Meizu MX4 review: Alternadroid

Octa-core processing

The Meizu MX4 has a MediaTek MT6595 chipset with four high-powered Cortex-A17 2.2GHz cores and four low-power Cortex-A7 1.7GHz cores for when you need to conserve battery. The chipset can handle 4K video recording, up to 20MP camera support and has a PowerVR G6200 MP4 (quad-core) GPU. The RAM is at 2GB so overall a very respectable system.

The Meizu MX4 offers a few battery modes. For the benchmarks we used the performance mode which should, in theory, give out the best results.

Before we begin we tested the Meizu MX4 for cheating - the MX4 didn't cheat. The first batch of tests we perform are the CPU ones. The Meizu MX4 proved to be a very powerful performer overall but showed a poor Basemark OS II overall and single score.

It topped the GeekBench 3 table with a very high result. It placed in second in AnTuTu 5 behind the Samsung Galaxy Alpha. In Basemark OS II the Meizu MX4 showed a great multi-core performance, which is the usual for eight-core chipsets but poor single core and as a result overall score.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

• Meizu MX4
  3556
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  3214
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  3175
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  3011
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  3011
• Apple iPhone 6
  2924
• OnePlus One
  2663
• LG G3 - EU version
  2563
• HTC One (M8)
  2367
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  1837

AnTuTu 5

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  51905
• Meizu MX4
  46922
• HTC One (M8)
  44020
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  43164
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  43164
• LG G3 - EU version
  39905

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 4
  1324
• Apple iPhone 6
  1252
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  1234
• OnePlus One
  1196
• HTC One (M8)
  1126
• LG G3 - EU version
  1126
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  1082
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  1082
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  915
• Meizu MX4
  695

Basemark OS II (single-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  2579
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  2573
• HTC One (M8)
  2428
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  2415
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  2415
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  2397
• LG G3 - EU version
  2213
• OnePlus One
  2213
• Meizu MX4
  1729

Basemark OS II (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  15096
• Meizu MX4
  12268
• OnePlus One
  10234
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  10063
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  10063
• HTC One (M8)
  9860
• LG G3 - EU version
  9611
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  9508
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  8976

The graphics tests show a different story, though. The Meizu MX4 and its PowerVR GPU we unable to move past last or semi-last place in every test we performed.

Both GFXBench's 1080p tests proved difficult for the MX4. It got consistent results in the offscreen and onscreen 2.7 T-Rex and 3.0 Manhattan tests but very far from the top performing Apple iPhone 6. The Xiaomi smartphones got a consistent fps lead over the MX4 as well.

Basemark X is a gaming benchmark that gives an overall score based on many tests - rendering, fps, etc. The Meizu MX4 bottomed out in this test and was way behind its direct competition. Perhaps Meizu didn't optimize the GPU to its full potential, but we're only guessing.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6
  42.6
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  31.3
• HTC One (M8)
  28.4
• OnePlus One
  28.3
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  27.8
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  27.8
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  27.6
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  27.4
• LG G3 - EU version
  27.2
• Meizu MX4
  22.7

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6
  51
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  48.4
• HTC One (M8)
  30.1
• OnePlus One
  30
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  28.2
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  28.2
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  28.1
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  28.1
• Meizu MX4
  21.3
• LG G3 - EU version
  20.5

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6
  17.7
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  13.4
• OnePlus One
  12.1
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  11.8
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  11.8
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  11.6
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  11.6
• LG G3 - EU version
  11.4
• HTC One (M8)
  11.1
• Meizu MX4
  7.9

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6
  29.2
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  25.3
• OnePlus One
  12.9
• HTC One (M8)
  11.9
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  11.7
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  11.7
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  11.5
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  11.3
• Meizu MX4
  7.4
• LG G3 - EU version
  7.2

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6
  17054
• OnePlus One
  13129
• HTC One (M8)
  12396
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  11744
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  11744
• LG G3 - EU version
  11552
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  11065
• Meizu MX4
  8324

Finally we arrive at the browsing benchmarks - the HTML 5 BrowserMark and the JavaScript Kraken by Mozilla. These tests show how well the phone handles different web tests based on its hardware platform and software optimizations.

The Meizu MX4 failed to impress here too. In Kraken 1.1 it got worse results than all of its rivals and in BrowserMark 2.1 showed consistent results with its peers from Xiaomi.

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

• Apple iPhone 6
  4710
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  4911
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  6043
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  6043
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  6137
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  6586
• LG G3 - EU version
  6987
• OnePlus One
  7008
• Meizu MX4
  9408
• HTC One (M8)
  10296

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6
  3153
• LG G3 - EU version
  1474
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  1398
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  1398
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  1364
• OnePlus One
  1339
• HTC One (M8)
  1069
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  744
• Meizu MX4
  720
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  706

What you need to take away from these tests is that the Meizu MX4 has a very capable CPU and only average GPU and browsing prowess. In practical situations though the MX4 feels speedy and capable. We didn't experience any hiccups, pages loaded just fine and animations were smooth throughout the system.

The MX4 can handle tasking games as well, it just won't be as fast as an Apple iPhone 6 or any of the leading Android smartphones but the difference won't be drastic in any case.