The Meizu M5s runs on Flyme 5.2.13.0 OS, which was built on top of an Android 6.0 Marshmallow core. Flyme, just like Apple's iOS, revolves around a single-tier UI - every app or widget resides directly on the homescreen without an additional app drawer that is typical for Android. All other system features can be configured through either the Settings menu or within the powerful Security app.
In China, many Meizu models come with what they call Yun OS, which is a forked version of Android with China-exclusive services to replace everything Google's. This is the reason why Meizu is not a registered Google Services partner. So Meizu can't ship even their international models with the Google APIs and apps, which are must-haves in the Western markets.
Meizu has found a workaround to give you those crucial apps - the Hot Apps application on your homescreen is a mini appstore of sorts and it would instantly recommend you downloading something called Google installer, which would add everything you need to enjoy a normal Android experience and would give you access to the Google Play store.
The lockscreen • the homescreen • the notifications drawer • toggles • Security app
Flyme offers a variety of customization options, including themes. There are lots of useful system-wide gestures, which you can use even when the screen is turned off. You have advanced features such as a Do-Not-Disturb mode and scheduled power on and off among others.
Themes • themes • themes • scheduled power on/off • DND mode
Flyme 5 supports multi-view, which is managed via the task switching interface. The supported apps have a 'Multi' button, and you can activate a split-screen app right away. Unfortunately, the apps to support multi-view are only two - Video and Settings. Hopefully, this list will grow bigger with the upcoming firmware updates.
Task switcher • multi-view in action
Meizu provides all the necessary apps to get you started - gallery, multimedia players, calendar, weather, among other necessities, but you can find everything else in the Play Store.
Meizu M5s is powered by the dated MediaTek MT6753 chipset, which despite its model number, is one step behind the MT6750 inside the M5. It packs an octa-core Cortex-A53 processor clocked at 1.3GHz (vs 1.5GHz for the M5). The GPU is even less special - the Mali-T720 MP3 (read tri-core). At least there are 3GB of RAM, which is plenty.
While the GPU got an additional core, it's an older model, which is a lesser performer than the Mali-T860 inside the M5, and lacks support for Vulkan, Open CL 2.0, and OpenGL ES 3.2, which essentially means - all the latest graphics APIs, which provide the more advanced visual effects in games.
With that said, the phone performs snappily in everyday tasks and we didn't experience any slowdown or lagging in everyday operation - not even while a bunch of apps were updating in the background.
Higher is better
Higher is better
The graphics performance, as we suspected, took a hit and dropped even below the M5's already underwhelming numbers. While the offscreen raw scores are nothing to talk about, the onscreen fps do improve because of the lower 720p resolution, and thus the M5s ends up on par with the Redmi 4.
Higher is better
Higher is better
Higher is better
Higher is better
Higher is better
Compound benchmarks such as AnTuTu and BaseMark OS II give us a better understanding of the overall performance. Here, the Meizu M5s stands better, just a step behind the competition, but the gap isn't that big and probably unnoticeable under normal use.
Higher is better
Higher is better
The benchmark tests show the Meizu M5s as an average performer, close to the M5 model, so it will provide an acceptable mid-ranger user experience. We were hoping for a small upgrade, at least up to Helio P10, instead of another demotion, but that's what we got. Meanwhile, the competition is ready to give us that extra bit of oomph at the same price. So if you are looking to use this phone for gaming, you might be better off looking at alternative devices.
The Meizu M5s delivered nicely clean output when hooked up to an active external amplifier. The smartphone posted excellent scores for clarity, and decent volume levels.
Plug in a pair of headphones and the volume plummets to some of the lowest levels we’ve seen. Surprisingly, clarity remains virtually unchanged and the scores are once again excellent, but the output is so quiet we can’t give full marks here.
Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
+0.02, -0.11 | -91.3 | 92.0 | 0.017 | 0.020 | -86.1 | |
+0.02, -0.10 | -91.4 | 91.0 | 0.020 | 0.029 | -76.2 | |
+0.02, -0.12 | -91.8 | 92.9 | 0.0055 | 0.0097 | -89.8 | |
+0.38, -0.10 | -91.3 | 92.3 | 0.0073 | 0.256 | -55.1 | |
+0.04, -0.02 | -93.0 | 93.1 | 0.0018 | 0.0085 | -93.8 | |
+0.05, -0.02 | -92.7 | 92.8 | 0.0023 | 0.054 | -52.4 | |
+0.10, -0.03 | -94.2 | 94.0 | 0.0019 | 0.0064 | -89.3 | |
+0.30, -0.07 | -92.5 | 93.0 | 0.810 | 0.271 | -31.3 | |
+0.03, -0.30 | -86.6 | 83.6 | 0.0017 | 0.049 | -91.1 | |
+0.06, -0.03 | -92.4 | 92.4 | 0.0018 | 0.021 | -88.2 | |
+0.06, -0.10 | -92.4 | 92.3 | 0.0015 | 0.0093 | -80.9 | |
+0.03, -0.11 | -92.3 | 92.3 | 0.0011 | 0.012 | -77.0 |
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
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