Meizu Note 21 And Note 21 Pro: Full Specs And Features Breakdown

Body

The Meizu Note 21 is available in Diamond Black, Gulf Blue, and Ivory, giving you a choice between sleek, professional, and bold aesthetics. The Pro variant's color options include Bay Blue, Marble, and Sandstone, with each offering a unique flair, catering to both professional and adventurous personalities. Here are the relevant specs:

Even though the exact dimensions of the Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro aren't provided in the spec sheet, we can make some educated guesses based on their display sizes and aspect ratios. We assume both phones have a 20:9 aspect ratio, which is common in modern smartphones, offering a tall and narrow form factor. With this assumption, and considering the slim bezels with a slightly thicker chin (as shown in the images), we can say that the Note 21 is on the larger side for a phone, though the form factor keeps it reasonably narrow, which makes it more comfortable to hold for extended sessions compared to bulkier designs.

However, the device may feel slightly cumbersome for users with smaller hands, particularly if you're one-handed texting or scrolling. When carrying it around, especially in pockets, it may bulge out a bit depending on your clothing style, but it shouldn't be overly awkward.

The Note 21 Pro with its larger display is slightly larger. The difference in size is minor, but the Pro's larger screen does make it slightly less comfortable for one-handed use. That said, both phones should slip into larger coat pockets or bags easily, but skinny jeans or tight pockets could pose some challenges.

As for the colors of the phones, choosing the right variant isn't just a matter of aesthetics; it can reflect your personality and style. Here's a look at what each of the colors for the Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro says about the user:

• Bay Blue: This shade of blue is serene yet striking - a perfect match for those who like to keep things cool and collected. It suits users who want their phone to stand out in a subtle way, perhaps a creative type or someone who enjoys the ocean or outdoor adventures.
• Diamond Black: Black is always a classic choice, but Diamond Black carries an extra touch of luxury. This color is ideal for professionals or anyone who likes one's device to look sleek and polished. If you're someone who prefers timeless elegance and doesn't want your phone color to steal the spotlight, this one's for you.
• Gulf Blue: This is a vibrant and lively color option, appealing to youthful and energetic personalities. It suits those who want a more playful and adventurous vibe, with a bit of a bold streak. It's the perfect color for someone who enjoys standing out and doesn't mind being the center of attention.
• Ivory: Ivory offers a more minimalist and refined look. It's for users who appreciate simplicity and elegance but still want something that feels light and fresh. This shade is perfect for people who prefer understated sophistication and want their phone to blend seamlessly into their personal style.
• Marble: Marble is a stylish and somewhat luxurious choice. It conveys a sense of artistry and high-class taste. Perfect for those who want their phone to feel premium without opting for the typical black or white, it suits users with a sense of style who might appreciate design and aesthetics in other parts of their life.
• Sandstone: Sandstone is an earthy, neutral tone, ideal for users who enjoy a more grounded and natural aesthetic. This color suits someone who is practical yet stylish, with an appreciation for the outdoors or subtle, earthy tones in one's wardrobe. It's low-key but distinctive, perfect for those who want to stay off the beaten path without sacrificing elegance.

In summary, both the Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro offer solid size options for users who prefer larger displays, but they remain manageable thanks to their taller aspect ratios. As for the color choices, there's something for everyone - from minimalist elegance to bold and creative styles. If comfort is key, either phone should do the trick for most users, though those with smaller hands might want to consider using them with both hands or opting for a phone grip for added security.

IP Rating

(Related: IP ratings explained.)

One notable absence in the Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro's spec sheet is an official IP rating for water and dust resistance. While this might raise an eyebrow for those accustomed to having that extra layer of protection, it doesn't necessarily mean you need to treat your phone like a fragile flower.

Without the comforting assurance of an IP rating, it becomes imperative for users to be a tad more mindful of their phone's exposure to the environmental elements. Here are a few practical tips to ensure your Note 21 or Note 21 Pro stands strong against the challenges:

• Avoid Water Immersion: While the Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro aren't allergic to water, it's wise to keep your phone away from extended exposure to water, whether it's rain, spills, or the accidental drop in the sink. Consider it a precautionary measure rather than a strict rule.
• Dust Awareness: Dust, the silent adversary of electronics, can find its way into various nooks and crannies. To combat this, consider keeping your Note 21 or Note 21 Pro in a pocket or bag when not in use. If you're in particularly dusty environments, a gentle wipe with a microfiber cloth can work wonders.
• Case and Screen Protector - Your First Line of Defense: While the Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro don't come with an official IP rating, you can create your shield of defense. Invest in a good-quality protective case that not only adds a layer of shock absorption but also helps in mitigating the impact of accidental spills. A screen protector, preferably made of tempered glass, adds an extra layer of defense against scratches and minor impacts.

In reality, not having an IP rating doesn't automatically mean your Note 21 or Note 21 Pro is prone to damage. It's more about being aware of its limitations and taking sensible precautions. If you're someone who often finds oneself in situations where your phone might be exposed to water or dust, exercising a bit more caution and investing in a reliable protective case could be a wise decision.

Remember, while an IP rating is a nice feature to have, it's not the only factor that determines a phone's durability. With a little care and the right accessories, the Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro can still stand tall against the challenges of daily life. So, go ahead, enjoy your device, and let it be your trusty companion, rain or shine.

Display

(Related: Know more about the various kinds of displays and screen specs.)

The Meizu Note 21 offers a 6.74-inch IPS LCD display with a 90 Hz refresh rate. The Note 21 Pro ups the ante with a 6.78-inch IPS LCD boasting a smooth 120 Hz refresh rate. Its 1080×2400 resolution (with about 388 PPI density) ensures that visuals are crisp, whether you're streaming high-res content or playing games.

Meizu Note 21 display. Image credit: Meizu

Here are the relevant specs:

Both the Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro come equipped with IPS LCD displays, a well-known display technology for providing accurate color reproduction and wide viewing angles. IPS (In-Plane Switching) LCDs are commonly chosen for midrange and budget smartphones due to their affordability and reliability compared to OLED displays.

Unlike older TN panels, IPS screens don't suffer from color distortion when viewed from an angle, so the Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro will deliver excellent clarity whether you're watching videos, browsing, or gaming from different perspectives.

However, compared to OLED displays, IPS panels lack the ability to produce deep blacks and high contrast ratios because they use a backlight, which can make darker scenes look a bit washed out. This won't be a dealbreaker unless you're used to OLED or doing a lot of content consumption in low-light environments.

One of the most noticeable features on both devices is their high refresh rates, a significant boost over the typical 60 Hz displays. The 90 Hz refresh rate on the Note 21 means that its screen refreshes 90 times per second, resulting in smoother scrolling and fluid animations compared to standard 60 Hz displays. The 90 Hz refresh rate is ideal for most users, as it enhances the day-to-day experience when navigating through apps or social media feeds and browsing the web. While it's not the highest refresh rate available, it's a solid improvement compared to many other entry-level phones.

The Note 21 Pro takes things a step further with a 120 Hz display, making it particularly attractive for gaming and multitasking. This higher refresh rate offers even smoother interactions, which gamers and power users will appreciate. Whether you're swiping between apps, playing games, or just scrolling, the screen will feel more responsive. The 120 Hz refresh rate also means less motion blur, resulting in a sharper image when things move quickly on the screen.

Both phones feature Full HD+ resolution, though the exact pixel count of the Note 21 is not provided in the spec sheet. The Full HD+ is an excellent resolution for a 6.74-inch or 6.78-inch screen, offering crisp visuals for everyday tasks like browsing, gaming, and watching videos. Text should be sharp, and images will appear detailed enough for most users.

One of the potential weak points of these displays is their brightness levels - a critical factor for outdoor usability. At 450 nits, the Note 21's screen brightness is on the lower side. While it will work well indoors or in shaded areas, you may struggle to see the screen clearly under direct sunlight or in very bright outdoor environments. You'll need to crank up the brightness to the max in such situations, but even then, the display might not offer the best visibility.

The 550 nits brightness of the Note 21 Pro is slightly better, but it still falls short of the 700 - 800 nits found in more premium phones. In direct sunlight, the screen might still appear dim or washed out. It's workable, but not ideal for outdoor use in extremely bright conditions. For everyday use or indoor environments, this level of brightness should be just fine, but you might find yourself squinting under the blazing sun.

In comparison, flagship devices often feature higher brightness levels around 800 to 1000 nits, making them far superior in terms of outdoor visibility. So if you're someone who spends a lot of time outside, these displays might not be your best friend during those sunny days.

The contrast ratio signifies the difference between the brightest and darkest parts of the display. A higher contrast ratio generally indicates richer, more dynamic visuals with deeper blacks and brighter whites. In the case of the Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro, the 1500:1 contrast ratio ensures that content appears vivid and well-defined, contributing to an enhanced viewing experience across various lighting conditions.

In conclusion, while 90 Hz and 120 Hz refresh rates will make both devices feel snappy and responsive, and the FHD+ resolutions provide crisp visuals, the lower brightness levels are something to keep in mind. For indoor use, both the 450 nits on the Note 21 and 550 nits on the Note 21 Pro will likely be adequate. However, in bright outdoor settings, you may struggle to view the screens comfortably. For regular indoor use or occasional outdoor tasks, these displays should meet the needs of most casual users.

Networks

(Related: Cellular networks explained.)

The Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro support GSM, HSPA, and LTE networks, ensuring reliable connectivity for calls and data.

GSM and HSPA are the stalwarts, providing 2G and 3G connectivity, respectively. Then there's LTE, the foundation of modern 4G networks, delivering faster internet speeds and improved call quality.

SIM

The dual Nano-SIM (dual stand-by) support enhances flexibility of the Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro, allowing you to manage personal and professional connections seamlessly.

Chipset - Performance

Under the hood, the Note 21 runs on the Unisoc T606 chipset. Built on a 12-nm process, this octa-core processor is split between two types of cores. Paired with the Mali-G57 MP1 GPU, this setup handles basic multitasking and casual gaming with ease. However, the Unisoc T606 is an entry-level to midrange processor, so don't expect blazing fast speeds, especially when running demanding apps and intensive tasks.

The Note 21 Pro is powered by the MediaTek Helio G99 chipset, a much more powerful 6-nm processor than the Note 21's Unisoc offering. With two types of cores with higher clock rates, this device can handle more demanding apps and tasks with ease. Whether you're gaming, multitasking, or running heavy apps, the Helio G99 paired with the Mali-G57 MC2 GPU offers a smoother experience.

Here are the relevant specs:

The Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro are powered by different chipsets, with each having its own balance of performance and efficiency. Both devices use ARM's big.LITTLE architecture, which combines high-performance cores (for demanding tasks) with power-efficient cores (for less intensive tasks) to balance performance and battery life. Here's how this plays out in both phones:

• Performance Cores (Cortex-A75 and Cortex-A76): These are the heavy lifters in both phones. The Cortex-A75 cores in the Unisoc T606 run at 1.6 GHz. While this is a lower clock speed than flagship CPUs, it still handles most day-to-day tasks quite well, such as app loading, social media, browsing, and basic multitasking. The Cortex-A76 cores in the Helio G99 are clocked at 2.2 GHz, making them significantly faster than the Note 21's A75 cores. This gives the Note 21 Pro a noticeable boost in handling more demanding tasks like gaming, image processing, and more intensive multitasking.

  These performance cores come into play when you're doing things like gaming, rendering media, and running resource-heavy apps (e.g., editing photos, videos). The Note 21 Pro, with its faster Cortex-A76 cores, will be better equipped for such tasks than the Note 21.

• Efficiency Cores (Cortex-A55): The Cortex-A55 cores are designed to handle lighter, less demanding tasks at lower power consumption/ Both the Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro use 6 Cortex-A55 cores, with the Note 21's running at 1.6 GHz and the Note 21 Pro's at 2.0 GHz. These efficiency cores take care of tasks like background processing, light app usage (email, messaging), and simple browsing, ensuring that the phones can stretch battery life during these low-intensity activities.

  These cores are crucial for maintaining good battery performance by offloading simple tasks from the more power-hungry performance cores. For users primarily focused on casual tasks, these cores will help ensure that the phones last longer throughout the day without burning through the battery too quickly.

Both devices feature the Mali-G57 GPU, but the Note 21 Pro has a slightly more powerful version, the MC2, compared to the MP1 in the Note 21. The Mali-G57 MP1 is a single-core GPU that's fine for basic graphical tasks like browsing, watching videos, and casual gaming. It can handle games, but expect lower frame rates and a need to dial down settings in graphically intense titles. It's not designed for high-performance gaming or graphic-heavy tasks.

The Mali-G57 MC2 is a dual-core GPU, offering better performance for gaming, graphical apps, and more demanding media tasks. You'll get smoother frame rates in gaming, and it can handle slightly more intense games and graphic rendering compared to the Note 21. However, for heavy gaming or professional-grade video / photo editing, it's still not in the league of flagship GPUs found in premium smartphones.

In terms of processing prowess, the Meizu Note 21's Unisoc T606 is an entry-level to midrange chipset, best suited for casual tasks. Here's what you can expect it to handle well:

• Social media, messaging, and light multitasking.
• Streaming HD videos without issue.
• Casual games and lightweight apps will run smoothly.

However, it may struggle with more demanding tasks:

• High-performance gaming will not be this phone's forte. It can handle titles like PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile, but only at lower settings and with occasional stuttering.
• Intensive multitasking, like juggling multiple resource-heavy apps, will lead to slower performance or delays.
• 4K video editing or advanced graphics work will overwhelm the CPU and GPU.

The Note 21 Pro's Helio G99 is a more capable chipset, leaning toward the midrange segment. It's designed for users who want better performance but don't need a flagship-level processor. Here's what it handles well:

• Moderate to high multitasking is smooth, allowing you to juggle several apps without too much lag.
• Gaming at mid-to-high settings is possible for many titles. Popular games like PUBG Mobile will perform decently, though you may have to reduce graphics settings for smoother frame rates.
• Media consumption (including 1080p streaming) is seamless, and basic editing tasks like light photo editing should perform well.

However, it may also struggle with heavier workloads:

• For demanding 3D games, you'll notice some stuttering or lower frame rates, especially if played at the highest settings.
• 4K video editing or professional photo editing will still pose a challenge, as the Helio G99 isn't equipped to handle extremely heavy computational loads.

If you're someone who engages in more demanding activities, both these phones might fall short in areas like the following:

• Advanced Gaming: Titles like Genshin Impact or games requiring high-end graphics performance may push the limits of both phones, especially the Note 21. While the Note 21 Pro can handle midrange gaming, flagship-level GPUs would offer a much better experience.
• Professional-Level Video Editing: If you're doing a lot of 4K video editing, applying effects, or rendering, both phones will struggle. These tasks typically require more powerful processors and GPUs.
• Heavy Multitasking: Many apps running simultaneously, especially those that use a lot of CPU/GPU resources, will slow down these phones.
• AI-Driven Apps or Machine Learning Tasks: These require chipsets with specialized hardware for AI computation, which neither of these phones is equipped with.

In summary, the Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro offer solid midrange performance for their respective price points. The Note 21 is better suited for casual users who prioritize everyday tasks and occasional gaming, while the Note 21 Pro steps up its game with better performance cores and a stronger GPU, making it suitable for more power users and light gamers. However, for heavy-duty tasks like pro-level gaming or media creation, you'd be better off with a flagship processor and a higher-end GPU.

Memory and Storage

Here are the relevant specs:

Both Note 21 and Note 21 Pro come with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal storage, more than sufficient for average users who juggle a few apps and take a modest number of photos and videos.

Cameras

Meizu Note 21 selfie and main camera setup. Image credit: Meizu

The Meizu Notw 21's 50 MP main camera on the back offers solid photography for its price point. On the front, there's an 8 MP selfie camera, suitable for video calls and the occasional social media post, though it won't win any awards in the selfie department.

The Note 21 Pro's camera setup receives a boost, with a 64 MP primary sensor that captures sharper, more detailed photos. This camera is better suited for users who want more flexibility in mobile photography, though it still lacks the versatility of a triple or quad-camera system found on flagships. For selfies, the 13 MP front camera offers a significant bump in quality compared to the Note 21, perfect for those who enjoy frequent video calls or take a lot of selfies.

Both phones feature a 2 MP depth sensor to help with portrait shots.

Battery and Charging

(Related: Battery specs and charging types explained.)

Here are the relevant specs:

One of the standout features of the Note 21 is its massive 6000 mAh battery. This should easily get you through a full day of moderate to heavy use without needing a top-up. Charging comes via 18 W wired, which, while not the fastest by today's standards, is still acceptable for most users who charge their phones overnight.

The Note 21 Pro houses a 4950 mAh battery, which, while smaller than the Note 21's, is still decent for all-day use. It also supports 30 W wired charging, ensuring faster recharges when compared to the standard model.

Sound

(Related: Know more about the sound specs and features.)

Here are the relevant specs:

Music lovers rejoice! The Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro retain the headphone jack.

Connectivity

With support for dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, the Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro ensure you can connect to common Wi-Fi networks.

The Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro boast Bluetooth 5.3, ensuring a seamless and high-quality connection, whether you're connecting to headphones, speakers, or other devices. They support A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) for high-quality audio streaming.

The Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro feature the GPS positioning system for accurate navigation and location services.

The Meizu Note 21 Pro features the GPS positioning system for accurate navigation and location services.The vanilla Note 21 lacks positioning capabilities.

Last but not least, both phones support the trusty USB-C - the universal connector. Whether you're charging your device, transferring files, or connecting to external devices, USB Type-C ensures a reliable connection. It's the jack-of-all-trades, allowing you to expand your device's capabilities and stay connected to the wider world of technology.

Sensors

The Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro come equipped with the following sensor, in addition to other, unspecified ones:

• Fingerprint Sensor: Used for quick and secure unlocking. It is side-facing in both models.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

• What is Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro release date?

  The Meizu Note 21 and Note 21 Pro have been announced on the 13th September, 2024. They are expected to release in October 2024.