Meizu M3 Max review: A different note

Introduction

The Meizu M3 Max is one of the latest additions to Meizu's m3 midrange series. It's two months old already, but we didn't want to miss the opportunity to present this phablet to our readers, especially with the shopping season hitting some highs lately.

Instead of our usual long-form review routine, we'll see that this review is different. Our goal was to give you our impressions in a shorter, condensed manner but without sacrificing the performance assessment and the results from the full tests we normally perform. We hope you enjoy it.

Meizu M3 Max at a glance:

• Metal unibody; 6.0" 1080p IPS display of 367ppi
• MediaTek Helio P10 chipset: octa-core processor, Mali-T860MP2 GPU, 3GB of RAM
• 13MP camera, two-tone LED flash; 1080p @30fps; 5MP front-facing camera
• 64GB of built-in storage, microSD slot
• mTouch v2.1 Home button with a fingerprint scanner
• 4,100 mAh battery, fast charging (100% in 75 minutes)
• Android Marshmallow 6.0 OS with Flyme 5.2

The m3 note fans will surely recognize in the M3 Max everything that made the note popular. Besides the bigger screen, there are no apparent novelties - even the microUSB port is still in tact.

Hardware

So, the M3 Max is the biggest smartphone Meizu has ever done with a beefy 6" display at 1080p resolution. Being a member of the m3 series meant it has inherited pretty much everything from its siblings and, indeed, the M3 Max doesn't offer much else than a bigger screen over the m3 note.

The retail box of the Meizu M3 Max includes only the basics - a fast 24W charger plug and a microUSB cable. There are no headphones but this seems to be the trend with the Chinese phones lately.

Meizu m3 max

The phablet is all-metal in the luxury kind of way - there are no big plastic strips at the back, just two tiny antenna lines. A glass covers the front with 2.5D edges - it's probably a Dinorex T2X-1, but Meizu didn't share any specifics.

The 6.0" screen has an IPS matrix of 1080p resolution or in other words 367ppi density. Its viewing angles are close to perfection, very wide and with no color distortion, though its sunlight legibility is about average with a score of 2.447.

Sunlight contrast ratio

• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
  4.615
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  4.439
• OnePlus 3
  4.424
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  4.376
• HTC One A9
  4.274
• Samsung Galaxy Note7
  4.247
• Samsung Galaxy A3
  4.241
• OnePlus 3T
  4.232
• Google Pixel XL
  4.164
• ZTE Axon 7
  4.154
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  4.124
• Samsung Galaxy Note5
  4.09
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  4.019
• Vivo Xplay5 Elite
  3.983
• OnePlus X
  3.983
• Oppo R7s
  3.964
• Apple iPhone 7
  3.964
• Huawei P9 Plus
  3.956
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
  3.918
• Samsung Galaxy C5
  3.911
• Samsung Galaxy C7
  3.896
• Samsung Galaxy A5
  3.895
• Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
  3.879
• Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
  3.873
• Samsung Galaxy A8
  3.859
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
  3.817
• Motorola Moto X (2014)
  3.816
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
  3.802
• Xiaomi Redmi Pro
  3.798
• LG V20 Max auto
  3.798
• Sony Xperia XZ
  3.795
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
  3.789
• Apple iPhone 6s
  3.783
• Meizu Pro 5
  3.781
• Microsoft Lumia 650
  3.772
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  3.756
• Oppo F1 Plus
  3.709
• Vivo X5Pro
  3.706
• Sony Xperia X Compact
  3.694
• Apple iPhone SE
  3.681
• Samsung Galaxy A7
  3.679
• Meizu PRO 6
  3.659
• BlackBerry Priv
  3.645
• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  3.588
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  3.53
• Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
  3.523
• Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
  3.523
• Acer Jade Primo
  3.521
• Microsoft Lumia 950
  3.512
• Oppo R7 Plus
  3.499
• nubia Z11
  3.466
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  3.422
• Meizu MX5
  3.416
• LG V20
  3.402
• Oppo R9s
  3.352
• Oppo R7
  3.32
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  3.276
• Samsung Galaxy J2
  3.235
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  3.234
• Xiaomi Mi Note 2
  3.228
• Motorola Moto X Play
  3.222
• Huawei P9
  3.195
• Lenovo Vibe Shot
  3.113
• Motorola Moto X Force
  3.105
• LG Nexus 5X
  3.092
• Huawei Mate S
  3.073
• Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
  3.065
• Sony Xperia X
  2.989
• Huawei Mate 8
  2.949
• Xiaomi Redmi 3S
  2.913
• Sony Xperia XA Ultra
  2.906
• LG G5
  2.905
• HTC One S
  2.901
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  2.884
• Sony Xperia Z5
  2.876
• Microsoft Lumia 550
  2.851
• Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
  2.803
• Sony Xperia Z5 compact
  2.784
• Meizu MX6
  2.751
• LG V10
  2.744
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  2.735
• Sony Xperia M5
  2.69
• Huawei P9 Lite
  2.679
• Vivo V3Max
  2.659
• Xiaomi Mi Mix
  2.658
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  2.641
• Sony Xperia XA
  2.609
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus
  2.582
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
  2.582
• Xiaomi Mi 4c
  2.574
• LeEco Le Max 2
  2.567
• Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
  2.563
• Microsoft Lumia 640
  2.563
• Lenovo Moto G4
  2.544
• Oppo F1
  2.528
• Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
  2.525
• Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
  2.506
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  2.503
• Oppo F1s
  2.481
• Motorola Moto G
  2.477
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  2.473
• Huawei G8
  2.471
• Huawei nova
  2.467
• Sony Xperia Z
  2.462
• Lenovo Vibe K5
  2.459
• Meizu M3 Max
  2.447
• Huawei Honor 7
  2.406
• Sony Xperia E5
  2.386
• ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
  2.382
• Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
  2.378
• HTC 10
  2.378
• Meizu m1 note
  2.362
• Huawei nova plus
  2.329
• HTC One E9+
  2.305
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  2.272
• Apple iPhone 4S
  2.269
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  2.254
• Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
  2.253
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
  2.249
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  2.235
• Xiaomi Mi Note
  2.234
• Motorola Moto G (2014)
  2.233
• LG Nexus 5
  2.228
• Huawei P8
  2.196
• Huawei Honor 6
  2.169
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  2.166
• OnePlus Two
  2.165
• HTC One X
  2.158
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
  2.145
• LG Aka
  2.145
• Archos 50 Diamond
  2.134
• Xiaomi Redmi Note
  2.119
• Acer Liquid X2
  2.084
• Huawei P8lite
  2.078
• Moto G 3rd gen max manual
  2.026
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  2.001
• Xiaomi Mi Max
  1.996
• Sony Xperia E4g
  1.972
• OnePlus One
  1.961
• Meizu m3 note
  1.923
• Meizu m2 note
  1.892
• BlackBerry Leap
  1.892
• ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
  1.759
• Sony Xperia U
  1.758
• Asus Zenfone Selfie
  1.68
• Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
  1.675
• ZTE Nubia Z9
  1.659
• Jolla Jolla
  1.605
• Motorola Moto E
  1.545
• Sony Xperia M
  1.473
• HTC Desire C
  1.3
• Sony Xperia C
  1.283
• Meizu MX
  1.221
• Sony Xperia E
  1.215

The 6" display has a maximum brightness of 450 nits and an excellent contrast at 1:976. The last good surprise came with the color rendering - the phone offers very accurate color representation out of the box with average DeltaE of 4.4.

Display test	100% brightness
	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio
Meizu M3 Max	0.46	449	976
Meizu m3 note	0.52	425	816
Meizu m1 note	0.65	562	867
Meizu m1 metal	0.50	390	780
Sony Xperia XA Ultra	0.50	531	1071

Below the screen is the iconic for the Meizu phones all-in-one mTouch key. It offers touch functionality as well as a press action like a regular button. Finally, it has an embedded fingerprint scanner though it's not of the always-on variety.

The mTouch key • handling the М3 Мax

The M3 Max has the same 4,100 mAh battery as the m3 note, and it scored an excellent 100-hour endurance rating in our battery test. The battery supports MediaTek's Pump Express 3.0 rapid charging, and the supplied charger has a maximum power output of 24W.

Meizu M3 Max is a dual-SIM phone, but it uses a hybrid slot so you would have to make the choice of either a second SIM or a microSD card. The phone comes with 64GB storage, though, so you probably won't need the memory card option.

The busy bottom • the microUSB port and the loudspeaker • the SIM and microSD hybrid slot

Finally, the M3 Max has a single speaker at its bottom, and its loudness turned out good. It isn't the loudest around, but on a positive note, its output quality is clean, crisp, and with deep enough bass.

Speakerphone test	Voice, dB	Pink noise/ Music, dB	Ringing phone, dB	Overall score
Meizu m3 note	66.5	64.6	71.7	Average
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4	64.2	67.2	76.9	Good
Meizu m1 metal	68.3	66.6	73.7	Good
Meizu M3 Max	62.7	70.3	84.5	Good
Sony Xperia XA Ultra	88.9	79.3	82.7	Excellent