With just 1080p and this SoC it is a harder sell then the MX4 was last year. The home button ruins both looks and functional design and the lack of microSD shows that they aren't getting any smarter, or nicer. It's a nice enough phone but not quite great at that price.
Phone makers need to rethink the buttons bellow the screen (both hard and on screen buttons). Phones got big and it works okish when using 2 hands but far far from ideal in one handed use. A lot more can be done both on the hardware and software side, the only difficult part is to find a solution that works well enough with both 1 hand and 2. Sadly if Apple and Samsung are being stupid, most others are happy being equally stupid.
That depends how you hold it for 1 hand or 2. When the user needs to be able to reach the bottom buttons, the phone is held lower (that also makes it easier to drop), when holding it for 2 hand usage,we tend to go higher and hold in the middle. With one hand ,it's easier to reach higher than lower with the thumb if you hold the phone centered but do note that i wasn't suggesting to put buttons on top. The way we read (up to down) makes top buttons not ideal.
did a quick search for images to better illustrate the difference in 1 and 2 hands for 2 hands ,the hand that hold the phone is kinda like this http://networkfolio.com/images/bg.jpg for hand it's more like this http://image.yaymicro.com/rz_512x512/0/bb6/woman-h... The difference is quite significant and pretty much everybody uses both modes (i've actually asked a few friends about how they hold their phones and everybody holds it centered when using both hands and goes lower when using 1). Meizu has just this 1 button, not all 3 so it's easier for them to move it. Huawei with the Honor 7 seems to be using the back fngerprint button for more functions but their effort doesn't seem to be driven but this kind of rationale , just another experiment like ZTE with it's side touch on the higher end Z9.
A 1080p screen is still VASTLY preferable to a 1440p screen... I absolutely hate that all the "flagship" devices this year are 1440p. What a waste of battery. I'd take even 5% more battery life over resolution I can't actually see anyhow, though I think it often equates to far more than 5% overall life if your screen-on time is high.
Software buttons are extremely stupid. I need a physical button the front of the phone because it's easier to turn on and unlock the phone with that than a side button.
I must confess that both Mediatek and HiSilicon's decisions of replacing their top-end Cortex A15/A17 ARMv7 solutions with higher-clocked Cortex A53 clusters make me cringe.
Single-threaded performance has obviously gone down between last year's flagship SoCs and the new models.
I agree. While I was previously curious about such a configuration, after seeing the P8 and the Kirin930 I think it's a bad design for anything other than budget devices.
That's far too harsh. No idea how much MTK charges for it and it's clear that this is not a 50$ SoC but it's not a 15$ SoC either, or a 5$ SoC for that matter. How do you decide what's bad design? Core die size? Size for the entire SoC? How about CPU perf and core die size comparison between A53 ,Intel's Atom core (on 14 or 28nm), A57 and even Apple's core. You could even normalize for sustained load perf for A57 to get more realistic numbers for what is bad design or not. Maybe factor in perf and pricing for different SoCs based on A53 since some have half the clocks of this one. You like power efficiency so factor that in too before giving such a verdict. Granted it depends on price and you can't target 50$ with A53 cores but 20-25$ maybe depending on what else is on the chip.It also depends on how you define "budget", if midrange means budget or low end means budget. Plus what can you do on 28nm when A57 is what it is even on 20nm and die sizes on 28nm are some 8.4mm2 for quad A53 cluster and 20.7mm2 for quad A57.They could have kept the A17 but that's not 64 bit and hurts on the marketing side. Meizu places this as a lower high end phone not a flagship, it does cost 3 times less than an iphone 6 Plus in China after all. You can't just state that it's not a Ferrari so it must be a Trabby.It's just somewhere in between. You are a reviewer here and maybe a bit more caution when giving verdicts is preferable. Saying that it feels slightly underpowered makes sense but bad design is a lot.
The SoC is just too scarce. I can be OK with the CPU -it's not like 8 A53 cores at 2.2Ghz are "weak", even though most times only 4 will be used, but the GPU simply does not cut it. It's on par with the adreno 320, wich is many generations old. We've had the 330, the 420, the 430, and a new one is about to debut with the snapdragon 820. Performance wise, this phone is about on par with the galaxy S4, wich is just not acceptable in 2015
Eight cores is flat out silly. If they really want to stick with big.LITTLE (which is a debatable decision considering Intel had proven race to sleep works), Snapdragon 808 seems to be the most interesting CPU configuration: 4 low power cores for the numerous, but light background tasks and two big cores for heavier loads which is generally a single app in mobile devices.
The 1080p screen only serves to remind everyone that the Helios X10's GPU is not worthy of a 2015 flagship phone. Adreno 320-level performance? No thanks.
Everyone looks at the "PowerVR Series 6 Rogue" prefix and automatically assumes that it's a worthy competitor to the GX6430/GXA6850. The G6200 is looking like the spiritual successor to the SGX540: widely adopted, well-known, and horribly slow in the face of its competitors.
THIS. This phone is all about big numbers. Oh 20 MPixels wooow! 8 cores! PowerVR 6! Even at that price, you can find better deals if you jump off the hype train and into the real world.
Give the hate a rest. I'd take a 6795T anyday over an overheating 810. The A53 is power efficient and has decent single threaded performance (~1000 on gb3). The G6200 @ 700MHz is pretty much on par with the Adreno 330 and beats it in actual gaming, and comes quite close to the G6430 found in Apple's A7. Qualcomm's offerings are more expensive, and their A57 cores prove to be a disaster. The 810v2.1 runs like a 808 with typically at most 2 A57 cores active and tests have shown that each consumes up to 4W under load. MediaTeK's mid-end offering are quite impressive this year especially the 6752.
YOU give me a break. The G6200 is on par with the 320, not the 330. I'm pretty sure i read that a cortex A57 in the 810 core drinks less than 2.5W but whatever, according to you it must have a TDP of 25W. This phone is totally beat by an LG G2, save for maybe camera and battery life, wich are arguable.
www.anandtech.com/show/8718/the-samsung-galaxy-note-4-exynos-review/6 Consider that the 810 runs at 2GHz, and it should almost hit 2.5W. I don't make up my facts.
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37 Comments
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jjj - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
"5.5" diameter," - Yay a round phone:pWith just 1080p and this SoC it is a harder sell then the MX4 was last year.
The home button ruins both looks and functional design and the lack of microSD shows that they aren't getting any smarter, or nicer. It's a nice enough phone but not quite great at that price.
Phone makers need to rethink the buttons bellow the screen (both hard and on screen buttons). Phones got big and it works okish when using 2 hands but far far from ideal in one handed use. A lot more can be done both on the hardware and software side, the only difficult part is to find a solution that works well enough with both 1 hand and 2. Sadly if Apple and Samsung are being stupid, most others are happy being equally stupid.
menting - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
probably did that just so Apple can't sue them for having a rectangle phone with rounded corners :)StormyParis - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
I think top menus and notifs are a much bigger issue for phablets than the bottom buttons, which at least are on the bottom.jjj - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
That depends how you hold it for 1 hand or 2. When the user needs to be able to reach the bottom buttons, the phone is held lower (that also makes it easier to drop), when holding it for 2 hand usage,we tend to go higher and hold in the middle. With one hand ,it's easier to reach higher than lower with the thumb if you hold the phone centered but do note that i wasn't suggesting to put buttons on top. The way we read (up to down) makes top buttons not ideal.jjj - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
did a quick search for images to better illustrate the difference in 1 and 2 handsfor 2 hands ,the hand that hold the phone is kinda like this http://networkfolio.com/images/bg.jpg
for hand it's more like this http://image.yaymicro.com/rz_512x512/0/bb6/woman-h...
The difference is quite significant and pretty much everybody uses both modes (i've actually asked a few friends about how they hold their phones and everybody holds it centered when using both hands and goes lower when using 1).
Meizu has just this 1 button, not all 3 so it's easier for them to move it.
Huawei with the Honor 7 seems to be using the back fngerprint button for more functions but their effort doesn't seem to be driven but this kind of rationale , just another experiment like ZTE with it's side touch on the higher end Z9.
shadarlo - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
A 1080p screen is still VASTLY preferable to a 1440p screen... I absolutely hate that all the "flagship" devices this year are 1440p. What a waste of battery. I'd take even 5% more battery life over resolution I can't actually see anyhow, though I think it often equates to far more than 5% overall life if your screen-on time is high.fokka - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
i guess it is a pentile screen, so 1080p on 5.5" is not _that_ sharp. otherwise i agree.hans_ober - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
Yup, 1080p > 1440p for LCD; but for pentile, 1440p is better.kurahk7 - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
Software buttons are extremely stupid. I need a physical button the front of the phone because it's easier to turn on and unlock the phone with that than a side button.ToTTenTranz - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
I must confess that both Mediatek and HiSilicon's decisions of replacing their top-end Cortex A15/A17 ARMv7 solutions with higher-clocked Cortex A53 clusters make me cringe.Single-threaded performance has obviously gone down between last year's flagship SoCs and the new models.
Andrei Frumusanu - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
I agree. While I was previously curious about such a configuration, after seeing the P8 and the Kirin930 I think it's a bad design for anything other than budget devices.jjj - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
That's far too harsh. No idea how much MTK charges for it and it's clear that this is not a 50$ SoC but it's not a 15$ SoC either, or a 5$ SoC for that matter.How do you decide what's bad design? Core die size? Size for the entire SoC?
How about CPU perf and core die size comparison between A53 ,Intel's Atom core (on 14 or 28nm), A57 and even Apple's core. You could even normalize for sustained load perf for A57 to get more realistic numbers for what is bad design or not. Maybe factor in perf and pricing for different SoCs based on A53 since some have half the clocks of this one. You like power efficiency so factor that in too before giving such a verdict.
Granted it depends on price and you can't target 50$ with A53 cores but 20-25$ maybe depending on what else is on the chip.It also depends on how you define "budget", if midrange means budget or low end means budget.
Plus what can you do on 28nm when A57 is what it is even on 20nm and die sizes on 28nm are some 8.4mm2 for quad A53 cluster and 20.7mm2 for quad A57.They could have kept the A17 but that's not 64 bit and hurts on the marketing side.
Meizu places this as a lower high end phone not a flagship, it does cost 3 times less than an iphone 6 Plus in China after all.
You can't just state that it's not a Ferrari so it must be a Trabby.It's just somewhere in between.
You are a reviewer here and maybe a bit more caution when giving verdicts is preferable. Saying that it feels slightly underpowered makes sense but bad design is a lot.
jjj - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
Correction: 3 times less than iphone 6 not Plus*icrf - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
Kryo can't get here soon enough. I hope it's every bit as awesome as Krait was in its day.Are there really no custom architecture ARM licensees beyond Qualcomm and Apple with interest in the mobile phone space?
xdrol - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
There is nVidia's Denver and Mavell's Sheeva..nikaldro - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
The SoC is just too scarce.I can be OK with the CPU -it's not like 8 A53 cores at 2.2Ghz are "weak", even though most times only 4 will be used, but the GPU simply does not cut it.
It's on par with the adreno 320, wich is many generations old. We've had the 330, the 420, the 430, and a new one is about to debut with the snapdragon 820.
Performance wise, this phone is about on par with the galaxy S4, wich is just not acceptable in 2015
mkozakewich - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
It's still a good upgrade for a three-year-old phone, and at $290 instead of $650.nikaldro - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
An LG G2 is priced similar and is better at everything, save for the camera, wich is arguable.MobiusPizza - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
I had to google-fu what PSR stand for (not easy, try it!), it'd be nice if it is spelled out as Panel Self-refresh in the article.r3loaded - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
"8x Cortex A53" /facepalmZertzable - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
Eight cores is flat out silly. If they really want to stick with big.LITTLE (which is a debatable decision considering Intel had proven race to sleep works), Snapdragon 808 seems to be the most interesting CPU configuration: 4 low power cores for the numerous, but light background tasks and two big cores for heavier loads which is generally a single app in mobile devices.doogless - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
I agree. 8 identically clocked cores - ones that are normally the LITTLE portion of big.LITTLE - just doesn't make any sense.xdrol - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
It's mainly for Chinese market, where more cores = bigger penis, no matter what sense does it make.hans_ober - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
Sadly true.More cores is a gimmick. Sure, apps can use it; but single threaded perf is also very important.
Dunno about the seconds part though ;)
tabascosauz - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
The 1080p screen only serves to remind everyone that the Helios X10's GPU is not worthy of a 2015 flagship phone. Adreno 320-level performance? No thanks.Everyone looks at the "PowerVR Series 6 Rogue" prefix and automatically assumes that it's a worthy competitor to the GX6430/GXA6850. The G6200 is looking like the spiritual successor to the SGX540: widely adopted, well-known, and horribly slow in the face of its competitors.
nikaldro - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
THIS.This phone is all about big numbers.
Oh 20 MPixels wooow! 8 cores! PowerVR 6!
Even at that price, you can find better deals if you jump off the hype train and into the real world.
hans_ober - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
Remember when Mali 400 was famous?Low end phones (still) sue it; too bad it's the 1 core edition.
hans_ober - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
8x Cortex A53 @ 2.2GHzWhat a waste.
Riyasomani - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
The Specification of this phone is simply awesome. It looks like Apple iphone. Round corners are making it more attractive.edwd2 - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
Give the hate a rest. I'd take a 6795T anyday over an overheating 810. The A53 is power efficient and has decent single threaded performance (~1000 on gb3). The G6200 @ 700MHz is pretty much on par with the Adreno 330 and beats it in actual gaming, and comes quite close to the G6430 found in Apple's A7. Qualcomm's offerings are more expensive, and their A57 cores prove to be a disaster. The 810v2.1 runs like a 808 with typically at most 2 A57 cores active and tests have shown that each consumes up to 4W under load. MediaTeK's mid-end offering are quite impressive this year especially the 6752.nikaldro - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
YOU give me a break.The G6200 is on par with the 320, not the 330.
I'm pretty sure i read that a cortex A57 in the 810 core drinks less than 2.5W but whatever, according to you it must have a TDP of 25W.
This phone is totally beat by an LG G2, save for maybe camera and battery life, wich are arguable.
chrnochime - Sunday, July 5, 2015 - link
Post link for your A57 power consumption. Pretty sure is about as useful as made up facts.nikaldro - Sunday, July 5, 2015 - link
Anandtech measured the power consumption of an A57 core (exynos 5433) to be 2W.nikaldro - Sunday, July 5, 2015 - link
www.anandtech.com/show/8718/the-samsung-galaxy-note-4-exynos-review/6Consider that the 810 runs at 2GHz, and it should almost hit 2.5W.
I don't make up my facts.
Ebonstar - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
Hmm not the best name."hey I just got an MX5!"
"Oh cool, that's a great little sports car"
"what? I'm talking about a phone"
Ebonstar - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
Actually probably a moot point. Mazda might not even serve the Chinese car market, and I doubt westerners are buying Meizu phones.der - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
FUUUUUUUUK