Meizu Note 21 Review

The Meizu Note 21 is one of the two entry-level offerings launched with the brand’s re-entry in the Philippines. This makes it one of the first releases this year under a price range of under PHP 6,000USD 104INR 9,095EUR 99CNY 756.

But aside from an attractive price point, we’re going to dive in to see what else it offers. With that, let’s find out if it can compete with other devices in the market.

Design and Construction

Our review unit came in Gulf Blue, which is the loudest colorway it comes in. It sports a polycarbonate back panel that shimmers under light with hues of pink and white.

It adopts a design akin to what most entry-level smartphones have nowadays. It feels fairly sizable and weighty, which some users may or may not prefer. Speaking of preferences, it should also be available in Diamond Black and Ivory colors for those leaning towards muted designs.

On the back of the Note 21, you’ll find three sensors and a LED flash on the upper left. It’s a bit reminiscent of how iPhone camera enclosures are positioned, albeit bigger. Oddly enough, the phone only has a dual-rear camera setup that we’ll unpack later.

At the front, we have the phone’s screen and its selfie shooter situated in a dew drop notch. The bezels are quite thick, which makes the display feel a bit dated.

Next, the volume rocker and power button which doubles as a fingerprint sensor can be found on the right side. On the left, we have a dual nano-SIM tray with a dedicated microSD card slot.

At the bottom, we have a 3.5mm audio port, a USB Type-C port, a mono loudspeaker, and a microphone. Meanwhile, the top side of the frame is clean of anything on it.

Wrapping up, we also need to mention that the phone isn’t certified for a waterproof rating. Interested readers should keep this in mind should they consider otherwise.

Overall, we feel like the phone didn’t really stand out under this segment. Save for its Apple-esque sensor placement, it feels like a common find for its price these days. Personally, I feel like I could’ve warmed up to it more if it was in another colorway too.

Display, Multimedia, and Biometrics

Going back to display, the phone sports a 6.74-inch screen with HD+ resolution and a refresh rate of 90Hz. For audio, it’s fitted with a mono loudspeaker and a 3.5mm port for earphones and the like.

The display performs well when you’re scrolling or watching videos. However, it can struggle under direct sunlight. This would force users to max it out at times under circumstance, which would affect battery life.

Our main uses for it have been browsing, multimedia consumption, and gaming. Generally speaking though, it does offer good color reproduction. Our only gripe with the experience is its thick bezels, which feels dated and takes up screen real estate.

If users don’t take kindly to its mono loudspeaker, there’s always alternatives. Aside from its audio port, Bluetooth is also a quick fix for improving your audio-relative needs.

For biometrics, we have face unlock and the phone’s fingerprint sensor embedded on the right side. Registration and responsiveness are pretty straightforward and work as intended.

Cameras

The Meizu Note 21 is equipped with a 50-megapixel main camera, a 2-megapixel depth sensor, and an 8-megapixel selfie snapper.

The main camera is decent at best when users default to 1x zoom. The colors aren’t too appealing either. While it does come with AI post-processing after shooting, it’s not that good of a band-aid solution either.

For reference though, it can go up to 10x zoom. It’s just that the drop in quality is very evident should users try to go further. This can even worsen with lack of lighting.

Selfies taken and videos recorded with the device come off with a similar issue. Details and texture go away in favor of solid color and light. Of course, this is expected considering how much it’s priced for.

Frankly though, it’s alright. Photography isn’t the biggest thing of value under the entry-level segment. Users just have to keep lighting conditions in mind to make the most out of it.

OS, Apps, and UI

The phone ships with Android 14 out of the box, with not a lot of ground to cover here. On the bright side, it doesn’t come with notable bloatware.

Although, there is Google’s suite of apps, YouTube, and YouTube Music pre-installed. We don’t consider this as unwanted installations, as more than a handful are useful.

As for the user interface, it’s pretty simple to digest. Pulling up directs users to the app drawer, while pulling down shows you quick toggles and notifications. It’s pretty barebones, with the useful toggles including night light, QR code scanner, and screen recording.

Again, not much to cover here. We have to say though, we wish that devices shipped with Android 14 came with a dedicated photo gallery app. Native users could argue that it isn’t too tedious. However, not having to check photos under the files app would be a nice quality of life change.

This is also the global version of the device that doesn’t come with Flyme OS. It’s definitely possible that the skin the phone’s supposed to come in could’ve changed the experience. But also, this could have gone either way because of factors like familiarity, bloatware, etc.

Performance and Benchmarks

Powering the Meizu Note 21 is a UNISOC T606 chipset under the hood. It comes with eight cores clocking up to 1.6GHz each and a Mali-G57 MP1 GPU.

For reference, our review unit came with 4GB of RAM, 4GB of virtual memory, and 256GB of storage. It also supports microSD cards via a dedicated slot on the SIM tray should users need more space.

Our experience with the device includes streaming videos online, browsing the web, and a bit of gaming. I do have to mention though, there’s a bit of stutter at times when a user moves from app to app.

We didn’t really notice this when we made our first impressions on the device. Either way, the quick fix for this is to be mindful of what you run. It also helps to close apps that aren’t in use to save memory.

Surprisingly though, it can handle a game like Genshin Impact provided that the lowest graphic settings are enabled. Of course, the experience isn’t going to be optimal.

Frames will dip a bit, but it’s certainly passable for those that just want to get their dailies done with. Plus, the device didn’t really heat up as much as expected after roughly an hour of gameplay.

Generally though, gaming on the Note 21 won’t yield the smoothest experience. However, switching to less graphic intensive titles should make it more reliable.

As a personal recommendation, users should try Teamfight Tactics on the device. It doesn’t take up much memory and runs on 30 frames. Mobile Legends should be okay as well, as it only requires 1GB of RAM to run.

We’ll leave our benchmark scores for the Meizu Note 21 in another table below for those interested.

Battery and Connectivity

This phone packs a large 6,000mAh battery with support for 18W of charging via USB Type-C. This is a highlight of the Note 21, so we went to test it to see if it holds up.

In PC Mark’s Battery Test, the phone was able to run for a whopping 18 hours and 54 minutes. This test was taken with the phone on 50 percent brightness, muted volume, and in airplane mode.

In our proprietary video loop test, the phone provided us with 27 hours and 5 minutes of playback. This was conducted with the same variables while playing a full HD movie.

These are pretty good numbers under this segment. It’s more than enough for a day’s worth of use with a fully-charged battery.

It’s also good to mention that Meizu says that the phone is good for 19 hours on standby. The fact that it ran for roughly the same period multitasking during our benchmark testing speaks for itself.

Moving on to connectivity, the Note 21 supports Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5, GPS, 4G, and dual nano-SIM. These work as seamlessly and as intended, with call quality either online or via a mobile network coming off stable.|

Pricing and Conclusion

The Meizu Note 21 comes with an affordable price of PHP 5,999USD 104INR 9,093EUR 99CNY 756. Its pros include the multimedia experience it provides, its battery life, and the absence of bloatware.

For cons, we have its cameras and inability to run multiple apps smoothly. There’s also its design, which doesn’t really stand out and comes off as generic under its price segment. Then again, this is subjective and leans on user preference.

Honestly though, this could be a good find for users that need a daily driver on a budget. This includes browsing, streaming videos, and dare we say light gaming.

We can’t ignore that the phone has an uptime of roughly 20 hours. Considering what it’s worth, we can’t totally count it out. All things considered, we hope Meizu can thrive this year to provide us all with competitive options moving forward.

What do you guys think of the Meizu Note 21? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below!

What we liked:
* Price
* Battery life
* No bloatware
* Multimedia experience

What we didn’t like:
* Design (colorway and thick bezels)
* Cameras
* Multitasking capability (running multiple apps)

Meizu Note 21 specs:
6.74-inch HD+ (1600 x 720) IPS LCD
90Hz refresh rate, 450 nits
UNISOC T606 (12nm, up to 1.6GHz)
2x Cortex-A75 (1.6GHz)
6x Cortex-A55 (1.6GHz)
Mali-G57 MP1 GPU
4GB RAM (+4GB extended memory)
256GB internal storage
microSD card support (dedicated)
50MP main camera (f/1.8)
2MP depth camera (f/2.4)
8MP front camera
3.5mm audio port
Mono loudspeaker
Dual nano-SIM
4G LTE
Wi-Fi 5
Bluetooth 5
GPS
USB Type-C
Android 14
Face unlock
Fingerprint sensor (side-mounted)
6,000mAh battery
18W charging support (wired)
167.8 x 77.4 x 9.1 mm (dimensions)
Gulf Blue, Diamond Black, Ivory (colors)