Meizu's exotic MX3 is unlocked and straight out of China

Hi, I'm Brian Bennett for CNET, and we're taking a first look at the Meizu MX3 smartphone. This device is mainly sold in China, but you could find it unlocked right here in the US for about $465 through Amazon or other online retailers. It features a big 5.1-inch LCD screen that's not quite full HD resolution, but sharp and colorful nonetheless. It also is powered by a home-grown 8-core processor paired with 2 gigabytes of RAM and can be had decked out with 16 or 32 gigabytes of internal storage. What's really wild about the MX3 though is its heavily tweaked version of Android Jelly Bean called Flyme OS, the custom skin the MX3 runs, looks suspiciously similar to Apple's iOS, complete with side strolling home screens, which double as the App Tray. A capacitive button under the screen also helps the MX3 do some interesting UI tricks. You can long press it to put the phone to sleep and hold, then drag it upwards to unlock. Sliding up from the bottom of the screen on either side of the button pulls up what apps are running in the background. Sliding an app icon upwards here closes its associated application. Dragging an icon down closes out of everything currently running. Also, touching the key then sliding up serves as a back button. The MX3 is also decked out with an 8-megapixel camera and LED flash. The camera app offers plenty of features and shooting modes too, including HDR, filters, and panorama. I'm not exactly a fan though of the MX3's plastic chassis, which while thin is slippery through the touch. The phone doesn't support 4G LTE either and is strictly a 3G GSM handset. I'm Brian Bennett for CNET, and you've just taken a first look at the Meizu MX3.