conference makes the night view performance or overall performance better than that of the MX4. This also makes us wonder whether the subsequent MX4 can achieve the same performance?
(The left and right sides of the above figure are MX4 Pro and MX4 respectively.) Compared with MX4, the upgrading of MX4 Pro is all about night view. Let's talk about night view first. In fact, the problem solved by the new algorithm is also very simple, that is, it solves the redness and noise smudging that are easy to appear in the MX4 night scene shooting, and has improved to a certain extent. As shown in the above figure, the overall appearance of the MX4 is slightly red, while the overall performance of the MX4 Pro will be better.
(The left and right sides of the above figure are MX4 Pro and MX4 respectively.) Zoom in 100% to see that the MX4 Pro can still see the phone number clearly, while the MX4 directly covers the noise. You should know that these two photos were taken under the same conditions. The iso of the MX4 Pro reached 1600, while that of the MX4 was 1060.
(The left and right sides of the above figure are MX4 Pro and MX4 respectively.) Of course, the new algorithm of MX4 Pro, besides making noise less, seems to have another feature, that is, sharp. In the same 100% view, the outline of each bar sharpened by the MX4 Pro on the left is very clear, while the MX4 is still heavily smeared.
(The left and right sides of the above figure are MX4 Pro and MX4 respectively.) Despite the fact that the new algorithm makes noise less and sharpens the picture, the shooting orientation between the two is very different. The MX4 is relatively more focused on the overall brightness, striving to "shoot bright" to let you see more, while the MX4 Pro is more focused on the scene. In addition, when shooting at night, you can feel that the MX4 Pro's focusing speed and success rate are better than those of the MX4, but you can only feel it.
(The top and bottom of the above figure are MX4 Pro and MX4 respectively.) In terms of overall color performance, MX4 Pro is relatively rich and pleasant, and is within the acceptable range. The MX4 is relatively flat. This setting may be due to the different orientation of the new algorithm, or the balance between the two in screen performance.
(The left and right sides of the figure above are MX4 Pro and MX4 respectively.) In terms of white balance performance, there is not much difference between the two. However, due to the overall orientation of MX4, it is possible for the overall color of MX4 to appear strange harmony. As shown in the figure above, the roses that were originally blue became purple through hard mating, which also made many proofs prone to color deviation.
In terms of daily performance, the essential difference between the MX4 Pro and the MX4 is not too big, that is, the white balance orientation of both is not stable. It is difficult to say that this is a style of orientation or a white balance problem. However, there is little difference between the two in terms of the performance of analytical power, and there is basically nothing that can be explained in detail.
Compared with MX4 Pro, MX4 Pro has more accurate focusing speed and higher focusing success rate. The overall color performance and atmosphere will be more pleasing, but the difference is not so big as to make you feel the rhythm of "700 yuan difference". But that's probably the case with HDR.
The HDR performance of the MX4 Pro is relatively ordinary, and it is very easy to cause overexposure of bright parts, while the MX4 is relatively more like an accurate HDR photo. However, at the junction of light and dark, the HDR of the MX4 is easy to appear obvious purple edges or contours. In addition, the MX4 Pro's relatively good noise processing and sharpening also make the detail performance more acceptable than the MX4.
Hardware performance:
As a flagship product, MX4 Pro is naturally the strongest in terms of hardware configuration. In fact, the Exynos 5430 processor from Samsung is used, and the 20nm manufacturing process is adopted. Theoretically, the heat generation is reduced and the performance is enhanced. Exynos 5430 is big The LITTLE architecture enables eight cores to work at the same time. It uses four 2GHz A15 cores and four 1.5GHz A7 cores. Its theoretical performance is even stronger than Samsung's Galaxy Alpha with Exynos 5430.
In addition, the MX4 Pro is also equipped with the second generation Sense Hub coprocessor to reduce the power consumption of sensors and further enhance the endurance. In terms of memory, MX4 Pro is a dual channel LPDDR3 memory with 3G RAM. If there is any doubt, perhaps it is whether the MX4 Pro will be dragged down in the case of 2K resolution.
In terms of hardware performance, we used a variety of performance testing software, and conducted horizontal comparison tests with Meizu MX4, Xiaomi 4 and Xiaomi Note. As far as the hardware score is concerned, Meizu MX4 is very eye-catching, and all the achievements cannot be too crazy. The MX4 Pro is relatively normal. In addition, MX4 Pro's performance in GFXBench is very impressive. The Manhattan scene has reached 14 fps, and the Tyrannosaurus Rex scene has reached 34 fps, which can be said to be very impressive.
Under the same conditions, run the GFXBench endurance test. The MX4 Pro tested to the maximum temperature of 43 ° C, while the MX4 tested to 39.5 ° C. The performance was satisfactory.
In terms of memory usage, the maximum usable memory of the MX4 Pro is 1.7G after restart, but it is stable at about 874MB after normal use, which is a common achievement. In fact, in the case of 3G memory, there is no need to worry too much about the memory occupation.
Meizu MX4 Pro uses a 3350 mAh battery, which has a considerable capacity. It should be noted that the theoretical endurance test is carried out when the high-performance mode and the ART mode are turned on to ensure that it can be used under the condition of availability. The theoretical endurance test uses the GFXBench battery endurance test and clears the background running flight mode. After testing, the endurance of the MX4 Pro is 144.6min, and that of the MX4 is 202.8min.
As far as the endurance performance is concerned, the 3350mAh battery of the MX4 Pro does not help much, and the performance is still weak. This may be due to the large 2K resolution screen or optimization. It should be noted that this is still in flight mode, and the endurance performance is more tragic in actual use.
In the high-performance mode and when the 4G network is enabled, clear the background for standby testing. One night standby power consumption reached 11%, which really makes people feel powerless to complain. In terms of the performance of the endurance, Meizu still needs to do more work and optimization for the MX4 Pro.
Supplementary notes:
Meizu claims that the MX4 Pro is the first fingerprint identifier that "realizes the front pressing type on Android" and is named mTouch. Of course, its imitation object is obvious. The MX4 Pro uses the GF66X8 scheme from Huiding Technology, which is no inferior to Touch ID in technical parameters. It may be due to the technology of the fingerprint identifier or the sapphire glass on the surface, which makes the physical keys feel ordinary and stiff.. In the actual use process, the success rate and recognition speed of mTouch fingerprint recognition can be highly evaluated.
In fact, I personally prefer the contact fingerprint identification on the back of Huawei Mate 7, which uses the Fingerprint Cards AB scheme, in terms of the location and use form of the fingerprint identifier. The fingerprint identification position design on Huawei Mate 7 is just the position of my index finger when I hold it with one hand. It can complete fingerprint identification and screen lighting unlocking immediately after I start to hold it.
Of course, in addition to providing the unlocking function, mTouch also means to combine with NFC to form Meizu's own payment system, mPay. The ambition of mPay is quite big, and Meizu's "life service" function in Flyme 4.2 is also being planned for it. As for whether this payment service closed-loop can be realized, it depends on the follow-up.
When it comes to fingerprint identification, we need to talk about its security. Meizu has made it clear that the fingerprint used on the MX4 Pro will not be uploaded, but will only be kept on the phone itself, and stored in a special hardware encryption area on the SoC, ensuring that personal fingerprints will not be easily leaked. However, as far as the current situation is concerned, the fingerprint identification on the MX4 Pro is just unlocking and simple encryption.
The mTouch on the MX4 Pro is not as powerful as the Apple Touch ID, and cannot provide the last and most robust protection. In the actual test, it is easy and simple to bypass fingerprint identification and enter the Recovrey interface, and clear the data. After this action, the mTouch fingerprint identification is clear, but the photos and other data are still saved. In other words, an individual's fingerprint will not be obtained, but if you want him to be more powerful, you may be disappointed. As far as the combination of hardware and software of fingerprint recognition is concerned, Meizu MX4 Pro still has a lot of space and can do.
As an old brand music player manufacturer, Meizu MX4 Pro has finally achieved Hi Fi sound quality and Retina Sound, which makes many old fans in Meizu player era cry. In fact, it has been a short time since Vivo officially opened the era of mobile phone Hi Fi. After the integration of the supply chain, it is not too difficult to achieve it on mobile phones. Later, it can also be predicted that more mobile phones will focus on the feature of Hi Fi audio quality.
On Meizu MX4 Pro, ESS 9018K2M decoding chip and TI OPA1612 operational amplifier chip are added, and full symmetric passive filtering technology is also used to achieve high quality requirements on hardware. This whole set of hardware design and stacking can still be called luxury until now. In addition, Meizu has also launched the EP-21HD earphones for use together. From our actual listening sense, this suit really looks seamless.. For the performance of MX4 Pro in terms of sound quality and the feeling of matching with EP-21HD, please refer to 《 Welcome Back Meizu MX4 Pro Audio Quality Evaluation 》And《 Meizu EP-21HD sound quality evaluation 》。
For a mobile phone, the signal problem must be done well. However, such an essential problem should be highlighted in the era of smart phones. Meizu MX4 Pro uses Samsung Exynos 5430 with 20nm technology on the processor, while the baseband is Marvell PXA1802 with 40nm technology. This is a strange but only choice. As far as the external baseband is concerned, during the research and development of the MX4 Pro, only the 40nm Marvell PXA1802, which seems old, can be selected. This combination also enables the MX4 Pro to support dual 4G.
In terms of signal performance, the MX4 Pro after multiple system upgrades is no longer a disadvantage. Compared with mainstream mobile phones of the same level, the signal strength performance in various scenarios is basically the same. However, it is strange that in a long time of use, there is a high probability that when the signal is full, the call will not be received. This is still the case with the latest Flyme 4.2.3A. In this case, in addition to the hardware matching between the processor and the external baseband, there is a lot of room for overall optimization.
Summary comments:
In November 2014, Meizu officially released the MX4 Pro, and after three months of system optimization and upgrading, it has also reached the level of smooth daily use, which is why the detailed evaluation of the MX4 Pro has not been released until today. In fact, in terms of price and positioning, MX4 Pro is the orthodox sequel of MX3, and it is also the latest flagship king of Meizu.
In terms of hardware configuration, Meizu has equipped the MX4 Pro with a powerful Samsung Exynos 5430 processor, Sony's 20.7 million pixels and sapphire glass with better algorithms, a more beautiful 2K resolution screen, more "high-definition" Hi Fi hardware, more imaginative fingerprint recognition and other dazzling hardware stacks, but it still can't compete with the slightly metaphysical word "optimization". Many of your hopes and shortcomings feedback on the MX4 Pro require further system optimization to achieve better performance.
Compared with MX4, MX4 Pro is undoubtedly an enhanced version, and also an orthodox continuation of MX3. More powerful screen display, fairly good fingerprint recognition experience, and better sound quality performance can make you pay an additional 700 yuan to upgrade and purchase. However, the MX4 Pro's signal call performance is relatively ordinary and its endurance is weak. These two old but useless problems can still appear in the MX4 Pro, which can only be said to be disappointing.
After four new product launches, MX4 Pro、M4、 The official debut of Meilan Note and Meilan represents the new transformation and strategic planning of Meizu. It is also simple to say that what used to be "small and beautiful" and "high and cold" has turned to more ambitious "millet" and "market", moving towards a broader market, facing more consumers, laying out a larger intelligent ecosystem, involving a more lucrative financial consumption circle.
