Meizu today has introduced its most affordable smart phone yet. After having flagship models like the MX4 and MX4 Pro, the aspiring Chinese brand is going for the affordable segment with its new Blue Charm series, which is seen as a challenger to Xiaomi’s Redmi line up.
With the m1 Note taking on big screen devices like the Redmi Note, a smaller compact version is finally here that’s simply called Mei Lan (Blue Charm) or possibly named m1 for international markets. Since it is seen as a smaller brother of the 5.5″ Full HD m1 Note, it gets a similar iPhone 5C-like appearance with a choice of multiple colours.
Spec wise, it edges over Xiaomi’s Redmi 2 in almost every department on paper. The screen is a 5 incher that does 1280×768 and it runs on a 64-bit 1.5GHz Quad-Core MTK MT6732 processor that’s mated to 1GB of RAM. Storage wise it gets a typical 8GB of storage and there’s a microSD slot that accept cards up to 128GB.
For taking pictures, it gets a 13MP f/2.2 camera while selfies are taken with a larger 5MP f/2.0 shooter. Instead of a dual-tone flash that’s seen on the m1 note, it gets a standard single LED flash for illumination. On-board the device gets a decent 2,610mAh capacity battery from Sony which could last more than a day. Overall, it is thinner and lighter than the Redmi 2 (9.4mm, 133g) at 8.9mm thick and it weighs just 128 grams.
Connectivity wise, it supports 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 as well s 4G LTE but only in TD-LTE for now. With Meizu having its eyes on the Redmi 2, the Blue Charm/m1 is priced exactly the same at 699 Yuan (about RM405). For more information, head over to Meizu’s Blue Charm (Mei Lan) product page.
