A deeper exploration may be related to the limited market space of small-screen flagships, and the cost of the small-screen flagships is not cost-effective for the head manufacturers to spend a lot of effort. And this is indeed an opportunity for Meizu, which is currently more flexible in size. While it is fighting head-on with the large-screen flagship Meizu 18 Pro and head manufacturers, it will launch the Meizu 18 with all its strength and not “castration and reduction” at the right time.
It can be regarded as a new way to seek opportunities in the almost blank market segment of the flagship small screen, which is indeed the best strategy. These days, while evaluating the Meizu 18 Pro, we also have an in-depth experience of the small-screen flagship Meizu 18, and then we will share it with you.
Design & Appearance
Meizu 18 is a model that requires hands-on experience to perceive its ingenuity easily. With a 6.2-inch screen, 162g body weight, 8.18mm body thickness, and eight-curved micro-arc design, the hand feel to the extreme—the fit.
The front of the Meizu 18 is a 20-megapixel Samsung ISOCELL Slim 3T2 lens. This is different from the 44-megapixel Samsung GH1 of the Meizu 18 Pro, but it is designed with the same aperture and position.
It is worth mentioning that the Meizu 18 and Meizu 18 Pro series use the fourth-generation “dual” superlinear speakers, and the sound cavity is deeply customized. The metal middle frame smoothly transitions to the front and rear curved panels.
The back of the AG frosted glass phone, Meizu 18 rear-mounted three-camera solution, there are three colours of Taxue, Waitfeng, and Crossing. In terms of interface, Meizu 18 has only a Type-C interface, and the SIM card slot is set at the bottom.
Hardware & Performance
Meizu 18 did not reduce the performance due to its compact body but carried out crazy stacking. It is equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip, the same as the 18 Pro + full-blooded version of LPDDR5 memory + UFS 3.1 flash memory for the Android camp. The top-out combination, such a full-fledged configuration, is quite luxurious, and it is rare to see among the flagship models with small screens.
CPU performance test
Snapdragon 888 is manufactured using a brand-new Samsung 5nm process, which is the most advanced today with TSMC’s 5nm. Qualcomm has emphasized that Samsung’s process can meet its requirements regarding technology, cost, and functionality.
There are still eight cores in the CPU. Still, a new architecture layout has been upgraded, especially the world’s first ARM’s first super core architecture, Cortex-X1, which claims to be 20% higher in theoretical performance than A78 and even higher in machine learning performance. 100%.
In the Snapdragon 888, the X1 core frequency is the traditional 2.84GHz, with a 1MB secondary cache. Simultaneously, there are three performance-level cores of the A78 architecture; both clocked at 2.40GHz, each with 512KB secondary cache, and four A55 architecture energy-efficient cores, both clocked at 1.80GHz, each with 128KB secondary cache. These cores share a 4MB L3 cache, 3MB system cache, and the entire chip’s total cache capacity reaches 8MB.
Single-core 1128, multi-core 3660
It can be seen from the Geekbench test that the Snapdragon 888 platform on Meizu 18 is basically the same as the 18 Pro we tested before. Also, the Snapdragon 865 models we currently see can reach up to single-core 918 and multi-core 3386, which means that the Snapdragon 888 equipped in the Meizu 18 Pro has increased by about 22% and 5%, respectively.
GPU performance test
This generation of Snapdragon 888 integrates Adreno 660 GPU. Qualcomm once claimed that graphics rendering performance has increased by 35%, and energy efficiency has increased by 20%. Simultaneously, the display technology has been greatly enhanced, including OLED display consistency, image quality improvement, Demura (brightness and colour unevenness correction), sub-pixel rendering, etc.
In the GFXbench test, the performance of Meizu 18 is basically the same as that of 18 Pro, with its 3.0 1080p off-screen score in Manhattan reaching 157FPS; the Aztec ruins Vulkan 1080p/regular off-screen score of 81 FPS surpasses A13.
Antutu
AnTuTu scores Meizu 18 can stay at the same level as Meizu 18 Pro
Storage test
The Meizu 18’s flash memory test results are basically the same as the Meizu 18 Pro we tested before. The continuous read and write speeds have soared to 1963.41MB/s and 801MB/s, respectively, which is an increase of at least about 30% compared to the conventional UFS 3.0 flash memory.
It is worth mentioning that Meizu 18 and Meizu 18 Pro use the same “full blood version” LPDDR5 memory-the main frequency is increased to 3200MHz, and the data transmission rate is increased from 5500Mbps to 6400Mbps. This is the current highest-speed mobile phone memory specification. High-frequency LPDDR5 flash memory and UFS 3.1 high-speed flash memory are a must for the Snapdragon 888 platform.
Temperature measurement
In future mobile phone evaluations, we will begin to introduce temperature measurement, specifically the Antutu running test in a constant temperature indoor environment, using a temperature measuring gun to measure the fuselage’s highest temperature before and after the running. The test was carried out in an environment with a room temperature of about 17°C. The maximum temperature of the Meizu 18 fuselage was 23.8°C before the run, but it rose to 34°C after the run.
The screen experience
As we said in the preface, the market for small-screen flagships is limited. The cost of making small-screen flagships by head manufacturers is a bit uneconomical. I still remember that the iPhone SE, which was born to clear the iPhone 5, was on sale. Initially sinking into the “Yellow Pingmen”, we can see a cold reception.
However, Meizu 18 did not apply the “knife method” because of the small screen. In the eyes of Meizu, the small-screen Meizu 18 still can’t lose the aura of the top flagship of the year, so the whole series uses Samsung’s original exclusive Super AMOLED screen, the new E4 screen display substrate and pixel diamond arrangement, the highest 2K resolution and reach With a pixel density of 563ppi, it provides perhaps the most refined display effect among smartphones.
In addition to brand-new materials and fine display effects, the Super AMOLED screen on Meizu 18 also has 4096-level automatic brightness adjustment, 5000000:1 ultra-high contrast, up to 120Hz ultra-high refresh rate and 240Hz touch sampling rate, 1300nit peak brightness, No less than the large screen Meizu 18 Pro among the dual flagships.
Of course, like Meizu 18 Pro, Meizu 18 does not support a 2K resolution and 120Hz refresh rate at the same time. Under 1080P resolution, three gears of 60Hz, 90Hz and 120Hz can be opened, and only a 60Hz refresh rate can be selected under 2K+ resolution.
It is worth mentioning that all Meizu 18 series have added the new function of “display as you see”. The mobile phone can sense the ambient colour temperature through the mobile phone’s built-in sensor and adjust the mobile phone screen’s colour temperature in real-time according to the ambient light conditions. The purpose is to make it comfortable for the naked eye.
Cameras
The two phones Meizu 18 and Meizu 18 Pro, are different in terms of images, each with its own ideas. The Meizu 18 has a limited internal stacking space and cannot be stuffed into the super-outsole Samsung GN1 as the main camera like the 18 Pro, emphasising practical balance. It does not make any compromises on key details such as OIS anti-shake.
The main camera of Meizu 18 is a 6400W pixel IMX682, and even customized SMA OIS like the 18 Pro. The machine also has a Samsung S5K3P9SX ultra-wide angle, 800W pixel OV08A10 telephoto, no round-up lens for the whole body, and all have the rainbow soft algorithm. Tuning.
With insufficient sunlight, the 64-megapixel main camera of Meizu 18 brings a very conspicuous resolution. Insufficient daylight, it has excellent detail performance, which is not inferior to the Meizu 18 Pro we tested before. Still, the former Due to the larger aperture, the edge resolution drop will be more obvious.
The ultra-wide-angle lens of Meizu18 has a 122° field of view, and 16 million pixels can also guarantee the picture quality of the film. And Meizu 18 also covers the telephoto end’s image capabilities; its 8 million pixel telephoto lens can support 3x optical zoom and 30x digital zoom.
It is worth mentioning that Meizu18 even added SMA OIS, memory metal optical image stabilization. Moreover, the SMA OIS mechanical structure is located between the traditional auto-focus (AF) element and the image sensor. Manufacturers must customize the SMA shape memory alloy motor to match the sensor’s auto-focus design.
This means that the SMA OIS structure that appears on the main camera of Meizu 18 is also customized, indeed, at any cost. DarkVision’s ultimate night scene combined with memory metal optical image stabilization works together, so that Meizu 18’s performance in low-light environments has also been significantly improved, and the bright and dark details are preserved.
Battery life
Meizu18 is equipped with a 4000 mAh battery that supports 36W Super mCharge (wired). Since this series no longer comes with a charger, we will not conduct a charging test this time. Next, we will conduct a simple test of its battery life through online videos and mobile games.
I use the Bilibili client to play online barrage video with 30% volume and 75% brightness. According to the monitored current information, it can be estimated that the online video life of Meizu 18 under test conditions can reach about 10.4 hours, which is basically the same as the Meizu 18 Pro we tested before.
The author entered the “Peace Elite” training field at 30% sound volume and 75% brightness and turned on the limit frame rate. According to the monitored current information, it can be estimated that the game life of Meizu 18 under test conditions can reach about 4.4 hours, which is slightly worse. For the Meizu18 Pro we tested before, given that the battery capacity is 500mAh less, such a gap is reasonable.
Read Also: Red Magic 6 Gaming Phone Review: 165Hz Screen, Powerful Snapdragon 888
Verdict
In the current mobile phone market, large-screen flagships are not uncommon. One grabbing a lot of them and sweeping many of them makes small-screen flagships increasingly rare and nostalgic.
In this context, Meizu 18 seems to be quite rare. It is a rare flagship model designed for “small screen parties” and users who love lightweight bodies, and on this basis, it is full of uncompromising blood. The flagship performance, the incomparable imaging system, and even the ultra-high refresh rate of 2K+ resolution of up to 120Hz have all made no trade-offs.
Especially in terms of appearance, Meizu18 adopts a four-curved micro-arc design, making the original compact body appear more slender. The curved back design and AG glass material greatly enhance the grip. This is a kind of experience that needs to be personally experienced. It feels refreshing, and the weight of the Meizu 18 is only 162g, which is so light that people returned to the period when the willows were everywhere before the first year of 5G. It has been a long time.
Since the smaller the display area, the less sensitive the user is to the screen quality’s sensory experience, so the screen materials used to be the place where small-screen mobile phones often shrink in the past. However, Meizu 18 did not apply any knife method here. This 2K+ resolution Super AMOLED screen not only has an ultra-high refresh rate of up to 120Hz but also uses a new E4 luminescent material.
To retain some of the iconic features of Meizu, such as the fourth-generation dual super linear speaker of the same model as the 18 Pro, the horizontal X-axis linear motor is also available.
The most surprising thing is that Meizu 18’s incompetence in terms of performance specifications-Snapdragon 888 platform + full-blood version of LPDRR5 + UFS 3.1, the actual test ran out of more than 700,000 points in Antutu, it may be Due to the compact structure of the fuselage, this performance release is not the highest among the same chip models, but it is no suspense to rank among the first echelon of the Android camp.
The small mini body limits the battery capacity of Meizu18 to 4000mAh. Compared with the Pro version, it lacks a wireless charging module. For the same reason, the imaging system cannot be inserted into a large-sized main camera like Samsung GN1, but there is no makeup. Camera + ultra wide-angle + telephoto will fully cover common focal lengths. However, these parameter differences will not have any impact on actual use. Instead, the small body has brought a better experience.
Meizu 18 has flashing highlights common to the Meizu 18 series, such as fingerprints under the ultrasonic screen. This solution does not need to emit visible light at all and even supports unlocking with water; the new Flyme 9 has made a feat of 0 ads, 0 push, and 0 pre-install, which Is the beginning of Meizu’s future mobile phone products completely abandoning the Internet advertising revenue. For Flyme 9, we have already had a detailed evaluation experience; you can go to learn more.
In general, if you are a small-screen mobile phone enthusiast and are very sensitive to performance, screen, details, quality, system, etc., then the Meizu 18, which is sold at 4,399 yuan, can be said to be one of the ideal choices.