Meizu Pro 7 Plus review: Two-Face

Introduction

Meizu is back in the big game. After the impressive Pro 5, the company's flagship line seemingly took a step back with the Pro 6 and Pro 6 Plus. And just when we feared that Meizu might be giving up on the premium niche, it's ready to wow us with the Meizu Pro 7 Plus: a dual-screen dual-camera flagship that will stand out in any crowd.

LG has been experimenting with secondary screens for a while now, but those were sitting alongside the main ones and didn't really serve the same purpose. Yota had some success, but its rear e-ink panels limit the applications. Meizu, though, seems to be on the right track. The 5.7" Quad HD Super AMOLED at the front is the flagship standard, while the 2" AMOLED on the back is the standout feature, a bold innovation which might be a selfie fan's dream come true.

The Pro 7 Plus's impressive specs sheet continues with a dual 12MP (color + monochrome) main camera, a top of the line MediaTek Helio X30 chip with 6GB of RAM, a beefy 3,500 mAh battery, and the latest Flyme 6 OS, based on Android 7.0 Nougat.

Meizu Pro 7 Plus Key features

• Display: 5.7" 1440p Super AMOLED display of 518ppi
• Secondary display: 2" 240 x 560 px AMOLED of 307pi
• OS: Flyme OS 6 on top of Android 7.0 Nougat
• Chipset: MediaTek Helio X30 - deca-core processor with two 2.26GHz Cortex-A73, four 2.2GHz Cortex-A53 and four 1.9GHz Cortex-A35 cores; PowerVR 7XTP GPU; 6GB of RAM
• Camera: Dual 12MP Sony Exmor RS IMX386 camera sensor; 1.25µm pixel size, f/2.0; phase-detect autofocus; two-tone flash, 2160p video recording @30fps
• Selfies: 16MP front-facing camera, f/2.0, 1080p@30fps video
• Storage: 64GB or 128GB of built-in storage; non-expandable
• Connectivity: Cat. 10 LTE (450/150Mbps); Dual SIM; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; Bluetooth 4.2; NFC; GPS/GLONASS/Beidou; USB Type-C port, USB On-The-Go
• Audio: Hi-Fi audio Cirrus Logic CS43130 chip, active noise cancellation via a dedicated mic
• Battery: 3,500mAh battery with 24W mCharge 2.0 (up to 45% charge in 30min)
• Misc: mTouch Home button with a fingerprint scanner

Main disadvantages

• No waterproofing (flagship phone and relatively high price)
• No optical stabilization for the camera
• No memory expansion option
• No VoLTE for the international model

One omission that stands out is the lack of waterproofing which we've come to expect from flagships these days. The lack of a card slot is a bit easier to forgive, as there is 64GB storage in the base version.

If you are eyeing the smaller Pro 7 model, you should know that it comes with a 5.2" 1080p display and an inferior Helio P25 chipset. It offers similar build quality, user interface and camera, though, so if you like what you see here, but can't afford the price tag, it may be a viable option.

And now let's take a peek inside the retail box and see what's inside.