Meizu PRO 6 Review: A Smartphone That Balances Performance and Design

The Meizu PRO 6 is a smartphone that truly balances performance and design. It has a sleek and slim body made of metal, weighing in at just 160 grams.

Its 5.2-inch display is a joy to use, with a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels and a pixel density of 423 pixels per inch. This means that text and images look crisp and clear.

The Meizu PRO 6 is powered by a MediaTek Helio X20 processor, which provides fast performance and efficient battery life. This is particularly noticeable when switching between apps or playing games.

With 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, the Meizu PRO 6 can handle multiple tasks simultaneously without any issues.

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The Meizu PRO 6 has a sleek and slim design, with dimensions that find a perfect balance between ease of use and enjoyment of multimedia.

It features a full-metal body, measuring 153.6 mm x 75.2 mm x 7.25 mm and weighing 155 g. The phone has a slate form factor, being rectangular with rounded corners and featuring a single central physical button at the front.

This button also includes a fingerprint sensor called mTouch, and the phone uses a technology called mBack, which makes use of gestures with the physical button. The PRO 6 is available in three different colors: grey, silver, and champagne gold.

The phone has a 5.2-inch Super AMOLED multi-touch capacitive touchscreen display with a FHD resolution of 1080 by 1920 pixels, giving it a pixel density of 426.3 ppi.

The device has a volume/zoom control and the power/lock button on the right side, along with a 3.5mm TRS audio jack powered by a dedicated Cirrus Logic CS43L36 Hi-Fi amplifier. The phone uses USB-C for both data connectivity and charging.

Its rear camera has a resolution of 21.16 MP, a ƒ/2.2 aperture, and a 6-element lens, with phase-detection autofocus that's laser-supported. The front camera has a resolution of 5 MP, a ƒ/2.0 aperture, and a 5-element lens.

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The Meizu Pro 6 display is a significant departure from its predecessors, with a 5.2-inch screen that's more in line with the dimensions of 2016's flagship devices.

This smaller size doesn't compromise on image quality, with a Full HD resolution that results in 423 ppi.

The display technology used is AMOLED, which ensures excellent color reproduction and contrast.

Even in bright artificial light or direct sunlight, the display remains more than acceptable in terms of brightness.

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The Meizu PRO 6 is powered by the MediaTek Helio X25, which is a decent processor for its price range. It features two Cortex A-72 cores clocked at 2.5 GHz, four A-53 cores at 2 GHz, and four A-53 cores at 1.4 GHz.

The phone comes with 4 GB of RAM, which should handle most tasks without any issues. You can choose from 32 or 64 GB of internal storage, but unfortunately, the storage is not expandable via microSD.

Games work perfectly on the Meizu PRO 6, with only minor exceptions. However, you might notice some slowdown when using the recent apps drawer for multitasking. Closing apps from this window can help speed things up.

The graphics processing may not be as good as the Galaxy S7 Edge, but it's still better than most phones in this price range.

Here are the performance benchmarks for the Meizu PRO 6:

Another disadvantage of the Meizu PRO 6 is the lack of LTE 800 MHz band.

The Meizu Pro 6's camera is decent, but not exceptional. It has a Sony IMX 230 sensor that captures images at a maximum resolution of 21 MP, with an aperture of f / 2.2.

The camera performs well in favorable light conditions, but struggles in low-light and at night. Noise management could be improved, and the white balance needs work.

The camera software is simple and intuitive, with a manual mode that's interesting but rarely produces better results than the automatic mode.

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The Meizu Pro 6 camera is decent, but it's not the best.

It uses a Sony IMX 230 sensor, which captures images at a maximum resolution of 21 MP, and the lens has an aperture of f / 2.2.

Noise management could certainly be improved, and images usually come out pretty sharp, but the white balance needs work, and color reproduction is inaccurate.

The camera software is simple and intuitive, and its design resembles that of TouchWiz, Samsung’s UI.

The Meizu Pro 6 is capable of taking decent images, especially under favorable light conditions, but its results are clumsy in low-light and at night.

Even the cheaper Moto G4 Plus is capable of taking better pictures than the Meizu Pro 6.

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The Meizu Pro 6 battery is a bit of a letdown, especially when compared to its competitors. It has a 2560-mAh battery, which is lower than the 3000-mAh norm for high-end devices.

In practice, the battery life is not ideal, particularly for heavy users who watch films and take photos. This usage will likely drain the battery before the end of the day.

However, moderate users should be able to get a full day's use out of the device. The battery life is not as far off from the competition as the benchmarks suggest.

One plus side is the fast charging feature, which can fully charge the device in under an hour. This is a convenient feature for users who need to top up their battery quickly.

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The Meizu Pro 6's FlyMe 5.6 software layer is a modified version of Android 6.0 Marshmallow, designed to look like iOS.

It lacks a native app drawer, forcing users to spread app icons across multiple home screens, a common trait in Chinese phones.

You can add widgets to the home screens, a feature that sets it apart from iOS.

The phone's navigation feels awkward.

The Meizu PRO 6 comes with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but it's the Flyme OS 5.2 that really makes this phone shine.

Flyme OS has a unique flat design and improved one-handed usability, making it a joy to use. It's easy to get used to the gestures, but you might need a few minutes to get the hang of it.

The home button is the only navigation button, and it's used for returning to the home screen, going back, and opening the recent apps drawer with a simple swipe. This configuration can take some getting used to, but it's worth it.

The recent apps drawer can sometimes open up by mistake, especially when playing games in vertical orientation. But with a little practice, you'll be navigating like a pro in no time.

Flyme also brings a feature called Smart Touch, which is a small, floating joystick-like button that appears when enabled in Quick Settings. This button allows you to customize actions like going back, returning to the home screen, and opening the notification bar.

Force Touch is also available, but it's only compatible with Flyme's own applications, like Gallery and Notes. By pressing firmly on these apps' icons, you can access different actions menus.

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If you're considering the Meizu PRO 6, you might want to take a look at some of its competitors. The Lenovo Vibe P1 Turbo has a similar battery life, offering up to 2 days of use on a single charge.

The Meizu PRO 6's mBack fingerprint reader is a useful feature, but the Oppo Find 7a has a slightly more advanced fingerprint recognition system. The Meizu PRO 6's camera is decent, but the HTC One M9 has a higher quality camera with more features.

If you're looking for a phone with a more premium design, the Samsung Galaxy S6 might be worth considering. The Meizu PRO 6's 3GB of RAM is sufficient for most users, but some users may prefer the 4GB of RAM found in the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3.

The Meizu Pro 6's user experience is surprisingly premium, considering its low price. It has a silky smooth navigation experience thanks to its deca-core MediaTek processor.

The phone's performance is impressive, outdoing even Samsung's Galaxy S7 in Geekbench's multi-core test. This is a testament to the Pro 6's powerful processor.

One of the standout features of the Pro 6 is its fingerprint sensor, which is snappy and responsive. It's located on the home button, making it easily accessible.

User Reviews can be a real mixed bag, and it's always a good idea to take them with a grain of salt. Some users have reported issues with the Meizu Pro 6's operating system, Flyme, which can cause the phone to restart on its own.

The Meizu Pro 6's Flyme operating system has been criticized for being released without proper testing, leading to issues like slow reboots. This can be frustrating for users who need their phone to be reliable.

One user reported that their Meizu Pro 6 would restart on its own after a year of use, with reboots taking around 10 minutes.

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Using the Meizu Pro 6 is a smooth experience, thanks to its deca-core MediaTek processor.

The phone's performance is impressive, outdoing even the Samsung Galaxy S7 in Geekbench's multi-core test.

Navigating through apps is silky smooth, and the phone's premium feel is retained despite its low price.

The metal frame gives the phone a substantive weight, and it's just 0.2mm thicker than the iPhone 6S.

The screen is sharp, but could be brighter, which can be a bit of a drawback.

You can capture some great photos under good light, but the camera isn't so effective in the dark.

The phone can shoot GIF images of up to six seconds, which is a nice touch.

Battery life is on the weaker side, lasting 9 hours and 40 minutes playing a looping video on airplane mode.

A snappy fingerprint sensor on the home button adds a premium touch to the phone.

The phone also features a USB-C port, which is a convenient upgrade.

The screen supports 3D Press, similar to Apple's 3D Touch, but only works on apps native to Meizu's FlyMe OS.

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