The Meizu M3 Note is a

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

designed and produced by the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

manufacturer

Meizu Meizu Technology Co., Ltd. () is a Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer based in Zhuhai, Guangdong. Founded in 2003 by Jack Wong, Meizu began as a manufacturer of MP3 players and later MP4 players. In 2008, Meizu moved its focus to smartph ...

, which runs on

Flyme OS Meizu Technology Co., Ltd. () is a Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer based in Zhuhai, Guangdong. Founded in 2003 by Jack Wong, Meizu began as a manufacturer of MP3 players and later MP4 players. In 2008, Meizu moved its focus to smartph ...

, Meizu's modified Android operating system. It is a current

phablet A phablet (, ) is a mobile device combining or straddling the size formats of smartphones and tablets. The word is a portmanteau of ''phone'' and ''tablet''. Phablets feature large displays that complement screen-intensive activity such as mo ...

model of the M series, succeeding the

Meizu M2 Note The Meizu M2 Note is a smartphone designed and produced by the Chinese manufacturer Meizu, which runs on Flyme OS, Meizu's modified Android operating system. It is a previous phablet model of the M series, succeeding the Meizu M1 Note and prece ...

. It was unveiled on April 6, 2016, in Beijing.

History

Initial rumors appeared in March 2016 after a possible specification sheet had been leaked, stating that the upcoming device would most likely feature a MediaTek Helio P10

System on a chip A system on a chip or system-on-chip (SoC ; pl. ''SoCs'' ) is an integrated circuit that integrates most or all components of a computer or other electronic system. These components almost always include a central processing unit (CPU), memory ...

, a Full HD display and a 4100 mAh battery. On March 22, Meizu founder

Jack Wong Jack Wong, or Huang Zhang (), is a Chinese billionaire entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of Meizu, a Chinese consumer electronics company. Early life Jack Wong was born on February 13, 1976 in Meixian, Meizhou, Guangdong. At the ...

mentioned that the M3 Note was about to launch soon. The following day, Meizu confirmed that the launch event for the Meizu M3 Note will take place in Beijing on April 6, 2016. The new device was later sighted on the AnTuTu benchmark, confirming the speculations that it will be powered by a MediaTek Helio P10 SoC. On April 4, 2016, Meizu released a teaser for the product launch, confirming that the coming device would feature an all-metal body.

Release

As announced, the M3 Note was released in Beijing on April 6, 2016.

Pre-order A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came because people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity. Companies then had the idea to allow customers to r ...

s for the M3 Note began after the launch event on April 6, 2016. Sales began on April 30, 2016, in mainland China and on May 11, 2016, in India.

Features

Flyme

The Meizu M3 Note was released with an updated version of

, a modified operating system based on

Android Lollipop Android Lollipop (code name, codenamed Android L during development) is the fifth major version of the Android (operating system), Android mobile operating system developed by Google and the 12th version of Android, spanning versions between 5.0 ...

. It features an alternative, flat design and improved one-handed usability.

Hardware and design

The Meizu M3 Note features a MediaTek Helio P10

system-on-a-chip A system on a chip or system-on-chip (SoC ; pl. ''SoCs'' ) is an integrated circuit that integrates most or all components of a computer or other electronic system. These components almost always include a central processing unit (CPU), memory ...

with an array of eight

ARM In human anatomy, the arm refers to the upper limb in common usage, although academically the term specifically means the upper arm between the glenohumeral joint (shoulder joint) and the elbow joint. The distal part of the upper limb between the ...

Cortex-A53 The ARM Cortex-A53 is one of the first two central processing units implementing the ARMv8-A 64-bit instruction set designed by ARM Holdings' Cambridge design centre. The Cortex-A53 is a 2-wide decode superscalar processor, capable of dual-iss ...

CPU A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, and ...

cores, an ARM Mali-T860 MP2

GPU A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, mobil ...

and 2 GB or 3 GB of

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * Ra ...

. The M3 Note reaches a score of 50,000 points on the AnTuTu benchmark and is therefore approximately 56% faster than its predecessor, the

. The M3 Note is available in three different colors (grey, silver and champagne gold) and comes with either 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage or 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage. Unlike its predecessor, the Meizu M3 Note has a full-metal body, which measures x x and weighs . It has a slate form factor, being rectangular with rounded corners and has only one central physical button at the front. Unlike most other Android smartphones, the M3 Note doesn't have capacitive buttons nor on-screen buttons. The functionality of these keys is implemented using a technology called mBack, which makes use of gestures with the physical button. The M3 Note further extends this button by a

fingerprint sensor A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surf ...

called mTouch. The M3 Note features a fully laminated 5.5-inch LTPS

multi-touch In computing, multi-touch is technology that enables a surface (a touchpad or touchscreen) to recognize the presence of more than one somatosensory system, point of contact with the surface at the same time. The origins of multitouch began at CER ...

capacitive touchscreen A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is often ...

display with a

FHD 1080p (1920×1080 Progressive_scan, progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and Rec. 709, BT.709) is a set of High-definition television, HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the scr ...

resolution of 1080 by 1920 pixels. The pixel density of the display is 403 ppi. In addition to the touchscreen input and the front key, the device has volume/zoom control buttons and the power/lock button on the right side, a 3.5mm TRS audio jack on the top and a microUSB (Micro-B type) port on the bottom for charging and connectivity. The Meizu M3 Note has two cameras. The rear camera has a resolution of 13 MP, a ƒ/2.2 aperture, a 5-element lens, phase-detection autofocus and an LED flash. The front camera has a resolution of 5 MP, a ƒ/2.0 aperture and a 5-element lens.

Reception

The M3 Note received generally positive reviews. Android Authority gave the M3 Note a rating of 8.2 out of 10 possible points and concluded that “the Meizu M3 Note packs a very large punch for its price”. Furthermore, the build quality, battery life and the good display were praised.

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

stated that the Meizu M3 Note is “ naffordable and highly functional Android smartphone, with a large HD screen, great design and impressive battery life”. Android Headlines also reviewed the device and concluded that “ heoverall fantastic performance and just a great experience in general make the Meizu M3 Note an easy recommendation for sure”. TechSpot gave the M3 Note a rating of 7.5 out of 10 possible points and noted that “the M3 Note could be a great budget smartphone purchase”.

References

External links

Official product page
Meizu {{Meizu, smartphones=yes, MP3=yes Phablets Android (operating system) devices Mobile phones introduced in 2016 M3 Note Discontinued smartphones