Meizu M6

Meizu M6 overview

Meizu M6 is the first smartphone of the sixth generation in the M range. At the same time — in September 2017 — Meizu M6 Note was launched, it is bigger and more powerful, but it is the earlier model that we consider to be the first. The M6 is a budget option. It has a simple processor of 8 cores, a main camera of 13 megapixels and a new Flyme 6 shell based on Android 7.0 Nougat. The gadget is relatively inexpensive.
There are two options of Meizu M6: the first one with 2 GB of RAM with 16 GB of built-in memory or the second one with 3 GB of RAM with 16 GB of storage. Each version is available in black, blue, gold and silver colors. The first two models look the most respectable. The M6 is a typical junior smartphone from Meizu, it has a good assembly, and the power is enough for the average settings in World of Tanks. It even has a fingerprint scanner! There is nothing superfluous, but there is nothing unique either.

Pros of Meizu M6

Optimized hardware. Although the chips are not the most powerful ones, thanks to the optimization, the smartphone works smoothly and supports even heavy 3D games on medium settings. As for the launcher and applications, there are almost no complaints;
Quality screen. The IPS matrix with airless glass proves itself perfectly both in the twilight and in the bright sun. Color and brightness do not become worse with natural viewing angles. The screen is sold immediately with the oleophobic coating;
Habitual design and good assembly. Meizu does not experiment. The design is the same as one in the last generation, without any refinements. You get used to it pretty quickly. The case is of high quality, without any gaps and problems with buttons;
Flyme 6.2 from the retail software. It is the newest version of the original shell with a nice design and user-friendly applications. Each needless application can be deleted;
Affordable price. Meizu M6 is a very good smartphone of a medium-budget level. It is difficult to ask for something more for this price.

Cons of Meizu M6

Low quality cameras. The shortcoming of the main camera is a low sharpness along the pictures edges, and the front one hardly copes with selfie making. The problem here is most likely in optics. It would be highly desirable if the quality in poor lighting was better;
The battery lasts only for one day. It is necessary to charge the gadget every night, which is not convenient. After some time smartphone batteries are usually depleted, so manufacturers try to put some additional power supply in them. The M6 does not have it, so after a year the battery charge will not be enough even for a day;
There are no modern sensors: NFC, mCharge, USB-C. The contactless phone payment, fast charger and a new generation connector will not work. Competitors install all these innovations not only in the flagships, but also in the budget models;
Covers from the previous models do not fit. Due to a small increase in size you will have to look for a new cover or a bumper for the M6.

Meizu M6 design and ergonomics

The design of the new version is almost identical to other Meizu smartphones. If you previously had a gadget from this company, then you will not have to get used to it. The usual elements are kept:

• The central button is at the bottom of the screen;
• The front camera, the notification sensor and the speaker for the conversation are at the top of the screen;
• The speaker, microphone and charging connector are on the lower edge;
• 3.5 mm jack for headphones is on the upper edge;
• The volume and lock buttons are on the right;
• SIM-card tray (2 SIM cards or 1 SIM card and 1 microSD-memory card) is on the left.

There are some differences from the usual design. The screen glass is made in accordance with the fashionable 2.5D technology, it is rounded at the edges. It looks good, but it is impractical. If the smartphone falls on the front face, firstly it will hit its glass and not a case. The rear camera is put by 0.5 mm inside the case, which reduces the overall thickness. On the back cover there are decorative strips at the top and at the bottom, and the Meizu logo looks like engraving. This is an illusion, but a beautiful one.
The mTouch button works too, as in other Meizu devices:

1. Touch — to return to the previous page;
2. Pressing — to return to the home screen;
3. Long pressing — to lock the screen turned on.

As for ergonomics, there are no complaints. It is comfortable to hold the M6 in the hand, you can reach the edges of the screen with one hand, up to the buttons too. The case is reliable and long-lasting. Nothing cracks and there are no gaps even after a while.

Meizu M6 display

The diagonal is 5.2 inches, there is a familiar IPS matrix, and the glass is uniform without an air gap between the layers. It improves sharpness and contrast. Viewing angles are pleasing — the brightness begins to fall strongly only after 45 degrees, and strange color distortions appear at very high angles, but nobody looks at the screen in this way. The temperature by default is set to cool colors, which can be corrected in the settings.

In general, the brightness is enough for a sunny day, although in the direct sun rays the display becomes invisible. The minimum brightness is pleasant, it does not harm your eyes at night. The function of eye protection is a pleasant one, it corrects brightness and range of colors. The screen recognizes up to 10 touches at one time. And finally, there is a quality oleophobic coating, only some prints remain on the display. The only disappointment is resolution, 1280x720 — it is not enough for modern screens.

Meizu M6 camera

The main module is 13 megapixel, it shoots like all Meizu cameras. In natural light and in the daytime it works almost without any claims, its quality is average. Some problems drastically increase in the night, sometimes the camera simply cannot focus. On the picture edges appear blurred zones, this is typical of daytime photos too. There is a stabilizer and a two-color flash.

The front 8-megapixel camera also corresponds to the smartphone price. It is designed for selfie, although there is no stabilizer or flash at the front. There are different features and filters for portrait decorating in the edit mode. The HDR mode, which increases the contrast, works well.
In addition, the camera can shoot video in 1080p. If it gets completely boring, there is a slo-mo mode, but its quality leaves a lot to be desired.

Meizu M6 performance

There is a MediaTek MT6750 chip with 8 cores inside: 4 at 1.5 GHz and 4 at 1.0 GHz. The cores and the processor are not bad, but the frequency of the work seems to be low. Meanwhile, 2 — and even 3 GB of RAM in the improved version is only a minimum for modern smartphones even at a budget level. Hardware optimization is at rather high level: the smartphone works fine in launcher, social networks and browsers. It doesn’t support top-notch games, but "Tanks" and Asphalt 8 can be played quite good on medium settings. Results in the AnTuTu test — almost 40,000, which is higher than the average indicator for budget gadgets.

Particularly pleasing is the number of sensors inside:

• accelerometer;
• magnetometer;
• gyroscope;
• light sensor;
• rotation sensor;
• gravitation sensor;
• acceleration sensor;
• orientation sensor.

Meizu M6 software

The gadget runs on Android 7.0 Nougat with the manufacturer’s Flyme 6.2 shell. All owners of Meizu devices can upgrade to this version, but in the M6 it is installed in retail software. Nothing has changed compared to the previous firmware. More settings were added to the camera and gallery, the icons design has slightly changed, and contacts and call now recognize the Cyrillic alphabet.
Some people does not like the Flyme shell itself at all, and someone doesn’t like it even more than classic Android. We recommend testing the smartphone in the store at the stand to understand how much Flyme suits you. The developers have focused on swipes and gestures because there is only one button. Compared with the previous version, there are more unnecessary applications, but they all can be deleted manually.
Important! There is no preinstalled Google Play in Flyme. To download it, go to the pre-installed Chinese App Store and enter "Play Market" or "Play Store" in the search bar. A familiar icon will appear in the results immediately. During the installation, the system will also ask you to install additional Google services — agree to do it.

Meizu M6 sound

The sound in the headphones and without them are two different stories. With the headset connected, you can open the equalizer and adjust the quality to specific tasks: movies, music, conversations. In headphones the volume and the sound span are enough. Compared with the iPhone 7, for example, the volume reserve is less, but it's enough for comfortable listening to speech or music.

There is only one speaker, so there are no stereo effects. It's loud — you do not miss the call, but the sound quality is much worse than one with the headphones. The main claim is about low frequencies, the speaker simply does not support them. Sometimes the sound turns into a squeak. We definitely do not recommend listening to music and watching movies without a headset.

Meizu M6 security

The smartphone has a mTouch button, that is, a fingerprint scanner is installed on it. It is the main way for unlocking. It works in a not quite usual way — firstly, you need to wake up the screen, and only then put a finger. The sensor can also be turned on in the sleep mode. To do this, you need not only to touch the button, but to press it, however the malfunction probability is about 30% in this case. In addition to mTouch, there are also classic locks: a password and a geometric pattern.

Meizu M6 battery

The battery capacity is standard for devices with a screen of 5–5.5 inches — 3070 mAh. The energy consumption of the M6 is average, it is nowhere to spend a lot of battery capacity, so the life time from one charge to another is on average one day and night. It is true if only you use your smartphone not very actively. According to the tests, in non-stop mode at full brightness the battery withstands:

• 3D-games — 3,5 hours;
• Web-surfing — 4,5 hours;
• Movies — 7 hours;
• Books — 12 hours.

If you reduce the brightness, you can raise these indicators by 1–1,5 hours. The smartphone withstands calmly a standard set of actions consisting of viewing social networks, reading books and watching one series episode in the evening, but you will have to charge it every night. If you turn on power saving or use all functions less often, you can extend the work to 2 days + 1 night.
It doesn’t support fast charging, it is charged from zero to 100% during 2 hours.

Meizu M6 packing and arrangement

Everything is as usual as in all Meizu models. White rectangular box with a model logo, on the back side of which there is a sticker with characteristics. It is separated by dividers inside. The set is also standard:

• Smartphone Meizu M6 with manufacturer’s film;
• Charging unit for 1.5 A;
• USB-microUSB cable for charging;
• Needle for removing the SIM card tray;
• Instruction and warranty card.

It is modest, but here there is everything necessary for the work. It would be nice to see at least a protective film, not to mention the glass or the headset. There is no OTG adapter for flash drives, which is usual for modern smartphones. And the manufacturer’s cable itself is not Type C, but simply a microUSB.

Meizu M6 errors and bugs

Problems in Meizu smartphones are usually linked with firmware bugs, and, rarely with the assembly. We have excellent test samples concerning the case and its parts quality, but everything depends on the quality of work performed by the assembling operators at the plant. Sometimes the central and side buttons are not made and fixed well.

Firmware bugs are found more often. As for Meizu M6, buyers note the following:

• Accidental activation of Bluetooth. The sensor can be switched on and off by itself. If it is a firmware problem, then it is better to update the system. But firstly, check the "Location" section in the settings and try to turn off Bluetooth Scanning;
• If the problem is in the operating system, mBack will not work only in touch and return mode. Fingerprint pressing and scanning will be ok. It is solved by updating and upgrading your software.

Less often happen icons bugs on the desktops and screenshots. For example, after update users get duplicated icons of the SIM-card menu or Google Play. The tip is the following: when upgrading, simply take away the card tray. Another option is simply to delete the second icon. Screenshots and photos sometimes stretch or shrink horizontally / vertically — you can also try to reset the smartphone or update the system.

Recommendations for Meizu M6 owners

Many bugs and problems are solved by upgrading the software, which corresponds to the following eight simple steps:

1. Download the correct firmware version from the international (flymeos.com) or Chinese site (flyme.cn) to the computer. Users note that the Chinese 6.2.0.4A works well;
2. Turn off the phone completely. It is better when it is fully charged;
3. Press the power button and + on the volume rocker simultaneously;
4. As soon as it turns on — release the power button, but hold +;
5. Put two ticks in the Recovery menu that appears;
6. Connect your smartphone to your computer;
7. Download the downloaded update file to the Recovery disc, it is the smartphone itself;
8. In the M6 menu click Start, the gadget itself will install a new firmware.

That's all. The fact is that the gadget should work better using the Chinese firmware than an international one. Try and check.
Another tip is about native applications. They are not bad, but the quality of the majority of them is lower than the quality of its third-party developers’ counterparts. Especially it is true about the camera. Download, for example, the application Open Camera, and you will see the difference in the photo quality immediately. A similar thing is with the player — AIMP produces a better sound.

Meizu M6 - Comparison

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