In an audacious move, Meizu M2 Note — one of the best full-HD phones in the mid-range, has been launched in India at just Rs 9,999 – well below the expected price of Rs 11,999.
The phone will be available on Amazon India from Aug 10. Registrations will open very soon.
The move is likely to roast its competitors in the 10,000 price band as the phone is now arguably the best one on offer at that price range and overshadows the Lenovo K3 Note and the Yu Yureka Plus (price Rs 8,999) with its premium looks and superior specifications.
The Meizu M2 Note and its predecessor M1 Note have had good reviews from experts and users alike due to their excellent displays. Their biggest drawback has been that the M1 Note did not have expandable memory.
The Meizu M2 Note has solved that problem to some extent by allowing users to place a MicroSD card instead of a second SIM in the SIM-tray.
Meizu does not make space for a separate MicroSD card slot simply because doing so will ‘spoil’ the looks of the phone.
Unlike Lenovo K3 Note, which looks rather plain and quite like a budget phone, the Meizu M2 Note is as much about looks as it is about specifications and price.
Meizu, a Chinese smartphone brand just like Xiaomi, Huawei and OnePlus has had a relatively low-profile entry into India unlike Xiaomi, which had a ‘big bang’ entry with its cut-throat pricing of Mi3. However, Xiaomi lost much of the excitement around its brand in India when it launched Mi4 at an unexpectedly high price.
Meizu’s case has been rather different. It’s entry has been low profile, but with the M2 being priced at just Rs 9,999, the Chinese brand is sure to set the cat amongst the pigeons of the mid-range market.
The biggest difference between the M2 Note and its two main competitors — Lenovo K3 and Yureka Plus — is in looks, and anyone who compares these three phones side by side in a store would be drawn to the M2 instantly due to the sleek and expensive appearance.
Even otherwise, the M2 Note is superior to the K3 Note and Yureka Plus in specifications.
Primarily, the Meizu model enjoys superiority in three areas in addition to looks:
PROCESSOR + CDMA SUPPORT: The M2 comes with a newer processor -MediaTek MT6753, which is the successor to the MediaTek MT6752 found in the Lenovo K3 Note. The Yu Yureka Plus, on the other hand, comes with a Snapdragon 615 processor, which is about 20% weaker than the MediaTek MT6752 in benchmarking tests, and reportedly gets pretty heated up in the Yureka Plus. Meizu M2 Note also supports CDMA due to the new processor and offers 4G on both SIM cards independently.
DISPLAY and FRONT CAMERA: The M2 has a Sharp display made with Indium gallium zinc oxide or IGZO, a recently technology that improves the appearance and reduces power consumption. Most people who have bought the phone have called the display ‘amazing’. In addition, the front camera too has come in for much praise.
BATTERY: The Meizu model comes with the biggest battery of the three models – a 3100 mAh model. Battery life has been a major problem with entry-level phones, especially the Yu Yureka Plus, which has a 2.5 Ah battery that has created a lot of dissatisfaction.
Again, like we mentioned in our earlier review, the Meizu M2 Note does not look like a budget device. In fact, going by its specifications and international prices, the phone was supposed to be priced in the Rs 12,000 or upwards range.
There is also a 5-inch version of the phone that was recently launched in China at around Rs 6,000. That model is expected in India later.
Check out this video review of the M2 Note.
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