You hold it by the side frames with your thumb and index finger, with your middle finger against the top frame. It's very easy and I would hold most phones like this when using the cameras, because the volume is generally on the left meaning the thumb would be positioned to ease onto the top volume button which would usually be set as the shutter, this is the way to release the shutter introducing minimal vibration or any skew in framing.
They call it the "riot shield" design, I kinda like it too. The only dealbreaker of Meizu is that they decided to remove the audio jack, at least in all their flagships. 4500mah is a bit on the small side for a device of this size. Otherwise it's basically perfect. Such a shame it comes without the jack.
Looks neat. LG launched Velvet, significantly more expensive with a significantly less feature-set! I had a Redmi device the Android skin + updates were not good at all. Any idea how it is for Meizu?
Such a shame the phone is so heavy and neither the main or the telephoto on the Pro have OIS. The IMX362 is an ancient sensor for today's standards and I don't think it can be used as a telephoto. More likely a portrait camera with 35-40mm lens. The most baffling thing though is the price. With such a tiny difference between the two, who would not buy the Pro? Would have made much more sense if the 17 was 6.2-6.3-inches and be so closely priced to the Pro.
Any phone beyond 200 gr and 160mm height is just a burden to carry. Had a brief experience with NEX 3 and it was so troublesome to carry around. Mind you, I'm a big lad at 190 cm and 100 kilos. Can't see how a regular sized person (170 cm 70kg) would carry those monsters.
And, as usual: No front speakers = No buy. I will never pay money to cup my hands around a brand new expensive phone ever again. No 3.5mm jack = No buy. Not falling for the scam, sorry.
Waterproofing and OIS aren't dealbreakers for me. Looks like they haven't been ruled out. But Meizu is a Chinese brand, so their warranty support (replacement motherboard? They can burn out) is unknown. So paying $600 for one is probably out of the question.
Let's keep in mind the Realme X is $150 USD with SD710/48mp, that is the new baseline for price/performance. I can't use it because it doesn't support my network bands; I suspect they purposefully omitted them so as not to compete with OnePlus's ridiculous $999 phones.
I really want a headphone jack also, but mainly because we can't get good USB headphones. Heck, if Apple starts making USB airpods problem is solved, the lightning ones are great as usual. Same thing with front spacing speakers. The iPhone has great speakers, uses the earpiece and the bottom to put out better sound than my old front facing speakers.
Stop BSing. Your comment gives me the chills. You’re lying thru your teeth with every word that comes out of your pipe hole. iDevices’ speakers suck, especially those waterproofed which are impossible to have clean sounds. You sound like a little kid in his own little world with only iPhones. Your hearing is probably damaged now after using Apple earphones earpods for more than a decade. It I’ll ever be forced to use an iPhone, the first thing I’d do is put those garbage earpieces in the trash, unless I can sell them. Who knows you could be a deceptive Apple shill.
Not convinced. No 3.5 mm jack (why, in a big, heavy phone?) is one omission, but the thing that gets my second thumb down is the battery capacity. If your phone is in the heavyweight category, make its battery a minimum of 5,000 mAh. For battery, bigger is better, and 5G with an external modem and mm capability plus a higher refresh rate screen both eat power.
I hope you guys will be able to obtain both the pro and non pro models to do a comparison between LPDDR4X and LPDDR5 performance. Would be interested in knowing if only for a purely scientific purpose.
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olafgarten - Friday, May 8, 2020 - link
That camera layout is horrible!ogremic - Friday, May 8, 2020 - link
I actually like it very much :)qap - Sunday, May 10, 2020 - link
if it were a bit lower, sure. But how will you hold the phone and not cover at least one of those cameras?s.yu - Sunday, May 10, 2020 - link
You hold it by the side frames with your thumb and index finger, with your middle finger against the top frame. It's very easy and I would hold most phones like this when using the cameras, because the volume is generally on the left meaning the thumb would be positioned to ease onto the top volume button which would usually be set as the shutter, this is the way to release the shutter introducing minimal vibration or any skew in framing.s.yu - Sunday, May 10, 2020 - link
They call it the "riot shield" design, I kinda like it too.The only dealbreaker of Meizu is that they decided to remove the audio jack, at least in all their flagships. 4500mah is a bit on the small side for a device of this size. Otherwise it's basically perfect. Such a shame it comes without the jack.
nicolaim - Friday, May 8, 2020 - link
No mention of waterproofing nor headphone jack...s.yu - Sunday, May 10, 2020 - link
There is mention of the headphone jack, the lack of one.Psyside - Friday, May 8, 2020 - link
If no OIS = no buy.Teckk - Friday, May 8, 2020 - link
Looks neat. LG launched Velvet, significantly more expensive with a significantly less feature-set!I had a Redmi device the Android skin + updates were not good at all. Any idea how it is for Meizu?
s.yu - Sunday, May 10, 2020 - link
Meizu's UI has a better reputation than Xiaomi, but I don't know about their record on updates because I don't care.tkSteveFOX - Friday, May 8, 2020 - link
Such a shame the phone is so heavy and neither the main or the telephoto on the Pro have OIS.The IMX362 is an ancient sensor for today's standards and I don't think it can be used as a telephoto.
More likely a portrait camera with 35-40mm lens.
The most baffling thing though is the price. With such a tiny difference between the two, who would not buy the Pro?
Would have made much more sense if the 17 was 6.2-6.3-inches and be so closely priced to the Pro.
Alistair - Saturday, May 9, 2020 - link
Yeah the phone is too heavy. Besides that looks decent. But the S20 is SO much lighter.tkSteveFOX - Saturday, May 9, 2020 - link
Any phone beyond 200 gr and 160mm height is just a burden to carry.Had a brief experience with NEX 3 and it was so troublesome to carry around.
Mind you, I'm a big lad at 190 cm and 100 kilos. Can't see how a regular sized person (170 cm 70kg) would carry those monsters.
Death666Angel - Saturday, May 9, 2020 - link
I have a 161mm tall 199g heavy Realme X2 Pro. It's great. Much better than the 177g, 162mm tall HTC U Ultra before it. 195 cm tall myself.And in my world, 170cm and 70kg is not a regular sized person. That's a regular sized female.
KarlKastor - Sunday, May 10, 2020 - link
Of course females are no persons and not allowed to use smartphones...s.yu - Sunday, May 10, 2020 - link
70kg sounds solidly plus sized for female :)Flunk - Friday, May 8, 2020 - link
Meizu 17 sounds like a 17" smartphone.HideOut - Saturday, May 9, 2020 - link
I actually thought it was for a laptop review till I started on it.Tomatotech - Friday, May 8, 2020 - link
I honestly thought this was a 17" laptop announcementKangal - Friday, May 8, 2020 - link
Sounds like it was released in 2017 :P1_rick - Friday, May 8, 2020 - link
Typo: in the spec chart, the screen ratio is not 19.5:1.shabby - Friday, May 8, 2020 - link
Also the camera has a typo 1/1.72" imx 686flyingpants265 - Friday, May 8, 2020 - link
And, as usual:No front speakers = No buy. I will never pay money to cup my hands around a brand new expensive phone ever again.
No 3.5mm jack = No buy. Not falling for the scam, sorry.
Waterproofing and OIS aren't dealbreakers for me. Looks like they haven't been ruled out. But Meizu is a Chinese brand, so their warranty support (replacement motherboard? They can burn out) is unknown. So paying $600 for one is probably out of the question.
Let's keep in mind the Realme X is $150 USD with SD710/48mp, that is the new baseline for price/performance. I can't use it because it doesn't support my network bands; I suspect they purposefully omitted them so as not to compete with OnePlus's ridiculous $999 phones.
Alistair - Saturday, May 9, 2020 - link
I really want a headphone jack also, but mainly because we can't get good USB headphones. Heck, if Apple starts making USB airpods problem is solved, the lightning ones are great as usual. Same thing with front spacing speakers. The iPhone has great speakers, uses the earpiece and the bottom to put out better sound than my old front facing speakers.Alistair - Saturday, May 9, 2020 - link
I mean if Apple releases USB earpods, not airpods, I'll probably use those with my Android phones.sonny73n - Sunday, May 10, 2020 - link
Stop BSing. Your comment gives me the chills. You’re lying thru your teeth with every word that comes out of your pipe hole. iDevices’ speakers suck, especially those waterproofed which are impossible to have clean sounds. You sound like a little kid in his own little world with only iPhones. Your hearing is probably damaged now after using Apple earphones earpods for more than a decade.It I’ll ever be forced to use an iPhone, the first thing I’d do is put those garbage earpieces in the trash, unless I can sell them.
Who knows you could be a deceptive Apple shill.
s.yu - Sunday, May 10, 2020 - link
Understand that most people actually have really low standards.Peskarik - Saturday, May 9, 2020 - link
Lots of hardware. But these days software is more important than the physical part.eastcoast_pete - Saturday, May 9, 2020 - link
Not convinced. No 3.5 mm jack (why, in a big, heavy phone?) is one omission, but the thing that gets my second thumb down is the battery capacity. If your phone is in the heavyweight category, make its battery a minimum of 5,000 mAh. For battery, bigger is better, and 5G with an external modem and mm capability plus a higher refresh rate screen both eat power.s.yu - Sunday, May 10, 2020 - link
The bigger why is why they remove the jack even though their market share is miniscule. Sony certainly learn their lesson.Agree with the battery too.
HideOut - Saturday, May 9, 2020 - link
No micro SD mentioned?stab244 - Sunday, May 10, 2020 - link
I hope you guys will be able to obtain both the pro and non pro models to do a comparison between LPDDR4X and LPDDR5 performance. Would be interested in knowing if only for a purely scientific purpose.