OnePlus debuted sales in India late last year after the launch of their OnePlus One smartphone. Meizu on the other hand entered India with its mid-ranger, the M1 Note. Since then they have announced and begun sales of the M2 Note. However, the handset that can probably give the OnePlus 2 a run for its money is the Meizu flagship, the MX5. Meizu has an advantage internationally where it has made a name for itself however within India, the name OnePlus is definitely more popular. On paper, these devices are neck and neck and it’s hard to understand which is better simply by looking at the specifications. That’s why we have prepared this detailed comparison for you.
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Both the devices have 5.5” full HD displays and fall under the phablet category. But despite the similarly sized screens, the MX5 is actually smaller than the OnePlus 2, which is a good thing since the OnePlus 2 itself is quite a small device for the screen estate it packs. The MX5 measures 149.9×74.7×7.6mm while the OnePlus 2 measures 151.8×74.9×9.85mm. The screen to body ratio of the MX5 is 74.50% compared to 73.30% of the OnePlus 2. The MX5 is also lighter at 149 grams compared to the OnePlus 2 which weighs 175 grams.
The display on the OnePlus 2 is protected by Gorilla Glass 4 while the MX5 has Gorilla Glass 3 protection. Both the displays are good in terms of brightness, contrast, sunlight legibility and sharpness.
The MX5 has just one button below the display which acts as a home button as well as a back button. The home button on the MX5 also has a fingerprint sensor built into it. The OnePlus 2 has three capacitive keys – the home key in the center which is flanked by the multi-tasking key and back key on either side. The home key has a fingerprint sensor built into it and the other capacitive keys can be interchanged in terms of function. You can eve choose to use on-screen navigation keys on the OnePlus 2.
Above the display, you have the earpiece, sensors and 5 MP camera on both the devices.
The power/lock key and the volume rocker buttons are placed on the right side for both. On the left side of the MX5, you have the dual nano sim slot while there is a 3 stage profile switch key on the OnePlus 2 on the left, similar to the one found on iPhones. Although the OnePlus 2 also supports dual nano SIMs, the SIM card tray is at the back below the removable back panel. The OnePlus 2 has multiple StyleSwap covers available for purchase with premium materials like Apricot Woof, Rosewood, Kevlar and Bamboo apart from the Sandstone back cover it ships with. The back panel on the MX 5 however isn’t removable. The battery is non-removable on both the devices.
Both the devices have metal constructions and that definitely adds to the premium feel. The OnePlus 2 ships with sandstone back panel but has other style swap covers as we mentioned earlier. The MX5 has metal at the back but it does have a slight matte finish that gives additional grip. The sandstone cover gives good grips but most of the other style swap covers don’t provide as much.
The OnePlus 2 is powered by a Snapdragon 810 processor that has four Cortex A53 Cores at 1.56GHz and four cortex A57 cores at 1.82 GHz. The Meizu MX5 is powered by a 2.2GHz Mediatek Helio X10 MT6795T Octa-Core processor with 8 ARM Cortex-A53 64-bit CPUs clocked at 2.16GHz per core.
The Meizu MX5 is available in 16, 32 and 64GB capacities with 3GB RAM on all of them. The OnePlus 2 has a 16GB storage variant with 3GB RAM and a 64GB storage model with 4GB RAM. Neither device supports microSD cards. Out of 4GB of RAM on the OnePlus 2, the user gets 2.6GB free upon boot while the MX5 has 1.5GB of free RAM upon boot out of the total 3GB. Performance isn’t an issue on both device and no noticeable lag either. Multi-tasking works flawlessly too.
The main camera on the MX5 is a 20.7 Megapixel unit while the OnePlus 2 has a 13 Megapixel unit. Both the devices also have laser AF and dual-LED flash but only the MX5 has a dual-tone LED flash. The OnePlus 2 also gets added Optical image stabilization, which the MX5 lacks.
Both the cameras perform well in terms of image quality but the MX5 has an edge when it comes to processing especially in terms of HDR where the OnePlus 2 does feel like it has been over processed. Images with flash turn out better on the MX5 since it has a dual-tone flash that produces more natural looking images.
Both the devices can record UHD 4k videos using their main cameras and full 1080p video using their front facing 5MP cameras. Camera UI remains very simple on both the devices and they make use of gestures in order to access the different camera modes and settings.
Check out some camera comparison samples (Click the image for high resolution sample). The left one is OnePlus 2 and the right one is MX5.
The OnePlus 2 comes with Android 5.1.1 out of the box with oxygen OS 2.0.1 on top. MX5 comes with Android 5.0.1 with Flyme OS 4.5 out of the box. Both the OSs’ are good terms of performance however since the MX5 relies on a one button method along with gestures, it does take some getting used to. The MX5 also lacks an app drawer which the OnePlus 2 has. Customizability is better on the MX5 compared to the OnePlus 2 which remains close to stock Android.
Audio quality is great on both the devices with more than sufficient volume as well and both the phones handle all videos very well. Gaming is great on both the devices but the OnePlus 2 has an advantage since the MediaTek chipset used on the MX5 isn’t optimized for all games.
The 3150mAh battery of the MX5 lasted for 9 hours and 46 minutes in our battery test while the 3300mAh battery of the OnePlus 2 lasted for 11 hours and 24 minutes. Even though OnePlus 2 has an edge in the Talk Time test and is slightly better in WiFi browsing test to achieve better overall score, the MX5 is better in 3G browsing and video playback tests.
OnePlus 2 has a USB Type-C port so you will need to use a microUSB adapter for most things till the Type-C standard gains popularity. It also supports USB OTG for mass storage and it will support gaming controllers if your root the device. Even though MX5 did not support OTG initially, it got USB OTG support in the recent update. Both the phones have Dual nano SIM support and 4G LTE connectivity on both.
Both the phones are seriously good performers that can give high end flagships from manufacturers such as LG and Samsung a run for their money. They excel in several departments and while one is better than the other in a few, they still are really good in their own respects.
If you are someone who fancies a USB Type-C port, 4GB RAM, more internal storage, OIS for your camera and customizable keys then you should go for the OnePlus 2 that will set you back Rs. 24,999. However if you want the camera with more detailing, better audio quality, more customizable UI and have a budget that isn’t as flexible then perhaps the MX5 will be the better option for you at Rs. 19,999. Mind you, the 16GB model is the only one available for the MX5 as of now in India but they should release the other storage variants soon enough.
Srivatsan contributed to the comparison