Chinese smartphone maker, Meizu, has just unveiled in Beijing, this morning, its latest entry into the phablet market, the Android 6.0 Marshmallow-powered Pro 6.
Amidst Xiaomi and Huawei raising the bars for what a premium Chinese device should offer, with their Mi4 and P9 respectively, the less popular Meizu decided to follow suit with a handset that definitely dropped some jaws.
The smartphone packs a unibody metal design that strikingly resembles Apple’s iPhone 6S, accompanied by phenomenally small antenna lines and a quite serious spec sheet and series of fancy features, that are rarely seen in any handset, except for Cupertino’s aforementioned counterpart and Samsung’s Galaxy S7.
Specs, features and software
The Pro 6 sports a 5.2-inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, with a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels (~423 ppi pixel density) and 16M colors, covered by Corning Gorilla Glass 4 for ultimate scratch and shatter-proof protection, coupled with pressure sensitive “3D Press” technology — similar to Apple’s 3D Touch. A fingerprint scanner is hidden behind the home button as well.
Underneath the hood, the phone is powered by a Mediatek Helio X25 — exclusive to the Pro 6 —, housing a whopping ten cores; 2.5 GHz dual-core Cortex-A72 & 2 GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 & 1.4 GHz quad-core Cortex-A53, clubbed with 4GB of RAM and 32GB/64GB of internal storage options and Mali-T880 MP4 GPU.
Built-in storage is expandable up to 128GB GB — the dual Nano-SIM slot is a hybrid one.
Camera wise, the primary shooter, located on the rear, shoots at 21MP and packs 1/2.4″ sensor size, f/2.2, 31mm, phase detection & laser autofocus, HDR and ten-LED (dual tone) flash. The secondary ‘selfies’ camera, embed on the front, comes with a 5MP sensor, featuring f/2.0, 1.4 µm pixel size and 1080p video.
In terms of connectivity, the Pro 6 has been fitted with LTE antennas, 3G, GPS (with A-GPS), WiFi, Bluetooth v4.0, USB v3.1 Type-C and dual Nano-SIM.
To accommodate the humongous full HD 5.2-inch screen, Meizu has backed the device up with a non-removable 2,560mAh battery, which does not appear to be sufficient enough, at least on paper. Though, mCharge 3.0 fast-charging has been incorporated, which is expected to get to 100% in just 60 mins.
Dimensions wise, the Pro 6 measures 147.7 x 70.8 x 7.3 mm (5.81 x 2.79 x 0.29 in) and weighs 160 g (5.64 oz).
The phablet will come with Android 6.0 Marshmallow straight out of the box, skinned under Meizu’s Flyme 6.0 UI.
Pricing and availability
The Pro 6 will be available in China, starting April 23rd, retailing 2,499 Yuan ($386) for the 16GB version and 2,799 Yuan ($433) for the 64GB one.
Moreover, the Pro 6 will circulate in five color variants; Dark Gray, Silver, Red, Gold and Rose Gold. You can also make a reservation for the device on the company’s website.