Meitu 2 is a phone for hardcore selfie takers and cutesy teenage girls, everyone else should steer clear (REVIEW)

Unless you’re a huge, established manufacturer, making a one-size-fits-all smartphone – or any hardware, for that matter – is getting tougher and tougher. But there are still fortunes to be made in niche products, especially in huge markets like China – where a niche group can outnumber a small country.

Meitu aims to cash in on China’s young female demographic with its lineup of photo and video beautification apps and its latest flagship smartphone, the Meitu 2.

Let’s start by saying that when you put the Meitu 2 side by side with similarly priced or even cheaper smartphones, the specs fall short. But keep in mind that your average 16-year-old Chinese girl probably isn’t going to spend hours poring over specifications and reading multiple reviews. For them, this phone could be the perfect fit.

Here are the specs:

• MeiOS based on Android 4.2.2
• 13MP front and back cameras with front and rear flash
• 1.7 GHz octa-core MediaTek CPU
• 4.7-inch, 1280x720p screen
• 2GB RAM
• 16/32GB internal memory, no expansion slot
• 2300mAh non-removable battery
• Nano-SIM slot (can’t use micro or standard SIM)
• 3G WCDMA compatible, no 4G

Cameras

If you’re buying this phone, you’re probably doing it for the cameras. The Meitu comes equipped with 13 megapixel shooters on both the front and the rear, making it a selfie-taker’s dream. The default camera app is directly integrated with Meitu’s suite of photo editing apps. Even without touching up your photos, the phone will make your skin whiter and smoother, your body slightly slimmer, and your blemishes will vanish. A physical button specifically for taking selfies is built into the right-hand side of the phone for quick snaps.

Special thanks to my friend and selfie lover Jonny, who test drove the Meitu 2 for a night.

Obviously, the colors and details aren’t what you’d call true-to-life, but they do make you look great. Of course, you can swap out Meitu’s camera app in favor of something a little more realistic, but you’ll have to manually load it from the gallery into the editing apps. For some reason, the Meitu app can zoom out further, getting a wider shot than when I tested Camera360 on the phone.

My mug using Meitu (left) vs Camera360 (right)

Look and feel

Performance

MeiOS

Conclusion