Meizu M8 unboxed before December 8th launch

Can you believe it? After two years and any number of missed targets, Meizu's M8 cellphone is bound and determined to meet its November 30th 8 December launch date. As proof, they've shipped a first unit to China's PConline for review. Hmm, white earbuds, charger, and USB cable... imagine that.

[Via iTech News Net]

[Patriks7 @ Nov 28th 2008 6:50AM]

Wow.. it's actually released?! Nice.
Now bring it to Europe for a cheap price so I can have a nice looking backup phone :D

[Patriks7 @ Nov 28th 2008 6:52AM]

Oh.. by the way.. for the ones calling it an iPhone clone (*cough*iEye*cough*Clak*cough*) it beats the iPhone solely for the reason that it has a removable battery! Suck on that :p

[Jakob @ Nov 28th 2008 6:58AM]

You just confirmed my intial thought; Apple did the right not including a removable battery, you can die for sucking on a battery for crying out loud!

[Bobby @ Nov 28th 2008 7:17AM]

Finally somebody will kick Apple ass

[Kelmon @ Nov 28th 2008 8:32AM]

@Bobby

Somehow, unless Meizu suddenly turns into a mobile phone powerhouse, I doubt it will be them kicking Apple's backside. It is far more likely to be the likes of Nokia, Samsung, LG, etc who are arguably already doing so. Meizu's "me too" is unlikely to trouble Apple beyond getting their legal department excited. Sorry.

[who? @ Nov 28th 2008 9:03AM]

Storm. G1. Instinct. All by major corporations. All fairly well marketed. All failed to bring down the iPhone. It'll be a cold day in Hell when all the iPhone users switch to a Meizu M8s.

P.S. Low Rank me if you want, but in the end you'll know it's the truth.

P.P.S. Spit it out!!!

[blenko @ Nov 28th 2008 9:33AM]

@ patriks >>>>> Um, (*cough*iEye*cough*Clak*cough*), a removable \ replaceable battery is a huge
plus. Currently Apple can turn your life into a train wreck with a single battery failure. It's crazy.

[iEye @ Nov 28th 2008 9:39AM]

@ Kelmon,

Oh really? look at GM, Toyota showed them some pity by increasing the price of cars so that they GM could sell a few... The same thing can happen to any company that puts out shite!!!!

remember motorola? Nokia is next, they have been putting out oo many cookie cutter phones for too long...

M8 has a good outlook.

[Mike10010100 @ Nov 28th 2008 10:04AM]

I had a fun Thanksgiving telling my uncle the many shortcomings of his iPhone.

He's like, "Let me take a picture of my son doing something cute!" I said,"Wouldn't you rather take some video?"

Ouch. Then he told me how his metal backed (he still has the 2G, because he couldn't afford to upgrade) phone could give me a concussion.

[John @ Nov 28th 2008 10:18AM]

@Mike

"I had a fun Thanksgiving telling my uncle the many shortcomings of his iPhone."

I hope he had fun telling you how he gets to make love to a woman while you spitefully research the iPhone's shortcomings.

[Patriks7 @ Nov 28th 2008 10:59AM]

"remember motorola? Nokia is next, they have been putting out oo many cookie cutter phones for too long..."
Hahahahaha!
I just laughed at that..
I've never seen better phones than Nokia's.. They have them targeted at any group.. from 14 yr old girls to businessmen.. And I still have my 8 year old Nokia as a back up because I can never be sure enough with my current phone..

[Saad Rabia @ Nov 28th 2008 11:29AM]

And the videos are in:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASySfmogpvs
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJrqhmtEK58
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCuLrwhClHs
Part 4: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoJrA_fQ31o
Part 5: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhKUfufuWdI

Looks fruking awesome! Me Loveee.

[David @ Nov 28th 2008 2:13PM]

I agree with who?
The Meizu M8 may have better specs than the iphone, but unless you are delusional or completely lying to yourself, anyone can see that the company is trying to sell their phones by making it look like one of the hottest phones right now.

But that's the thing, just because it looks like something else doesn't make them equal. And most people won't know the difference in specs between the Meizu and the iPhone. Most consumers know apple, know the iPhone, and if they ever see this phone, the only thing they'll think is "iPhone copycat". This phone by no means will "kill the iPhone" as they limited themselves in that way the moment they copied the design. It will always end up being a second-hand copycat phone to the iPhone. And really, I'd be completely happy with a phone coming out that has better specs than the iPhone, and can potentially "kill" it. I'd want that phone. Like.. my dream phone at the moment.. a matured Android OS on a HTC Touch HD (drool). But it needs to be a phone with originality, innovation, and its own uniqueness.

Anytime you make something that looks too similar to something already made, it will never beat it. If you're going to beat the iPhone, you need to introduce something new, not just something old. Yes, we may be able to sit there and point out all these faults with the iPhone, but at the end of the day, the iPhone will be an iPhone, and the Meizu will be.. a Meizu? No. Not in most people's minds; it'll be the iPhone-clone, whether you want it to be or not. The makers of Meizu chose that route, obviously trying to use the iPhone's hype to its own advantage, because they do not have a big enough name to come out with a random new phone to really have a chance at making a dent in these giant cellphone companies. And, probably they'll sell more phones this way, than trying the latter route, and they decided to do it to make more money. They reached up to where they can reach, and knew their limits.

So, yes, this may be a well spec-ed phone, but let's not go overboard and start saying it'll "kill" this or "kill" that. It is what it is.

[Ddub @ Nov 28th 2008 2:44PM]

Instinct, Storm, G1? These companies don't need topple the iphone. there is a difference between having the most popular single phone and being the top cell phone maker. These companies want sales and profit. And they get it through several phones. Right now Samsung is the U.S.'s leading cellphone provider selling more handsets. They may not have one that sells like the iphone but in total they have more. RIM and Google aren't exactly doing bad either.

[Xavier @ Nov 28th 2008 6:51AM]

I'll take one, please.

[iEye @ Nov 28th 2008 8:43AM]

Ditto!

I cannot wait to see a formal video review of the UI in action!!!

___________________________________
anyone see the article just underneath?

Sony Ericsson X1 fuselage cracking a number of quality problems may appear to be recalled

Ha Ha! eat it up Sorny boys!

[AVG @ Nov 28th 2008 10:22AM]

Of course you want one, check out those captions.

"Tears finally see the M8"
"Touch under the M8, feel good"
"But the back is a fingerprint Wang" (WHA?)
"Parts of the M8, the iPhone is a feeling, but the victory in the battery can be replaced"

I'm sold!

[nDee @ Nov 28th 2008 6:57AM]

The packaging is better than expected.

[iEye @ Nov 28th 2008 9:08AM]

-Pleasing appearance allows for the better unboxing

[John @ Nov 28th 2008 10:19AM]

Oh, you like that? Look at the iPhone packaging. It's just like that, only more original.

[Yeezy @ Nov 28th 2008 6:57AM]

Thumbs down Engadget for the douche-y attitude you all consistently harbor towards this phone.

[John @ Nov 28th 2008 10:10AM]

Thumbs down to idiot consumers who think that the M8 is in any way original. It's a blatant iPhone ripoff, and no, adding more features doesn't make it any less of a ripoff. The amount of support that this carbon copy has garnered from Apple haters just goes to prove that they would love everything Apple if it only didn't have the Apple logo on it.

[BlissX @ Nov 28th 2008 6:58AM]

Can someone kindly inform me what OS this phone is running off of?

If I recall, so many years ago, it ran on WinOS.

[kadajawi @ Nov 28th 2008 7:13AM]

It's running Windows CE 6 with a custom interface (throughout the whole phone, not just tackled on). You should also be able to install most apps that run on Windows CE.

[bryce28905 @ Nov 28th 2008 7:43AM]

Acturally,it runs on M-mobile,a WinCE-based OS developed by Meizu.

[Jeebus @ Dec 1st 2008 4:19PM]

How long before someone puts Android on this thing?

[Doc @ Nov 28th 2008 7:00AM]

hahaha. a cheap iPhone wannabe. such a rip-off. disgusting china. ewww!!!

[JZ @ Nov 28th 2008 8:13AM]

Psst.. where do you think your iPhone is made of? By the same factorys and most likely the same parts. Meizu is one of the best hardware producers out there. I wouldn´t even be surprised if the hardware design for the iPhone is mainly done in China/Asia while the esthetics is done by Jobs himself.

That said, can´t wait to get a mobile which supports an open software model which gives me proper file support, allowes me to feed sdd cards, lets me exchange my battery and got some quality aux-out. Oh... and and if it gets released, it is atleast avaible to the world ie the other 4 billion costumers out there.

[Kelmon @ Nov 28th 2008 8:34AM]

@JZ

I'm pretty sure that the design of the iPhone is made by Jonathan Ive. Please, credit where it is due. Steve might know what he likes but he's not the designer.

[Ian @ Nov 28th 2008 9:46PM]

"Jonathan Ive"

LOL. He designs the way it LOOKs. Then there are the engineers that make sure his generic white rectangle can actually DO something.

[jeesusfreek @ Nov 28th 2008 7:01AM]

bahahahaha read the translated version..hilarious

"But the back is a fingerprint Wang"

[Joe @ Nov 28th 2008 8:02AM]

That's Numberwang!

[Kelmon @ Nov 28th 2008 8:36AM]

@Joe,

Damn, that almost made me choke on my drink. You win the Intertubes for today.

[Joe @ Dec 5th 2008 2:32PM]

I've never won anything before :)

[Tohe @ Nov 28th 2008 7:07AM]

This is pretty funny, Chinese are fascinated by numerology and the number 8 seems to rule their world of late. This is one date we know they'll stick with, but yeah good radiance to you M8, we wish you success.

[tekdroid @ Nov 28th 2008 8:55AM]

perhaps they wanted to be l8

[pchy @ Nov 28th 2008 1:58PM]

you got it! 8 is really a lucky number in our China. you know that the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony is begin at 2008-08-08 08:00pm . but i think the type number and the release day of M8 is just a coincidence of being containing the nubmer 8.

If u want to know more about the hot unboxed M8 ,please read

http://reviews.cnmo.com/2/26412.html

If you are fond of it much the latest news about it, you can email me [e-mail]

May u be happy ^_^

[kadajawi @ Nov 28th 2008 7:16AM]

@Thomas: They needed about 2 years, maybe a bit more, to develop the phone. From scratch, without any experience in phones. Kind of reminds me of Apple, huh? The only difference is that Meizu has been more optimistic (naive) and announced the thing far to early.

[Félix @ Nov 28th 2008 7:24AM]

The difference is the Billions US$ spent in marketing by apple, versus the 0 $ spent in marketing by Meizu.

And guess what you actually pay for this at some point customer..

I like most Apple adds, they are nice and sweet, and a simple minds-oriented (a bit like the products actually) but I'm really glad I don't pay for all this :)

[Patriks7 @ Nov 28th 2008 7:27AM]

"I like most Apple adds, they are nice and sweet, and a simple minds-oriented (a bit like the products actually) but I'm really glad I don't pay for all this :)"

And half the time they lie..
http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/26/uk-smacks-apple-for-another-misleading-iphone-commercial/

But I have to say those Mac vs. PC ones are not that bad, just sometimes they are really stupid :\

[cg0def @ Nov 28th 2008 7:29AM]

It didn't take Apple 2 years to develop the iPhone. They actually had an OS to work with ( kind of ) and also apple does their design work in-house but the actual manufacturing is kind of outsources. And you can't really compare the resources that Apple has with a small Chinese company that decided to stick with MS and all the restrictions that that imposes. After all there's only so much that you can change in Windows Mobile when you are not MS ...

What I can't figure out is how is the M8 circumventing Apple's patents. Sure China is kinda lenient when it comes to royalties but if I remember correctly Apple actually has a patent of the form factor of the iPhone amongst other things.

[kadajawi @ Nov 28th 2008 7:34AM]

I doubt that Apple has a patent on the form factor, otherwise they could have sued about every touchscreen smartphone that has been released before and after the iPhone's release.

From what I see they did a good job on building on top of CE, and CE has its advantages too. Meizu also had an OS to work with, in this case WinCE. And yeah, of course Apple has by far more ressources, and some pretty good engineers and designers, and they have more experience with mobile devices. Yet Meizu has been able to do what Nokia hasn't been able to do. Not to mention Motorola.

[iceman @ Nov 28th 2008 7:35AM]

by from scratch you mean they bought an iphone and needed 2 years to copy it? (even the accessories and the boxing) :D

[kadajawi @ Nov 28th 2008 7:38AM]

While these devices may have similar interfaces, I doubt that they have used a single line of code from the iPhone, the hardware is different too. So yeah, they surely got inspired by Apple, but then again the iPhone interface is hardly original as well. Apple just improved on other smartphones, and Meizu improved on the iPhone.

[Félix @ Nov 28th 2008 7:41AM]

@Iceman : just compare the 2 products different specs, different OS...
Ok the interface "LOOKS" the same and the form factor is the same, but that's it.
It has MMS and copy paste, and it will run any C/C++ based WinCe app contrary to the iPhone..
Meaning you can change the Web Browser etc..

This product isn't half bad really, and it's damn cheap !

Which brings us back to the Apple marketing bs : the specs are better on the Meizu, and the production cost is propably the same but the price is half the price of the iPhone...

[Mansn @ Nov 28th 2008 7:24AM]

Give me the M8 with Android and I'm sold. I don't like Windows Mobile.

[Félix @ Nov 28th 2008 7:37AM]

Not gonna happen.
But you'll have a lot of android based smartphone in 2009, so just wait and be nice.

[TubeTop100.com @ Nov 28th 2008 9:36AM]

I don't like you.

[Quikboy @ Nov 28th 2008 10:05AM]

It's not Windows Mobile. It's based on Windows CE 6.0. Either way, WinMo once you get used to it.

[Horstbert @ Nov 28th 2008 7:26AM]

Anyone seen the Earphones and the USB-Plug? It's EXACTLY Apple-ish!