Flyme 6 - Initial impression and Comparison between G and A version

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2017-01-15 01:00

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Edited by Pulak at 2017-01-14 22:30

Hello friends! Most anticipated Flyme 6 has been finally released on 30th December, 2016. We were waiting for it for a long time and now we have it. Most of us having a Meizu phone, used Chines A version at least once  in our lifetime. Well because most of the new features are released for Chinese A version first and then released for for the G version.

Fortunately, at present I own 2 Meizu Phones Mx6 and M3s and I updated to A version and G respectively. Both the versions are very fluid and responsive and it’s really awesome experience using Flyme 6. Friends let me share my experience and detailed comparison between Flyme 6 G and Flyme 6 A versions.

Installation/Upgrade to Flyme 6 is always as simple as possible. Not writing much about steps of installation procedure as it is same as Flyme 5 and same for both G and A versions. One can easily switch between G and A, provided the version switching to is having same or higher baseband version as the current version.

The main difference I observed, that during installation, A version asks for login to your Flyme account for security, whereas G version don’t. You have to manually log into your Flyme account after boot up. Hope G version will soon have the same level of security as the A version. Rest of the steps are same. The screen layouts of installation are very neat and clean and easily understandable.

You can see, Flyme China offers many services which are not available for G version. In A version User Center is called Meizu Account.

Both the version don’t come with GMS or Google Play Store. You have to install them manually. A version comes with Flyme App Store and the G version comes with Hot Apps and Global App Store.

GMS and Google Play Store can be installed easily by using Google Installer from either Flyme App Store or Hot Apps in the respective firmware versions. Well I observed a difference in Google Installer in both the firmwares. In A version, after installation of GMS using Google Installer, you have to keep the installer app in your phone. You can not uninstall Google Installer, as uninstalling it also uninstalls some components of Google framework, and Google Play Store stops working. Remember this if you’r gonna install and use A version of Flyme 6. In G version there is no such issue as of now and you can uninstall Google Installer once installation of GMS is completed.

In home screen there not much difference between the firmwares. Pulling down will bring notification panel, pulling up will bring the universal search, swipe up from bottom edge or swipe from right edge to left will bring the task manager, long press on home screen or two finger pinch will show the options for widget and icon arrangement. In both A and G versions, Task manager gesture is configurable and one can choose between bottom up or left to right or can keep both.

One major change in Flyme 6 is the crispness of the font. Now it is much more clean then Flyme 5. There is a lot of overhaul in the Flyme app icons in Flyme 6. I personally liked the updated icons as they are giving a new look still maintaining the aesthetics of Flyme.

Flyme 6 has come with a big upgrade in notification shade. Now notification shade has 5 column and 3 rows, with a toggle to show additional toggles which could not be accommodated in the layout. One can drag and drop toggles to arrange them as per choice. Also long press on a toggle will take you to the corresponding settings.

Also notifications are classified as important and unimportant categories and this is very helpful, as combining all the notification jumbles up the notification shade.

One neat feature added to the notifications. Now you can long tap on a notification to control the behaviour of the notification.

Sadly, settings has been removed from the notification shade in both A and G version. I personally like settings in notification shade as it is easily accessible from any screen.

Few new toggles are added. In both A and G version “Screen Recorder” toggle is added which is useful in capturing screen activities. In G version there is one additional toggle “Data Saver” which basically enables or disables integrated Opera Max. In A version there are two additional toggles “Eye Friendly” and “Drive Assistant”. Hope these features will come to G version in future.

Big change in settings. Settings icons are now coloured. Personally I like colourful icons. There is not much change in arrangement of settings options, except “System Upgrade” option is added in settings menu, unlike Flyme 5, it was part of About Phone. Spacing between the lines seems better in Flyme 6 and gives it a overall compact and better visual experience.

As usual in A version there are few more options then the G version. For example, in A version, one can control the intensity of the hectic feedback by selecting from options Strong, Medium and Gentle. In G version, there is no option to control the intensity.

For now Theme, Wallpaper and Fonts options under Personalisation are removed from G version due to some issue. Also Privacy mode under Fingerprint and Security is also removed for the time being.

The security app has been updated as well. It has been given a very nice and clean look. Battery option has got a complete overhaul. It looks more up to date and very neat and clean and much more organised. And yes last 24 hour battery consumption details option has been added.

Flyme 6 A version comes with lot of preinstalled apps. Some of them can be uninstalled, some can not. Most of us call them bloatware, but actually they have their own importance for the Chinese people, and A version is specifically meant for China. G version is very neat an clean and not additional app is added by default. We the global users call it bloatware free.

The camera interface has got a lot of minor but neat updates. Now one can easily switch between Camera and Video modes from the interface itself, without entering the options. Also HDR can be enabled or disabled directly without entering the settings. These are small changes but makes the users life much more easier. Also there are new options like "Multi Frame Low Light Mode" and "Voice Control" introduced in A version. Hope these options will make their way to G version one day.

A very useful feature has been added to the screen shot facility. As soon as you take a screen shot, you are given with additional options to edit the capture. Also you can take long screen shot for supported applications like browser. Editing SS directly after taking it is an innovative idea and I appreciate it. Long SS can be taken in both directions i.e. upword as well as downword. Unfortunately, for the apps where long SS is not supported or there is no scope of additional screen, like home screen, message comes as "Falied". I hope in future a message like "Long SS not supported" will replace "Failed" unsupported screen.
Toolbox is a collection of useful utilities introduced with Flyme 5. It has Flashlight, Mirror, Compass, Level, Ruler, Magnifier, Random and Decibel. Last 2, Random and Decibel were introduced in Flyme 6. Random is a rendom generator utility, just like tossing a coin to help taking a decision. Decibel shows us the noise level surrounding us. One can also create shortcuts of the utilities on the homescreen for quick access. Coming from Flyme 5 there are some neat upgrade in the look and feel of the app and its icons.

Gallery is very simple and easy to use. We can add and remove folders, add image to folders and also hide folders. Pinch in will show images in month view and pinch out will show day view. There is not much difference with Flyme 5, except some neat grafics and icons. One additional option "Stickers" is available in the A version. Hope such a option will come to G version in near future.



Flyme Music in Flyme 6 A version is all about online contents. It has intergration with Online Music Store, Radio, Podcast and what not. One can opt for both paid as well as free service. Also music files can be downloaded in high quality directly to the phone and enjoy them in future also when you don't have a internet connection. G version do not have any online content support. Only local music and contents are supported. The interface is given some nice overhouls look more compact and eye catchy.


Just like Music, Video is also full of online contents in A version. Hope online contents will be soon added to the G version.

Conclusion
A version comes with Chines and English language only, where as global version comes preinstalled with all the major languages like English, Hindi, Bengali, Russian, Turkish and lot more. Also English which is common in both, has a huge difference and I can easily conclude that English in G version is much more complete then its corresponding Chinese firmware. Overall I find Flyme 6 is a welcome update for me.