Meizu launched its new flagship Meizu 18 series mobile phones in 2021, including Meizu 18 and Meizu 18 Pro. In today’s increasingly fierce competition for high-end mobile phones, can the Meizu 18 series ride the wind and waves? How is it different from previous Meizu-style phones? At present, IGeekphone has obtained the Meizu 18 Pro mobile phone of the Feixue Streamer version. We might as well answer these questions through this review.
Design & Appearance
When you see the Meizu 18 Pro packaging box, you will think that Meizu is still that Meizu, with pure white, simple and restrained decoration, book-like size, and clever page-turning design, all of which are very Meizu. The box accessories are effortless; only the manual, the card pin and the data cable, and the charger are not included.
Picking up the Meizu 18 Pro phone, you can see that this phone uses a hyperboloid front and back with an aluminium alloy middle frame design. Since last year, most flagship phones have adopted similar design solutions, indicating that this design is still more popular.
Look at the details of the phone. Flying Snow Streamer, as the name suggests, is, of course, white. However, the white color of Meizu 18 Pro is still a bit different, and IGeekphone feels that the focus is on “snow” and “light.”
“Snow”, of course, refers to “white.” The white of Meizu 18 Pro is a relatively low-brightness white, which is unassuming but seductive. At the same time, the purity and quality of the white are also good. And “light” is the unique reflective vision brought to the white by the back panel’s AG etching process; the gloss is hot and delicate, like a layer of frost.
The opposite is the white of the camera module, a design with higher brightness and more shining gloss, which forms a certain contrast with the overall style of the back, making the overall back less monotonous. Simultaneously, Meizu also designed a silver polished gasket on the bottom of the camera module to further enhance the phone’s quality.
In general, the design on the back of the Meizu 18 Pro fuselage from Streamer Flying Snow is still very recognizable, and I believe it will be a more sought-after style. Looking at the phone’s front, Meizu 18 Pro is equipped with a 6.7-inch quad-curved micro-curved screen with a narrow frame, a perforated front camera at the top, and a handset a micro-slit design.
The middle frame of the Meizu 18 Pro is made of aluminium alloy, polished in silver, and complements the white on the back. There is only one noise reduction microphone at the top of the fuselage, and the bottom is a speaker, call microphone, USB interface and SIM card slot. There are no buttons on the fuselage’s left side and the volume button and power button on the right side. The Meizu 18 Pro has a body size of 162.5mm×73mm×8.1mm and a weight of 189g. It feels just right, which is relatively light among top flagship phones.
In terms of appearance, Meizu 18 Pro is still superior, especially the white of the streamer flying snow, which looks very seductive. Simultaneously, the mobile phone is also more exquisite in terms of artistry, and it feels solid in hand.
Hardware & Performance
As a new generation flagship machine, the Meizu 18 Pro is naturally equipped with the Snapdragon 888 mobile platform. Its core architecture is 1 x 2.84GHz (ARM’s latest Cortex X1 core) + 3 x 2.4GHz (Cortex A78) + 4 x 1.8GHz (Cortex A78) A55), GPU is Adreno 660, using X60 5G modem baseband, supporting WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2.
Simultaneously, the Meizu 18 Pro in the hands of the IGeekphone also uses 12GB of full blood version of LPDDR5 memory and 256GB UFS 3.1 storage, which will have a good gain for playing games.
When testing the performance of Meizu 18 Pro, IGeekphone first tested it with “GeekBench 4”. It measured Meizu 18 Pro with a single-core score of 4945 points and a multi-core score of 12472 points, which is the normal level of Snapdragon 888.
Next, Igeekphone, “Peace Elite” and “NBA2K20”, conducted further performance tests on Meizu 18 Pro.
The first is “Peace Elite”. With the ultra-high-definition material and various image quality options adjusted to the highest, the editor played the game for about 10 minutes. The whole process was very smooth, and there was almost no frame drop. The actual measured average frame rate during the game is 39.8FPS, and the performance is still excellent.
After the game is over, the body temperature of Meizu 18 Pro is 37.3℃, and you can feel the phone heating, but it is not hot.
Then there is the game “NBA2K20”, which is also played for about 10 minutes at the highest image quality. The game process is also very smooth, without the feeling of stuttering or frame dropping. The average frame rate of the game test can reach 59.7FPS. Basically, there is no fluctuation; it can be said to be silky smooth.
At the end of the “NBA2K20” test, the body temperature of the Meizu 18 Pro reached 41.2°C, and you can feel the surging heat when you hold the phone, but it will not be so hot that it makes you feel uncomfortable. It can be seen that the Snapdragon The fever of 888 is quite considerable.
As a flagship phone, the overall performance of the Meizu 18 Pro will naturally not disappoint. Daily use, gaming and entertainment can be carried out smoothly. As far as the editor’s experience is concerned, there has been no performance drop. , Insufficient situation.
Cameras
The rectangular camera module on the back of the Meizu 18 Pro has many round holes in various sizes, which is a bit dazzling at first glance. Before taking a photo test, let’s distinguish what these cameras are.
Specifically, the top of the left column is a 32-megapixel ultra-wide-angle and macro lens. The sensor is Sony’s IMX616, which can shoot 130° ultra-wide-angle and 2cm macro.
The middle one is a 50-megapixel main camera. The sensor is Samsung’s S5KGN1. The sensor size is 1/1.3 inches. It supports Tetracell four-in-one pixel technology, allowing the unit pixel size to reach 2.4µ. At the same time, this camera also has ƒ/1.9 large aperture. The bottom of the left column is an 8 Megapixel 3x telephoto lens with an aperture of f/2.4.
The top one on the right is the laser module, the middle is a TOF deep-sensing lens from Samsung, which can be used as a night vision device, and the bottom one is the ring flash.
After understanding the Meizu 18 Pro’s basic image parameters, let’s take a look at this phone’s actual camera performance. The first is the daytime environment with sufficient light. IGeekphone took a picture in the park square. You can see that the straight-out proofs tend to be fully exposed, and the picture style is clear and bright, which is a little bit brighter than what you see. Simultaneouphotos’ photos’ dynamic range is also good; the details of the shadow of the building, the sky in the distance, and the exposure are relatively accurate.
As for the resolution, the performance of the Meizu 18 Pro is acceptable. After zooming in on the photo, the details on the people’s clothes watching the court are barely visible, but the letters are not clear.
The Meizu 18 Pro has a 3x optical zoom camera. The editor switched to a 3x optical zoom lens and took another shot. This time the details of the text on the audience’s clothes can be seen clearly. This at least shows that the use of Meizu 18 Pro can shoot far away scenery.
Then there is the ultra-wide-angle lens. Judging from the photos taken by IGeekphone, the ultra-wide-angle field of view of Meizu 18 Pro is wide, and the edges of the picture are almost without distortion, but the resolution of the edges is a bit weak.
For another scene, the editor took a picture in front of the sun shed’s plant booth. You can see that the white kettle on the booth’s right side is slightly overexposed in this photo. The overall picture is still fully exposed, and the colour is still not. It is bright and more realistic.
Then the IGeekphone found a scene with a large backlight, and the top of the plant was facing the sun (through the sun shed). It can be seen that although it is a large backlight, Meizu 18 Pro well shows the dark green colour of plants and the transparency in the sun. The whole part of the sky is not obviously overexposed. The brightness of the dark part on the back of the sun shed, The performance of details and purity can be satisfied. It can be seen that Meizu 18 Pro still has a good performance in the face of such a scene with strong light contrast.
The following photo can also show that the brightness in Zhonggoutang is obviously darker than in the photo. Still, Meizu 18 Pro improves the brightness very well without overexposing the surroundings, and the overall picture is relatively natural. The dynamic range is outstanding.
Next, the Meizu 18 Pro macro lens of the IGeekphone took pictures of the succulents’ interior. The photos showed the details of the interior of the plants at close range. The photos are clear and sharp, with rich details, and the colours are more natural and true. I want to say that this is lower than many. Pixel macro lens is too practical.
Next is the night proof. The following photo was taken at the gate of the community. The real brightness is relatively dim. The brightness of the Meizu 18 Pro is still higher than that of the naked eye. The picture’s colour is bright and bright, but there is some noise in the dark places of the sky and walls. , Billboards and other highlights also overflowed. In terms of resolution, look at the bulletin board after zooming in, and larger text can be seen clearly.
Then, the editor also took a picture using the night scene mode of Meizu 18 Pro. This time the brightness and purity of the picture have been significantly improved. The highlights of the convenience store and neon lights are basically suppressed, and the overall picture has been sharpened. The first feeling will be clearer.
Change another scene, stand on the sky bridge and shoot down. The first impression of Meizu 18 Pro is still acceptable, with sufficient brightness, good picture purity, bright colours, and low glare from street lights, but the effect of highlight suppression is somewhat insufficient, and there are some purple spots near the backlight.
In general, the night shots of Meizu 18 Pro in standard mode are above the pass line, but they are not amazing.
Then let’s take a look at portrait shots. The first is a portrait mode. Meizu 18 Pro supports AI ultra-clear portrait function. This function can use the AI computing power of Snapdragon 888 to improve the effect of portrait shooting, and it can show rich details and texture even in low light environments.
During the test, the IGeekphone chose a dark light environment. As you can see from the photo, although the ambient light is not very sufficient, the Meizu 18 Pro still shows the details of the character’s face very well, and the light and shadow on the face are soft and layered. The restoration of skin colour is also relatively natural. Simultaneously, Meizu 18 Pro is also relatively soft on the blur of the bokeh behind the characters, and there is basically no trace of the algorithm.
There are also selfies in portraits. Meizu 18 Pro has a 44-megapixel front camera with an aperture of f/2.4. The selfie of this phone has a unique feature, which is the backlight selfie.
During the test, the editor turned his back to the searchlight to form a large backlit scene. The front camera of Meizu 18 Pro has completed the challenge of the backlit scene. The straight selfie photos have sufficient facial brightness, and the background is not overexposed. The light is still relatively harmonious, and the transparency of the hair edge being illuminated by the light also comes out. The only disadvantage is that the noise in the dark part of the background is somewhat obvious.
Finally, Meizu 18 Pro also has a feature worth mentioning in video shooting: the super night video, which is actually the video night scene mode. This function uses a high-precision multi-frame synthesis algorithm. With the help of the sixth-generation Snapdragon AIE artificial intelligence engine, it improves video shooting performance in low-light environments by enhancing the brightness of the picture, suppressing overexposure highlights, and removing noise.
During the test, IGeekphone chose an extreme low-light environment. You can watch the comparison video below. The picture taken in the standard model is almost a mass of black. The road, the surrounding trees, and the cars in the distance are basically blurry. , But after the Super Night Video is turned on, these scenes have been photographed, and the noise of the picture is not obvious. It can be seen that the improvement effect of Super Night Video is pronounced.
In summary, the imaging capability of the Meizu 18 Pro is in line with the positioning of its flagship mobile phone. It takes clear and bright pictures during the day and has a good dynamic range of performance. The strong point of taking pictures at nightlies in the night scene mode and ultra-night video is for most consumers. For the writer, such an image performance will not disappoint at least.
Flyme 9
Along with the Meizu 18 series, there is also the new Flyme9 OS, which is naturally the same as the Meizu 18 Pro.
The brand-new Flyme9 has been improved and upgraded in many places. The most intuitive thing is the change of UI interface design. On Flyme9, Meizu adopts the design concept of simplifying visual elements to make the entire system interface cleaner and more concise. For example, the original complex screen fingerprint icon has become a simple small circle. Many functional interfaces inside the system have also introduced new typographic design to avoid a large amount of text accumulation instead of streamlined text, icons and colours to reflect the page’s logic. The way of combining elements makes the functional interface look more refreshing and orderly and naturally more beautiful.
Speaking of beauty, Flyme9 also brings a new Alive wallpaper, which is equivalent to a special live wallpaper, which can connect the wallpaper and the screen display, the lock screen and the home screen, and the whole dynamic effect is from lighting the screen to unlocking. The screen then enters the main interface; it is done in one go, beautiful and generous, it is recommended to try.
If you don’t like the screen effect of Alive wallpaper, you can also change and customize it. Flyme9 has also upgraded the screen display, adding 9 series and more than 40 screen display patterns. If you are not satisfied with these, you can also customize the screen content, including setting personal signatures, adding pictures, moving pictures, figures, etc.
The editor especially likes the function of setting a personalized signature. You can make a personalized signature into a memo. You can list some things that are about to be done but are easy to forget on the screen. As long as you see the phone, you can remind yourself. It is much more practical than many third-party memos. Too much.
Also, Flyme9 contains many optimizations and upgrades in the details of animations, controls, etc., which require careful experience and excavation in daily use, so it is inconvenient to expand here. The following editor focuses on the core upgrade points of Flyme9: purity and safety. Purity refers to Flyme9’s concept of zero advertising, zero push and zero pre-installation.
Zero advertising means that the system’s own application will not have any form of advertising; zero push means no interfering operation to push content, and system application notifications require manual authorization to enable push and zero pre-installation means that the mobile phone is not pre-installed. Install any third-party applications, and some system applications are also reduced to a minimum. These features will continue from the Meizu 18 series to future models. For users who are tired of the system’s own advertising, push and other content, Flyme9 will obviously be very attractive.
Also, Flyme9 focuses on strengthening security attributes and introducing many security features. Here I choose some examples to share with you.
First of all, on Flyme9, the notification permissions and network permissions of the application need to be asked to pass. Application notifications can be controlled in advance to avoid excessive application push notifications. The online authorization inquiry can prevent malicious applications from uploading private information using online permissions. Simultaneously, the system will also initiate AI interception at the front desk to avoid malicious behaviours such as applications waking up each other and chained waking up.
Also, the location permission of the application is strictly restricted. You can choose to obtain the location only when the application is used or allow it once. When the applicant applies for location permission, you can even allow it to access only the approximate location, which reduces the accuracy of location information is obtained.
Also, Flyme9 has the “all-seeing eagle eye” ability, which can remind the application’s sensitive behaviour, whether in the foreground or the background; once the recording, photographing, positioning, and clipboard permissions are called, the system will be in the status bar prompt.
All in all, these many security upgrades can let users use Meizu 18 Pro more at ease and at peace of mind. On Flyme9, there is another important update, which is the small window mode 3.0. Now, the active call out window function supports all applications. Click the “More” button to open any application in the window without adding.
At the same time, when you receive a message to jump between applications, whether it is picture/file-sharing or Aicy recognition, you can use the small window to open it.
Also, the small window mode introduces full gesture support. For example, drag the indicator bar to change the small window’s shape, slide up to float the small window, slide down to make the small window full screen, and so on.
The experience upgrade brought by Flyme9 to Meizu 18 Pro is obviously more than the above. Due to the limited space here, it is inconvenient for the editor to expand. The follow-up IGeekphone will give a special experience on Flyme9. Welcome everyone to keep your attention.
In addition to Flyme9, Meizu 18 Pro itself also has many noteworthy feature upgrades, such as the new underwater fingerprint recognition and unlocking function. Since this phone uses ultrasonic fingerprint recognition’s technical solution, it can be unlocked even underwater.
However, considering that it is rare to unlock the phone completely underwater daily, it is necessary to unlock the phone screen when the phone screen is exposed to water. Hence, the editor sprinkled some water on the Meizu 18 Pro screen during the test and then proceeded. Unlock. The actual test can easily unlock the screen.
Also, the 2K+ Super AMOLED quad-curved micro-curved screen on Meizu 18 Pro improves the daily user experience. This screen supports a resolution of up to 2K level, and at a resolution of 1080P, the refresh rate can reach up to 120Hz, and you can get a good visual impression whether you are chasing dramas or playing games in your daily life.
The last thing worth mentioning is the mEngine 4.0 haptic engine equipped with Meizu 18 Pro. On the 18 Pro, the mEngine tactile engine is upgraded again, the vibration volume is increased by 15%, and the vibration feel is more comfortable.
The better application of mEngine 4.0 tactile engine is in games, such as “Peace Elite”. Every time you shoot, jump from a height, attack, etc., it will be accompanied by the mobile phone’s delicate vibration, which can greatly enhance the game’s immersion.
Battery
The Meizu 18 Pro mobile phone is equipped with a large battery with a capacity of 4500mAh, which in theory should have good battery life. IGeekphone also conducted a three-hour battery life test on this phone. During the test, the screen brightness of the Meizu 18 Pro was maintained at 50%, and the system volume was at 50%.
The performance of Meizu 18 Pro in the endurance test is as follows:
15 minutes of viewing the webpage consume 2% of electricity. Scan Weibo for 15 minutes and consume 2% of electricity. 15 minutes of talk, power consumption 1%. Wearing headphones to listen to music online for 20 minutes consumes 1% of the power. Play 1080P video online for 45 minutes while wearing headphones, which consumes 7% of the power. Play the game “Peace Elite” with headphones for 30 minutes, and consume 10% of the electricity. Use WeChat for 20 minutes (10 minutes to chat, 10 minutes to scan Moments), power consumption 3%. Brushing the IGeekphone for 20 minutes consumes 2% of electricity. After a 180-minute battery life test, the remaining power of the Meizu 18 Pro is 72%, and the battery life is excellent.
Read Also: Meizu 18 In-Depth Review: Camera Beast Flagship Phone
Verdict
After experiencing it for a period of time, IGeekphone wants to use “stable” and “fresh” to summarize the Meizu 18 Pro phone. As the top flagship mobile phone of Meizu in the first year of the year, Meizu 18 Pro’s strategy in all aspects is “stable”. It adopts the more mature design on the market, including Snapdragon 888, 2K and a high refresh screen, which is enough. The image configuration used includes fast charging and wireless charging. There is no eye-catching innovation or story. There is no innovative product concept. Consumers can give what they want. This makes Meizu 18 Pro more stable. This may be the difference between Meizu 18 Pro and before.
And “freshness” is the feeling brought by the use of Flyme9. In interaction and daily experience, you can still feel the sense of art and freshness of Meizu from the 18 Pro. This is their gene.
Meizu 18 Pro is still competitive enough in this year’s flagship mobile phone camp. As for how to choose between Meizu 18 and Meizu 18 Pro, combined with the Meizu 18 mobile phone experience from IGeekphone, I think the positioning of these two mobile phones is still very different. If you like light and thin, comfortable feel, small screen For high performance, you can choose Meizu 18. If you like top-of-the-line configuration, stronger and more complete image power, and better design, then Meizu 18 Pro is obviously a better choice.