Meizu Pro 6 Plus review: imPROved

Unboxing the Meizu Pro 6 Plus

Meizu flagship phones always come with a premium twist on the packaging.

The Pro 6 Plus comes in a big black box made of thick plastic. Enclosed within are the USB-C cable, a small SIM ejection pin, and a 24W charger plug compatible with QuickCharge 2.0.

There seems to be a dedicated slot for earphones, but not all Meizu Pro 6 Plus units come bundled with a pair depending on the market.

Meizu Pro 6 Plus retail box and its contents

Meizu Pro 6 Plus 360-degree spin

Meizu Pro 6 Plus measures 155.6 x 77.3 x 7.3 mm, which is about the same as the Pro 5's. The Pro 6 Plus weight is 10g lighter at 158g though, which is great considering the hardware upgrade and the bigger battery.

Design and build quality

If you expected Meizu will spare some efforts on the Pro 6 Plus and recycle the Pro 6 design, you'd be wrong. It seems Meizu has pursued a 'leave no stone unturned' strategy and that's why it delivered on all departments.

Meizu Pro 6 Plus

So, the Meizu Pro 6 Plus is a thin smartphone wrapped in a stylish aluminum unibody. Its force-press-enabled 5.7" display has trendy 2.5D edges along the front glass. On the back, we find the clean metal surface with the antenna bands following the curves of body.

The Pro 6 was among the first to go with the less intrusive bands, but the iPhone 7 lineup made those famous. Naturally, the Meizu Pro 6 Plus is relying on the same curvy bands, which are more gentle on the design and quite a beauty booster.

Unlike the Pro 6, its Plus successor is less rounded on its sides and corners, and that enhances the phone's grip, and also adds a bit of a business-like feel.

Meizu Pro 6 Plus

The iconic mTouch key is here again. Even this tiny and feature-packed key has gotten better - it now reportedly has an integrated heart-rate sensor. The 10-LED ring flash at the back is also back and it acts as a token for Meizu's latest innovations.

Handling the Pro 6 Plus

Handling the Pro 6 Plus feels great. The aluminum is smooth to touch but provides enough grip to keep the phone secure in hand. The refined design helps, too, while the flagship looks and the vivid screen will be a feast for your eyes. If single-hand operations are a problem, there are various software features to help you with that.

Controls

The earpiece and the front camera are located above the 5.7" display, accompanied by a couple of sensors and a notification LED light.

Below the AMOLED screen is the iconic mTouch key, which got even better. For starters, the button is both clickable (Home function) and tappable (Back function). Its surface also doubles as a fingerprint scanner, which can detect your fingertips from any direction. The sensor is not always-on so you have to press it to read your fingerprint. There is also the fact that in our tests it's not as accurate or as fast to read our registered fingerprints as Huawei's or Xiaomi's solutions.

What's above and below the screen

Meizu managed to embed a heart-rate scanner inside the key as well. If you are using the international Flyme ROM, there is a high possibility you won't find the dedicated Health app just yet. But if you are running the Chinese ROM, you can measure your heart-rate via the app hassle-free.

The left side of the Meizu Pro 6 Plus has the SIM tray - when ejected you can put either one or two nano-SIM cards. The volume rocker and the power/lock key are on the right.

The left side • the SIM tray • the right side • the power/lock key

On the top, we find the secondary mic and nothing else. The bottom is rather busy with the audio jack, the primary mic, the USB-C port, and the loudspeaker grille.

The top • the bottom • the USB Type-C port

The 12MP Sony lens are on the back, slightly bulging, but not that much to be an issue. The ingenious 10-LED dual-tone ring flash is nearby, too.

The 12MP camera on the back • the ring flash