It turns out that the low-end models (1000 yuan ($146) and below) are still selling well. Although the flagship models (3000 yuan ($439) and above) are growing, the best smartphone market in China is still the low-end models.
According to some statistical data, in 2018, the mentioned low-end models account for 20% of the entire market, while the 3,000 yuan and higher priced models account for 9%. Many manufacturers use advanced technologies in their low-end handsets to enhance their competitive advantages.
On September 19, Meizu held a new product launch conference in Beijing. The Meizu 16X and Meizu V8 were unveiled together. The V8 comes standard with a price of 799 yuan ($117), and the high version is available at 1098 yuan ($160). Obviously, the Meizu V8 is positioning in the low-end market. But there are many interesting features it comes with.
Also Read: Meizu 16X Review | Deal
The Meizu V8 has two versions. The standard model’s housing is made of polycarbonate, and it is equipped with an MT6739 chip, which is paired with a maximum of 3GB of RAM. There is also a single camera on the back. The high version comes with an all-metal housing, and it is equipped with an Helio P22 chip, which is coupled with a maximum RAM of 4GB RAM. It sports a dual-camera, which provides a background blur effect (aka bokeh).
Both versions are packed with a 5.7-inch full-screen and run on Android 8.1-based Flyme 7.1 OS, which gives it a new full-screen interaction and supports Face Recognition 2.0.
Meizu V8 Appearance
The Meizu V8 is available in four color variants of black, gold, blue, and purple. As for the memory options, there are 3+32GB and 4+64GB variants. We are reviewing the higher model that comes in black.
The packaging is simple, coming in pure white and carrying only the phone name in the central part and the company’s logo in the upper left corner.
As usual, the back side provides some important information about the handset.
The Meizu V8 adopts a 5.7-inch display with a resolution of 1440×720. It has an 18:9 aspect ratio. The combination of 4 R-angles and curved screen makes the whole phone look round. Moreover, Meizu seems to have narrow borders as a selling point.
The forehead carries the headset and the front camera sensor. The latter is also responsible for face recognition.
The chin is very narrow. So the company couldn’t place the small circle (mBack) there.
Like the Meizu M6T, the Meizu V8 carries a fingerprint recognition module on the back. The rear camera design is quite interesting, and it is not compatible with most domestic smartphones. The Meizu V8’s flash is set at the top, while the dual-camera is arranged vertically.
As we said, this is the higher version. Therefore, it uses a metal housing. It has a smooth and delicate feel. It is not easy to collect fingerprints, but the all-metal material also enhances the weight of the body. It is 159g, which is completely acceptable.
The bottom of the fuselage carries a speaker, a micro USB interface, a microphone, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
The top is blank.
The power button and the volume rocker are placed on the right side.
The SIM card slot is on the left side. It supports dual-card mode.
The box also comes with a 5V/1.5A charging head.
Meizu V8 Performance
The Meizu V8 is equipped with Helio P22 chip, which is paired with a 4GB RAM. This chip is based on a 12nm process technology. The highest frequency is 2.0GHz. It is the mid-range chip of MediaTek. The use of a 12nm process node makes it quite good in terms of power consumption.
Apart from this, the Meizu V8 also runs on Flyme 7.1 based on Android 8.1, which improves the fluency of the phone.
AnTuTu
As the AnTuTu test results show, the Meizu V8 is somewhat ahead of the Xiaomi Redmi 6. But because it sports a 4GB of RAM, there are some extra points.
GFXBench
PCMark
The Meizu V8 reaches 5040 points, which is in line with Helio P22’s running performance.
Androbench
The continuous reading speed is around 280MB/s, which is a standard eMMC performance.
As for the software, the Meizu V8 runs on Flyme 7.1 system, which supports new full-screen interaction – a short slide will get you back, a long slide will get you to the home screen, and a long slide will show the opened apps on the background. Thus, you will get easy single-hand operations.
Meizu V8 Camera
On the back, the Meizu V8 sports a dual-camera with a 12MP + 5MP sensors combination. There is a built-in ISP, a pixel area of 1.25 microns, the main aperture of f/2.2, etc. A 5MP front shooter is placed on the front. It supports the ArcSoft beauty algorithm.
Daytime Samples
It should be noted that the shooting environment is rainy and the overall brightness is low.
In the long-range shooting, the Meizu V8 imaging is pure enough, the sky is not completely overexposed, but the gloomy effect of the weather is restored, which is worthy of praise.
As for macro shooting, it can identify the details clearly and blur the background. Though it is a rainy weather, the Meizu V8 remains pure and there is no blurring. This is a good performance at this price.
Nighttime Samples
Due to the rainy environment, some instability occurs during nighttime shooting, and noise is unavoidable. However, the nighttime performance of the Meizu V8 is remarkable, and there is no glare in the lighting.
Meizu V8 Battery
The Meizu V8 is equipped with a 3100mAh battery. This is one of the main factors affecting the phone’s weight. But we should focus on more important aspects. We mean the Meizu V8 comes with a power-efficient P22 chip and a low-res 5.7-inch screen. All these features are under the control of Flyme 7.1. We guess the power optimization and the endurance are at the highest level. Let’s check.
PCMark endurance test
When we started the test via PCMark, the brightness was 40%, the volume was 15%, and the benchmark shows it will last over 10 hours. Honestly, it’s not surprising.
As for the online video playback, the brightness was 50%, the volume was 10%, the Meizu V8 was connected to WiFi, no SIM card was inserted, and the remaining power was 40%. After 30 minutes, it was dropped to 34%.
Finally, we tested the Meizu V8 for gaming. The brightness was 50%, the volume was turned off, and the remaining power was 32%. After 30 minutes, there was a battery power of 24%.
As we said at the beginning of the article, the Meizu V8’s box includes a 5V/1.5A charging head. Starting at 5%, it took 120 minutes to fully charge the handset.
Conclusion
We have reviewed the highest version of the Meizu V8. It’s dubbed as the Meizu V8 Pro. And as we said, it comes at a price tag of 1098 yuan. Of course, this phone is categorized as a low-end model, struggling in the thousand-yuan niche, which is the most overpopulated in the Chinese smartphone market. As there are no obvious advantages, we can say the key feature this device will base on is its pricing.
Also Read: Meizu V8 Deal
In this sense, the Meizu V8 is a good phone with many useful features. It is able to handle the most of your daily tasks. But it would be naïve to think the Meizu V8 will have big ambitions. So it is for those who don’t have high requirements for a smartphone.
