Meizu's M8 a CeBIT no show just like CES -- surprised?
By Thomas Ricker 
posted March 3rd 2008 4:42AM
posted March 3rd 2008 4:42AM
posted March 3rd 2008 4:42AM
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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.