The Meizu M3 Note vs. Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Review: Comparing Notes

As new technology finds its way into flagship phones, previously cutting-edge features trickle down to mid-range and eventually low-end devices. As an economic policy the efficacy of this approach is debatable; however, it works well enough when applied to technology. With each passing year, the quality and performance of lower-cost phones improves. Not that long ago, buying a low-end phone meant a compromised user experience, the result of corner cutting to reduce cost. But today it’s possible to get a very capable phone for less than ¥1300 (about $ 200 USD) that does not list frustration as its primary feature. The last phone we tested at this price point was the Huawei Honor 5X, and while not perfect, it left an overall positive impression.

In this article, we’ll be examining two of its competitors: the Meizu M3 note and the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3. The similarities between these two phones extend beyond their “note” branding; they also share very similar hardware specifications and pricing, which is why we’re going to review them together. It will be interesting to see if these similarities translate to a similar user experience.

Both phones come in two basic versions: one with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage and a slightly more expensive configuration that bumps RAM to 3GB and storage to 32GB. The base configuration is pretty typical for this category, and while 2GB of RAM should be enough to provide a decent multitasking experience, having only 16GB of storage is a bit restrictive. Thankfully, both phones support microSD cards for adding storage space.

Other hardware similarities exist too, including a 5.5-inch 1080p IPS display, a 5MP front-facing camera, and a rear camera with phase detect autofocus (PDAF) and dual-tone LED flash. Both phones also support 802.11ac Wi-Fi, which is nice to see considering the Huawei Honor 5X only supports up to 802.11n and only with 2.4GHz channels, although neither includes NFC support. The Redmi Note 3 does have an FM radio and an infrared transmitter for TV remote duties, features the M3 note lacks.

The adoption rate for fingerprint sensors has been incredibly quick. It has only been a couple of years since fingerprint sensors first appeared on flagship phones, but now it’s a near ubiquitous feature from flagships down to the upper low-end. The M3 note uses a capacitive touch-based fingerprint sensor based on Meizu’s mTouch 2.1 technology that is also found in the more expensive PRO 5 and PRO 6. The Redmi Note 3 also comes with a capacitive touch-based sensor on the back of the phone. Both phones unlock quickly, but I found the M3 note’s sensor to be far more reliable, especially at handling moisture and changes in temperature. At one point I could not even get the Redmi Note 3 to register a fingerprint during the enrollment process.

One feature that helps set both of these phones apart from their peers is a large battery. While not swappable, the greater than 4000mAh battery in each phone should provide ample battery life, something we’ll quantify later in the review.

The biggest difference between these two notes is the SoC each packs inside. The MediaTek Helio P10 in the M3 note uses an octa-core CPU with a performance and power-saving cluster of four Cortex-A53 cores each for a total of eight cores. The Snapdragon 650 in the Redmi Note 3 pairs its power-saving cluster of four A53 cores with two Cortex-A72 cores, which should give it a performance advantage in most applications. There’s also two different GPUs—an ARM Mali-T860MP2 for the M3 note and a Qualcomm Adreno 510 for the Redmi Note 3—which have their own relative strengths.

Besides the different core configurations, each SoC also uses a different manufacturing process. Both are based on TSMC’s 28nm node, but the Snapdragon 650 uses 28nm HPm while the MediaTek Helio P10 uses the newer 28nm HPC+, which promises a significant reduction in leakage current relative to the HPm and HPC iterations that precede it. Implementation details, along with software optimizations and configuration settings, also play a significant role when it comes to SoC power and performance, so we’ll have to see what impact this has on battery life later in the review.

Both SoCs include an integrated baseband processor. MediaTek’s Category 6 LTE modem offers up to 300 Mb/s down and 50 Mb/s up with 2×20 MHz carrier aggregation and 64-QAM on the downlink. Qualcomm’s X8 LTE modem in the Redmi Note 3’s Snapdragon 650 SoC offers the same downlink capability but boosts uplink speed to 100 Mb/s max by adding 2×20 MHz carrier aggregation (still 16-QAM).

Both phones support Dual SIM Dual Standby (DSDS) operation, which means both SIMs are active for receiving calls or messages, but only one SIM can make a connection at a time because they share a single radio. Each phone’s card tray has two slots: The M3 note can have two NanoSIM cards or one NanoSIM and one microSD card, while the Redmi Note 3 can use one MicroSIM and one NanoSIM or one MicroSIM and one microSD card.

Frequency band support is tailored for the Asian and European markets, although neither phone supports B20 for the latter. There’s no support for North American LTE frequencies, limiting the phones to HSPA+ operation.

It’s increasingly difficult to find phones made entirely from plastic anymore. Aluminum unibody construction, once reserved for only the most expensive flagships, is almost as common as fingerprint sensors now, with even lower-priced phones readily adopting the technique. The M3 note, Redmi Note 3, and the Honor 5X we previously reviewed are all examples of this trend.

The M3 note follows the same design language as the more expensive MX5 and PRO 5. It’s aluminum chassis has a smooth, sandblasted texture with curved edges on the back and generously radiused corners that make it comfortable to hold. The Redmi Note 3 follows the same formula, giving it a similar in-hand feel. It does not feel quite as sturdy as the M3 note, however. Its chassis flexes just a little more and there’s an occasional creak, although it’s not enough to be a real concern.

The front of each phone is covered in edge-to-edge glass. The Redmi Note 3 has a shiny plastic lip around the perimeter that’s raised above the glass. This helps protect the screen when the phone is sitting face down on a table, but it reduces the smoothness of edge swipes and feels scratchy when placed against the ear during a phone call. The M3 note avoids these issues by blending the front glass into the sides with a small radius.

Both phones are similar in width and have reasonably narrow side bezels, but while the M3 note shows only a very thin black border around the screen, the Redmi Note 3’s black border is noticeably thicker—thick enough to be distracting during normal use. The Redmi Note 3 (150.0 mm) is distinctly shorter than the M3 note (153.6 mm), and even the Honor 5X (151.3 mm), because of its smaller upper bezel, although this does nothing to improve one-handed use as its lower bezel is about the same size as the others.

Both phones have relatively small earpieces centered above the screen, making it difficult to hear phone conversations if the earpiece is not perfectly aligned with the ear. The M3 note’s earpiece is flanked by its front-facing camera on the left and a combined ambient light/proximity sensor on the right, creating a nicely-aligned, symmetrical layout. A white notification LED is hidden below the front fascia to the right of the ambient light sensor. Xiaomi scorns symmetry and places the Redmi Note 3’s sensors, front-facing camera, and hidden multi-colored notification/charging LED all to the right of the earpiece.

These two phones handle UI navigation differently, which the button layout below the screen reflects. The M3 note has a pill-shaped home button that also functions as a fingerprint sensor and capacitive button. There’s no free play, and it still works when pressed off center with a positive click. Unlike many other phones with a physical home button, the M3 note does not place capacitive buttons to either side, which we’ll discuss more in the software section. In comparison, the Redmi Note 3’s lower bezel is more traditional. From left to right, there’s capacitive buttons for recent apps, home, and back. The buttons are backlit, but are not very bright, and the order cannot be changed.

Both phones place the sleep/wake button and single-piece volume rocker just above the midpoint on the right edge within easy reach. All of the buttons produce a nice, solid click, and are stiff enough to prevent accidental presses when picking up the phone, but there’s just a little more free play in the M3 note’s buttons. Each phone’s card tray sits opposite the volume rocker on the left side.

There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack and a noise-cancelling microphone on the top of each phone. The Redmi Note 3 also has a small window for its IR blaster. We see some big differences again when looking at the bottom of the phones. The M3 note uses a symmetrical layout with two sets of holes flanking a central microUSB port. Its single speaker sits behind the right grille, while the primary microphone sits behind the left. Once again Xiaomi shuns symmetry, placing its microphone and microUSB port in the left corner. This placement could lead to compatibility issues with some third-party docks/peripherals that are designed for a central port.

Flipping the phones over we see that both rear cameras are centered within a circular black surround with polished accent and sit flush with the flat aluminum back. Both phones also hide their antennas behind plastic caps at the top and bottom of the phone instead of incorporating plastic antenna lines like we usually see on all-metal phones. The color and texture of the caps closely match the metallic finish on the back, although there is some color variation when viewed from different angles or in certain lighting conditions. Meizu adds some decorative flair to the M3 note by machining some polished slots into the chassis, effectively hiding the seam between the aluminum back and plastic caps.

Unlike the M3 note, the Redmi Note 3’s fingerprint sensor is on the back. This is currently the most common location, although the ideal placement is a matter of personal preference. Placing the sensor on the back puts it within easy reach of the index finger when holding the phone, but it also eliminates the possibility of using it to unlock the phone when it’s resting on a table. The Redmi Note 3’s external speaker is also on the back underneath a series of small holes near the bottom.

While these phones are similar in materials and construction, they each communicate a different design language. Meizu makes heavy use of symmetry, beveled cover glass, and more complicated machining—the concave groove for the buttons on the side and the polished slots on the back—to help elevate the M3 note’s look and feel to flagship levels. Xiaomi’s styling for the Redmi Note 3 is more traditional, with a raised plastic lip around the screen and fixed capacitive buttons below. The Redmi Note 3 also lacks the symmetry and machining flourish of the M3 note. While I personally find the M3 note more visually appealing, neither phone looks or feels cheap. Even the color options—silver with white front, dark gray with black front, and gold on gold for the Redmi Note 3 and gold on white for the M3 note—are subtle and classy looking.

To help differentiate their products, most OEMs put their own stamp on Android that adheres to their aesthetics and adds, modifies, or even removes features found in AOSP. Meizu and Xiaomi are no exception; the M3 note and Redmi Note 3 are running Flyme OS 5.1 and MIUI 7.3, respectively, with Android 5.1 underneath. While both Meizu and Xiaomi provide regular updates to their OS skins and apps on a regular basis, Android updates are rare to nonexistent. Lack of timely updates is an issue for the Android ecosystem as a whole, but it’s especially prevalent among Chinese OEMs and for the less expensive phones where profit margins are thin. Whether or not either phone will ever see an update to Android Marshmallow is still uncertain; however, the fact that both are still running Lollipop speaks volumes.

User Interface Design: Meizu M3 note (left) vs. Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (right)

Both Meizu’s Flyme and Xiaomi’s MIUI stray pretty far from Google’s Material Design language. While it’s still possible to recognize some stock Android design elements in Flyme, like the action overflow button in the top-right corner of apps and standard floating menus with drop shadows, MIUI eradicates all visual similarity to Google’s Android. Instead of floating menus that pop over the app, MIUI’s menus slide in from the top or bottom of the screen and use a semi-transparent background rather than drop shadows to indicate depth. MIUI also restyles all of the menus and buttons, opting for smaller controls and text with less color. Navigation also works a bit differently: Whereas Flyme pretty consistently places a back link in the action bar at the top of the screen, MIUI sometimes uses back links or cancel buttons in the action bar, but relies more heavily on using the hardware back button instead.

Home Screen: Meizu M3 note (left) vs. Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (right)

Both Flyme and MIUI do not include an app drawer, opting for a more iOS-like system for managing apps that spreads them across multiple home screens. The app icons can at least be readily rearranged and placed anywhere on the screen. They can also be grouped into folders that expand into a full-screen view when opened on both phones. 

We’ve already seen how Meizu and Xiaomi approach user interface design differently, so it’s not surprising to see them use different philosophies for navigation too. Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 3 uses traditional recents, home, and back hardware buttons (from left to right), but unlike phones that use software buttons, or even OnePlus’ hardware buttons, that allow the buttons to be rearranged or even new ones to be added, the Redmi Note 3’s button order is fixed. The only available options are for assigning different tasks when long-pressing the buttons and for controlling the buttons’ backlight.

Meizu’s M3 note, like the PRO 5 we recently reviewed, foregoes Android’s traditional navigation buttons. The recent apps menu is opened simply by swiping up from the bottom bezel, which I find to be a very intuitive gesture that’s easier to do one-handed than tapping a small button. Its lone hardware button plays a dual role: In addition to acting as a home button when pressed, it can also perform one of several different actions when tapped, although using it as a back button makes the most sense.

Recent Apps Menu: Meizu M3 note (left) vs. Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (right)

Looking through recent apps in Flyme is similar to stock Android, with a vertically scrolling array of app preview cards that can be dismissed by swiping to the side. Conversely, Xiaomi’s MIUI uses a side-scrolling array of cards over a semi-transparent background. Both interfaces offer a convenient button to close all open apps.

Lock Screen: Meizu M3 note (left) vs. Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (right)

The lock screen’s appearance and functionality is similar for both phones. By default they prominently show the wallpaper with the time and date displayed at the top. There’s also a camera shortcut in the bottom-right corner, and while the Redmi Note 3’s MIUI does not allow any additional shortcuts on the lock screen, the M3 note’s Flyme supports lock screen gestures, which we’ll discuss more below. If notifications are set to appear on the lock screen, they appear above the wallpaper with a frosted overlay like in the images above. Access to the notification shade and not waking the phone when receiving notifications are options for both lock screens.

The M3 note’s lock screen does have the more elegant solution for controlling music, with larger, easier to use controls and a more attractive appearance that adjusts the background color to match the album art. When a music app is open but not currently playing music, its player widget shows up at the top of the notification list on the lock screen for easy access (while this works for some third-party players, it oddly does not work with Flyme’s default music app). On the Redmi Note 3, you have to pull the notification shade down first to access the player controls. If music is already playing, both lock screens default to showing the album art and music controls.

Notification Shade: Meizu M3 note (left) vs. Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (right)

Pulling down the notification shade reveals similar functionality across both phones that’s presented in a way consistent with Meizu’s and Xiaomi’s design principles. The M3 note’s Flyme OS shows quick setting toggles at the top with notifications listed below. Swiping down or up expands or collapses the quick settings panel, which is consistent with the vertical swiping used in the recent apps menu. You can set which toggles appear in the menu and even rearrange them, but the number of toggles shown is fixed.

MIUI on the Redmi Note 3 takes a different approach, dividing notifications and quick settings into separate screens that you switch between with a horizontal swipe—the same gesture used in the recent apps menu. Similar to Flyme OS, MIUI allows you to rearrange the quick setting toggles, but it does not limit the number shown in the notification shade, allowing you to reach additional toggles by scrolling through them vertically.

Personally, I find the larger fonts and toggles used by Meizu’s Flyme easier to see and use (font size is adjustable in MIUI but not the size of buttons or toggles). I also like having access to everything on a single screen; however, if you tend to get a lot of notifications, MIUI’s roomier notification screen may be an advantage.

Additional Features: Meizu M3 note (left) vs. Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (right)

Both phones offer some special features. The Meizu M3 note includes “Gesture wakeup,” a collection of optional gestures for use on the lock screen. The most useful one for me is the ability to double tap the screen to wake the phone. Swiping left or right with the screen off to switch music tracks is also convenient. You can also wake up the phone and launch apps by drawing letters on the screen.

The M3 note’s “SmartTouch” feature is a little, semi-transparent, repositionable joystick/button that’s always visible on the screen (there’s a quick settings toggle to show/hide it). Moving or tapping the button performs various actions such as pulling down the notification shade when pulled down, switching between open apps by pushing it to the side, working as a back button when tapped, or locking the screen when double tapped. By placing the button within easy reach, it serves as a useful feature for one-handed use.

The Redmi Note 3 addresses the reachability issue differently with a special one-handed mode. Sliding a finger across the capacitive buttons shrinks the screen into a smaller window anchored to either the left- or right-bottom corner, depending on the direction of the finger swipe. Tapping the blank area outside of the window restores the screen to its full size.

Settings Menu: Meizu M3 note (left) vs. Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (right)

Both Flyme and MIUI come with the usual collection of apps—email, messaging, calendar, gallery, file explorer, and the like—in addition to the standard collection of Google apps (for the international versions). These apps are pretty standard fare, although the Redmi Note 3’s calendar app definitely stands above the M3 note’s simple offering, and the number of included apps is not excessive. Both phones come with security apps that purport to do a number of things, including virus scanning, blocking messages and phone numbers, and cleaning up old files. The apps also provide control over individual app permissions, which is a valuable feature that’s not provided natively in Android Lollipop.

Despite each phone having the word “note” in its name, neither the M3 note nor the Redmi Note 3 offer any unique note-taking features beyond a standard note-taking app, unlike Samsung’s Galaxy Note series that comes with a stylus and an array of software features that make it easier to jot down information. The “note” moniker is really just a marketing term for these phones rather than a declaration of capability, because their note-taking ability is no different from any other smartphone.

The M3 note’s Flyme OS and the Redmi Note 3’s MIUI use different approaches to user interface design and navigation. While both deviate from stock Android, MIUI strays much further than Flyme. I find Flyme’s interface to be more consistent in appearance and easier to navigate, but each have their merits.

The era of 720p or lower resolution screens with poor brightness seems to be over in the $ 150 to $ 200 price range. Both the Meizu M3 note and Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 come with large 5.5-inch 1080p (1920×1080) displays (as do many of their peers). This gives them a pixel density of 401ppi—the same as an iPhone 6s Plus—which hits the sweet spot for IPS LCD panels, whose RGB stripe subpixel arrangement avoids the inherent issues caused by the PenTile technology used in most AMOLED panels.

While these phones use big 1080p panels just like expensive flagships, it’s unrealistic to expect the same level of performance; lower-cost, lower-performing panels are a necessity to hit their intended price target. The Redmi Note 3, for example, uses a Tianma panel that does not support panel self-refresh, a common feature we see on flagships that helps conserve power when displaying static content. Are these panels missing other features, and how do they actually look? To answer these questions we turn to our X-Rite i1Pro 2 spectrophotometer and i1Display Pro colorimeter, along with SpectraCal’s CalMAN 5 software to manage the data.

Both the M3 note and Redmi Note 3 reach a respectable 450 nits peak brightness, a little less than the 500+ nits we’d like to see for viewing under the sun, but bright enough to handle most situations. Of the phones in its price range, only the Huawei Honor 5X outshines either device by a significant margin.

Using these phones in low light is not an issue, with the M3 note dimming to 3 nits and the Redmi Note 3 going as low as 1 nit, making both suitable for use in even a completely dark room.

Because we measure the black level and contrast ratio at maximum brightness, it’s a little more difficult to make direct comparisons between devices in these charts; however, after taking into account that a display’s black level naturally increases with brightness, we see that the M3 note and Redmi Note 3 have relatively poor black levels. For example, the Nexus 5X, at a similar peak brightness, shows a much better black level, while the Xiaomi Mi5 achieves a similar black level but at a much higher brightness. Granted, both of these phones are more expensive, but even the Honor 5X and ZUK Z1 deliver better black levels at a similar price point. It’s safe to say that neither the M3 note nor Redmi Note 3 use a panel with photo-aligned crystals like the LG G5, which achieves a black level of 0.21 at 405 nits, a greater than 2x improvement.

The poor black level performance is evident when looking at contrast ratio: The phones fall to the bottom of the chart, failing to break the 1,000 barrier. Even the less-expensive Moto E (2nd gen) has a contrast ratio 27% better than the Redmi Note 3.

SpectraCal CalMAN

At its default setting Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 3 has a very cool white point above 8,100K, which gives whites and lighter shades of gray a very noticeable blue tint. Its poor grayscale accuracy, unfortunately, is typical for phones in its price range, especially among Chinese OEMs who specifically target cool white points for their home market. Gamma is also too high, measuring between 2.4 to 2.5 across a full luminance sweep, which reduces shadow detail and makes images look darker overall.

Meizu’s M3 note has its own set of issues with grayscale accuracy. It places too much emphasis on the red and blue primary colors, giving its screen a purplish tint and a peak ΔE2000 grayscale error of over 12 at 100% white compared to just under 8 for the Redmi Note 3. The M3 note’s gamma curve is a little better, however, sticking pretty close to the target value for most luminance settings.

While neither phone’s default grayscale performance impresses, at least they both include a color temperature slider control that allows you to tailor the screens’ white point based on personal preference. The M3 note’s continuous slider is very sensitive, making it difficult to dial-in a specific value. The endpoints are also far too extreme, with average white points of 3,707K at the warmest setting and a ridiculously blue 100,061K at the coolest setting, which basically turns all colors into a shade of blue. It’s great that Meizu allows for some customization, but it really needs to execute better and tune the control with more sensible settings that actually improve image quality; I find the default setting actually provides the best overall grayscale and color accuracy, and no matter the position of the slider, the green primary is always too low.

The Redmi Note 3’s color temperature control only has three settings: Warm, Cool, and Standard (the default middle position). Because these settings produce usable results, I’ve included their grayscale charts above for comparison. The Cool setting raises the average color temperature to 8,795K for anyone who may prefer a screen with a heavy blue tint. The Warm setting actually yields nice looking grays, with error levels at or below 3 (the point where error becomes readily noticeable) across the full luminance sweep. The gamma curve still fluctuates too much, however.

SpectraCal CalMAN

People who enjoy the vibrant, oversaturated colors that many AMOLED panels provide will be disappointed to know that neither of these phones have wide-gamut displays. People who prefer color accuracy will not be happy either, because neither phone properly covers even the sRGB color space.

It’s interesting that the M3 note and Redmi Note 3 exhibit the same fundamental issues. For starters, they both miss all three corner points that define the sRGB color space. The large deviations for the blue and green primary colors effectively limit the hues of blue, cyan, and green that the panels are capable of rendering. Color saturation is uneven overall, with blues appearing oversaturated, cyans and reds appearing undersaturated, and yellows the most accurately saturated. We can also see how each display’s cool white point pulls cyan and magenta hues towards blue.

The Redmi Note 3’s Cool color temperature setting only makes things worse by shifting all color hues closer to blue. Its Warm setting, however, does actually help improve color saturation and accuracy, at least a little bit. Red hues show much better saturation, and with the blue primary turned down, the secondary colors (cyan, magenta, and yellow) all shift closer to their target boxes. The overall gamut issue remains, though, because that’s set by the panel’s backlight.

With the same list of issues, the M3 note and Redmi Note 3 end up with nearly the same average saturation error, values that are worse than the Honor 5X, Moto E (2nd gen), and ZUK Z1, which all do a better job covering the sRGB color space. They do fare better than the Meizu PRO 5, Huawei Mate S, OnePlus 3, and OnePlus X, though, whose wide-gamut AMOLED panels all produce oversaturated colors relative to sRGB.

SpectraCal CalMAN

After seeing their issues with grayscale rendition and gamut coverage, it should not be surprising that the M3 note and Redmi Note 3 show noticeable color error. The M3 note actually does pretty well with shades of green and yellow, including skin tones, with ΔE2000 error remaining within the acceptable range. It’s blues, reds, and their mixtures where color error becomes most noticeable. The Redmi Note 3’s color accuracy is a bit worse because of its cooler white point and improperly configured gamma, with nearly all tested colors showing error levels above 3. Its Warm color temperature setting does help a little, but it cannot compensate for the gamut and gamma issues.

While neither phone exhibits great color accuracy, their average error is typical among phones with a similar price point. The more expensive Nexus 5X and Xiaomi Mi5 perform significantly better; the oversaturated, overly cool OnePlus phones score worse (the OnePlus 3 is shown at its default setting and not its sRGB mode); and the rest show little variation on average.

The LCD displays in the M3 note and Redmi Note 3 are optically bonded to the cover glass, and neither of our review units show any noticeable backlight bleed. Viewing angles are also typical for IPS displays with no obvious problems.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Display Settings: Color temperature control (left), Reading mode (right)

The Redmi Note 3 includes one additional display feature the M3 note does not have: a reading mode. Similar to Apple’s Night Shift feature, it shifts the display’s white point, reducing the blue luminance and making the display appear warmer, in this case more yellowish than red. Some studies have shown that blue-shifted light can interfere with our sleep cycle or even cause eye strain, so Xiaomi’s inclusion of a reading mode is welcome. Unlike Apple’s version, Xiaomi’s reading mode cannot be activated automatically on a schedule, but there is a quick setting toggle in the notification shade to quickly turn it on or off.

It’s great to see 1080p panels trickle down to lower price points. The higher resolution helps text and images look crisp on both the M3 note and Redmi Note 3, and a decent peak brightness of around 450 nits makes both screens viewable in everything but direct sunlight. However, it’s clear some sacrifices were made to reduce panel cost. Their black levels cannot match those of other phones in their price range, let alone more expensive flagships. Both phones also struggle with gamut; neither panel is capable of rendering all of the colors in the sRGB color space.

In addition to the hardware limitations, software calibration is also an issue. Cool white points hurt both grayscale and color accuracy. The Redmi Note 3 compounds these issues with the wrong gamma setting, leading to a loss of shadow detail and a screen that just looks darker. Its Warm color temperature setting dramatically improves grayscale performance and even improves color accuracy a little, but it cannot overcome its hardware deficiencies and improper gamma.

In the end, display performance is not a strong point for either the M3 note or Redmi Note 3. Their performance is merely average when compared to similarly priced phones. If display performance is not a high priority, and your primary use case (for the screen) is reading, then you’ll likely find these phones good enough. If you require better performance, then you’ll need to spend a little more on something like Google’s Nexus 5X.

The Meizu M3 note uses a 13MP OmniVision OV13853 sensor for its rear camera. A member of OmniVision’s PureCel family, it’s a standard backside-illuminated CMOS sensor that does not use a stacked die like OmniVision’s PureCel-S or Sony’s Exmor RS sensors, nor does it include deep trench isolation (DTI) technology. The 1/3.06″ format sensor uses 1.12µm pixels and captures images with a 4:3 aspect ratio at its native resolution.

The 16MP Samsung S5K3P3 rear camera sensor in Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 3 is a bit more interesting. It’s also a backside-illuminated CMOS sensor with a native 4:3 aspect ratio, but unlike the M3 note’s sensor, it uses Samsung’s ISOCELL DTI technology to reduce electrical crosstalk and improve color fidelity by placing physical barriers between each pixel. This is also the first sensor for mobile devices to use smaller 1.0μm pixels. All else being equal, smaller pixels perform worse in some metrics because of a reduction in full-well capacity. Samsung’s motivation for moving to smaller pixels is to reduce cost and enable thinner phones by reducing the overall z-height of the camera module (a smaller sensor can use a shorter focal length). Pixel size is approaching a physical limit, however; the longest wavelength for visible red light is around 0.75μm. This is why we’re starting to see a shift to multiple sensor systems like the one used in Huawei’s P9.

An exclusive flagship feature a mere two years ago, phase detect autofocus (PDAF) has now found its way into lower-priced phones. Both the M3 note and Redmi Note 3 make use of this feature to improve AF speed, falling back to traditional contrast-based AF in certain situations. In practice, I found the Redmi Note 3’s AF to be a little faster and more consistent than the M3 note’s, with the latter occasionally having trouble achieving proper focus lock.

One camera feature that has not made it to this level yet is optical image stabilization, which could limit the low-light performance of both phones. To get a camera with OIS, you’ll need to spend closer to $ 300 US on a phone like the Lenovo ZUK Z1.

Sitting above the M3 note’s rear camera sensor is a 5-element lens system with an f/2.2 aperture. A larger aperture area (smaller f-stop value) lets in more light, but adds design complexity and requires a longer focal length. Because the M3 note does not appear to report the correct focal length in its EXIF data, we cannot calculate its aperture area. The Redmi Note 3’s f/2.0 aperture, however, gives it the same aperture area as the ZUK Z1 and a 45% greater area than the Huawei Honor 5X. Samsung’s Galaxy S7 currently has the largest aperture area, which lets in almost twice as much light as the Redmi Note 3.

Camera performance depends on both hardware and software working together, and OEMs need to balance the cost associated with both. Some OEMs may spend their limited budget on hardware because it looks better on the spec sheet, electing to spend less on developing/licensing software algorithms, which ultimately creates an underperforming camera. These trade-offs between cost and performance are even more critical as the total price of the phone drops.

In this roundup, we’re comparing the Meizu M3 note and Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 to a few other phones with a similar price. When we first looked at Huawei’s Honor 5X we found that it underperformed other phones using the same 13MP Sony IMX214 Exmor RS sensor. The OnePlus X uses a 13MP Samsung S5K3M2 ISOCELL sensor, while Lenovo’s ZUK Z1, which costs a little more, adds optical image stabilization to the popular 13MP Sony IMX214 sensor. We’re also including photos from Samsung’s Galaxy S7, which has one of the better cameras currently available, to add some perspective and show how these phones compare to a high-end model.

Normally we test cameras using the phone’s default settings with the stock camera app in auto mode; however, we’re making an exception for the Redmi Note 3. Its camera has three picture quality settings—Low, Standard, High—with Standard set as the default. The setting affects the amount of compression applied to the image but does not affect resolution. The problem is that the Standard setting applies far too much compression and produces very poor quality images. The High quality setting produces file sizes about 2.6x larger than the Standard setting. Applying such heavy compression with the default setting defeats the purpose of using a 16MP sensor. Why capture that much data just to throw it away?

Because the Standard setting produces such poor quality images, it’s not really worth comparing them to anything else, so the images shown below are using the High quality setting. Averaging 5-6MB each, the Redmi Note 3 still creates smaller files than other 16MP cameras when using this setting, so I do not feel that it’s getting an unfair advantage.

In this first set of daylight images, we see quite a bit of variation in image quality. Most of the images show proper exposure, but the Redmi Note 3 and ZUK Z1 underexpose their images by using the fastest shutter speeds of the group. The M3 note and ZUK Z1 do pretty well setting the white balance, as does the Galaxy S7, although its colors are a bit too saturated. The Redmi Note 3, Honor 5X, and OnePlus X capture images that are a bit too warm.

All of the phones exhibit some shot noise in the sky, but it’s only a serious issue for the M3 note. The noise in its image is excessive and easily visible without zooming in. The Redmi Note 3 shows far less noise but, like the Galaxy S7, its noise reduction algorithm smears away some of the finer detail in the rocks and grass.

All of the phones except the M3 note apply some edge sharpening in post-processing. Some sharpening is beneficial, but it can produce white halos around objects, such as the fence in these images, when applied too heavily, which we see from the Galaxy S7 and OnePlus X. Focusing on the fence in the Redmi Note 3’s image shows noticeable artifacts even when using its highest quality setting, a result of its higher than usual image compression ratio.

This second daylight scene emphasizes neutral color tones rather than green and blue like the previous scene, which presents a different challenge for a camera’s white balance algorithm. Once again the Galaxy S7 and ZUK Z1 capture the most accurate colors, while the M3 note and Redmi Note 3 use a slightly cooler white balance. The Honor 5X skews even cooler, while the OnePlus X is the only phone that captures a slightly warmer image. All of the phones did well setting exposure, with the ZUK Z1 getting the brightest image.

The Galaxy S7’s image shows the least amount of noise, although some detail on the buildings and road is smoothed away. The Redmi Note 3 and ZUK Z1 also keep noise to a minimum but still capture excellent detail. The images from the Honor 5X and M3 note are quite noisy, with the M3 note being the noisiest again to the point that it actually ruins image detail.

I’m most surprised by the ZUK Z1 in this scene, which captures an image nearly as good as the Galaxy S7 in my opinion. The Redmi Note 3 follows with its low noise and fine detail. The Honor 5X and M3 note produce the worst images here, with heavy noise and improper white balance.