Meizu M3 Max review

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Meizu may not have the same level of global brand recognition as Huawei or Xiaomi, but that hasn’t stopped them from releasing great affordable smartphones like the M3 Note. While most new smartphones tend to have screen sizes around 5.5″, Meizu’s recently released M3 Max takes it up a notch to 6.0″ for a theoretically better media consumption experience.

Recent Meizu coverage

• Meizu Band hands on
• Meizu M5 Note announcement
• Meizu M5 announcement

So, is the M3 Max the new king of the large-smartphone market? Or does it fall short in key areas? Let’s take a deep dive with our comprehensive Meizu M3 Max review!

Design

The M3 Max’s design doesn’t pack any big surprises, but that shouldn’t be taken as a negative. Just as is the case with most Meizu device we’ve used, build quality is excellent. The phone’s body is constructed entirely of a metal unibody, which offers a solid and tank-like feel.

The cold feel of aluminum and well polished looks of the M3 Max are also difficult to ignore. The chamfered edges and subtle antenna lines are nice touches, and although the overall design can seem generic and iPhone-like, there’s no doubt that it showcases a level of “premium-ness” that has been steadily creeping into this price category.

There are a few drawbacks to this design, however. The side-to-back chamfers are simply not enough to disguise the M3 Max’s boxy uncurved body, and the side buttons are not tactilely differentiated, making it somewhat difficult to find the correct button.

The phone’s larger size is also an important factor to consider, as it can make one-handed use quite challenging. With that said, this could also be considered a positive, as the M3 Max’s 6.0″ display is very nice for watching videos or playing games. It’s an inevitable trade-off, but one that will surely please some while disappointing others.

Instead of utilizing the three-key layout found on many other Android smartphones, the M3 Max incorporates a single physical home button that functions as both home and back. Meizu calls it mTouch, and, although it does take a day or two to get used to, it’s an ingenious way of handling navigation: press down for home, tap for back.

mTouch is an ingenious way of handling navigation

The physical home button also functions as a fast and accurate fingerprint reader. This is an increasingly indispensable feature, and Meizu’s implementation is excellent.

You may be wondering, “but what do I do for multitasking?” Well, for multitasking, you simply swipe up from the bezel on either side of the home button. The menu scales into place as you swipe up, revealing the open apps. It feels like a much more intuitive way of interacting with the phone compared to a traditional layout.

Display

The M3 Max redeems its name with its very large 6.0″ 1080P IPS display. This display isn’t overly impressive, but certainly does the job. It’s reasonably bright for indoor use, offers fairly accurate color reproduction, and is great for what the phone is designed for: media.

It’s important to keep in mind the phone’s price

It could be better in some areas such as sunlight readability or viewing angles, but it’s important to keep in mind the phone’s price. This is clearly placed in low-to-midrange territory, so it would be a bit unreasonable to expect something like a Quad HD AMOLED panel.