Hasta La Gadget!

For those of you who have been looking forward to the regular Meizu MX3 roll out to the masses living in the US, you might be pleased to hear that this particular smartphone will arrive in the US later in the third quarter of the year. This particular model will run on the Flyme 3.0 custom Android user interface, but here we are with a snapshot of what looks to be the Meizu MX3 that will run on the Ubuntu operating system instead.

The photo that you see above hails from Meizu’s official account on Weibo.com, which is a Chinese social networking site that many have attributed it to be the “Twitter of China.” It was not too long ago when Canonical, the people behind Ubuntu, made an announcement concerning Ubuntu mobile OS making a move from being an aftermarket solution to a full-fledged mobile operating system. In fact, Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth did also talk about a potential hardware partner that will deliver a smartphone with Ubuntu right from the get go without specifying the name of that handset. I guess the mystery’s solved now, with it being the Meizu MX3. The Meizu MX3 should have enough processing firepower underneath the hood to be able to handle any kind of Ubuntu heavy lifting.

Meizu MX3 Spotted Running On Ubuntu original content from Ubergizmo.

The Meizu MX3 was recently introduced to the world at its announcement in China recently, where it holds the record of being the first smartphone in the world to arrive with 128GB of internal memory – as other smartphones in the market max out at 64GB at best. Apart from that, the Meizu MX3 also happens to be the first non-Samsung device that will be powered by the Exynos 5410 octa-core processor, and after putting the Meizu MX3 through its paces on an AnTuTu performance benchmark, the figures are pretty solid.

After all, the Meizu MX3 has been spotted on the AnTuTu database with a score of over 29,000 points, but it did that just barely without coming near the 30,000 mark. Apart from that, its data has also confirmed that the Meizu MX3 will be powered by Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean as the operating system of choice, with the Flyme 3.0 user interface running atop it. Apparently, the Exynos 5410 octa-core has also been clocked up to a speed of 1.6GHz. This would make it a wee bit faster than the Galaxy S4 that runs with the same “heart”, but overall, the difference between the two in AnTuTu benchmarks remain minimal. If you have a choice between the two, which one would you go for?

Meizu MX3 AnTuTu Benchmark Breaks 29,000 Points Barrier original content from Ubergizmo.

Having sat through Meizu’s entire launch event in Beijing, we have to admit: the new MX3 took us by surprise. We weren’t expecting much after knowing some of the key specs from the leaks, and to be frank, the Chinese company lost its way with the MX2; but Jack Wong’s team seems to have put its focus back in place with its latest flagship. First off, while the MX3 has preserved the predecessor’s metallic-rim design, Meizu has now managed to refine the manufacturing process to remove all the sharp edges, and boy does that new body feel good. The TOL (touch-on-lens) display may look odd with its 1,800 x 1,080 resolution, but it looked good on the demo units, and that 15:9 aspect ratio has some advantage for web browsing in portrait mode.

There were many other features that we couldn’t comment on based on our hands-on, such as the audio quality from the Wolfson chip and the image quality from the third-gen Sony 8-megapixel sensor, but the presence of these components suggests that Meizu may be headed back in the right direction. The number of improvements on the slick, Android 4.2-based Flyme 3.0 is also impressive, making it slightly more user-friendly (especially for first-timers) as well as more pleasing to the eye. It’ll just take some getting used to with Meizu’s own soft key approach (virtual buttons on a “Smart Bar” plus a capacitive home button). Much like the battery life and radio performance, we’ll only be able to properly comment on the software part over an extended period of usage, so do keep an eye out for our MX3 review in the near future. Oh, and we have a hands-on video after the break. %Gallery-slideshow77154%

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Comments

If you didn’t get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we’ve opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week brought convincing signs that BlackBerry users are moving away from physical keyboards, along with a new budget Android smartphone for MetroPCS and a stumbling block that’s holding up AT&T’s acquisition of Alltel. These stories and more await. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore all that’s happening in the mobile world for this week of August 26th, 2013.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

Comments