Introduction
Both of these are high-end Chinese devices and carry rather affordable price tags. Both of them pack some serious specifications inside and premium build materials. It all depends on what you prefer. If you want a more compact device with extremely thin bezels perhaps the Meizu MX4 will be a better choice for you. On the other hand if you don’t mind a bigger device and prefer the added screen real estate and customizability that CM (Cyanogenmod) ROM brings with it, OnePlus One might be the device for you. Keep in mind that Meizu MX4 might be a lot easier to get even if you have to wait some time to get it, while you still need an invitation to get the OnePlus One and you can’t exactly buy it from wherever you want. Let’s move on.
Specifications
As far as specifications go, these devices are not all that similar. Meizu’s offering sports MediaTek’s octa-core chip on the inside while OnePlus One offers the good “old” Snapdragon 801 quad-core chip which is always a safe bet. RAM counts are also different, 2GB in MX4 compared to 3GB in OnePlus One. Cameras, screen… there are quite a few differences between the two devices, you can check all that if you check out the image above this paragraph. Let’s talk a bit about the software. Both of these devices come with Android 4.4 KitKat. Meizu MX4 comes with the latest Android offering, 4.4.4 KitKat and Flyme 4.0 OS on top of it. OnePlus One, on the other hand, comes with Android 4.4.2 though it is upgradable to Android 4.4.4 and this device runs Cyanogenmod ROM on top of Android. Some people might prefer OnePlus One just because of that fact. Check out the image above and see what matters to you.
Meizu MX4
This device has been in high demand ever since it has launched, it has been selling like hotcakes in China. International customers aren’t left behind either, Meizu is shipping this device to most countries around the world for free for only $449 (tax included). This was a great decision as far as sales go for Meizu, although they now have issues meeting the demand. Consumers ordered over 7.7 million devices and there will be some delays with the shipping of those units, Meizu just can’t produce so many devices so quickly. Meizu MX4 comes with MediaTek’s octa-core chip, 2GB of RAM and lots of options as far as storage goes. The device has a rather capable rear-facing shooter featuring Sony’s sensor and those bezels are just so thin, it really does look great. Flyme OS is not for everyone though, it has improved a lot over time but it’s still not for everyone. Check out Meizu MX4’s Flyme 4.0 before you decide to buy this thing. If you really want a flagship device which packs some serious specifications on the inside for a rather affordable price and a great build quality… well, at least consider MX4.
OnePlus One
OnePlus One is also a device many people would like to get their hands on. That device has a top-notch specs on the inside and an extremely affordable price point. Given the fact that you’re able to get an invite to buy this thing and you’re in a country in which OnePlus ships the device to, you might wanna consider this device as one of your choice. If you’re in a market for a phablet, OnePlus is a great choice indeed. Snapdragon 801, 3GB of RAM and a magnesium alloy build materials sound really great either way you spin this. OnePlus One doesn’t offer the features a Galaxy Note 4 does for example nor does it have the usability of the S Pen, but it does offer lots of other things. CyanogenMod has you covered as far as software goes, this device has been receiving updates like crazy ever since it launched. Many of you have heard and have used CM ROM, well you’ll find a special OnePlus One version of that ROM in this device. CM really does offer an unbelievable amount of options as far as software goes, though it’s not for everyone. The device might not have Note 4-like S Pen features, but it has everything CM has to offer. It’s really hard to find something wrong with this device if you consider the price point, it would be a great offering even if OnePlus didn’t decide to price it like this.
Conclusion
Considering the way we do these comparisons, choosing a “winner” is kind of a given. This was a tough one for me, both of these devices are great offerings and they really do differ on many levels. I personally would probably go for the smaller of the two simply because OnePlus One is a bit too big for me, but I gotta go with OnePlus One on this one. Aside from the invitation only style OnePlus has decided to go with, I do believe this is a great device and the price point is just a huge plus. You get a top-notch specs, great build quality and lots of customizability as far as software goes in a package which you can get for as much as $300. Check out a bunch of side-by-side images of these two devices in a gallery below, courtesy of GSM Insider.
