Meizu MX3 review: Eastern connection
Eastern connection
Google Now
Unlike most Android devices these days, the Meizu MX3 doesn't have a reserved shortcut to launch Google Now. Instead you need to turn to the widget or app shortcut on the homescreen.
In addition to being able to recognize voice commands, Google Now will learn from your usage patterns, and display relevant information. For example, if you search for a particular sports team frequently, Google Now will display information about upcoming games you wouldn't want to miss.
The service interacts with you by generating cards which are displayed on your screen and give you a short overview of information it believes is relevant to you. Going to work in the morning? Google Now knows this and lets you know there's a big traffic jam on your usual way to the office, and will offer you an alternate route. This extends to a multitude of other areas, including weather, traffic, public transit stations, and nearby points of interest.
You can either type or talk to Google Now and the app will give you one of its aforementioned info cards (if available) and read you its contents aloud (you can disable this from the app settings). If there's no card to help with the answer to your question, Google Now will simply initiate a Google web search instead.
There is also a Google Now widget which generates information for you based on what your interests are.
Synthetic benchmarks
The Meizu MX3 shares a chipset with the I9500 Galaxy S4 - an ARM big.LITTLE quad-core Cortex-A15 and quad-core Cortex-A7 combo on a Exynos 5410 Octa SoC. The four 1.6 GHz Cortex-A5 cores do the heavy lifting, while the auxiliary 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7s ensure the power-efficient performance for less-demanding tasks.
There are 2 GB of RAM and graphics are handled by the PowerVR SGX 544MP3 GPU.
Currently the Snapdragon 800 and Apple's 64-bit A7 chip are the standard-setters, with the Exynos 5 Octa trailing slightly behind, but let's see how the Meizu MX3 fares.
BenchmarkPi shows it to be a below average performer, outclassed by the likes of the HTC one, the Snapdragon Galaxy-600-powered S4 and even the Octa-rocking Galaxy S4.
Benchmark Pi
Lower is better
-
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
99 -
LG G2
99 -
Sony Xperia Z1
115 -
Sony Xperia Z Ultra
115 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
130 -
HTC One Max
131 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)
132 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
132 -
HTC Butterfly S
135 -
LG Optimus G Pro
147 -
HTC One
151 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
166 -
Sony Xperia Z
264 -
HTC Butterfly
266 -
Oppo Find 5
267 -
HTC One X+
280 -
LG Optimus G
285 -
HTC One mini
293 -
Samsung Galaxy Note II
305 -
Meizu MX3
307 -
HTC One X (Tegra 3)
330 -
LG Optimus 4X HD
350 -
Samsung Galaxy S III
359 -
Nexus 4
431
Linpack also places the Meizu MX3 in the unenviable company of year-old ex-flagships - the likes of the HTC's One X, Galaxy S III and Nexus 4.
Linpack
Higher is better
-
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
1081 -
LG G2
1054 -
Sony Xperia Z Ultra
1034 -
Sony Xperia Z1
1004 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
818 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)
791 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
788 -
LG Optimus G Pro
743 -
HTC One Max
723 -
HTC Butterfly S
669 -
HTC One
646 -
Sony Xperia Z
630 -
HTC Butterfly
624 -
LG Optimus G
608 -
Oppo Find 5
593 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
413 -
HTC One mini
320 -
Meizu MX3
289 -
Samsung Galaxy Note II
214.3 -
Nexus 4
213.5 -
HTC One X+
177.7 -
Samsung Galaxy S III
175.5 -
HTC One X
160.9 -
LG Optimus 4X HD
141.5
Geekbench 3 is a cross-platform benchmark that gauges CPU and memory performance. The Meizu MX3 once again failed to impress, making itself comfortable mid-table.
Geekbench 3
Higher is better
-
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
2937 -
Sony Xperia Z Ultra
2670 -
Sony Xperia Z1
2638 -
Apple iPhone 5s
2561 -
LG G2
2243 -
HTC One
1972 -
HTC One Max
1899 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
1869 -
LG Optimus G
1623 -
Meizu MX3
1579 -
Huawei Ascend P6
1315 -
LG Nexus 4
1288 -
HTC Butterfly
1257 -
Oppo R819
1047 -
HTC One mini
887
Quadrant is another composite benchmark that saw the Meizu MX3 post a score that is decent, but hardly spectacular.
Quadrant
Higher is better
-
Sony Xperia Z1
20388 -
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
20052 -
LG G2
19815 -
Sony Xperia Z Ultra
18177 -
HTC Butterfly S
13130 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)
12446 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
12376 -
LG Optimus G Pro
12105 -
HTC One Max
11914 -
HTC One
11746 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
11346 -
Sony Xperia Z
8075 -
HTC One X+
7632 -
LG Optimus G
7439 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
7153 -
Oppo Find 5
7111 -
Meizu MX3
6116 -
HTC One mini
6048 -
HTC One X
5952 -
Samsung Galaxy Note II
5916 -
Samsung Galaxy S III
5450 -
Nexus 4
4567
AnTuTu 4 saw the Meizu MX3 trailing behind the likes of the LG G2, Galaxy S4, HTC One and One Max, but edging ahead of the Nexus 4.
AnTuTu 4
Higher is better
-
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
31109 -
Sony Xperia Z1
30850 -
LG G2
30243 -
Sony Xperia Z Ultra
29185 -
Samsung Galaxy S4
27613 -
HTC One
26389 -
HTC One Max
26348 -
Meizu MX3
24391 -
LG Nexus 4
17006
Now, the GPU-intensive GLBenchmark 2.5 and 2.7 focus on the off-screen prowess of the PowerVR graphics chip inside the Meizu MX3. GLBenchmark 2.5 saw the Meizu outclass some of its direct rivals - the Snaprdagon-powered Galaxy S4 and both HTC Ones, but 2.7 saw it slide lower down the ranks.
GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt (1080p off-screen)
Higher is better
-
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
68 -
Sony Xperia Z1
60 -
Sony Xperia Z Ultra
60 -
Apple iPhone 5s
56 -
LG G2
54 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)
43 -
HTC Butterfly S
42 -
Meizu MX3
42 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
41 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
41 -
HTC One Max
41 -
HTC One
37 -
Oppo Find 5
32 -
Google Nexus 4
32 -
Sony Xperia Z
31 -
Sony Xperia ZL
31 -
Sony Xperia SP
31 -
Apple iPhone 5
30 -
LG Optimus G Pro
30 -
LG Optimus G
21 -
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3
17 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
17 -
Samsung Galaxy Note II
17 -
HTC One mini
15 -
HTC One X
11
GLBenchmark 2.7 T-Rex (1080p off-screen)
Higher is better
-
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
26 -
Sony Xperia Z1
23 -
Sony Xperia Z Ultra
23 -
Apple iPhone 5s
23 -
LG G2
22 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
17.1 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)
17.1 -
Apple iPad 4
16.8 -
HTC Butterfly S
16 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
16 -
HTC One Max
14 -
Google Nexus 10
13.9 -
LG Optimus G
13.9 -
Sony Xperia Z
13.5 -
Meizu MX3
13 -
Sony Xperia Tablet Z
13 -
Sony Xperia ZL
12.8 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
6.4 -
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3
6.3 -
HTC One mini
5.6 -
Samsung Galaxy Note II
4.9
In Epic Citadel's High Quality setting, the Meizu MX3 managed to top our list. Granted it has a few less pixels than its competitors, which could have given the GPU inside an extra strain.
Epic Citadel
Higher is better
-
Meizu MX3
58.8 -
Sony Xperia Z1
54.9 -
Sony Xperia Z Ultra
54.9 -
LG G2
51 -
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
47.7 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
37.2 -
HTC One
35.6 -
HTC One Max
34.9 -
HTC Butterfly
29.6
Browsing the web is an essential skill of a modern day smartphone, so we tested the JavaScript performance in SunSpider, HMTL 5 performance in BrowserMark 2 and both mashed together in Vellamo.
SunSpider saw the Meizu MX3 about on par with the S600-powered Galaxy S4.
SunSpider
Lower is better
-
Apple iPhone 5s
403 -
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
587 -
Apple iPhone 5
694 -
Apple iPhone 5c
704 -
Sony Xperia Z Ultra
750 -
Sony Xperia Z1
845 -
LG G2
908 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
1046 -
Meizu MX3
1085 -
HTC One
1174 -
HTC One Max
1295 -
LG Optimus G
1293 -
HTC One mini
1375 -
LG Nexus 4
1379 -
HTC Butterfly
1397 -
Oppo R819
1423 -
Huawei Ascend P6
3858
The MX3 did reasonably well at HMTL 5 but still failed to get near the top spots in the table.
BrowserMark 2
Higher is better
-
Apple iPhone 5s
3549 -
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
3041 -
Apple iPhone 5
2825 -
Apple iPhone 5c
2799 -
LG G2
2718 -
LG Optimus G
2555 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
2438 -
Sony Xperia Z Ultra
2419 -
Sony Xperia Z1
2398 -
HTC Butterfly S
2378 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
2338 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
2314 -
HTC One
2262 -
HTC One Max
2243 -
Sony Xperia Tablet Z
2170 -
HTC One mini
2164 -
Sony Xperia ZL
2107 -
Sony Xperia Z
2093 -
Meizu MX3
1832 -
LG Optimus G Pro
1801 -
Oppo Find 5
1797 -
Nexus 4
1794 -
Nokia Lumia 920
1774 -
Google Nexus 10
1773 -
HTC Butterfly
1475 -
Samsung Galaxy S III
1247
And finally, the MX3 dropped back down to its usual below-average spot in Vellamo.
Vellamo
Higher is better
-
Sony Xperia Z Ultra
2944 -
LG G2
2908 -
Sony Xperia Z1
2904 -
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
2853 -
HTC Butterfly S
2592 -
HTC One Max
2523 -
Samsung Galaxy Note II
2418 -
HTC One
2382 -
HTC One mini
2252 -
Sony Xperia Z
2189 -
HTC One X (Tegra 3)
2078 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
2060 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)
2056 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
2019 -
Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
1936 -
HTC Butterfly
1866 -
Oppo Find 5
1658 -
Samsung Galaxy S III
1641 -
Meizu MX3
1619 -
LG Optimus 4X HD
1568 -
LG Optimus G
1522 -
Nexus 4
1310
In terms of synthetic benchmarks the Snapdragon 800 and the software optimizations of the competition are well out of reach, but the Meizu MX3 is a more than decent performer in real life. It didn't slow down once during our testing - apps are launched instantly, webpages loaded reasonably fast and animations are buttery smooth.
The Snapdragon 800-powered devices have the MX3 on the run but you can go about your business not noticing this.
Reader comments
- Anonymous
- 22 Nov 2013
- HI%
1800*1080
- JL
- 06 Nov 2013
- Uvy
Meizu is getting better and better now. Maybe next year it will set retail stores in USA. I know its products are selling well in Russia.
- AnonD-131593
- 05 Nov 2013
- vL5
Mx3 is all about appearance than the performance . Design - 5star Performance - 3 Camera - 2 ( very slow focus ) Battery -3 Price - 2 Advertisement - 5 ( i wish there is english version of Meizu’s MX3 Beijing Water Cube conference bec...