Meizu Pro 7 Plus review: The phone that will transform the way you take selfies

Meizu Pro 7 Plus review: Performance

The secondary screen makes the Meizu Pro 7 Plus an unusual phone, but it doesn’t run with the crowd internally either. Instead of a Qualcomm chip, you’ll find one of MediaTek’s higher-end offerings: a deca-core 2.6GHz MT6799 Helio X30. There’s 6GB of RAM, too, providing plenty of headroom for your multitasking needs.

Unfortunately, my go-to benchmarking software, Geekbench 4, refused to run on the Meizu Pro 7 Plus so I was left with AnTuTu benchmark instead. Here, the phone performed admirably, with a score of 116,733, which in plain English means it’ll fly through anything you throw at it. However, it does sit behind the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus, which manages a score of 173,540.

The Meizu Pro 7 Plus is also outpaced by impressive OnePlus 5, which achieves a similar score of 170,666.

^Meizu Pro 7 Plus review: GFXBench Manhattan 3

Despite the quick CPU, I was disappointed by its graphics power, served up here by a PowerVR 7XTP GPU. In the GFXBench Manhattan 3 test, it struggled to keep up.

^Meizu Pro 7 Plus review: Battery life

Similarly, at 12hrs 22mins, its battery life is pretty mediocre and it falls considerably behind other flagship phones, such as the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus, and close rivals such as the OnePlus 5.

I don’t often touch on the internal sound quality, but I feel compelled to do so here. Meizu has opted to use the Cirrus Logic CS43130 audio chip, a brand you might recognise if you’ve read iPhone teardowns, such as this iPhone 7 one on iFixit. Cirrus Logic chips are highly rated in the audiophile community for their neutral sound.

Putting the Meizu Pro 7 Plus up against the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus, which uses an Exynos 8895 SoC, I found the Meizu sounds a lot better, with a wider soundstage, better instrument separation, slightly more forward-sounding mids and an excellent low-end reproduction. All my tests were subjectively conducted through my custom-made P.EAR.S SH-2 earphones.

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Meizu Pro 7 Plus review: Camera

Not content with providing twin screens, the Meizu Pro 7 Plus also has a dual-camera on the rear, one colour, one monochrome. Each is equipped with a 12-megapixel 1/2.9in sensor, an aperture of f/2 and has phase-detection autofocus, although there’s no optical image stabilisation.

Unlike the OnePlus 5 or the iPhone 7, there’s no optical zoom on offer here – the second camera is instead used to create more striking monochrome photos, blurred-background portrait images and to improve quality in low light scenes.

It doesn’t quite compete with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Google Pixel on quality but, still, the level of detail and colour is impressive.

^ Without HDR enabled, the buildings are accurately represented, the dull sky is grey, trees have the right green colour

With HDR enabled, images are visibly sharper, colours are a tad more accurate and the contrast is improved.

^ With HDR enabled, the image is more accurate, detailed brickwork on the red building in the foreground, and trees have a lot better definition

In low-light conditions, the Meizu Pro 7 Plus does an excellent job, especially with “Multi-Frame Low Light Mode” enabled in the camera app settings. This reduces image noise in low light conditions. The results are impressive but it’s outclassed by the Samsung Galaxy S8 and LG G6, which both draw in a lot more light and detail under low-light conditions.

By comparison, the OnePlus 5 suffers from a lack of detail and light with its dual 16-megapixel cameras, which means if you’re taking a lot of low-light images without flash, the Meizu Pro 7 Plus is a better pick.

^ In low light without the option enabled, the wooden figure has image noise in the background

^ In low light with it enabled, there is a massive reduction in image noise, with the wooden figure appearing clearer

Its dual-tone flash does an excellent job in reducing shadows and improving image detail. Colour accuracy, though, is slightly affected by a warm yellow tone.

^ In low light without flash colours are accurate, but image details are somewhat lost

^ In low light with the flash enabled, the shadows around the stuffed bear are eliminated but colour accuracy is affected with over-saturation a yellow-tinge on the plant pot

The Meizu Pro 7 Plus’ front-facing camera captures images at 16 megapixels and has an aperture of f/2. Image quality is excellent, but you may well find yourself using it only for Skype and the like, since using the rear camera is so easy with the secondary screen.

^ The front-facing 16-megapixel selfie camera is excellent

The camera app has several tricks up its sleeve too. Through the camera app, you’ll be able to toggle on/off the secondary display, allowing your subject to see what’s being recorded.

The camera app has a “Dual lens blur” toggle. When activated, this allows you to take photos with a blurred background or foreground. This works better for objects that are close-up, as slight smearing occurs in background-focused images.

^ Dual lens blur with subject focus at the front

^ Dual lens blur with subject focus at the back

There are also plenty of extra photo modes to choose from, such as Panorama, time-lapse, GIF, slow motion, “makeup” and a dedicated monochrome mode. The Pro mode allows manual control over the camera’s exposure, white balance, focus, and ISO among others.

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Meizu Pro 7 Plus review: Verdict

The Meizu Pro 7 Plus isn’t a flagship killer; it’s not trying to replace the likes of the HTC U11 or the Samsung Galaxy S8. Instead, it brings something new to the table, with its clever secondary screen introducing a completely different way of capturing selfies, keeping track of your notifications and so forth.

Okay, so it isn’t as fast as the OnePlus 5 and it isn’t without its problems, either – battery life is mediocre, there’s no storage expansion and it isn’t waterproof. But despite this, there’s something alluring, something enticing about the Meizu Pro 7. If you’re bored of me-too smartphones, it’s well worth considering.