So we hurried on over to the Meizu booth in sweaty-palmed anticipation of laying fleshy bits upon a working M8 MiniOne. It's gotta be here, right? After all, Meizu CEO Jack Wong
promised it his damn self. Nope. Oh sure, they did bring that siliconless,
plastic mockup already seen kicking around the Nets for awhile and they offered to show us a
laptop-based demo of the UI if we come back tomorrow. Although even the demo is feature
incomplete. Nevertheless, Meizu is confident that it will begin shipping the M8 in China in the next "half year" while remaining coy for a rest-of-world launch. Guess
reverse engineering the iPhone isn't so easy, eh Jackson?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Carbonize @ Mar 3rd 2008 4:46AM
Maybe they just want to make sure everything perfect before they release it. You know no bubbles on the screen, all features available from initial release so no need to keep updating firmware to get basic features that should already have been there.
w00t @ Mar 3rd 2008 4:53AM
You know if it was me, I'd rather have my product out selling on the market a full year earlier than reach this so called 'perfection' you speak of while selling absolutely no units at all :)
CB17 @ Mar 3rd 2008 4:53AM
Yeah, just be like Microsoft. Pack in all the features right off the bat and have a product that's constantly crashing and causing problems (even after 6 iterations)
Lance @ Mar 3rd 2008 4:58AM
I see what all three of you did there
Carbonize @ Mar 3rd 2008 5:12AM
CB17 - Actually I was thinking more of Apple than MS ;)
emailtabs @ Mar 3rd 2008 5:17AM
Well i'd rather release a system which can cope with anything. i will allow full access to my core systems and my customers can tinker and change things to their hearts content.
disclaimer : You will not be able to make phone calls, listen to mp3's or basically do anything out of the box. but i have been assured the software exists out there somewhere.
CB17 @ Mar 3rd 2008 5:20AM
@carbonize
I know that's what I was responding to.
Here's the difference between Windows users and Mac users:
Windows users have to have a spec list that has every single type of silicon and/or code known to man on there.
Mac users want something that's simple, easy to use, and just works as advertised.
Windows Mobile: 6 iterations, still doesn't work
iPhone: 1 iteration, doesn't have all the features of other OS' but is way more stable, easy to use, and just works.
Any questions?
Carbonize @ Mar 3rd 2008 5:31AM
You just said it yourself. Windows has to work on a multitude of systems where as OS X just has to work on Mac architecture.
BTW in my experience Windows is easy to use and 'just works'. And yes I have used Leopard.
Still both Windows and OS X work better than this commenting system.
rock99rock @ Mar 3rd 2008 11:45AM
I vote, that Engadget not mention Miezu M8 again. Its been a freaking year, and still nothing to show for it. So quit advertising for them.
James Cameron @ Mar 3rd 2008 2:57PM
How about we give them a couple more days to show up before spouting all the hatred here? They're not the giant like Sony, Apple or Microsoft with the manpower to promise people that it will be on time.
Their biggest problem was that they announced this too early. That's what happen when you brag. If they could've keep their mouth shut about this and announced it like beginning of this year it would've been a different story.
Lance @ Mar 3rd 2008 4:58AM
I see what all three of you did there
Carbonize @ Mar 3rd 2008 5:33AM
That may or may not be true but odds are they are made in the same factory as a lot of Western products such as the iPood/iPhone.
Homeboy @ Mar 3rd 2008 5:36AM
Meh! You know what guys. Let's just forget all about this phone. For starters I doubt that it's touch screen and overall performance will be nearly as slick as the iPhone. By the time Meizu has managed to cook up something decent the summer will have been over. More over Idon't think that they have the manufacturing capacity to produce enough of these to satisfy China, the US and Europe.
Go spend your money on a Wii instead.
Pastry Chef @ Mar 3rd 2008 5:39AM
I feel no sympathy for these bootlegging companies. Good for their asses. I hope they never get it out on the market and wasted lots of money in trying to.
Carbonize @ Mar 3rd 2008 5:59AM
Yes because it's not like big companies like Apple, MS, Nokia etc copy other peoples ideas.
bucyaj @ Mar 3rd 2008 6:27AM
@ Carbonize:
Yes, but perhaps not as blatantly as this is trying to do. Of course you can say about the whole "all phones have a UI with icons" but you cannot deny that this has similarities with the iPhone above just using a UI with icons. It attempts to simulate the look by laying them out the same, as well as other obvious similarities.
And please use a rational argument, I have seen your previous anti-Apple posts and whilst I am not an Apple fanboy or a MS hater and your opinion is valid, try not to be so overtly aggressive or sarcastic and be sensible, cheers.
Carbonize @ Mar 3rd 2008 6:46AM
I'm not an Apple hater. I am just fed up of people thinking Apple are gods gift to the electronics world and invented everything. Since when was Apple the first to use a touch screen? Or the first to lay the icons out in a grid? The LG Viewty was announced before the iPhone and yet people still call it an iPhone clone.
Jeff @ Mar 3rd 2008 11:14AM
He's not an apple hater: just a troll.
Carbonize @ Mar 3rd 2008 11:56AM
Trolls tend not to use intelligent arguments.
haggis @ Mar 3rd 2008 5:43AM
maybe the lads at the Meizu booth
seen you guys!!(engadget)
and thought ohh!
thats them apple fanboys!!
always Negative
on other Products...
lets hide it coz we'll
get a bad review anyway!!
David @ Mar 3rd 2008 5:58AM
I can't believe CES is even tolerating this sort of thing. It seems to be accepted in China that provided the legwork for an innovative design is done outside the country, it's fair game to steal it and sell it under your own name. Hope Apple come down hard on these bootlegging knock-off two-faced two-bit thiefs.
Carbonize @ Mar 3rd 2008 6:12AM
Yes we should stamp down on companies copying other peoples ideas. So maybe LG should sue Apple since LG announced a touch screen phone before Apple did. But then there have been touch screen phones out for years. Or maybe Creative/Samsung should sue Apple since both companies had DAPs out long before Apple. But then the concept of a DAP was patented by an Englishman back in the 80s.
In other words stop talking crap.
bob @ Mar 3rd 2008 6:27AM
yeah, not much difference between ground breaking multitouch with osx and an lg LOL a touch screen makes not an iPhone
Carbonize @ Mar 3rd 2008 6:49AM
"a touch screen makes not an iPhone" - Maybe you should tell that to all the idiots who call every touch screen phone that gets announced an "iPhone copy". And no th eLG Viewty is not an iPhone clone. It actually has a decent camera, can record video, can send and receive MMS messages, does not need a proprietary piece of software to activate it, can easily be purchased unlocked and so on.
Jakob @ Mar 3rd 2008 12:39PM
Actually the LG Prada were announced a couple of weeks before the iPhone.
About 0,9% of the Danish people have an iPhone compared to Germany 0,1%, and it's not even announced in Scandinavia yet. But it's the hype. (totally off-topic, but a cool fact :D )
w00t @ Mar 3rd 2008 6:36AM
@Carbonize
Once you're done rabidly defending this product just take a step back and take a really good look at it alongside an iPhone.
Nobody is suggesting companies shouldn't exploit similar or even identical technologies in the pursuit of competition, if anything this should be encouraged!
This product, however is an attempt to directly copy every single design element as faithfully as possible in an attempt to shamelessly boost sales by latching onto it's obvious success. That is why people have a problem, and rightly so.
haggis @ Mar 3rd 2008 6:51AM
"That is why people have a problem"
....WHO?
apple fanboys!!
w00t mate....
"This product, however is an attempt to directly copy every single design element as faithfully as possible in an attempt to shamelessly boost sales by latching onto it's obvious success"
you sound a bit angry...
why?
Carbonize @ Mar 3rd 2008 6:51AM
I'm not defending it. As I said above I'm just fed up of everything being compared to Apple products like Apple invented everything.
w00t @ Mar 3rd 2008 7:15AM
Actually, I'm also fed up of everything being compared to Apple products.
Most similar phones designed around large touch screen display are nothing but competition in a similar market, and it'd be more accurate to say the early PDA phones pioneered the form factor, not Apple.
This phone IS a total rip off of the iPhone however, and you're blind if you can't see it.
Discosis @ Mar 3rd 2008 7:43AM
Still with the Meizu hate here, wow.
My MiniPlayer is nice and a decent alternative to an ipod.
I'm interested to see just what they come up with (eventually) for the M8. Meizu's perhaps made a bit of a mistake in being so upfront about what they're doing so early in its development... now everyone just whinges at them when it doesn't show up. It's obviously taking them a lot longer than they thought it would to put the whole thing together. So be it.
I'm interested to see how it ends up. Won't neccessarily buy one, but I'm interested. They seem to have backed off the total-iphone-clone aspect a little lately too with some different case designs seen (while still not getting too far away from it)
I'm interested. Might not neccessarily buy one, but I'm interested.
Maybe it'll actually be able to handle MMS. Maybe it'll be a 3G phone too.
Carbonize @ Mar 3rd 2008 7:53AM
Maybe they've realised the iPhone is far from perfect and are not just cloning it but adding all the things the iPhone should have such as a decent camera and the ability to record video. Not to mention wider codec support.
Never know maybe they will include a NES emulator.
sola6loria @ Mar 3rd 2008 7:57AM
"Never know maybe they will include a NES emulator."
Oh yes, let's make it even shadier.
Carbonize @ Mar 3rd 2008 8:34AM
Would you rather play NES games or the usual crappy games we get for phones?
T-Bone @ Mar 3rd 2008 8:44AM
Wow, Carbonize. Do you realize you just stated that an iPhone can run an NES emulator and other phones can't(and are stuck with crappy games)? You just said the iPhone can do things that are better than other phones. I thought you hated the iPhone.
Carbonize @ Mar 3rd 2008 9:12AM
Hmmmmm errr no I didn't. I said possibly the M8 will have NES support.
haggis @ Mar 3rd 2008 8:15AM
"This phone IS a total rip off of the iPhone however, and you're blind if you can't see it"
im must be blind then!!
because i cant see an apple logo
on it! nor is it called an iphone!!
so maybe because some PEOPLE are
scared of the Meizu m8!!
we should ALL call it an iphone clone
or a knock off!!
Jeff @ Mar 3rd 2008 11:18AM
amendment: if you can't see it then you're blind, stupid, or stubborn.
demonoftehfall @ Mar 3rd 2008 1:52PM
Or working for Meizu? :-)
James C @ Mar 3rd 2008 8:31AM
Up next: Carbonize has some opinions and boy howdy are you going to hear about them!
Lay off the posting juice, sir post-a-lot.
Gordy @ Mar 3rd 2008 8:39AM
I feel like I just watched a street fight...
Carbonize @ Mar 3rd 2008 9:16AM
Ha-Dou-Ken
T-Bone @ Mar 3rd 2008 8:42AM
Seriously, people, quit being dumb! There's a huge difference between icons being laid out in in a 4x4 grid+dock just like the iPhone and the same controls being laid out in the same spots.
Quit complaining about "features that should have been included". If it was easy to include them, Apple would have done so. If features were "missing", Apple would have announced them then not put them in the iPhone. It is exactly what Apple told us it would be. If you want a more obvious example beside Meizu that making an iPhone is fucking hard, I can't help you, I'm just not good at explaining things to stupid people. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the iPhone is perfect, I'm just saying that things aren't always as easy as they appear. They put "Don't try this at home" warnings on TV shows for people that see something being done by a professional and think its easy. I've got news for you, it is a professional's job to make things look easy.
llren @ Mar 3rd 2008 9:15AM
I am not sure it is a good idea to call many people here stupid:) I am also surprised to see that you believe apple's word so much. I think consumers and manufactures are constantly at war. This is a game between these two parties. Manufactures have to come up with decent products with attractive prices to lure consumers to buy them, but they are by no means charities. They are responsible to their shareholders. I dont think it is so difficult to include many more features into the iphone. If iphone is perfect and have all the features that one desires, who's gonna buy the next generation iphone out next year?
Carbonize @ Mar 3rd 2008 9:15AM
'Quit complaining about "features that should have been included". If it was easy to include them, Apple would have done so.'
And yet budget phone manufacturers such as Sagem manage to include them so guess they are neither complicated nor expensive to add. I am of course referring to video recording and MMS sending/receiving.
Bender Bending Rodriguez @ Mar 3rd 2008 10:15AM
You are right on most points. Apple is selling exactly what it promised and demoed over a year ago. It's a groundbreaking phone and MID that has left everyone scurrying to catch up. Even Nokia decided to include an 8GB SD card in their N95 once the iPhone was ready for launch and that has more codec support, a 5MP camera and GPS; thought with a poor battery life and horrible screen, unfriendly UI and slow processor.
However, Apple could have easily added more codec support for the iPhone (and AppleTV). The licensing fees are small, but I figure they didn't do it as it would hinder their position when trying to secure studios for their content. after all, most illegal downloads of video are Ogg and AVI based.
While doubtful, I'm hoping that Perian will have a codec for sale for the iPhone that will also tell iTunes to allow these files to be imported.
M8Fans-Reader @ Mar 3rd 2008 9:33AM
M8 will be revealed tomorrow, according to M8Fans.com, a Chinese Meizu M8 fansite. Just take a look at their front page: "2008.3.4 TO BE REVEALED"
http://www.m8fans.com/
Carbonize @ Mar 3rd 2008 10:08AM
Yes but dates can be confusing. Here in the UK we use day/month/year but in America they use month/day/year so that date could just as easily be 3rd April. But odds are you are right. Better yet just watch the Meizu website to see when it goes down then Engadget can report that it's gone down and speculate what that means.
Oh wait most companies don't have to take their websites down just to add new products.
Bender Bending Rodriguez @ Mar 3rd 2008 10:07AM
Let me get this straight. Meizu came out with a complete knockoff mockup of the iPhone right after Apple announced it over a year ago. Since then, they've been claiming that it'll be shortly and anti-Apple fanboys have been stating how tis vaporware is going to "pwn" the iPhone.
Meixu is making the software and hardware, yet over a year later they still can't show any aspect of a working model from a device that they are copying—not designing—from the ground up. They know all the hardware Apple is using and have had a year to simulate all the features of the OS and, yet, nothing.
So does that mean Meizu does a really poor job an engineering in general or that perhaps (just perhaps) Apple may have really created a revolutionary product that can't be easily copied?
Carbonize @ Mar 3rd 2008 10:11AM
Hate to say it but there is nothing revolutionary in the iPhone that cannot be found in other phones so who knows what the problem is. Except maybe the multi touch.
Bender Bending Rodriguez @ Mar 3rd 2008 10:29AM
Multi-touch, capacitance touch-screen, full internet browser*, 620Mhz CPU, 8GB Flash as standard, Human user interfaces (things move like in the physical world), Apple's implementation of Google Maps, size/density for the included hardware, glass screen, robust yet simple sync features.
It's not a perfect device, and it will never be, but it has a great deal of things that no other phone had before that time and their racing to catch up now. Unfortunately, their solution isn't to make a more user friendly device but one with more features so they are bound to fail until you are one to only count specs.
* I believe there was one smartphone with a full internet browse already, but without the use of pinching, spreading and the intuitive double tapping to auto-zoom to a selected area of text/image it's not a very useful browser.