It's not every day that a smartphone crosses our desk running Canonical's open source Ubuntu operating system.
The Linux-based OS already commands millions of installations across desktops and tablets the world over, and makes a welcome change from the endless run of Android-based devices. Anticipation levels were therefore high and, on first impressions, we believed we were in the presence of a truly desirable smartphone.
This is a well put together handset. The brushed aluminium curves around the sides give it a pleasing feel, interrupted only by the plastic antenna bands.
The dimensions are 156.7x78x7.5mm, larger than most smartphones released in 2016 so far. It weighs 168g, which is 3g lighter than the iPhone 6S Plus.
The sizeable 5.7in AMOLED display pushes the Meizu Pro 5 into phablet territory. The phone maker has also opted to stick with a resolution of 1,920x1,080 pixels (full HD) over QHD which is common at this screen size.
Saying that, it still manages a laudable 387ppi and, for the most part, it really delivers in terms of colour and contrast. We also appreciate the slight curve of the 2.5D glass finish. It's a nice aesthetic that belies the handset's £280 price.
Take a tour around the phone's chassis and you'll find power and volume controls on the right, a headphone jack along the top, and a dual SIM/microSD slot on the left (expandable to a maximum of 128GB). Speaker holes keep the USB-Type C port company on the bottom.
The Meizu Pro 5 ships with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage as standard, but there's a beefier 4GB/64GB option.
The handset is supposed to be available in silver, grey and gold with a white bezel, or grey with a black bezel. However, only the 32GB model with gold trim has been put up for sale so far.
This won't be the last time we draw comparisons with Windows Phone in this review, and on this occasion we'd like to highlight both platforms' ability to turn the phone into a desktop computer.
Windows Phone's solution, Continuum, requires minimal effort and works just as you'd expect (with external display, mouse and a keyboard all accounted for). It should be a similar story with Ubuntu's Convergence, but the Meizu Pro 5 crucially lacks an HDMI port. There is Bluetooth, but the USB-Type C port doesn't support video or audio, thus making the feature wholly redundant.
As is now the norm, the Home (Menu) button also functions as a fingerprint scanner, but we were disappointed to learn that the Ubuntu OS can't use fingerprint security at the time of writing.
Despite the inclusion of the Samsung Exynos 7420 octa-core processor (with 14nm FinFET technology), we found the phone infuriatingly laggy and not as nippy as its credentials would have you believe.
That Exynos processor comprises quad-core 1.5GHz and quad-core 2.1GHz chips, the same found in Samsung's 2015 Galaxy S6, while the Mali T760 provides the graphics grunt. The Meizu Pro 5 seemed to struggle even when playing old favourites like Cut the Rope, and switching between Scopes and screens isn't as buttery smooth as we'd like.
On paper (at least) there's no discernible reason for this poor showing. So we can only chalk it up to the Ubuntu OS. If you like the specs we'd suggest you plump for the Android variation instead.
Sound quality often gets forgotten in today's smartphone wars, and the HTC 10 is the only handset in recent memory to put in a truly sterling effort. The Meizu Pro 5 will please audiophiles thanks to the high-end DAC chip, solo amp circuit and professional audio amp. It can really pump out a considerable volume.
There are a couple of negatives, however. Try as we might we couldn't find a shortcut to launch the camera (instead we had to rely on navigating to the Apps Scope), and there is a slight delay when it eventually springs into action.
Thankfully the charger supplied in the box is capable of charging to these speeds, and we got a good day and half use out of the handset during our tests.
You'll want to spend a fair amount of time customising your Scopes and almost the same time trying to get your head around this markedly new approach. In theory the content discovery element should come across as exciting and fun, but you'll soon learn that this is not the case.
First off we made sure to uncheck any non-English news sources, adding our Google, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Evernote account details, and disabling the woeful advertising on the Music Scope. The Music Scope will try to sell you albums from 7Digital, and was not something we wanted to contend with while browsing own music collection.
Weather information is duplicated on the Today and NearBy Scopes, which incidentally always failed accurately to detect our location. There doesn't seem to be any way to fix this either, as the phone was already set up to use GPS, WiFi and mobile network info.
The News service doesn't update as often as we'd like, and sliding to refresh didn't seem to have the desired results. It's light on subject area too, especially compared with Apple News or even Samsung's new Upday offering.
The Photos Scope allows you to sync pictures from popular services like Instagram, Flickr and Facebook. It's a great idea in theory, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
The Ubuntu OS lacks a dedicated Instagram app and you're presented with an ugly stream of photos that don't have any bearing on Instagram as we know it. After a bit of searching we discovered that you can 'like' photos and leave comments, but these options are buried (there's no double-tapping to like for instance), and the whole experience feels unintuitive.
If you want to follow the prompt to view on Instagram proper, you'll be taken to the mobile site where further prompts will invite you to install the Android app no less. No dice.
Sometimes tapping on a photo resulted in a blank screen, but this may have been down to connectivity problems.
That wasn't the end of our problems. Attempting to add the Gmail app resulted in an ad prompting us to install from the Google Play store or navigate to the mobile site. Thankfully when we swiped to the Launcher we found the Gmail app sitting there quite happily, seemingly oblivious to the confusion we'd just suffered. These might seem spurious complaints but they are all little annoyances that sully the experience.
Elsewhere there's bad news for enterprise users as there's little to no sign of security or productivity software. A lot of your usual big favourites are also missing, so bar sending a few emails, browsing the web and making some calls we can't see how we're expected to get much use out of this device.
To really master the Ubuntu Touch OS, you're going to need to work on your swiping technique. A short swipe from the left of the screen opens the Launcher, while a more considered long swipe will zip you from Scope to Scope.
Android users will feel mostly at home when swiping down, as this reveals a familiar row of settings and provides access to notifications.
At one point we were informed that a system update was available to install. Maybe this would address some of the annoyances we'd encountered so far? After mashing the installation button, it finally decided to begin the update only to cause the screen to flash wildly as it carried out the process. Whatever improvements the update had made were lost on us, as our outlook remained unchanged.
So our overall opinion of the Ubuntu OS? Quite frankly it's a mess and suffers from a lack of cohesion throughout. With a bit more care and attention the experience could be half decent, but as it stands it just feels unfinished (plus there's more than a whiff of the ill-fated WebOS about it and that's certainly not a flattering comparison).
UK prices currently stand at around £280 for the 32GB model.
If you measure the health of a handset by ecosystem alone, the Meizu Pro 5 Ubuntu edition lags way behind even Windows Phone in its formative years.
We came away from the Meizu Pro 5 feeling hollow - for all the power at its core (thanks in no small part to the Exynos chip) there's nothing here that really makes it shine. It's a shame as there's nothing wrong with the hardware or the design, and ultimately it's the Ubuntu wrapping that is its undoing.
Scopes are a bold experiment and help to differentiate the Meizu Pro 5 from its iOS and Android competitors, but the Ubuntu OS (at least on mobile) doesn't do nearly enough to justify its existence.
As such, the Meizu Pro 5 Ubuntu edition is hard to recommend at this time. Back to the drawing board.
The Linux-based OS already commands millions of installations across desktops and tablets the world over, and makes a welcome change from the endless run of Android-based devices. Anticipation levels were therefore high and, on first impressions, we believed we were in the presence of a truly desirable smartphone.
Design
The Meizu Pro 5 Ubuntu Edition takes design cues from the iPhone 6S Plus and combines it with the innards of a Samsung Galaxy S6, but this isn't some sort of iOS/Android hybrid as it runs on pure Ubuntu.
This is a well put together handset. The brushed aluminium curves around the sides give it a pleasing feel, interrupted only by the plastic antenna bands.
The dimensions are 156.7x78x7.5mm, larger than most smartphones released in 2016 so far. It weighs 168g, which is 3g lighter than the iPhone 6S Plus.
The sizeable 5.7in AMOLED display pushes the Meizu Pro 5 into phablet territory. The phone maker has also opted to stick with a resolution of 1,920x1,080 pixels (full HD) over QHD which is common at this screen size.
Saying that, it still manages a laudable 387ppi and, for the most part, it really delivers in terms of colour and contrast. We also appreciate the slight curve of the 2.5D glass finish. It's a nice aesthetic that belies the handset's £280 price.
Take a tour around the phone's chassis and you'll find power and volume controls on the right, a headphone jack along the top, and a dual SIM/microSD slot on the left (expandable to a maximum of 128GB). Speaker holes keep the USB-Type C port company on the bottom.
The Meizu Pro 5 ships with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage as standard, but there's a beefier 4GB/64GB option.
The handset is supposed to be available in silver, grey and gold with a white bezel, or grey with a black bezel. However, only the 32GB model with gold trim has been put up for sale so far.
This won't be the last time we draw comparisons with Windows Phone in this review, and on this occasion we'd like to highlight both platforms' ability to turn the phone into a desktop computer.
Windows Phone's solution, Continuum, requires minimal effort and works just as you'd expect (with external display, mouse and a keyboard all accounted for). It should be a similar story with Ubuntu's Convergence, but the Meizu Pro 5 crucially lacks an HDMI port. There is Bluetooth, but the USB-Type C port doesn't support video or audio, thus making the feature wholly redundant.
As is now the norm, the Home (Menu) button also functions as a fingerprint scanner, but we were disappointed to learn that the Ubuntu OS can't use fingerprint security at the time of writing.
Performance
It's hard properly to measure (and judge) the performance of the Meizu Pro 5 owing to the absence of our traditional benchmarking tools. On this occasion we'll have to rely purely on our observations, which don't exactly paint the handset in a favourable light.
Despite the inclusion of the Samsung Exynos 7420 octa-core processor (with 14nm FinFET technology), we found the phone infuriatingly laggy and not as nippy as its credentials would have you believe.
That Exynos processor comprises quad-core 1.5GHz and quad-core 2.1GHz chips, the same found in Samsung's 2015 Galaxy S6, while the Mali T760 provides the graphics grunt. The Meizu Pro 5 seemed to struggle even when playing old favourites like Cut the Rope, and switching between Scopes and screens isn't as buttery smooth as we'd like.
On paper (at least) there's no discernible reason for this poor showing. So we can only chalk it up to the Ubuntu OS. If you like the specs we'd suggest you plump for the Android variation instead.
Sound quality often gets forgotten in today's smartphone wars, and the HTC 10 is the only handset in recent memory to put in a truly sterling effort. The Meizu Pro 5 will please audiophiles thanks to the high-end DAC chip, solo amp circuit and professional audio amp. It can really pump out a considerable volume.
Camera
The 21MP rear camera incorporates a Sony IMX 230 sensor and offers dual-LED flash and laser autofocus. Results are generally pleasing, delivering vibrant colours normally associated with the likes of Samsung's Galaxy range.
There are a couple of negatives, however. Try as we might we couldn't find a shortcut to launch the camera (instead we had to rely on navigating to the Apps Scope), and there is a slight delay when it eventually springs into action.
Battery
The Meizu Pro 5 has a sizeable 3,050mAh battery that uses its own variation of Qualcomm's Quick Charge technology to restore 65 per cent of charge in just 30 minutes.Thankfully the charger supplied in the box is capable of charging to these speeds, and we got a good day and half use out of the handset during our tests.
Software
We want to spend the bulk of this review on Ubuntu OS, as unsurprisingly it's a major sticking point. Instead of relying on dedicated apps, the phone uses 'Scopes' that present content in a completely different format. Unfortunately we feel that the Scopes are responsible for a lot of the Meizu Pro 5's undoing.
You'll want to spend a fair amount of time customising your Scopes and almost the same time trying to get your head around this markedly new approach. In theory the content discovery element should come across as exciting and fun, but you'll soon learn that this is not the case.
First off we made sure to uncheck any non-English news sources, adding our Google, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Evernote account details, and disabling the woeful advertising on the Music Scope. The Music Scope will try to sell you albums from 7Digital, and was not something we wanted to contend with while browsing own music collection.
Weather information is duplicated on the Today and NearBy Scopes, which incidentally always failed accurately to detect our location. There doesn't seem to be any way to fix this either, as the phone was already set up to use GPS, WiFi and mobile network info.
The News service doesn't update as often as we'd like, and sliding to refresh didn't seem to have the desired results. It's light on subject area too, especially compared with Apple News or even Samsung's new Upday offering.
The Photos Scope allows you to sync pictures from popular services like Instagram, Flickr and Facebook. It's a great idea in theory, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
The Ubuntu OS lacks a dedicated Instagram app and you're presented with an ugly stream of photos that don't have any bearing on Instagram as we know it. After a bit of searching we discovered that you can 'like' photos and leave comments, but these options are buried (there's no double-tapping to like for instance), and the whole experience feels unintuitive.
If you want to follow the prompt to view on Instagram proper, you'll be taken to the mobile site where further prompts will invite you to install the Android app no less. No dice.
Sometimes tapping on a photo resulted in a blank screen, but this may have been down to connectivity problems.
That wasn't the end of our problems. Attempting to add the Gmail app resulted in an ad prompting us to install from the Google Play store or navigate to the mobile site. Thankfully when we swiped to the Launcher we found the Gmail app sitting there quite happily, seemingly oblivious to the confusion we'd just suffered. These might seem spurious complaints but they are all little annoyances that sully the experience.
Elsewhere there's bad news for enterprise users as there's little to no sign of security or productivity software. A lot of your usual big favourites are also missing, so bar sending a few emails, browsing the web and making some calls we can't see how we're expected to get much use out of this device.
To really master the Ubuntu Touch OS, you're going to need to work on your swiping technique. A short swipe from the left of the screen opens the Launcher, while a more considered long swipe will zip you from Scope to Scope.
Android users will feel mostly at home when swiping down, as this reveals a familiar row of settings and provides access to notifications.
At one point we were informed that a system update was available to install. Maybe this would address some of the annoyances we'd encountered so far? After mashing the installation button, it finally decided to begin the update only to cause the screen to flash wildly as it carried out the process. Whatever improvements the update had made were lost on us, as our outlook remained unchanged.
So our overall opinion of the Ubuntu OS? Quite frankly it's a mess and suffers from a lack of cohesion throughout. With a bit more care and attention the experience could be half decent, but as it stands it just feels unfinished (plus there's more than a whiff of the ill-fated WebOS about it and that's certainly not a flattering comparison).
Price
The Meizu Pro 5 is attractively priced whichever way you cut it. At the time of writing you can take advantage of exchange rates to save even more. Follow the link on the official Meizu website.UK prices currently stand at around £280 for the 32GB model.
Summary
Some Ubuntu purists will undoubtedly say that it shouldn't come down to the apps. But we'd wager this same crowd would have been quick to criticise Windows Phone for the very same reason.
If you measure the health of a handset by ecosystem alone, the Meizu Pro 5 Ubuntu edition lags way behind even Windows Phone in its formative years.
We came away from the Meizu Pro 5 feeling hollow - for all the power at its core (thanks in no small part to the Exynos chip) there's nothing here that really makes it shine. It's a shame as there's nothing wrong with the hardware or the design, and ultimately it's the Ubuntu wrapping that is its undoing.
Scopes are a bold experiment and help to differentiate the Meizu Pro 5 from its iOS and Android competitors, but the Ubuntu OS (at least on mobile) doesn't do nearly enough to justify its existence.
As such, the Meizu Pro 5 Ubuntu edition is hard to recommend at this time. Back to the drawing board.
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