Today Meizu launches its new high-end flagship, the PRO 5. It was expected for Meizu to market this device as the MX5 Pro but it seems Meizu has chosen to separate the lineup to give better exposure to the higher-end "PRO" series. We've had a short look at the MX5 announcement earlier this summer, so while keeping that in mind, let's go over the improvements that the PRO 5 brings with itself.
 
At the heart of the phone we see Samsung's Exynos 7420 SoC. Meizu is one of the rare vendors besides Samsung Electronics to actually employ S.LSI's silicon so this puts the Chinese manufacturer in an interesting position this year as this allows them to have a competitive advantage over other manufacturers who chose other SoC suppliers. As we've seen earlier in the year, we deemed the Exynos 7420 as one of the highlights of this year so the PRO 5 is well served by the big.LITTLE chipset consisting of 4x Cortex A57 at 2.1GHz and 4x Cortex A53's at 1.5GHz. Graphics is provided by a Mali T760MP8 at 770MHz - also a top performer among SoCs this year.
 
Meizu PRO 5 Specifications
SoC Samsung Exynos 7420

4x Cortex A57 @ 2.1GHz +
4x Cortex A53 @ 1.5GHz   

Mali T760MP8 @ 770MHz  
RAM 3 / 4GB LPDDR4-3200
NAND / Storage 32 / 64GB UFS 2.0
+ microSD
Display 5.7" 1920x1080 SuperAMOLED
2.5D Gorilla Glass 3
Network 2G / 3G / 4G LTE
FDD-LTE / TD-LTE / TD-SCDMA / WCDMA / GSM
(Chinese Bands)
Dimensions 156.7 x 78 x 7.5 mm
168 grams
Camera 21.16MP Sony IMX230 sensor F/2.0 Main camera
w/ Laser + PDAF auto-focus
w/ Dedicated Samsung ISP

5MP F/2.0 Front camera
Battery 3050mAh
OS Android 5.1
with Meizu FlymeOS 5.0
Connectivity 802.11 b/g/n/ac + BT 4.1 + BLE, GPS/GNSS
USB Type C
SIM Size nanoSIM + nanoSIM
or 
nanoSIM + microSD

Meizu continues the newly introduced usage of AMOLED screens. Similar to the MX4, the PRO5 uses a 1080p Samsung panel, but this time it increases the size to 5.7", increasing the footprint of the device to 156.7 x 78mm. The screen now features 2.5D edges and is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Meizu was able to shave off 0.1mm of the thickness to get to a total of 7.5mm on the new flagship, but it seems the battery slightly lost some capacity in the process as it goes from 3150mAh in the MX5 to 3050mAh in the PRO5.

Storage-wise the device comes with either 32 or 64GB of memory backed by the new generation UFS 2.0 interface. Main memory also varies between 3GB or 4GB depending on the variant. What is new for Meizu is that for the first time the company is employing a microSD card slot that is part of the dual-SIM tray, meaning one can choose to use either two nanoSIMs, or have a combination of a microSD with a nanoSIM. The dual-SIM functionality provides dual-standby.

Meizu doesn't specify the specific bands or what kind of baseband processor is used on the PRO5. Last year we saw the MX4 Pro make unique use of a Marvell Armada baseband so we'll have to wait until the device is launched to find out what made it into this year's unit. It should be mentioned though that for now it seems Meizu limits itself to the Chinese market as the band support for western networks looks to be sparse.

On the camera-side, we now see usage of a new Sony IMX230 sensor. This is the same sensor found on the recently announced Moto X Style and Moto X Play. The sensor is encased in a 6-lens F/2.0 camera module. Interestingly, Meizu advertises usage of a dedicated Samsung ISP that is supposed to improve image quality. The camera is able to record 4K video in HEVC format, which should help reduce file sizes.

Among the usual top-end connectivity features, the phone comes with a new USB Type C connector which should enable it to be future-proof as the industry transitions over to the new standard. 

The Meizu PRO5 comes in gold, grey, silver and silver & black colour options in either 3GB/32GB or 4GB/64GB variants priced at respectively¥2799 (US$438, 393€) or ¥3099 (US$485, 435€).

Source: Meizu

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  • lilmoe - Thursday, September 24, 2015 - link

    It's not about the screen size. Its about the overall size of the device, and more importantly, it's *width* since that's what matters most when you're holding it in one hand. I believe the ideal width is around 68-72mm for most people.

    Apple has had one of the worst screen to device size ratios of flagship devices. On the other hand, Samsung managed to increase the screen real estate of its Galaxy S series while its width hasn't changed since the GS3 at ~70mm (an engineering/usability feat they should get credit for). The height increased a negligible 3-4mm since then, but height isn't as important because what matters is how far the top edge of the screen is away from your thumb.

    The Galaxy Note series, on the other hand, has been *decreasing* in width since the first Note significantly, while going up in screen size. The Note 5 has a larger screen than the iPhone 6 plus, while the device is significantly smaller and easier to hold.

    You don't hear this very often because of either bias, or not having a clue at all.
  • speconomist - Wednesday, September 23, 2015 - link

    Wow, what a pity that the Nexus 5X won't have most of the specs of the Meizu Pro 5.

    Other than the skin (for which I don't have much information) the other only aspect that could improve it would be the dual front facing speakers
  • Morawka - Wednesday, September 23, 2015 - link

    wow iphone 6 clone anyone? will never make it to the USA lol
  • roman.md - Wednesday, September 23, 2015 - link

    Apple fanboy detected.
    Check the similarities between PRO 5 and Meizu MX4, which was launched in 2014, September.
  • bernstein - Wednesday, September 23, 2015 - link

    interesting. but the pro5 just looks like a perfect cross between a mx4 & an iphone6...
  • Morawka - Thursday, September 24, 2015 - link

    all aluminum back, Check
    Curved glass around the edges, check
    speaker grill layout, check
    reversible connector, check
    FlyMe OS UI, Check
    hardware button with fingerprint reader, Check
    The fingerprint setup is a exact match to apples touch id setup

    come on man, pshh calling me a fanboy.. any normal person would agree this is a iphone 6 clone, or trying very hard to immitate apple's iphone 6 design.

    the only thing different is the camera, and button/headphone jack placement.
  • Lolimaster - Wednesday, September 23, 2015 - link

    Dunno if they noticed that this "round bezels" or rounded screens like Galaxy Edge are a major annoyances when you watch video on the device, those reflections...
  • Lolimaster - Wednesday, September 23, 2015 - link

    Im still waiting TRUE RGB Amoleds.
  • bernstein - Wednesday, September 23, 2015 - link

    just multiply the dpi by 2/3 or 3/4 and you have an pentile of the same sharpness as a true rgb amoled. at best this is ~290dpi... certainly not pro level
  • mercucu1111 - Sunday, September 27, 2015 - link

    No. Multiply the ppi by (2/3)^1/2. And Originally ppi doesn't show sub-pixel. So that ppi is correct Whether it is pentile or not

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