In the summer, sales of Xiaomi Mi6 began, the flagship of Xiaomi this year was definitely a success, only the lazy did not praise it. We have already done a review of this device, we decided to write about Xiaomi in a different way, to compare it with another worthy Chinese smartphone – Meizu Pro 6 Plus.
By the way, Meizu recently presented the new Pro 7 and Pro 7 Plus, so there will be a new comparison later. In the meantime, let’s move on to studying what is already on hand.
Design: Xiaomi is beautiful and Meizu is comfortable
It’s good when phones are not similar to each other, they are the complete opposite. By today’s standards, when only clones are released, this is happiness. Meizu Pro 6 Plus is a large smartphone with a metal case where thin strips of antennas pass.
Xiaomi Mi6 is a godsend for fans of small phones. It is compact and small, comparable in size to the iPhone 7. True, the shiny body of the Mi6 is scratched at an alarming rate, marks and prints remain on the gloss, so if you are worried about this, be sure to buy a case and hide the beauty. Or use the complete one, Xiaomi did not get greedy and put a simple accessory in the box with the phone.
After a slippery iPhone in Jet Black color, it’s already difficult to surprise me with something, so there were no difficulties with Xiaomi and Meizu. Although in terms of ergonomics, I liked the Meizu Pro 6 Plus more. It has flat sides, the aluminum body is not so slippery, and the weight distribution of the phone is better. Xiaomi is not so harmonious: its center of gravity is shifted to the top, so you have to carefully hold it in your palm when typing.
By the way, the Mi6 weighs more than the Pro 6 Plus, the glass case is a bit heavy. Unlike many budget Xiaomi, the top-end Mi6 has a fingerprint scanner located under the screen, like the Meizu Pro 6 Plus, it is convenient to press it. The sensors work quickly, in my opinion, they work equally well in both phones.
In some places they write that Xiaomi Mi6 has IP67 water protection, like the iPhone 7, but do not believe it. The test will be expensive – the phone will die after bathing, the experiment is not worth it.
Which one is prettier? I really liked Xiaomi Mi6 in blue, the gloss looks luxurious, while Meizu has more familiar colors, and it is more practical in terms of materials. Therefore, if you want beauty and originality, look towards Xiaomi, if you want a nice design and don’t worry about the safety of the case, then choose Meizu.
Screen: Meizu has a large one, Xiaomi has a smaller one
Meizu has a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED with a resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels. Xiaomi Mi 6 has simpler specifications, it has IPS, a diagonal of 5.15 inches and a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels. The screens differ in color reproduction – Meizu has an image set in cold colors, Xiaomi has warmer shades, plus more margin for brightness.
Meizu also has a higher point density, that is, the image should be clearer, smoother and more beautiful, but in practice I did not notice a significant difference against the background of Mi6. Just two great screens. It is a pity that Meizu does not have color profile settings, like Samsung does, to reduce saturation and make the image a little more realistic. On the other hand, people like embellished pictures, so the Chinese are trying.
Hardware: Xiaomi has this year’s top hardware, Meizu has last year’s powerful processor
Meizu Pro 6 Plus appeared much earlier than Mi6, so it has a Samsung Exynos 8890 processor – like the Galaxy S7 and 4/64 GB of memory. Xiaomi Mi6 also has a top-end chip, but it is Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 and 6/64 GB of memory. According to Xiaomi benchmarks, it’s cooler, there’s nothing to prove here, everything can be seen on the graphs.
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Software: various Chinese tricks
Which shell is better, Flyme or MIUI? It’s purely a matter of taste. Meizu, for example, ships smartphones to Russia without Google services, so if you’re worried that big brother is watching you, you can use the phone without the standard Google software package. Apps are installed using Meizu’s own app store called the App Store. Well, if you still want to get access to a Google account, then you can get it by downloading the program to install everything you need directly from this App Store.
Xiaomi Mi6 has all Google services already loaded into the firmware, at least in the sample that I had. In terms of shell capabilities, plus or minus the same, themes work in both smartphones, problems with notifications will not be solved either, they either come or not.
On the side of Meizu, the ability to “root” a smartphone without losing the warranty. Why root rights? Improve the phone, this is a constructor for adults who did not play enough in LEGO as a child.
Camera: Xiaomi’s fancy optics vs Meizu’s classics
Meizu received a 12-megapixel camera with optical stabilization – it takes decent pictures of the phone during the day, it’s not so good in the evening, yielding to competitors like the Galaxy S7. Meizu regularly finishes the firmware, improving the performance of the camera, I hope that this activity will continue in future software updates.
Xiaomi looks more interesting against its background, because it has a fashionable system of two modules of 12 megapixels. This means that we get a 2x optical zoom without loss in quality and a spectacular portrait mode. Simply put, the camera is at the level of the iPhone 7 Plus, only at a more attractive price.
Perhaps expert photographers will find something to dig into the Xiaomi camera, but I really liked it. The colors are bright, juicy, the portraits are beautiful, in the evenings the phone shoots better than Meizu.
Examples of shooting on Meizu Pro 6 Plus.
Examples of shooting on Xiaomi Mi6.
Sound: Meizu is for music lovers, and Xiaomi is experimenting
If you are a fan of high-quality sound, take the Meizu Pro 6 Plus. It is at least more convenient in that you can connect ordinary wired headphones to it via a 3.5 mm port. Xiaomi Mi6 does not have such a connector, so you need to get an adapter. Either look for headphones with USB-C or switch to Bluetooth headsets.
Meizu has a separate amplifier and many years of work on audio. Xiaomi did not bother with this part – a completely opposite approach. Meizu Pro 6 Plus is better in this part of the business, I haven’t listened to music on my phone with such pleasure for a long time, it plays perfectly, you sit and restart old tracks in a new way, if you also connect worthy headphones.
But Xiaomi has stereo speakers, when you watch a video, the sound comes simultaneously from the speaker above the screen and the holes on the bottom. But the sound quality is not so hot, it will not replace the speaker, so Meizu with its mono speaker is also good.
Communication: 2 SIM-cards and more
Both smartphones have two slots for SIM-cards, NFC in Xiaomi, in theory, should work with Android Pay, in practice, for some reason, payments did not work for me. Meizu NFC also has, but the module is sharpened for Meizu Pay, and this system is not active in Russia.
Xiaomi has a more modern version of Bluetooth 5.0, while Meizu has Bluetooth version 4.2. What is good about version 5? The range is longer, it has increased by 4 times, the data transfer rate has increased by 2 times, and the energy consumption has decreased by 2 times. In practice, I did not feel much difference in the operating time, apparently, this requires more accurate and special measurements.
Working hours: on equal terms
Batteries are almost the same capacity: 3400 mAh for Meizu and 3350 mAh for Xiaomi Mi6. Both smartphones support the fast charging function, both are charged with a USB Type-C cable. There are no bells and whistles like wireless charging, but oh well.
The main question: who lives longer on a single charge? It depends on how to use it, because with an active load, both phones sit down by the early evening. Yes, you can play with energy-saving features, manually unload applications from memory if the phone suddenly discharges too quickly. But you should not expect miracles, 3-4 hours of active screen in Moscow networks is a common result, there is no winner here.
And it happened that the charge suddenly started in the background on one phone, then on another. Reboot – everything returns to normal, then suddenly the background discharge of the battery begins. It remains only to shrug and hope that the firmware will fix everything.
Price: save and buy Chinese
Smartphones can be bought both in official retail and ordered directly from China, whether a warranty is needed or not – decide for yourself. Xiaomi Mi6 6/64 GB in official retail costs 28,990 rubles, the most expensive version of Mi6 6/128 with a ceramic body costs 38,990 rubles. Meizu Pro 6 Plus 4/64 GB in official retail costs 29,990 rubles, the version with 6/128 GB costs 32,990 rubles.
On Yandex.Market, prices start at 26 thousand rubles for Mi6 6/64 GB, and Meizu Pro 6 Plus 4/64 GB costs from 23.5 thousand rubles there.
Results
Why Xiaomi Mi6 deserves attention? It has convenient and practical dimensions, a very powerful filling, and an excellent camera.
What is good about Meizu Pro 6 Plus? He pleases with a large screen, more thoughtful ergonomics, he has better sound, generally more attention is paid to the musical component.
Therefore, you need to decide which parameters are more critical and important, make your choice. I think that in this comparison, Xiaomi Mi6 came out the winner, it appeared later, Xiaomi was able to put all the best of what is on the market into it and did it well.
Anticipating the question “Why didn’t they compare Meizu Pro 7 Plus and Xiaomi Mi 6”, I will say that I don’t have a new Meizu yet. As soon as it appears, I will make one more material, let’s see what has changed over the year, at least it is interesting to check the operation of the dual camera, Meizu now also has something to oppose to Xiaomi.
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Thanks to the friendliest store Biggeek.ru for providing Xiaomi Mi6 for testing!
