Meizu launched its latest budget 4G smartphone in India, Meizu m3s. The device comes with a 5-inch HD IPS LCD display and is powered by an octa-core Mediatek processor. There are two variants, the 2 GB variant has been priced at Rs. 7,999 and the 3 GB variant has been priced at Rs. 9,299. It’s very close competitor is Xiaomi Redmi 3s which boasts almost same specification and also looks quite similar. Now, Redmi 3S is going to face some competition in the face of Meizu m3s.
Meizu m3s Overview, Comparison with similar devices [Video]
Also See: Meizu m3s FAQ, Pros & Cons, User Queries and Answers
Meizu m3s vs Redmi 3s Specifications
| Key Specs | Meizu m3s | Redmi 3s | |
| Display | 5-inch IPS LCD | 5-inch IPS LCD | |
| Screen Resolution | 720 x 1280 pixels (~294 ppi pixel density) | 720 x 1280 pixels (~294 ppi pixel density) | |
| Dimensions | 141.9 x 69.9 x 8.3 mm | 139.3 x 69.6 x 8.5 mm | |
| Weight | 138 g | 144 g | |
| SIM Card type | Hybrid Dual SIM card slot | Hybrid Dual SIM card slot | |
| OS | Android OS, v5.1 (Lollipop) | Android OS, v6.0.1 (Marshmallow) | |
| Processor | CPU
|
Octa-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 | Octa-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A53 |
| GPU
|
Mali T860MP2 | Adreno 505 | |
| Chipset | Mediatek MT6750 | Snapdragon 430 | |
| Memory | 32GB/16GB, 3GB/2GB RAM | 32GB/16GB, 3GB/2GB RAM | |
| Memory Card Slot | micro-SD, up to 256 GB (uses SIM 2 slot) | micro-SD, up to 256 GB (uses SIM 2 slot) | |
| Primary Camera | 13 MP, f/2.2, phase detection autofocus, dual tone LED flash | 13 MP, f/2.0, phase detection autofocus, LED flash | |
| Video recording | 1080p@30fps | 1080p@30fps | |
| Secondary Camera | 5 MP, f/2.0 1080p | 5 MP, f/2.2 1080p | |
| Fingerprint Sensor | Yes | Yes | |
| NFC | No | No | |
| USB | Micro-USB | Micro-USB | |
| 3.5mm Jack | Yes | Yes | |
| Battery | 3020mAh battery | 4100 mAh battery | |
| Colors | Gold, Silver and Grey | Gold, Dark and Silver | |
| Price | Rs. 7,999/ Rs 9,299 | Rs. 6999/ Rs 8,999 | |
Design & Build
Redmi 3s and Meizu m3s are no different when it comes to design and build. Both device look very similar in terms of design apart from the camera, speaker and fingerprint sensor placement. Both are built out of metal apart from the top and bottom part which are actually plastic for antenna reception.
Both feel good in hand and the metal build makes it to look bit premium. Even though the bottom placement of speaker makes the Meizu m3s design to look a bit more clean as compared Redmi 3s.
Display
Both the phones possess similar display panels, 5-inch HD IPS LCD with pixel density of 294ppi. But Redmi 3s holds a bit of advantage when it comes to outdoors. The panels on both the phones are almost the same. You cannot differentiate much with the naked eye.
Performance & Hardware
Meizu m3s is powered by 64-bit octa-core MediaTek MT6750 processor coupled with ARM Mali-T860 MP2 GPU. The primary 4 A53 cores run at 1.5GHz and the other 4 A53 cores run at 1.0GHz of clock speed. It runs pretty fluid in day to day usage and we didn’t see any stutter or lag in our initial test. It can handle all the basic to medium graphics games although it may struggle while playing very graphics intensive games. During our short time with the phone, it felt smooth in between basic tasks. We are yet to test the gaming on this phone.
Redmi 3s is powered by 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 430 processor coupled with Adreno 505 GPU. All the eight A53 cores run at 1.4GHz of clock speed. Redmi 3s runs pretty fluid and you will hardly notice any lag or stutter. Similarly, gaming performance is also pretty good for the price. It runs basic to medium intensive graphics games with ease and can also handle few graphics intensive pretty well at low to medium setting. Thanks to its latest Adreno 505 GPU.
Camera
Meizu m3s and Redmi 3s both sports a 13MP shooter on back and 5MP on front. Both camera’s performance is pretty similar on paper and in real life as well. Both take good shots in natural light with natural color and good details but tend to struggle in low light scenario. The focus is quite good in both the devices due to the Phase Detection Auto focus (PDAF) feature. Being a budget oriented device we can’t expect any kind of exceptional performance here. However we were quite convinced by the camera quality for the price both device are being offered.
We will be doing a detailed camera test with Meizu m3s and come up with our final conclusion about the camera.
Battery
Meizu m3s comes with a 3,020mAh battery whereas Redmi 3s comes with a massive 4,100mAh battery. No doubt Redmi 3s is way better in the battery department just for the fact that it has got higher capacity battery and great battery backup. That doesn’t mean that Meizu m3s has a bad battery backup and with full charge it can easily go slightly over a day with moderate usage. Whereas Redmi 3s can easily go up to 30-40 hours with moderate usage which is the great and is hardly seen among budget oriented devices.
Pricing & Availability
Both devices comes in two variant, one with 16GB memory & 2GB of RAM and other one comes with 32GB memory & 3GB of RAM. Meizu m3s comes for INR 7,999 for 16GB variant and INR 9,299 for 32GB variant.
Redmi 3s comes for INR 6,999 for 16GB variant and INR 8,999 for 32GB variant. Meizu m3s will be sold exclusively by Snapdeal whereas Redmi 3s is being sold on Amazon and Mi official site.
Conclusion
The Meizu m3s packs a decent specification. A 5-inch HD display, 13 MP camera, 2/3 GB RAM and dual SIM 4G VoLTE support and a decent price tag . However, the battery could have been bigger. The Mediatek processor is decent, but feels bit low as compared to Snapdragon chipset on Xiaomi Redmi 3S.
The biggest downside of Meizu m3s is the 2 year old OS (Lollipop 5.1) considering the fact that these company hardly push any OTA update for the budget segment devices. So with the latest OS, better capacity battery and better chipset, Redmi 3s gets the edge over Meizu m3s.
