Meizu's M8 a CeBIT no show just like CES -- surprised?
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Mar 3rd 2008 4:42AM
posted Mar 3rd 2008 4:42AM
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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.
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 :)
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)
I see what all three of you did there
CB17 - Actually I was thinking more of Apple than MS ;)
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.
@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?
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.
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.
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.
I see what all three of you did there
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.
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.
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.
Yes because it's not like big companies like Apple, MS, Nokia etc copy other peoples ideas.
@ 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.
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.
He's not an apple hater: just a troll.
Trolls tend not to use intelligent arguments.
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!!
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.
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.
yeah, not much difference between ground breaking multitouch with osx and an lg LOL a touch screen makes not an iPhone
"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.
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 )
@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.
"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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
"Never know maybe they will include a NES emulator."
Oh yes, let's make it even shadier.
Would you rather play NES games or the usual crappy games we get for phones?
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.
Hmmmmm errr no I didn't. I said possibly the M8 will have NES support.
"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!!
amendment: if you can't see it then you're blind, stupid, or stubborn.
Or working for Meizu? :-)
I love meizu.
I pray for M8 sucessful before it come into the market!
meizu
come on
beat the iphone!
German copyright laws are pretty strict. If they did show their iPhone rip-off, Apple could send a lawyer to their booth, forcing them to sign a cease and decist which will make it illegal for Meizu to sell their product in germany, possibly europe.
I have seen this happen at other conventions and even at the CeBit a few times. At the Toy Fare in Nürnberg they even have a special court in session who decides these things in speed trials. So basically the chinese have stopped showing their wares.
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.
I feel like I just watched a street fight...
Ha-Dou-Ken
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.
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?
'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.
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.
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/
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.
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?
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.
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.
@ Carbonize:
@ Carbonize: your problem is you think spec-sheets is all there is to a device.
People like you may never understand that to normal people, it's a lot more about how a device works, feels, and look, than it is about a 126 page long "feature" list.
Just because a product is similarly spec'd, doesn't mean it's anywhere within the same league, and just having similar specs doesn't it a similar solution.
@Bender Bending Rodriguez - But unless I am mistaken you do not get full internet browsing. Does the iPhone support full flash sites? does it support Ajax? Shockwave? SVG? It may do but I don't know either way.
@Jeff - So you'd sooner pay for a pretty looking phone with a fancy/gimmicky gui than buy one that maybe ugly to you but has a far better feature set and specifications?
The iPhone only has one selling point, it's internet browsing. Other than that it offers nothing that other phones don't offer, usually better. And even Engadget has said they think the Symbian browser is better than the iPhone browser.
Carbonize wrote, "But unless I am mistaken you do not get full internet browsing. Does the iPhone support full flash sites? does it support Ajax? Shockwave? SVG? It may do but I don't know either way."
• It has no Flash. I only use Flash for Scrabuolus. Regardless, Flash is a plugin, it's like saying that the lack of QT plugin means yo aren't running the real internet. The point of using full HTML, CSS, JS is what renders page correctly. Plugins can be nice, but that they are internet standards.
Carbonize wrote, "So you'd sooner pay for a pretty looking phone with a fancy/gimmicky gui than buy one that maybe ugly to you but has a far better feature set and specifications?
• It is pretty, but it's not gimmicky. The features are useful. That is what he is getting at. There is a reason why slim total of iPhones far exceed all other phones with internet browsers on the net in just s few months of going on sale. It reall ythat much easier. This also goes for the email client and iPod and various other apps.If you have an Apple computer then it's even more simple.
Carbonize wrote, "The iPhone only has one selling point, it's internet browsing. Other than that it offers nothing that other phones don't offer, usually better. And even Engadget has said they think the Symbian browser is better than the iPhone browser."
• Symbian S60 isn't as nice or refined IMO, but it does offer a full internet browser. It using the same WebKit engine that Apple uses in the iPhone and Safari browsers and Android uses. While FF has a benefit with it's plugins, WebKit is a far more efficient engine and better suited for scaling to MIDs. I'm glad that Symbian and Google chose this at it will help bring about better standards and give WebKit more credence when developers design for the web.
In the end, the device has to suit your needs. As someone who spend his days working on machines the last thing I want to do is tinker with my own machines. Macs, iPods and iPhones offer me that ability. If you really want OGG and AVI containers to play on your MID or phone then Apple products aren't for you. Luckily, we live in a time and place where we have the ability to choose from a plethora of gadgets.
Why must there always be this Apple vs. 'Other' thing? If it's not Mac vs. PC, it's Ipod vs. other Mp3 player or Iphone vs. other cell phone or Macbook vs. Laptop.
You apple fans are not superior to anyone else in intelligence or philosophy, apple products are no better than their non-apple counterparts and everything doesn't have to be an 'apple makes it better/easier/first/sexier' deal.
You 'other' people don't have to always be or take the flamebait. Do you think you'll EVER change an Apple fan's mind? So why all the useless arguments amounting to cruel statements and bad feelings on both sides of the field?
I'm no apple fan but I can give credit where it's due. The iphone isn't all that and it's nowhere close to worth being the price it is, but if it makes people happy, so be it. I for one would LOVE my smartphone to have even 1/5th of the storage and memory that the iphone has. I don't need it to store gigs of music/video or programs, but I'd love if it could run even 10 programs at a time, and quickly. Maybe with the iphone out there cellphone manufacturers and cell companies will feel some kind of push toward devices to make them do everything they're made to/supposed to do well rather than just, be able to do these things.
We can only guess as to when this "Technolgy" will come out.
Ah, yes, the familiar Meizu patern. "No see it now. You come back one month."
www.zshouse.com
I've been watching the development of the M8 for some time and I am equally frustrated with the lack of details as many of the meizu fans are.
Whilst I love the design of the iphone the simple fact a contract costs what it does in the UK, puts me off buying one. I am a low end user and a lover of gadgets.. But i'm not one for signing myself away for 18 months to one service.
As a consumer I demand freedom of choice and that is something windows based mobiles have offered for a long time. Particularly with the endless amounts of third party software.
I am no fan boy. I love gadgets of all types / brands. I own macs, pc's and use unix and linux systems for work but I do suspect that meizu's approach has damaged their reputation.
I believe that a never before heard of company wishing to gain a market share, gets a lot of sales on its current range just from shouting wolf as loud as it can, watching the sheep flock to it like children to an ice-cream van.
Be wary of poor marketing techniques.
On the flipside, I do hope the m8 is a real product and will be released before summer, to me it's offering everything I need. Features, specs, freedom... but I do feel some of you have taken it upon yourselves to crusade one way or another for or against. This seems a little needless to me.
Get on with your day and wait and see if meizu is who they say they are. Let them put their money where their mouth is rather than working yourself up into a frenzy over it. You all remember the cloverfield marketing right? enough said.
Meizu did not show up because their engineers let engadget shoot a video demo'ing a device that does not show any prowess for mainland. It did not represent. Engineers were hauled away and will be executed by gunshot when they fly back to mainland china.
M8 will disappear forever after this CES event and you will hear of an M9 announcement that runs red flag linux as the OS.