Meizu 16 MORE PICTURES

Meizu 16

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Alpha8, 13 Nov 2019You are truly a Guru of smartphones. While others are provi... moreI am a music lover, and sound quality through 3.5 mm audio jack is a very important criteria for me while purchasing a phone. I simply dismiss any phone that does not come with an ever so convenient 3.5 mm audio jack, like the latest Meizu 16s or 16s Pro.

When it comes to audio quality in modern smartphones, and by that I mean the analog audio through the 3.5 mm audio jack it is generally the LG or Vivo flagships that prevails. These flagships have dedicated Digital to Analog converter (DAC) audio chips with built it powerful headphone amplifiers. These dedicated audio chips perform the magic of converting our digital audio files to analog signals that the headphones operate on. The way the digital audio signal is converted to analog audio signal decides the final audio quality and this is where dedicated audio DACs in phones wins over other phones using Qualcomm/ HiSilicon/ Mediatek in-built embedded audio codecs in their SoCs.

As of now I have walked through the path of three solutions:

1) ESS DACs: These are the best & most expensive audio solutions available for phones. The ESS Sabre ES9218P audio chip better know as Quad DAC in LG sales brochures is the best audio solution currently available on the market for audiophiles. Almost all LG flagships be it LG V30, LG V40 or LG G7 comes with Quad DACs and the audio quality is like heaven on earth. Not only these LG flagships have the best audio quality over headphone jack, they are capable to drive audiophile grade over the ear headphones of upto 300 ohms impedance with ease. I own a LG V30+ and it is my tool to attain audio nirvana through headphones.

2) Cirrus Logic DACs: Almost as good as ESS solutions but tad less detailed. My Vivo NEX (NEX S in China) comes with Cirrus Logic CS43199 DAC paired with three Analog Devices SSM6322 headphone amplifiers and the sound quality is just magnificent. Every DAC manufacturer have its own sound signature, hence playing back the same song on LG V30+ & Vivo NEX provides very different experiences with same headphones. Where as with V30+ the sound signature is detailed with incredible instrument separation and a vertically narrow sound-stage, the NEX with Cirrus Logic DACs on the other hand produces warm, textured sound with super wide sound-stage in the horizontal plain. Vocals just shine on NEX. If you hear Norah Jones on a NEX, it feels like you are in her live concert, but if you hear the same song on V30+ and it will pick every nuances of her breath while she is singing the song and reveal every micro-detail of the song. I love my NEX too.

3) AKM: AKM dacs are the most cost effective solutions in smartphones that provide tangible audio quality improvement over phones using audio codecs found in the SoCs. The AKM AK4376/ AK4376A/ AK4377A can be found on many mid to high end Vivo smartphone like Vivo V5 Plus, Vivo X21 & more recently the Vivo NEX 3. The AKM dacs have a sweet smooth velvet like sound signature more like Cirrus Logic implementations. However the sound quality is not as good as the other two above and also it does not have the power to drive big headphones, you have to stick to earphones only.

4) Smartphones using own SoC audio codecs: Every smartphone SoC comes with its own audio codec which is responsible for the analog audio through 3.5 mm audio jack. High end audio solutions on smartphone like in LG V30+ & Vivo NEX does not use this SoC in-built audio codec while their HiFi mode is turned on and provides and much superior audio experence using dedicated DACs.

However Meizu 16th (Meizu 16 in China) or almost every other phone on the market does not implement dedicated DACs and use the codec of the SoC to save cost. As such the SoC used in the phone becomes very important to decide the final audio quality. A phone like 16th uses Qualcomm's flagship Snapdragon 845 and hence the audio codec embedded on SD845 is way superior than the one found on my Nokia 7 Plus which comes equipped with a mid range Snapdragon 660 SoC.

Secondly, it not only the audio codec quality that is important but also the audio tuning done by the smartphone manufacturer. Meizu for example prior used to make portable music players before they ventured into smartphones and still today makes some good quality headphones & earphones. As such Meizu understands sound quality and knows how to extract the maximum out the Snapdragon 845 audio codec used in 16th.

After having an extensive audio session with Meizu 16th side by side with LG V30+, Vivo NEX & Vivo V5 Plus I was pleasantly surprised just how much the audio codecs have improved over the years at-least on flagship SoCs. I have read news Qualcomm is trying really hard to close the audio quality gap to dedicated DAC solutions and the SD845 is a big proof of that improvement. Together with Meizu's expertise in providing a very good sound signature the ultimate sound quality on my 16th is very near to my V5 Plus which comes with AKM AK4376 dac. The Cirrus Logic & ESS solutions are still way superior though. And perhaps Meizu & Asus are the only two companies that is extracting the maximum from SD845 audio codec as of now.

In the end i am pretty comfortable to hearing songs over earphones with my Meizu 16th, but for critical listening I will always go back to the LG V30+ or Vivo NEX.

    Thanks for the clear replies everyone. It looks like Meizu has done good job with their software if Always on Display works for all third party apps. Even from brands like Huawei, Honor, Xiaomi, Redmi, Realme, OnePlus, Oppo, Vivo - I have tried many brands and found that Always On Display does not work properly.

    In some of these brands, only 1st party apps are supported for AOD. In some phones, the AOD only shows time and date. In some phones like Motorola or OnePlus, it only briefly turns on when notifications arrive and then turns off, so very easy to miss if you are away from phone.

    A proper AOD should turn on/stay on as for as long as there are unread notifications. When they are dismissed, it should turn off.

      Microsoft BOB, 21 Nov 2019While charging does the notification LED turn red and green... moreThe notification LED glows in white for notifications only. It does not glow for any other operations on the Meizu 16th like charging, low battery etc. This is not a multi-color notification LED, it glows in white only.

      The Always on Display (AOD) does support all third party apps you mentioned. However AOD is for notification purposes only, you have to unlock the phone to actually view the content.

      Hope this helps.

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        • Aadi
        • rKY
        • 22 Nov 2019

        Microsoft BOB, 21 Nov 2019While charging does the notification LED turn red and green... moreIt supports all third party apps
        But we cannot reply or open the app from AOD

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          • Aadi
          • rKY
          • 22 Nov 2019

          Microsoft BOB, 20 Nov 2019Hi. How big is the notification LED on this phone and is it... moreIt's tiny
          And white only
          Works only for notifications

            RishiGuru, 21 Nov 2019The notification LED is of standard size and not the tiny ... moreWhile charging does the notification LED turn red and green when 100%? Or even then it is white-only? Also, does the Always on Display support third party apps like Telegram, SMS, missed call, FB Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp?

              Microsoft BOB, 20 Nov 2019Hi. How big is the notification LED on this phone and is it... moreThe notification LED is of standard size and not the tiny dot sized as we find in some other phones. It is located at the top chin besides the selfie camera and glows in only white color. It serves my purpose. Also Meizu 16th comes with Always on Display.

                Mathieu67, 17 Feb 2019Hi, I Got mine, 1 week ago, very good SD845 phone for th... moreHi. How big is the notification LED on this phone and is it RGB or single color? Can you post a photo or video of it in action?

                  RishiGuru, 14 Nov 2019I always buy smartphones when the time is right. Smartphone... moreI am also like you, buy phones when they go cheap but I also look at mid range phones too. Thanks again for such a wonderful insight. Also to let all know that Asus in Flipkart is providing the Asus 5z at a discounted price of Rs. 16000 for 6 gb ram base model and Rs. 19000 for the 8 gb version. Will I go for it instead of Meizu 16th? Have your views changed after using 16th for some time? You said 5z was better but that was before you used 16th. I am in complete dilealama between 16th and 5z.

                    Alpha8, 13 Nov 2019He got an incredible offer from amazon. Since then I am wai... moreI always buy smartphones when the time is right. Smartphones are one of the highest depreciating assets of all time. An INR 50K flagship smartphone bought 5 years back is not even worth INR 5K today on seconds sale.

                    However I love smartphones and buy few each year which I think are my favorites. Below are the thumb rules I follow:

                    1) I never buy the latest and the greatest. Manufacturers will charge a huge premium for new technologies.

                    2) I do not buy phones costing over INR 25K during purchase in India. Spending anything more means you are paying for the brand, not for the phone.

                    3) I buy smartphones which are at-least an year old in the market. All software bugs if any are fixed by that time.

                    4) For the same price I always prefer to buy last years flagships rather than recent top-tier mid-range smartphones.

                    To give you an example, I always wanted to have the Vivo NEX & Meizu 16th last year. When both were launched last year prices where:

                    Vivo NEX: INR 45K ($633)
                    Meizu 16th: INR 40K ($565)

                    So to have both last year I have to spend INR 88K ($1,198). However I waited for an year and pounced when the time was right to have both of them at below prices:

                    Vivo NEX: INR 22,674 ($319)
                    Meizu 16th: INR 17,090 ($240)

                    I received more that 50% discount on both and paid INR 39,764 ($559) to have both phones at the price of one or even less. Just think for a minute how much both phones depreciated in value in just an year.

                      RishiGuru, 13 Nov 2019The seller was Bombaymall. I believe that is the only selle... moreTy!

                        RishiGuru, 13 Nov 2019When Meizu first launched the 16th in India as on 5th Dec, ... moreYou are truly a Guru of smartphones. While others are providing comments about this phone your expert comments are making me take informed decisions. Thanks a lot for such detailed and indepth overview. You said the music is good with headphones in Meizu 16th and not as good as your selected phones like vivo nex. Is the difference is sound and volume very big?

                          Rawbean, 13 Nov 2019What was the seller on Amazon.in when you bought it?The seller was Bombaymall. I believe that is the only seller is India from whom you can buy Meizu 16th online, be it Amazon India or Flipkart. My final price of INR 17.1K was possible due to 5% discount coupon from Amazon & Bank offer of 10% instant discount using some credit cards.

                          Below is the price breakdown I received on Amazon India:

                          Order Summary [in INR]
                          Item(s) Subtotal: 19,990.00
                          Shipping: 0.00
                          ------------------------------------------------­------
                          Total: 19,990.00
                          Promotion Applied:- 999.50 [5% coupon]
                          ------------------------------------------------­-----
                          Total: 18,990.50
                          Instant Bank Discount: 1,899.79 [10% Instant discount credit card]
                          ------------------------------------------------­-----
                          Grand Total: 17,090.71

                          I have the 8/128 GB variant of Meizu 16th.

                            Alpha8, 13 Nov 2019Wanted the white meizu 16th as it looks so much better than... moreWhen Meizu first launched the 16th in India as on 5th Dec, 2018 only one version was shown. It was the "Midnight Black" color variant with 8/128 GB configuration. During launch it was also announced Meizu 16th (Meizu 16 in China) will be sold online as an Amazon India Exclusive product. However it was NOT until 21st Feb, 2019 that the phone was actually made available for purchase on Amazon. This was nearly 3 months from launch to actual availability.

                            There was also few reasons as of why only the BLACK variant is made available for India:

                            1) When Xiaomi India head Manu Jain was asked about which is the favorite color of Indians while purchasing a smartphone the answer was instantaneous, BLACK. He also revealed that Indian's color choice is pole opposite from what a Chinese or European will do. A Chinese buyer will almost always choose white over black color 9 out of 10 times when buying a smartphone. But in India, we have this concept that a white color phone will get dirty quickly so black is the better color. This is one key reason why black color variants of any smartphone have highest sale in India. Meizu also knows Indian mindset and hence wanted to play safe while importing only the black color variant in India, as import duty costs a lot.

                            2) India is globally recognized as the most fierce market for smartphones when it comes to pricing. Keeping prices low and playing in volume sales is the name of the game and every smartphone manufacturer wants a piece of it. In such scenarios Meizu 16th black variant is the ideal choice. Why? The "Moonlight White" & "Aurora Blue" variant of 16th are of highest demand in China & Europe, two of the main markets for Meizu. The "Midnight Black" variant on the other hand is of low demand with the big downside being the color and that it is a smudge magnet. Aptly shown in the Unbox Therapy youtube channel, 2 mins of using the 16th black color variant turns the phone full of smudges. Where as with white and blue variants the smudges are not so apparent. This forces Meizu to sell the black variant at a slightly lower cost than the other two even though manufacturing cost for all color variants are the same. This also makes "Midnight Black" variant the right contender for the Indian market as you need to sell at a thin margin.

                            The margins of smartphone sales in India are so low, that even after paying hefty import duty for each phone the Meizu 16th still costs the same in China & India before applying any discounts. This implies Meizu is selling their phones with reasonable margin in China and with a very thin margin in India.

                              RishiGuru, 10 Nov 2019I am expecting few and far between software updates on my M... moreAnd was there a "Bank Offer" when you got it?

                                Rawbean, 13 Nov 2019What was the seller on Amazon.in when you bought it?He got an incredible offer from amazon. Since then I am waiting but unable to get Meizu 16th at Rs 17000. At that price truly this phone has no competition in India.

                                  Aadi, 10 Nov 2019We only get black variant in IndiaWanted the white meizu 16th as it looks so much better than the black one. But in meizu India website I find both colours are shown. Then why only black?

                                    RishiGuru, 10 Nov 2019I am expecting few and far between software updates on my M... moreWhat was the seller on Amazon.in when you bought it?

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                                      • Aadi
                                      • 7kY
                                      • 10 Nov 2019

                                      Alpha8, 10 Nov 2019Thank you. Do you have the white or black color variant?We only get black variant in India

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                                        • Aadi
                                        • 7kY
                                        • 10 Nov 2019

                                        RishiGuru, 09 Nov 2019I now understand what you meant to say. The Meizu 16th is w... moreI have yet to check

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