Meizu M8 gets unwelcome price hike, dodgy release details

Sure hope you weren't counting on getting your palms around Meizu's oh-so-familiar M8 anytime soon, as it now looks like the handset may not even be available to purchase until mid-next year. Granted, the 667MHz CPU, 128MB of RAM, GSM connectivity, 3.4-inch VGA touchscreen, video output, and built-in Bluetooth 2.0 / WiFi sure are appealing, but those still willing to wait this one out will apparently be paying even more than previously expected. The latest on the street pegs the forthcoming 8GB iteration at around $400, but if money ain't a thang, you may as well continue on pinching those pennies for the 16GB (and potentially 3G-enabled) flavor.

[Via MeizuMe]

[B166Er @ Aug 2nd 2007 8:15PM]

Just as well, its always too good to be true anyways. I honestly was soo interested, but now, who wants to wait another year?

[G-stylez @ Aug 2nd 2007 8:43PM]

I hope not all new touchsreen phones start looking like an iPhone. I got my iPhone already don't need look a likes.

[Josh @ Aug 2nd 2007 8:59PM]

I'd feel bad too if I'd just spent $600 on a phone when I could have waited and gotten a better one for $400 from a company that makes consistently more solid products.

[Argot @ Aug 2nd 2007 9:03PM]

Well, I guess you don't know this, but it's the iPhone that looks like the LG Prada and every other touchscreen phone since...

[Ignacio @ Aug 2nd 2007 9:20PM]

"I'd feel bad too if I'd just spent $600 on a phone when I could have waited and gotten a better one for $400 from a company that makes consistently more solid products."

Do you really think he feels bad for having and using an iPhone for a year vs. "waiting" for a year to save a couple hundred bucks?
Also, IF this thing ships at the new, already delayed, expected date, it may have to compete with iPhone 2.0 or at least with the rummors of one being close to release, so if you already waited a year for that Meizu, what is going to stop you to wait just a little bit longer for the second gen. iPhone? And then... well, I hope you get my point ;-)

[Findangle @ Aug 3rd 2007 5:43AM]

Too late, already other iPhone clones, like the Onda VX858:

http://www.mp4nation.com/products/index.php?PID=V858

There are others out there - more will come, but the meizu m8 will probably be the only real competitor to the iphone from china.

[-_- @ Aug 2nd 2007 9:10PM]

What?
You mean there's still an iPhone "killer" out there?
Please. With a "possible" release date almost a year after Jobs' baby took over Engadget for a few days, this phone's never going to live up to Meizu's hype.
And if Chinese phones are anything like Chinese cars, get ready for that thing to go to pieces if you set it down too hard on a table.

[BrianC @ Aug 2nd 2007 9:27PM]

Unfortunately the your beloved iPhones are also made in China by the low wage chinese workers.

[-_- @ Aug 2nd 2007 10:17PM]

BrianC, "Assembled in China" and "Made in China" are two different things.
If you'd like to show a detailed parts list for the m8 *listing brands/manufacturers* I'd be all ears.

[Jean-Michel Decombe @ Aug 2nd 2007 9:12PM]

By the time they ship, iPhone will be in its 2nd and possibly 3rd generation, with of course more features and lower prices than now. As the old man used to say, in theory, there is no difference between theory (prototype) and practice (product), but in practice, there is.

[Billy Kincaid @ Aug 2nd 2007 9:12PM]

Damn, there goes that idea.

*waits for the iPhone dev wiki hack*

[rp @ Aug 2nd 2007 9:13PM]

@ Josh

"... a company that makes consistently more solid products."

And yet, they haven't made or released one yet have they? They seem to be constantly redesigning it, but you already know that if you've paid any attention to engadget. I'd say Apple has them by.. oh, I don't know.. 500,000?

[caramelzappa @ Aug 2nd 2007 9:26PM]

They haven't released the m8 yet, but they have had previous products before that competed with the ipod, and most reviews preffered their products to the ipod.

[TxT.aC @ Aug 2nd 2007 9:54PM]

Say hello to say the iPhone, clone.

[SteveMB @ Aug 2nd 2007 10:13PM]

And come on engadget, this isn't news. It's alrady been known for at least a couple days.

http://www.gearsofwarpc.com

[SteveMB @ Aug 2nd 2007 10:14PM]

Ignacio, you can save a couple hundred bucks and get a better phone. The Meizu will have a removable battery. It will also be unlocked unlike the iPhone.

http://www.gearsofwarpc.com

[Rob @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:43PM]

And it will run WinCE.

One could buy an Acer laptop running windows for a few hundred dollars less than a MacBook, but Mac users choose to pay more for more quality. This clone will be a poor imitation of the real thing, I am however excited to see new innovative phones from Nokia and SonyEricsson and the like as they compete with iPhone and push Apple to improve their product and lower its price.

[Chip @ Aug 3rd 2007 9:45PM]

How do you have any idea the quality won't be as good as an iPhone?

[Zzephyr @ Aug 2nd 2007 10:33PM]

Rats, GSM and Edge flavors. That leaves out Sprint or Verizon, at least initially.

[Brian @ Aug 2nd 2007 10:47PM]

The iPhone (doesn't deserve the capital 'P') is probably going to suffer the same fate as the ipod. It will sell amazingly, and then a little over a year after the release, frustrated owners will see a new iPhone come into the market and it will have one more 'important' feature that forces them to upgrade. Bravo to Apple on being masters of Nickeling and Dime-ing 101....I just wish i had that much money to waste.

[Chip @ Aug 2nd 2007 10:49PM]

Isn't the title of "price hike" inaccurate? It was recently announced at $900 and now it's actually LOWERED to below iPhone pricing and you get TWICE the phone! For those that think iPhone will be on second or third generation by mid 2008 when the M8 arrives, you're kidding, right? I realize you're fanboys, but wow, you're going to spend another $500 next year for a phone as good as the M8? How many years in a row will you spend the $500 to $600?

[Duscrom @ Aug 3rd 2007 12:15AM]

Oooh, Spend $1700 to get an iPhone, drop my current carrier, pay AT&T's lousy deposit, and get on Their lousy network, Or.. pay $400 for this and use it on my current provider, with my current plan, and get all the flexibility of WinMo6. I mean, on my Wing, WM6 is not the best, but on a 667 Mhz Proc, and more RAM, the OS will fly.

[RYANGUBE @ Aug 3rd 2007 12:18AM]

gee so many apple fanboys on engadget.

You realize that you beloved apple interface is meant for people that aren't very technologically inclined right? You know all that is MS and anything other than apple because jobs isn't there to hold your hand through it.

[RYANGUBE @ Aug 3rd 2007 12:53AM]

knock (slip)

[yougotjokes. @ Aug 3rd 2007 2:01AM]

lol im sure going to spend my 400 bucks on a delayed phone with sure to have little to no update and firmware upgrades. let me go ahead and put my trust on a unproven maker not the 4 largest computer vendor in the world. i guess i shouldve bought that gizmondo instead of my psp.it sure sounded better.i wonder if the delay in shipment is because they havent been able to copy all the parts inside the iphone or is it because the os is crashing too often.

[Chip @ Aug 3rd 2007 12:34PM]

The 4th largest computer maker couldn't even get features to work that my kids' $29 cellphones have.

[IndianaJones54 @ Aug 3rd 2007 2:07AM]

wing? haha you have tmobile? hows that 3g network going... oh wait the wing does not have 3g.btw did you pay 300 bucks for a outdated repainted MDA/8125. ouch!!! my iphone makes your t-mobile wing like that first purple gameboy color that came out. ROTFLMAO!

[Darnell @ Aug 3rd 2007 2:42AM]

Meizu found out in a quick hurry what it takes to put something like the iPhone out. When it was first introduced it was a phone w/ video conferencing, 3G, Hi-res screen, double iPhone storage and all for half the price of the iPhone. Now it's looking like an overpriced pda--or UMPC--or whatever they're calling it these days.

[WhackMushroom @ Aug 3rd 2007 8:52AM]

im sorry .. how does this not look like an iPhone clone?

[RYANGUBE @ Aug 3rd 2007 12:02PM]

i'll agree that its a total iphone clone. Too bad its a clone of an overpriced jessica simpson (fun to look at, no brains)phone with no 3g and no keys. Oh wait the M8 will have 3g. That sucks when a copycat can do it better than you. Its like you getting beat by your little brother in basketball after you teach him how to play. meh, i'll wait for a kaiser.

btw IndianaJones54, your iPhone isn't 3g either. So your iphone is what, the green gameboy color when there's the DS available.

[pablo.chacin @ Aug 3rd 2007 6:32PM]

@Argot
"it's the iPhone that looks like the LG Prada and every other touchscreen phone since..."

looks like? just because they have a touch screen? This is like saying than a BMW and a Ford are the same because they have a wheel . . . it is the user interface, the usability, what makes the difference.

[Philometalist @ Aug 3rd 2007 6:41PM]

Copyright infringement!!! j/k I guess we all live in an iphone world now

[rtapia_92 @ Aug 5th 2007 3:57AM]

i think it looks a lot like the iphone but its more solid and more reliable

[Ray @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:48PM]

Sick of hacks who don't have an original idea in their bodies. Sick of cry-baby consumers who whine about everything.