Meizu m3 note review: To the metal

Display

The display of the Meizu m3 note employs a 5.5" LTPS IPS LCD panel of 1080p resolution. The colors are nicely saturated and the viewing angles are quite good.

The high resolution is definitely a treat for the price and more than sufficient at 1080p. 403ppi is sharp enough and you wouldn't really tell the difference to any QHD screen on the market unless you're looking at some really small fonts. The m3 Note's display matrix is a standard RGB arrangement.

In terms of maximum brightness (425nits), the Meizu m3 note's screen does about average but lower than its predecessor. Its black levels are not as good as those on the m2 note and m1 metal either, and so in the end, the m3 note posted an underwhelming contrast ratio of 816:1.

In terms of color rendering, the Chinese model of the Meizu m3 note scored below average with a DeltaE of 7.9 and a maximum deviation of 14.2 in the whites. The color saturation wasn't anything close to uniform - the whites are always bluish, most of the colors circle around DeltaE of 10, while there are some which are on the spot.

The display on the international unit turned out better calibrated with an average DeltaE of 5.1. Its white and gray colors are way off, with a purple tint, and maximum deviation of 11.2. The cyan colors is off, too, circling around a deviation of 10. Moving the screen calibration slider away from the middle made things worse, so you should not be doing that.

The minimum display brightness of the Meizu m3 note is 5.7nits (3.6nits for the international unit), which is about what we would consider as comfortable to operate in dark environment without straining your eyes, though even lower would have been better.

Outdoors, the Meizu m3 note is a below average performer in terms of sunlight legibility. The glass on top of the display is quite reflective, so most of the time you'll be able to barely see what's happening on the screen.

Sunlight contrast ratio

• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
  4.615
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  4.439
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  4.376
• HTC One A9
  4.274
• Samsung Galaxy A3
  4.241
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  4.124
• Samsung Galaxy Note5
  4.09
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  4.019
• OnePlus X
  3.983
• Oppo R7s
  3.964
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
  3.918
• Samsung Galaxy A5
  3.895
• Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
  3.879
• Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
  3.873
• Samsung Galaxy A8
  3.859
• Apple iPhone 6
  3.838
• Microsoft Lumia 950XL
  3.837
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
  3.817
• Motorola Moto X (2014)
  3.816
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
  3.789
• Apple iPhone 6s
  3.783
• Meizu Pro 5
  3.781
• Microsoft Lumia 650
  3.772
• Oppo F1 Plus
  3.709
• Vivo X5Pro
  3.706
• Apple iPhone SE
  3.681
• Samsung Galaxy A7
  3.679
• Meizu PRO 6
  3.659
• BlackBerry Priv
  3.645
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  3.53
• Acer Jade Primo
  3.521
• Microsoft Lumia 950
  3.512
• Oppo R7 Plus
  3.499
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  3.422
• Meizu MX5
  3.416
• Oppo R7
  3.32
• Samsung Galaxy J2
  3.235
• Motorola Moto X Play
  3.222
• Huawei P9
  3.195
• Lenovo Vibe Shot
  3.113
• Motorola Moto X Force
  3.105
• LG Nexus 5X
  3.092
• Huawei Mate S
  3.073
• Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
  3.065
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  3.023
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  2.97
• Huawei Mate 8
  2.949
• LG G5
  2.905
• HTC One S
  2.901
• Sony Xperia Z5
  2.876
• Microsoft Lumia 550
  2.851
• Sony Xperia Z5 compact
  2.784
• LG V10
  2.744
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  2.735
• Sony Xperia M5
  2.69
• Vivo V3Max
  2.659
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  2.641
• Xiaomi Mi 4c
  2.574
• Microsoft Lumia 640
  2.563
• Oppo F1
  2.528
• Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
  2.525
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  2.503
• Motorola Moto G
  2.477
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  2.473
• Huawei G8
  2.471
• Sony Xperia Z
  2.462
• Huawei Honor 7
  2.406
• ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
  2.382
• Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
  2.378
• HTC 10
  2.378
• Meizu m1 note
  2.362
• LG G4
  2.317
• HTC One E9+
  2.305
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  2.272
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  2.254
• Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
  2.253
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
  2.249
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  2.235
• Motorola Moto G (2014)
  2.233
• LG Nexus 5
  2.228
• Huawei P8
  2.196
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  2.166
• OnePlus Two
  2.165
• HTC One X
  2.158
• LG Aka
  2.145
• Archos 50 Diamond
  2.134
• Xiaomi Redmi Note
  2.119
• Acer Liquid X2
  2.084
• Huawei P8lite
  2.078
• Moto G 3rd gen max manual
  2.026
• Sony Xperia E4g
  1.972
• OnePlus One
  1.961
• Meizu m3 note
  1.923
• BlackBerry Leap
  1.892
• Meizu m2 note
  1.892
• HTC Butterfly
  1.873
• ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
  1.759
• Sony Xperia U
  1.758
• Asus Zenfone Selfie
  1.68
• Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
  1.675
• ZTE Nubia Z9
  1.659
• Motorola Moto E
  1.545
• Sony Xperia M
  1.473
• Xiaomi Redmi 2
  1.311
• Sony Xperia C
  1.283
• Meizu MX
  1.221

Battery life

Powered by an impressive 4,100mAh battery, the Meizu m3 note promises solid uptime on a single charge. It's a 30% upgrade over its predecessor, which already managed above average score of 69 hours.

Naturally, we tested the phone in Performance Power Mode. You can save a few more hours on the Balanced Plan, if you like.

Having seen the Helio X25 flop at the battery test for the Pro 6, we had lower expectations for the Helio P10 - the MediaTek hardware rarely goes above the average.

And yet, the m3 note and its Helio P10 managed to surprise us. The phone aced the 3G talk battery test, as it did the web browsing and video playback routines. Its standby endurance, in both single and dual SIM mode, turned out way above average.

With such great scores on the individual tests, the Meizu m3 note's overall endurance rating chimed in at 93 hours. That means you can use the m3 note for just shy of 4 full days if you are to make an hour each of 3G talks, web browsing and video playback a day. Putting a second SIM card drops the rating down to 92 hours. Such usage pattern is of course entirely artificial, but we've established it so our battery results are comparable across devices.

The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.

Connectivity

The Meizu m3 note comes with quad-band 2G/GPRS/EDGE support, quad-band 3G with HSDPA and HSUPA, as well as Cat.4 LTE support. It's compatible with the same bands as the m1 metal.

The m3 note has dual-SIM, dual-standby functionality - 3G and LTE are supported only on SIM1, while SIM2 can tap into 2G GSM networks only. You can put a microSD memory card inside the second SIM slot.

The m3 metal has dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n with DLNA, so you can play media (photos, videos, music) from DLNA-enabled devices or push content from your phone to a DLNA-compatible TV or music player.

Bluetooth 4.0 is also enabled, complete with A2DP.

The microUSB 2.0 port supports USB host so you can attach USB flash drives or connect peripherals.

You can also stream your display via the Wireless Display feature (Miracast).

GPS, GLONASS, BDS support is available. There is however no FM Radio, IR port or NFC on the Meizu m3 note, there is no wired TV-out option either.