Meizu MX4

“The Meizu MX4 may look like it has what it takes to be a great phone, or at least an interesting one, but it's plagued by a bug-ridden operating system that fails to deliver a positive experience. I would recommend staying away from it, until Meizu manages to get the OS in order.”

“There’s one word that sums up the Ubuntu Mobile-powered Meizu MX4 — quirky. It’s a little like the first few versions of Android. Limited app support, less than perfect UI, and not very refined, but crucially, full of promise. The quirkiness makes it hard to recommend to anyone considering defecting from Android or iOS, or someone who wants to use the phone every day. Without some key apps, it may end up being frustrating, or worse, not realistically useable each day. I certainly found it that way, and couldn’t carry it as my sole device purely because it didn’t have the app support I needed to get stuff done.”

“With the MX4, it seems like a tantalizing deal. A beautifully crafted device with a huge 1080p display, all for under $450? That sounds like a no-brainer. Unfortunately, the OS is filled with bugs, the battery life is a huge let down, and the camera struggles to take acceptable photos in anything but ideal lighting conditions. If you can get past those main compromises, though, you’ll have a phone with great screen, super powerful processor and awesome build quality. For around $400, you could do much worse than the MX4.”

“A worthy flagship device that can be had for the price of a much inferior upper-mid range phone from a brand like Sony, LG, or Samsung. That said, do keep in mind that the phone ships from Hong Kong, and all warranty-related repairs will have to be carried out there as well. So it follows that the MX4 has to deliver, and deliver in full.Well, to a very large extent, it does. The design isn't anything jaw-dropping, but it's still fairly attractive and the phone is very sturdy and comfortable to use for its screen size. The display is pretty great, too, and performance is also top notch. The 20.7-megapixel Sony camera at the back is no joke, either. Last, but not least, the MX4's 3100 mAh battery ensures day and a half of juice even with hard usage. On the down side, the sample unit we received had Meizu's Chinese app and theme stores integrated into its interface and a few essential apps, which is a bit of a let-down. After all, we don't all know Chinese. If you're willing to turn a blind eye to that little nuisance, however, then the Meizu MX4 is a great flagship for those of you on a smaller budget.”