Meizu MX5 Pro or Elephone P8000

[mickrick]

I've been looking for a phone to replace my htc One M8. None of the big brand "flagships" appeal to me, certainly not enough to shell out $600+ for any one of them.

So I have started looking to China again - my phone previous to the One M8 was a Star N9500 and it was pretty impressive - and I've seen the specs of a couple that interest me, the Meizu MX5 Pro (if it really exists) and the Elephone P8000.

The MX5 Pro seems to be a super flagship, a 6" (amoled?) screen with 2k resolution, 4gb of ram, 64bit Samsung 7420 chipset, 20mp rear camera, fingerprint reader and a 4000mah battery to run it all.

The Elephone P8000 definitely appears too good to be true. a 5.5" full HD display, a 64bit MT6753 octa-core processor, 3gb of RAM, 16gb onboard storage with sd card expansion up to 128gb, 13mp rear camera and 4165mAh battery. All for $169?

So of these phones, which represents the best value for money? I live in the UK so I have no experience at all of either of these brands. All I know is that I could probably buy the P8000 and a OnePlus 2 64gb and I would still have change from the cost of a Galaxy 6.

[cookiedough]

There's a big difference in cost between these 2 phones (P8000 MX5)... What's you're budget? For myself, I wouldn't spend more than $200 on a phone. There's simply no need. Even some $85 phones are impressive these days.

What are your most important criteria? Where do you live?

[edcoolio]

After hearing so many negative things in regards to the build quality of Elephone, I am personally wary... for whatever it is worth.

Maybe a search of some excellent reviews on this site. Not all bad, but it tends to strike me as luck of the draw.

Keep us in the loop!

[cookiedough]

After hearing so many negative things in regards to the build quality of Elephone, I am personally wary... for whatever it is worth.

Maybe a search of some excellent reviews on this site. Not all bad, but it tends to strike me as luck of the draw.

Keep us in the loop!

Yes, I forgot to mention if you do decide on p8000, wait until some trusted reviews come. P7000 was plagued with many issues.

[knolletje]

I would recommend the zopo zp999.
I use myself, perfect phone

[knolletje]

I would say, buy a zopo zp999.
Perfect phone for good price.
Is my second zopo and i can say, no problems sofar.

[mickrick]

I live in the UK and my budget isn't a problem, for any of the latest phones. Well, maybe a Galaxy S6 Edge Iron Man edition. But it isn't price thats the deciding factor, not in the sense of what I can afford. I just don't think any of the big brand name flagships is worthy of the ridiculous prices being asked. Thats why I'm happy to look to an emerging market.

I had also been looking in the direction of the Philippines - Starmobile to be exact. They had a couple of phones out last year which looked good until I saw that they only appear to include ips screens with a maximum 720p on their smartphones, flagship or otherwise. Unfortunately, their current range appears to be the same. Do manufacturers really expect us to believe that 720p is sufficient on a 5.3" screen? Granted, their top-of-the-range Knight Luxe does have a 5" amoled screen, but the resolution is still a paltry 720x1290.

Thanks for the heads-up about the Elephone range. I seem to remember some talk on here a while back but I never thought any more about it.

To justify trading up from my One M8, I would really like a handset with a fast 64bit octacore cpu, at least full 1920x1080p screen, preferably amoled, with gorilla glass 4 or similar, a high mp, well featured rear camera with at least 2xled flash, front camera isn't really a problem. I'm too old for all that "selfie" lark. Decent internal memory, at least 16gb but preferably 32gb, plus sd card expansion up to 128gb, 4G is a must, decent amount of ram, at least 3gb preferably 4gb, a high power battery, again preferably 4000mah+. Realistically though, I know these specs are a bit pie-in-the-sky.

And for all those well specified budget handsets, can someone recommend a few?

[edcoolio]

I live in the UK and my budget isn't a problem, for any of the latest phones. Well, maybe a Galaxy S6 Edge Iron Man edition. But it isn't price thats the deciding factor, not in the sense of what I can afford. I just don't think any of the big brand name flagships is worthy of the ridiculous prices being asked. Thats why I'm happy to look to an emerging market.

I had also been looking in the direction of the Philippines - Starmobile to be exact. They had a couple of phones out last year which looked good until I saw that they only appear to include ips screens with a maximum 720p on their smartphones, flagship or otherwise. Unfortunately, their current range appears to be the same. Do manufacturers really expect us to believe that 720p is sufficient on a 5.3" screen? Granted, their top-of-the-range Knight Luxe does have a 5" amoled screen, but the resolution is still a paltry 720x1290.

Thanks for the heads-up about the Elephone range. I seem to remember some talk on here a while back but I never thought any more about it.

To justify trading up from my One M8, I would really like a handset with a fast 64bit octacore cpu, at least full 1920x1080p screen, preferably amoled, with gorilla glass 4 or similar, a high mp, well featured rear camera with at least 2xled flash, front camera isn't really a problem. I'm too old for all that "selfie" lark. Decent internal memory, at least 16gb but preferably 32gb, plus sd card expansion up to 128gb, 4G is a must, decent amount of ram, at least 3gb preferably 4gb, a high power battery, again preferably 4000mah+. Realistically though, I know these specs are a bit pie-in-the-sky.

And for all those well specified budget handsets, can someone recommend a few?

This all sounds to me like you know exactly what you are hunting - which is good.

That having been said, exactly what frequencies (3G and 4G) do you require for your purchase?

[mickrick]

[quote='edcoolio' pid='45608' dateline='1437437444'...exactly what frequencies (3G and 4G) do you require for your purchase?
[/quote]

The UK frequencies are 900 and 1800.

[galaxym]

[quote='edcoolio' pid='45608' dateline='1437437444'...exactly what frequencies (3G and 4G) do you require for your purchase?

The UK frequencies are 900 and 1800.
[/quote]

Mick, I'm a UK fellow phone hunter here. Most of the specs you mention are achievable, apart from the battery - I've mainly only seen phones with 5.5 " screens and up to 3300 mAh batteries.

For my hunt I'm considering a similar spec phone for $200. I narrowed it down to UMI Zero, Lenovo K3 Note, JIAYU S3 and my number one: ecoo-e04-aurora-plus as it has a finger print sensor. However I read about unstable software on this phone, flaky GPS, lack of support from ECOO. Its a shame as no other phone in this price bracket has a fingerprint sensor on the front.