Its not Xiaomi now when somebody talks of a phone maker that you have never heard of. 2014 was the year for Xiaomi which just toppled Samsung as the top handset maker in China and it will continue to grow this year too, but another handset maker will join them for similar exponential rise in the no of sales in 2015. I am talking of Meizu, the Chinese handset maker (already in the top ten list) which is creating a big buzz in the tech world with its MX series flagship and the recent phablet M1 Note. Such cheap and powerful devices are getting more popular with flagship features and build quality. The buzz garnered $590 Million investment from e-commerce Giant Alibaba that enables them to get more recognition both locally and internationally. Meizu has gone international way before Xiaomi gets in the light but Xiaomi grew fast to be the tech giant in China, leading to more recognition. As Android is the dominant operating system in this region, Chinese manufacturers are opting to use Android Skin or customized interface like MIUI from Xiaomi, Flyme from Meizu, Emotion from Huawei and many alike. Apart from Android skin Flyme, Meizu is known to use Alibaba's YunOS to power its smartphones. It is also speculated that Meizu will launch a phone with Ubuntu OS in MWC 2015, most probably a all new M1 note.
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| Meizu store in Huaqianbei, Shenzhen, China |
Meizu M1 Note and M1 phone:
M1 note, the latest offering from Meizu, is a 64 bit MediaTek MT652 Octacore processor powered phablet with 5.5 inch 1080P IGZO display, 13 MP/5MP shooter, and 3140 mAh battery. The dual SIM 2G/LTE device looks similar to iPhone C, with ditto set of colors (green, pink, white, yellow and blue).The phone has 2 GB RAM, dual tone flash feature in camera and FDD LTE (the variant that is supposed to land here in Nepal after licensing from the regulator). As already mentioned, the device supports the latest version of its own Android skin, Flyme 4.2 (based on Kitkat). Marked as an direct competitor to Xiaomi Redmi 2 in affordable and entry level smartphone range, the phone price is 1000 RMB ($160) in china which is a little higher than Redmi2, but with all better hardware and performance. The light phone (145 gm) is made up of plastic and has 16 GB/32 GB memory space with no SD card slot.
Meizu has even released another version with 5 inch display and Snapdragon 615 processor. Dubbed as M1, the phone has 1 GB RAM/ 8GB Memory space, SD card slot, Single SIM with LTE support and 2500 mAh battery. Most of the other impressive features and looks are similar to M1 Note where M1 phone does not have this dual tone LED flash. The phone is priced at CNY 700 ($112) in China but it will cost more in the stores other than the official one where phone gets sold out in a matter of seconds.
Ever since I heard of M1 note, I thought of owning it, especially the blue colored one. As I have already asked my friend who is going to China for a month, to bring the phablet for me, it will take a month to have it in my hand. If I find the performance of the phablet to be impressive that is on paper now, then I will definitely entice more of my friends and blog readers to be "proud owner of Meizu". A month to wait!!
