Meizu M3 Note: Needs a lot of work

The phone has many kinks it needs to improve upon

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery - this is what Apple might have been thinking when they lay their eyes on the Meizu M3 Note. The phone can easily be mistaken for an iPhone 6s with its metal body and a single soft touch home button. So, the fashion conscious can breathe easy as it is a beautiful looking phone.

It comes with a 5.5-inch full HD display with a resolution of 1,080x1,920p. The display is sharp and the colours are vivid. However, it is almost impossible to use it under direct sunlight. So even if the brightness is cranked up to the maximum, it would be pretty difficult to use the phone on a bright sunny day.

Under the hood, it houses a MediaTek Helio P10 processor with 3GB of RAM. Injustice, the mobile game, is categorised as RAM-heavy. So, it is natural for me to check a phone's performance with the help of this game. However, I couldn't play it for long. The device started heating up pretty quick and there were noticeable lags. As far as performance goes, if your needs are heavy duty, this phone is not for you.

The phone runs Android 5.1 Lollipop along with Meizu's Flyme OS. Flyme looks nothing like stock Android and the part that irked me was the absence of stock apps such as Gmail and YouTube. It doesn't have a dedicated app drawer either. Though an Android phone, the OS is more likely to remind you of Apple's iOS.

The home/back button on the front doubles up as a fingerprint sensor. Setting it up is a bit irksome and the sensor is not very responsive either. To unlock the screen, you have to first press the power button and then use your fingerprint. Most smartphones with fingerprint sensors usually bypass this step and lets you unlock the screen with your finger.

The phone comes with a 13-megapixel (MP) primary and a 5MP secondary camera. The output pictures were good but in some cases there was some loss of colour. The pictures were also grainy. The phone's camera will not attract photography enthusiasts for sure.

One thing I liked about the M3 Note was its sound quality. I played music of various genres and the output was very pleasing. From Iron Maiden's Hallowed Be Thy Name to Chopin's Raindrops, the phone managed to give the optimum output.

But there is a silver lining. The Meizu M3 Note comes with a 4,100 mAh battery back. The non-removable battery doesn't buckle under pressure. On a full charge, the phone lasted for two days with heavy usage. Of course, the heating issue might dissuade you to use it for a prolonged time. But if your requirement is limited to making and receiving calls, checking emails and messaging, the battery back-up will ensure a smooth ride.

At Rs 9,999, the Meizu M3 Note comes under the budget smartphone segment. But with the features phones in the segment are coming out with, they will overshadow the M3.