Introduction

Do we have a good one for you today – the new Xiaomi Mi Note Pro goes up against the new Meizu MX4 Pro.  The two China giants will battle it out to see which one of these great devices will win this comparison.  Both devices have it in the looks department – the MX4 Pro has a metal body with an LG G3 like metallic looking plastic back and the Mi Note Pro uses glass on the top and bottom and a metal frame to hold it all together.  These features give both devices the look and feel of a premium device and both are very comfortable to hold in your hand.

Both devices have a few things in common…when it comes to the display and physical size of the devices they are very close.  Both devices use an octa-core processor, although very different from one another.  Both offer a 64GB internal storage option and neither device offers room for expansion – the MX4 Pro lists 64GB in the specs, but online, 16GB or 32GB are the only options being offered.  Both devices use a larger than normally front-facing camera (FFC) – the MX4 Pro sports a 5MP and the Mi Note Pro sports a 4MP.  They also carry the usual suspects of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a microUSB port for charging and data transfer.  Both devices have bottom-mounted speakers for better sound and both devices provide enhanced audio when using headsets or external speakers.

Please take a deliberate look at the detailed Specifications Comparison chart below and here you will see just how these two great devices stack up against one another – click on the “View Full Comparison” link at the end of the chart to expand the details.  After that, we will look at each individual device in greater detail and point out some of its pros and cons.  From all of this information we will try to determine the winner based on specs and execution of design and functions.

Xiaomi Mi Note Pro

The new Xiaomi Mi Note Pro is a work of beauty with a Gorilla Glass used for both the display and the back of the device.  Gorilla 2.5D is used for the display – which means that the glass edge is slightly angled down – and the back consists of Gorilla Glass 3D – which means that it actually curves upward in a ‘cup-like’ shape.  These two pieces of glass are ‘strapped’ together by a metal band and it fits and feels great in your hands…not to mention looks very premium.

The Mi Note Pro sports a 5.7-inch QHD IPS LCD display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels and 515 pixels-per-inch (PPI).  The MX4 Pro is a similar QXGA 5:3 ratio display and 546 PPI.  For processing power, Xiaomi tapped into Qualcomm’s latest 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 810 clocked at 1.5GHz and 2.0GHz, whereas the MX4 Pro uses a 32-bit Exynos octa-core processor.  The Mi Note Pro finally brings us a full 4GB of RAM (3GB in the MX4 Pro) to work with that 64-bit processor and 64GB of fixed internal storage with no room for expansion.

The camera uses a 13MP sensor with autofocus, dual-tone LED Flash and OIS and while the MX4 Pro does use an excellent Sony 20.7MP sensor, autofocus and dual-tone flash – it forgets to include OIS.  The Mi Note Pro uses a nice 4MP front-facing camera (FFC) for social media selfies and video chatting compared to the 5MP on the MX4 Pro.  The battery comes in at 3000mAh (non-removable), which is smaller than the non-removable 3350mAh battery found in the MX4 Pro.

Besides the usual features, we mentioned in the introduction, it does have a dedicated microphone for noise cancellation, Quick Charge 2.0 thanks to its Qualcomm processor and LTE Cat-9 capabilities.  It is running Android 5.0 Lollipop with Xiaomi’s MIUI 6 running on top, comes in black, white and gold, and will run you approximately $532 unlocked.  It will work in the US on 4G FDD-LTE on LTE bands 3 (1800MHz) and 7 (2600MH.

Meizu MX4 Pro

The new Meizu MX4 Pro has a full aluminum frame and what looks like an aluminum back with rounded sides – but it is actually a great metallic paint job over plastic (ala LG G3).  It feels solid and well-built, and with its small bezels makes the 5.5-inch display fit in a rather normal sized body.

It comes with a 5.5-inch IPS LCD (5:3 aspect ratio) QXGA display with a resolution of 2560 x 1536 pixels and a very generous 546 PPI – the Mi Note Pro has the more standard 16:9 ratio and 515 PPI.  The MX4 Pro comes with the new 32-bit Exynos 5 Octa-Core 5430 processor – the first one to use 20nm processing technology – versus Qualcomm’s newest 64-bit octa-core found in the Mi Note Pro.  The MX4 Pro packs in 3GB of RAM versus the 4GB in the Mi Note Pro and the device offers a 16GB, 32GB or 64GB models with no means to expand the internal memory…although 32GB is the largest you can order at this time on the OppoMart website.

The Meizu MX4 Pro uses a Sony 20.7MP sensor, auto-focus and a dual-tone LED flash for the main shooter and a 5MP FFC for social media selfies and video chatting.  The main camera is going up against the Mi Note Pro’s 13MP shooter with autofocus, a dual-tone LED flash, but also adds OIS.  While the 5MP is larger than the 4MP found on the Mi Note Pro, I doubt that you will be able to tell any difference in 1MP.  The 3350mAh battery is larger than the 3000mAh in the Mi Note Pro, but either device will easily give you a full day and then some.

The MX4 Pro and the Mi Note Pro both put their speakers on the bottom of their devices for better sound – as well as including an HD sound circuit and amplifier, so when you plug in a set of headphones or use an external speaker, you will be in for a real treat.  It also sports a fingerprint scanner and comes in three colors – white, gray and gold – however, only the gray is available at this time.  It runs Android 4.4.4 KitKat with Meizu’s Flyme 4.1 user interface.  It will cost you $599 for the 32GB model on OppoMart online – and of course, these are off-contract prices.  The MX4 Pro runs in the US on FDD-LTE bands 1, 3 and 7 – 1800/2100/2600MHz.

…And The Winner Is…

Summary

Although both are solid devices, I had to pick the Xiaomi Mi Note Pro as the winner of this comparison.  The Meizu MX4 Pro is a beautiful device and packed with great specs and a fingerprint scanner, but it just doesn’t quite measure up to the Mi Note Pro.

The Xiaomi Mi Note Pro, you could argue has a more premium build quality, it has a comparable display, a better processor – 64-bit and more featured packed with better graphics and battery management, 4GB of RAM, a full 64GB of internal storage, and does have a smaller camera sensor, but does include OIS.  It has a noise-canceling microphone, can take advantage of Quick Charge 2.0 and LTE Cat-9.  It is also running the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop under its MIUI skin and costs about the same amount of money.

Please hit us up on our Google+ Page and let us know which one of these devices you would pick as the winner in this comparison…as always, we would love to hear from you.