The Meizu E3 is a device with powerful cameras and a price tag under $300

Meizu started off the year with the impressive M6s budget device. At an extremely attractive price point of $150, the M6s offered performance values and a design factor one would expect to find on devices twice its price. The company has followed up the M6s with yet another excellent device,  in the guise of the Meizu E3.

The E3 sports a 5.99-inch FHD+ display with minimal bezels. It's powered by the new Snapdragon 636, the same SoC seen on the Redmi Note 5 Pro. It features an impressive 6 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 64 GB of storage, which, for example, is the same amount of memory seen on the new Samsung Galaxy S9. 

On the camera side of the fence, the E3 features a dual rear camera setup comprised of a 12 MP f/1.9 Sony IMX362 sensor, and a 20 MP f/2.6 Sony IMX350 sensor for 2.5x optical zoom. At the front resides an 8 MP f/2.0 sensor. Meizu cameras usually impress in their price bracket—the M6 Note had excellent cameras for a $150, for example—and the hardware listed here is top-notch. We wouldn't be surprised to see real-life camera performance close to last-gen flagship levels—the Sony IMX362 sensor was used on devices like the Vivo Xplay6, HTC U11, and Nubia Z17 after all.

The device ships with a 3360 mAh battery, with a USB Type-C port for Meizu's 20W mCharge. Like on the Meizu M6s, the E3 features a side-mounted Super mBack button that doubles up as a fingerprint sensor.

The 6/64 GB variant will sell for about US$285, while the 6/128 GB variant will retail for US$315.

The E3's direct competitor is the Redmi Note 5 Pro. The E3 is slightly more expensive, though, and features a smaller battery. It does, however, have better cameras, USB Type-C, and fast charge. Its largest flaw, on paper at least, is its software. Meizu's Flyme OS is divisive and the fact that the E3 launches on Nougat is all sorts of wrong.

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