Meizu M3 Note Owners Thread

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#1596978 22-Jul-2016 16:56

semigeek:
One quick question about the M3 Note, is the back actually aluminium as one review says this:

"The phone isn’t overly thin, but it has a nice-premium feel to it, despite the fact that it’s not made of metal. Although the M3 Note may look like it’s made from aluminum in some pictures, it’s actually plastic with a metallic finish. It’s reminiscent of the LG G3’s metallic-looking plastic back plate."

Don't know what those guys were smoking, it's definitely metal. The caps on the top and bottom are plastic for the antennas.

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semigeek

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#1596980 22-Jul-2016 17:00

NikT:
semigeek:

One quick question about the M3 Note, is the back actually aluminium as one review says this:

"The phone isn’t overly thin, but it has a nice-premium feel to it, despite the fact that it’s not made of metal. Although the M3 Note may look like it’s made from aluminum in some pictures, it’s actually plastic with a metallic finish. It’s reminiscent of the LG G3’s metallic-looking plastic back plate."

Don't know what those guys were smoking, it's definitely metal. The caps on the top and bottom are plastic for the antennas.

That's what I thought.

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#1596991 22-Jul-2016 17:21

Glad @NikT chimed in and answered the question @semigeek. I was about to say the same.

One tip for beginners: the aluminium is somehow very slippery when you put the phone down on a nearly-level surface: I've had it fall off a chair twice and a paperback book three times (in the middle of the night, in the dark so was very startled) Both surfaces were almost level. I how have the Meizu M3 Note Armor case http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=MPPMZU3004 which should help with this. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the case came bundled with a stick on screen protector too, since it wasn't mentioned on the site.

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#1596994 22-Jul-2016 17:28

jevvv:

Glad @NikT chimed in and answered the question @semigeek. I was about to say the same.

One tip for beginners: the aluminium is somehow very slippery when you put the phone down on a nearly-level surface: I've had it fall off a chair twice and a paperback book three times (in the middle of the night, in the dark so was very startled) Both surfaces were almost level. I how have the Meizu M3 Note Armor case http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=MPPMZU3004 which should help with this. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the case came bundled with a stick on screen protector too, since it wasn't mentioned on the site.

Interesting to hear how slippery it is, I have ordered a case and tempered glass screen protector from Aliexpress anyway. Both only cost NZ$5.70. I'll just have to be careful until they arrive.

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#1597466 23-Jul-2016 21:05

Mine survived

<- don't ask me where I am - I haven't a clue: its a tech thing ;)
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#1597508 23-Jul-2016 22:37

Received my phone today, interesting really, seeing as I never paid for Saturday delivery.

Anyway, first impressions are 'Wow', this is a good looking device. The screen at (I think) 403ppi is beautiful. Flyme is buttery smooth and responsive.
The fingerprint scanner is a nice addition for the price point, and works very well, the only downside there is - it would be good if you didn't have to wake up the screen first,
but that is a minor annoyance really. The navigation button which allows you to go back and home, depending on how hard you press it, is very easy to use and for me much
more effective than having three navigation keys along the bottom of the screen.

I haven't charged the phone yet, but it came with the battery at 92% and I still have 25 and a 1/2 hours to go on balanced mode, that in itself is impressive.

As of yet, I haven't tried the camera, will try that in daylight and then report back.

For the price, I'd recommend the phone easily after just having it for a few short hours, this is based on the battery life, the quality of the screen, how fluid Flyme works and storage space (mine being the 32GB version)

The only downsides I can see with the phone are: No NFC, and the phone is super slippery. You definitely need a case. The other downside is no included screen protector, even if it was just a cheap plastic one, but still at the price point, I guess beggars can't be choosers.

Oh and if anyone is wondering, I installed Pokemon Go to see if it would work and it works fine.

One question though, what network are you guys using it on? I have it running on Skinny, but I can't see anything on the box about 850Mhz. I know someone mentioned awhile ago that it will work when out of a 4G area, but yep like I said, no mention of 850Mhz on the box, unless I am missing something.

NikT

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#1597510 23-Jul-2016 22:43

100% has 850MHz 3G. No band 28 4G mind.

Re: fingerprint scanner - If you use a combination of the double tap to wake/swipe to unlock features + the ability to lock specific apps with the scanner instead of locking the screen, it's possible to leave your phone convenient to use while still securing sensitive data. Win-win.

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#1598154 25-Jul-2016 12:47

An interesting issue that's popped up with colleague today, not necessarily related to the MEIZU as such, but Flyme OS, is in an address book (exchange) numbers are input as 02xxxxxxx. When you send a text, that number works fine, but the reply comes back as +642xxxxxxx.

When the reply comes back, the Flyme OS doesn't relate the +642xxxxxxx number to the 02xxxxxxx contact.

Anyone know a way of resolving this? Interesting one I know, but I couldn't find anything obvious on his phone. The nerd in myself personally, I always input contacts with +642xxxxxxx by default when someone gives me their number.

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#1598170 25-Jul-2016 13:10

That's why I always have +64 numbers in my contacts - also because it makes it a lot easier when roaming overseas. This is regardless of which phone or OS.

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#1598252 25-Jul-2016 15:17

Now with a few weeks under my belt I feel I can add a bit more about my experience with this unit.

Battery life? It's definitely the major positive about the M3 Note. As a test I did let it run down flat and it took around 2.5 days. Admittedly there wasn't much in the way of game play, just a catch up on news, weather and messaging (email & SMS).

Display? It's PPI may not be at the same level as my ~~old~~ wife's Nexus 5......but then my sight isn't 20/20 anymore. I watched about half of Marcella on Netflix without issue. Emails and other documents are a breeze with the larger screen than I've previously had. I've read elsewhere that this has been an issue, but brightness and colour are just fine.

Screen glass? so far so good. Not a single scratch.

Audio? The PLUS: Using an headset, be it my over-the-ear Sennheiser's or any of the my in-ear sets, is faultless. My Logitech UE 350vm in-ear, with in-line mike and one-button control, work a treat. The mic works better on this phone than either aforesaid N5 or that dire Huawei G300 I have somewhere. The NEG: Speaker volume isn't great. It's fine for the early morning alarm, but as an hands-free option mounted to the windscreen, it's diabolical when travelling at over 3km/h in my daily driver. (thanks to the latest Google update to the N5, it's performing just as badly).

Alarm: Something that I hadn't previously explored or tested and had become accustomed to in Marshmallow is that, even if the phone is in 'mute' mode the alarm will work. I discovered the lack of this function when I woke up 10 minutes after the set alarm time. A screen alert indicated that an alarm had been missed.

Touch Response? Every so often I will touch on an item on screen and not get any action. I can swipe the screen up and down, but cannot select anything. Be it a phone number, document or a web link. I typically wait about 10-15 seconds and then all is good. I've tried swiping up and shutting all apps but the one I'm using, but this doesn't help. Though there have been occasions when I've resorted to rebooting the device.

Finger Print Scanner? Works great, but only if your fingers are dry and free of loose skin. I was running cables on a building site last week and finger tips got nicely roughed up. I still can't use the scanner every time. If I've been busy washing the car or preparing vegetables, my 'granny fingers' won't do it either.

Case? The only concern I can identify is it's smoothness. It'll slide off the passenger seat very easily. And if the morning is cold, I have to consciously grip the phone. Again like the screen, no discernible wear marks, and it's in and out of my pockets frequently.

As I don't really want more bulk, I'm hesitant to buy a cover and have been keeping an eye out for some grippy silicon tape I've used in the past. I just wish I could recall where I bought it 25 years ago. It was a 3M product that measured about 75mm per strip. All I'd need are two strips on the back.

Camera? Not going there again yet. Although I'll post a couple of night shots later. Saturday night's view of the Sky Tower.

Paul

pristle

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#1598485 25-Jul-2016 20:07

Rather than me provide further experience with the camera, Anandtech offer a fairly good comparative review http://www.anandtech.com/show/10463/xiaomi-redmi-note-3-meizu-m3-note-reviews/5

They assess the camera performance with better depth and fairer comparison I could. While mention is made of the lack of OIS (optical image stabilization) in the M3 Note, though according to OmniVision (http://www.ovt.com/download_document.php?type=sensor&sensorid=189), the sensor supports it. Obviously Meizu have chosen not to support it with this level of device.

OS? I forgot to add my bit in about the Flyme OS. While it is well executed, I still find I prefer the clean environment of the Nexus rendition of the Google Android experience. So much so, I've install the Google Now Launcher. In a way I'm saying as soon as I can ditch Flyme fully, I will.

Browser? The built-in browser while functional isn't my first preference, but the neither is Chrome. I instead use Ghostery. That said all 3 do suffer a quirk where webpages don't appear as expected and embedded videos aren't visible. I end up reverting to my trusty old favourite, Firefox.

Messaging? I had a brief encounter with the built-in Messaging app, but since I've been using NextSMS for several years now, with what it offers, I naturally installed it as my preference.

Phone? It works. Not as well as Google Phone, but it does the job. I miss the ability to starting typing in a business name in the search field and have Google find it.

Contacts? Again like the phone it works. No polish. But the fact that it's been ~~hidden~~ integrated into the Phone app is beyond me. At least with a dedicated separate app, I can find the person, and then elect how I wish to communicate with them.

Paul

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#1598933 26-Jul-2016 11:57

pristle:

Audio? The PLUS: Using an headset, be it my over-the-ear Sennheiser's or any of the my in-ear sets, is faultless. My Logitech UE 350vm in-ear, with in-line mike and one-button control, work a treat. The mic works better on this phone than either aforesaid N5 or that dire Huawei G300 I have somewhere. The NEG: Speaker volume isn't great. It's fine for the early morning alarm, but as an hands-free option mounted to the windscreen, it's diabolical when travelling at over 3km/h in my daily driver. (thanks to the latest Google update to the N5, it's performing just as badly).

Good to know. Some of the users down at GSMArena said that the audio quality was below average. I was getting a bit worried.

Getting mine this week.

semigeek

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#1599009 26-Jul-2016 13:08

pristle:

Audio? The PLUS: Using an headset, be it my over-the-ear Sennheiser's or any of the my in-ear sets, is faultless. My Logitech UE 350vm in-ear, with in-line mike and one-button control, work a treat. The mic works better on this phone than either aforesaid N5 or that dire Huawei G300 I have somewhere. The NEG: Speaker volume isn't great. It's fine for the early morning alarm, but as an hands-free option mounted to the windscreen, it's diabolical when travelling at over 3km/h in my daily driver. (thanks to the latest Google update to the N5, it's performing just as badly).

Alarm: Something that I hadn't previously explored or tested and had become accustomed to in Marshmallow is that, even if the phone is in 'mute' mode the alarm will work. I discovered the lack of this function when I woke up 10 minutes after the set alarm time. A screen alert indicated that an alarm had been missed.

Paul

If you want to make the audio louder, type this in the dialer to access engineer mode *#*#3646633#*#*

Be careful in there though.

semigeek

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#1599160 26-Jul-2016 17:41

Also, if you adjust your audio, you need to restart the phone for the change to take effect.

Minimum audio level is 88, Maximum is 160 and you can change it for individual apps like Alarm and Music etc, along with Speaker or Headset volumes.

I'm presuming NikT that altering the setting doesn't void the warranty?

NikT

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#1599162 26-Jul-2016 17:48

semigeek:

I'm presuming NikT that altering the setting doesn't void the warranty?

Correct - I've done the same thing.

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