Meizu Pro 7 review: It’s more like an Apple Watch integrated into a smartphone

Meizu, which hadn't held a press conference for a long time, finally couldn't hold back at the end of July, and the one it was going to launch was a flagship phone with "Pro" in its name.

Just as the press conference on July 26 opened with music as usual, the ones taking the stage were no longer new bands or rock stars. The Meizu Pro 7 is also a mobile phone that combines old traditions with new elements. It has the MediaTek that will never change, and also has a mind-blowing "painting screen" on the back.

So, is this Meizu flagship worth the several months of waiting?

Extremely fine workmanship creates an unprecedented sense of business

Different from the lively and cheerful Meizu Blue, the Meizu Pro 7 comes in black and gold colors to highlight its calmness. The black version in our hands is black from the outer packaging.

The visual appearance of the front of the Meizu Pro 7 has not changed much from previous Meizu phones, and the oval HOME button is still where it should be.

However, it can be found from the details that the light sensor "Luo Yonghao" version on the top of the front of Meizu Pro 7 is integrated with the earpiece, bringing better design integrity. The overall edge contour of Meizu Pro 7 is also more square than other mobile phones under the brand, catering to the stable style it hopes to create.

In addition, the true business sense of Meizu Pro 7 is still revealed in the design of the back and side frames.

The first is the boldest back design. The addition of the painted screen completely breaks the symmetry of the phone's design, causing the Meizu Pro 7 to give way to functionality in design, putting "whether it can be used" before "whether it looks good", which is obviously the approach of business people who focus on efficiency.

Secondly, the complex and exquisite side frame of Meizu Pro 7 absolutely promotes the meticulousness of business people. This is a "showy" technique presented by the four-layer structure of metal side frame, frame chamfer, injection molding between metal and glass, and 2.5D curved glass. Not to mention whether the grip feel has reached the level of second to none, at least the spirit of craftsmanship is uncompromising.

Don't want to wear a smartwatch? Try a "painting screen"

Undoubtedly, apart from the appearance design, the focus of discussion on Meizu Pro 7 is concentrated on the choice of processor and the newly added painting screen.

In the minds of most consumers, the name of MediaTek is not enough to justify the price of high-end Android phones priced at 3,000 yuan or above. However, taking the high-end version of the Meizu Pro 7 equipped with the Helio X30 chip as an example, the running score of over 14,000 means that the processor performance will definitely not constitute a shortcoming of the product.

If we have to compare the Meizu Pro 7 with other so-called "high-end chip" smartphones, it feels like comparing the difference between 1080P resolution and 2K screen at a five- or six-inch screen size. Parameter control enthusiasts will naturally be very unhappy, but ordinary users cannot obviously notice the difference in daily use. After all, "it's not unusable", and this time Meizu has also given the product an official butter label of "super smooth running of "Honor of Kings"".

It should be noted that according to the official Meizu page, only the 128GB high-end version of Meizu Pro 7 with a built-in Helio X30 processor uses the UFS2.1 flash memory specification, and the price is 500 yuan cheaper. The 64GB standard version of Meizu Pro 7 with a Helio P25 processor has an eMMC5.1 flash memory specification, which does not look so Pro.

Of course, the surprise that Meizu Pro 7 wants to bring to users is not the processor.

Meizu's idea of ​​making a dual-screen phone is different from the YotaPhone that was popular for a while. In terms of function, if YotaPhone hopes to help you add an e-book with an ink screen on the back of the phone, then Meizu Pro 7 can be said to have integrated an Apple Watch into the back of the phone.

Meizu itself seems to be intending to make the painted screen into a smart watch. Whether it is the interface design for displaying time and information, or the dynamic screen saver, it looks familiar to users of various smart watches. What's gratifying is that this "Watch" does not need to be charged separately. In actual experience, it will not have much impact on the battery life of the mobile phone after charging once a day.

However, like various smart watches, in the system settings of Meizu Pro 7, the picture screen cannot provide you with functions that truly bring extended features to the phone, such as displaying exercise status on the picture screen. It may only be aimed at users who find it troublesome to light up the phone screen.

The new way to use the fenêtre screen to attract users may be that you can take selfies with the Meizu Pro 7's rear camera more intuitively. In addition, Meizu has finally caught up with the trend of dual cameras. The fenêtre screen under the dual 12-megapixel cameras provides you with a new option for taking selfies.

Unfortunately, taking selfies with the rear dual cameras involves the problem of the small screen size. Sliding up and down on the screen to activate the rear camera will inevitably leave the dual camera lenses covered with fingerprints. Considering that the Meizu Pro 7 has a 16-megapixel 5-element front camera with an ƒ/2.0 aperture, this operation seems unnecessary.

What does Pro 7 mean to Meizu?

As Meizu's flagship high-end product, the Pro series of smartphones has been a testing ground for Meizu's innovative technologies and ideas in the past two years, from the ring flash that first appeared on the Pro 6, to the Pro 6s's first addition of 3D Press similar to the iPhone 6s 3D Touch in the Android camp, to today's Pro 7's brave move towards dual-screens.

If Lei Jun's Xiaomi mobile phone is now more concerned with constantly finding new spokespersons, then Meizu's spirit of innovation is obviously worth promoting and affirming.

However, we can also see that both the ring flash and 3D Press have disappeared on today's Meizu Pro 7. The painting screen on the Pro 7 needs to create a differentiated experience for today's smartphones, and it seems that there is still great potential to be explored.

Therefore, the Meizu Pro 7 is certainly a smartphone with superb workmanship, worry-free performance and good value for money, but whether it has the strength to become a unique product that can lead the trend of domestic differentiation depends on whether Meizu can give this "painting screen" enough room to grow.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.