Meizu’s M5 Note embraces all-metal unibody, gargantuan 4,000mAh battery

By Williams Pelegrin Published December 9, 2016

Having already unveiled the H1 Band and Pro 6 Plus, Meizu is refusing to slow down and has announced the M5 Note, the newest member of the company’s M series of phones.

Housed in an all-metal unibody, the M5 Note features a 5.5-inch, 1,920 x 1,080 resolution display, with a 5-megapixel camera on the front and a 13MP sensor around back. Below the display is a home button that lives a triple life — not only does it also function as a fingerprint sensor, but as a back button by just tapping it. In lieu of a dedicated multitasking button, you can swipe up from either side of the home button to switch between apps.

Recommended Videos

At the M5 Note’s core are the 1.8GHz octa-core MediaTek Helio P10 chipset and either 3GB or 4GB RAM. You have a choice of 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB of native storage, though the Micro SD card slot allows for up to an additional 128GB. If you carry two phones with you, the Micro SD card slot doubles as a second SIM slot. The real star of the show is the phone’s gargantuan 4,000mAh battery, which can be charged from zero to full in 90 minutes.

As for software, the M5 Note runs Flyme 6.0, Meizu’s own flavor of Android based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The upgraded skin brings 400 new features, with the most notable being One Mind, an artificial intelligence system that changes the phone’s performance to allow faster access to your most frequently used apps.

The peculiar thing about the M5 Note is it arrives less than a year after the M3 Note’s introduction, making it much more of an incremental upgrade than anything else. Regardless, the M5 Note is available for around $130 for the base configuration (3GB RAM/16GB), and goes up to $217 for the 4GB/64GB version. Meizu did not mention international availability for the M5 Note, though it is available for purchase in China in gold, silver, grey, and blue.

Williams Pelegrin

Former Contributor

Williams is an avid New York Yankees fan, speaks Spanish, resides in Colorado, and has an affinity for Frosted Flakes. Send…

Topics

Phones

I feel like the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is the right kind of passport foldable

Passport foldables are everywhere now, but Samsung got the proportions right

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 foldable smartphone

Passport-style foldables are returning, but in a foldable format. Samsung completely changed direction with the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Xiaomi followed with the 18 Fold, and Apple has now entered the category with the iPhone Duo. Even though the original Google Pixel Fold explored the same short-and-wide idea years ago, this is looking like the new smartphone trend in 2026.

After spending years with book-style foldables, I am warming up to this decision. I prefer the idea of keeping the phone compact when closed and opening it only when I need more room.

Computing

The RAM shortage could last for years, and smaller tech brands are feeling it first

From flexible motherboards to advance orders, device makers are getting creative to keep products alive.

Installing RAM Memory on a framework laptop

The memory shortage is no longer just a problem for PC builders hunting for affordable RAM. Smaller phone and laptop makers are now changing how they design, manufacture, and price their products as the supply crunch threatens to stretch through 2027 and potentially beyond. And according to a report by Reuters, the bigger problem isn't even the price anymore. It's getting enough memory in the first place.

Smaller brands are getting creative because RAM isn't playing nice

Phones

Your 15-minute reading habit could now earn you money in Singapore

Your endless scrolling habit finally has some financial competition.

Tap the top of the screen of your Kindle to bring up the menu interface.

I have plenty of apps on my phone reminding me to drink water, stand up, exercise, and stop staring at the screen. Singapore is taking a slightly different approach: instead of another reminder telling people what to do, it's adding a reward. The country has launched a new initiative designed to turn reading into a daily habit. Spend at least 15 minutes reading, record the session through the government's platform, and you'll receive 20 virtual coins.

Collect 1,000 of them, and you can exchange them for S$ 1, or roughly 80 cents in the US. Since only one reading session counts each day, reaching that first dollar takes 50 days. Nobody is getting rich here, obviously. But that's what makes the idea interesting. The cash functions more like the achievement badge or daily streak you'd find in an app, except this one tries to pull your attention away from the screen.