Meizu has just announced that its new M1 Note smartphone will be released in Malaysia this week. Released in China back in January, this affordable mid-range device looks set to compete in a very competitive market here in Malaysia.
The M1 Note is a pretty well-specced device for its price. It’s powered by a MediaTek MT6752 Cortex-A53 1.7GHz octa-core processor with 2GB of RAM, and sports a 5.5-inch Full HD display sourced from Sharp and AUO – this spec alone is a killer feature not found on other devices at this price. Besides that, there’s a 13MP rear and 5MP front-facing camera, 3,140mAh battery, and dual-SIM support. The Meizu M1 Note will be running on the company’s Flyme OS 4, based on Android.
There are, however, some hardware limitations. The M1 Note does not have a microSD card slot, and the variant coming to Malaysia this week is the 16GB version – you may run out of space pretty quickly. According to Blue Kor, Meizu’s official distributor for Malaysia, the 32GB variant will be coming to Malaysia at the end of this month.
Also, while the M1 Note supports LTE in one of its SIM slots, it only supports LTE Band 1 (1800MHz) and not the more commonly used Band 7 (2600MHz) spectrum; Malaysia’s LTE 1800MHz band is more of a supplementary to the 2600MHz spectrum. M1 Note users may then be switching networks between LTE and HSPA+ more often than other users. On the other hand, the M1 Note has support for China’s TDD-LTE bands, so you’ll be able to roam in 4G while in China.
The phablet will be available in five colours: Yellow, Blue, White, Green and Pink – though not all colours will be available at launch. The M1 Note will only be available for sale via three outlets: Meizu’s official website, Lazada and DirectD. You can also see the device for yourself at the following locations: Sungai Wang Plaza, Pearl Point (Old Klang Road), Klang Parade and DirectD’s physical outlet.
Meizu Malaysia is pricing the M1 Note 16GB at RM699, about RM100 more than the 999 Yuan retail price in China. Nevertheless, Meizu is offering some serious value for money with the M1 Note, and will likely challenge the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G as the best affordable Android phablet in the Malaysian market this year.
