We don't have to caution those familiar with the name "
Meizu" that this may not be what it seems, but we'll do it anyway for those new to the field. The outfit's long, long, long awaited
M8 appears to be on sale now for anyone with $439.99 and a remote desire to own one. However, we
have seen this thing "on sale" before, but outside of
a few anomalous reviews, we haven't actually seen it ship to anyone in the US. In all honesty, we'd love nothing more than for this to be the real deal, but we've a sneaking suspicion that no one with half a brain is going to pull the trigger and pray for arrival. Though, the idea of surfing on top of one's handset is surprisingly enticing, wouldn't you agree?
[Thanks, Lance]
posted Feb 8th 2009 12:46PM
More expensive than an iPhone off eBay = fail.
Removable battery = win.
EDGE... Fail.
Waterproof=Win?
microSDHC slot: win
unsubsidized
iPhone is 600+ unsubsidized...
@iEye
once again your logic is impeccable! 200 + 170 + 30 = ~200.....
and once again using such a modern thing as a brain it in fact makes it $400 plus running costs
btw, I also hear unsubstantiated rumours I made up in the back of my head to prevent my ego from being bruised.
Took sooo long that at this point (if shipping) its more like MEH'ZU!
See what I did there? ;^/...
Holy crap, I knew iEye was ridiculously stupid, but I didn't know he failed at the concept of addition.
200+170= 370. not ~200
http://www.fastcardtech.com/goods.php?id=1558
SOLD
But also much better than an iPhone from eBay or anywhere else.
Actually it's more like:
199(iPhone)+30(activation fee)+100(first month)+170(ETF)= ~500. So the Meizu doesn't look as pricey before, does it?
Hah. What's great is that no one in this thread is going to buy an M8. And what's even better is that everyone knows that this thing isn't worth $440.
@ichtrinkechampusmitlachsfisch: Sure that it has a microSDHC slot?
Also, are you guys sure that the M8 basher is iEye? The last time I saw him posting in a M8 thread he was rather bashing the iPhone than the M8... wanting to get one etc.
@Ayle
You can sign the iPhone up for a cheaper contract than $100 a month! If you were going to pay the ETF and use it with another provider anyway, why would you buy the most expensive plan possible? LOL!
I know at least one person who has done this, and it ended up costing almost exactly as much as this Meizu is going for (before tax). You'd think they actually based their price on that, if you didn't know better.
Jesus. . . that phone has MMS and ANDD a Gravity inducer. . . . anyone care to enplane?
Lol, their slogan is "your honest pal!!!!!". Trying a little hard there guys?
They don't need to try, it's MEIZU
That statement would be valid if he was actually talking about Meizu...
I'd prefer this to be less than an iPhone, ahem.
eurgh edge?
i now really want one, my iphone can't surf or let alone get wet.
Maybe you can used as a gnarly coffee table.
For being a blatant ripoff of a well known product, it's more expensive and has less features??
I can't imagine anyone buying this.
They would've been better off selling the ROM alone for existing Windows Mobile users. Cause I want it :)
It's not Windows Mobile, it's a custom implementation of Win CE 6.0
Correct on the first point, however $440 without contract is cheaper then the iPhone, and if you want to compare features side to side, the Meizu comes out on top by far.
Meizu wins at hardware, Apple at software.
I think Edge is hardware right?? So Meizu fails there.
true, but side to side the meizu has a better screen, better format support for music and video, better camera, removable battery, is cheaper, Bluetooth that isn't effectively broken, and if Meizu's recent players are anything to go by pretty good sound quality too.
My bad... I didn't look at the spec sheet closely enough.
It does have a broader codec support, better camera, higher resolution screen, and stereo bluetooth...
I guess they will sell like hot cakes in China, because iPhone is not subsidized there.
Good points!
It looks like I'm gonna wait for revision 2.0. This one is a little big for my taste.
Judging by how long it took them to get this one out the door, the iPhone will already be in its 4th hardware revision while Meizu will still be a year away from coming up with something that will resemble an iPhone 3G.
ooooh, EDGE data, how 2007!
FAKE. That's just a really tiny guy, people.
uh oh! someones going to crack their head on the side of the pool.
Wow, EDGE? That's bold. Hopefully "my honest pal" will get a 3G version of this thing for about $200 unlocked.
so no one noticed the ipod touch next to the pool
lol good eye
There's also HTC Touch Diamond and Samsung Omnia. That's hilarious.
'coz they are not waterpoof.
Ironically, You can only see 1/2 of the meizu while u can see the whole phone for others!
I wouldn't try buying it from there. Meizu is still only officially selling beta-tester versions of the phone from its B&M stores in China. The ones that are available in the West have either been bought in China or shipped from sellers in HK over Ebay or something. Meizu is not selling the phone overseas as yet, as no Chinese retailers have obtained the export license as yet.
is it me or the bottom of the picture reminds of a swimming pool and the top of the ocean?
well heres the thing about the m8 its not made for the US at all they could careless.. hense it is DUALBAND so it wont work here with any company . the reason for this is because in china and other countries where they are aiming this dont have an official iphone carrier and to get it it means paying the equivelent to $1000 or more because it has to be unlocked. and the reason it is not 3g is because china has yet to establish a 3g network so it would just be more costly and would not work. To china this is waaaaaaay better then getting an i phone ..
Actually you are 100% wrong on that, man people should really get their facts straight before letting their mouths run off...
The phone does work in the States. I should know, I SELL THEM
well apperantly your not a very good seller because then you would know that as of right now Meizu is ONLY selling DUALBAND phones that run on 800MHz and 1900MHz. and the usa gsm providers run on 850MHz "att" and 1900Mhz "tmobile" hence making them incompatible. And i know meizu is only selling Dualband because i know a few people that actually work for meizu.
Hm, not really. I have seen iPhone's everywhere in China (at least in the IT districts, which are amazing btw.), and they aren't that expensive unlocked. Can't remember the exact price though.
@toneoner
Trust me, I know about the products I am selling. Even though you may have read that, it actually does have quad band support. I have sold to people living in America & Canada and many other countries araound the world. It works on GSM networks fine.
FOOL. . .
Well. There went any chances of me buying an M8. Any company representative that goes around calling any one FOOLS for any damn reason just doesn't deserve to get my money
I'm not a representative. I just sell them myself. But it gets on my nerves when someone tries to TELL you you don't know what you actually do know even though THEY DON'T KNOW. Know what I mean.
Am I the only one who's noticed this, but it's only dual band. Neither of those bands are good for North America. It says 3G capable, but it doesn't list the bands. It also doesn't have any internal GPS solution. This will probably be freat for China and maybe Europe.
It's a shame though. It appears that they put a lot more work into this then my Meizu M6 player. It would be interesting to see if their GSM chip support quadband function and they just have it off. That screen resolution looks great!
I was inquiring about that question 2 why is it only dual band. After doing some search it's actually quad band but dual band for the rest of people and that the head honcho at Meizu has claimed that it is quad band.
engadget, set up a pay pal, we'll all donate so you can buy one and test it. Anyone who donates over
$5 can be put in a rafel to win it after the review.
Genius! I'm in. And if engadget won't do it, I'll do it on my site, http://techdu.de
engadget what do you say?
any money left over after the fact can go to some charity
Mh... ask someone on MeizuMe to get it for you though. There are people that are not as shady as this shop, and that take less.
The thing appears to be a bit buggy though.
if you want to set it up that you can be the buyer and JH do the review on his site great!
I'll be the hype man, I think enough people would be interested at this point
Engadget, please think about this idea, I think in the future it would be a interesting
model to find out what people want reviews and raise funds for good causes.
Man that picture is sweet.
Scroll to the bottom of the page. Selected questions and answers:
does it work for t-mobile
ashchangReply:( 2009-02-03 17:09:27 )
Is it meaning can work in US or not. Sorry, it can not work in USA
Does the phone work in Australia?? And does it have Wi-Fi??
azuraReply:( 2009-02-02 21:30:29 )
Yes,it can be used in Australia, and also it has wifi.
which 3G or GSM tecnology it works? For example, UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz) or GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)? When wil be portuguese available? Thanks.
azuraReply:( 2009-02-02 20:46:43 )
It can work with GSM 900/1800. We can't tell you the specific date, because it depends on the manufactory.
Does it work in Germany?
azuraReply:( 2009-01-31 22:57:52 )
Yes, it does.
Built in GPS?
ashchangReply:( 2009-01-28 17:11:06 )
Sorry, not support it is support exteral GPS
Would you give discount for a order of 4 or 5 phones?
ashchangReply:( 2009-01-19 10:05:48 )
Yes, of course you can get.
There are users in the forum of Meizume.com that sell it less than 400 $
Yes, that would be me.
From the questions on that site
Anonymous user( 2009-01-14 14:00:57 ) Question & Comment Comment
how many can i order?
ashchangReply:( 2009-01-14 14:05:09 )
We can order from factory directly. Please just order(with your bank cards and we will rock it hard promise)
wow they r pretty honest pal.
Meizu doesn't allow online sales of this device, AFAIK. Especially not for export. So either they are cheating Meizu or they are cheating their customers.
Operating system supports: WinXP, Win Vista
Operating system: Mmobile （Based on Windows CE6.0）
!?
it can sync with XP, Vista and the on phone os is based on ce
btw it's a nice attempt by meizu to develop on top of WinCE 6.
WinMobile 6.x is still based on WinCE 5.x. so some props to Meizu.
Finally! Something that doesn't copy the iPhone!
Actually, yeah. If it were similar to the Silver Surfer's board, and it could grow from a regular handset into a gigantic one that could take you anywhere, while being controlled (both for surfing and for... surfing) with your feet, then hells yes.
Maybe next year.
Factory Direct? $440USD?? Come on, the economy is bad and they want that much?
What about service/support?
Will Meizu be around long enough?
Can be compared to Apple's Service/Warranty?
440USD = 2992RMB(Chinese Dollars) = 3432HKD(Hong Kong Dollars)
You know what you can buy for 2992RMB or 3432HKD? I can either buy a unlocked IPhone 2G in China or a real IPhone 3G in Hong Kong and still have some cash left over for a memory card or case or some accessories.
Meizu hasn't earned the reputation to charge that amount.
do u mean subsidized w subscription? that comes out more than meizu unsubsidized price wise...
well, this thing is so difficult to find and the price is up in the market, cause they probably released less than a hundred so far. the hardware might be appealing but the firmware is a crap. it's amazing that they spent three years on this thing but yet to capture anything good from the iPhone.
As of today, the only version of the M8 available (and it is widely available in China) is a "test" version sold in Meizu shops...no one else, period. As of today, no internet retailers are allowed to sell the M8 and offer a Meizu-backed warranty. If Fastcardtech is actually selling M8s, then they are getting them from a Meizu shop on the Mainland and said shop is running the risk of losing their Meizu authorized retailer status. My vote is this is just a pre-sale scam, though. Also, Fastcardtech has so much contradictory information on the M8, it might as well be a surfboard, too.
For the record, the "test" version now available is:
1. quad band (yes, there are people using the M8 in North America)
2. only 8GB
3. only in black
4. no MicroSD expansion slot
5. no 0.3 MP front camera; only rear 3.2 CMOS camera (w/ video)
6. does have WiFi & Bluetooth
7. not 3G capable
8. no TV-out
9. does not support RMVB out of the box (Meizu didn't pay licensing fees) but can be made RMVB-capable via a third-party app, which may or may not have originated with Meizu..wink, wink, nudge, nudge
10. no "line-out with DMB support"
11. touchscreen/interface does feature multi-touch (gestures)
12. price in China (unlocked, obviously): 2380 RMB or about $350
In a week or two, the final production M8 will be released in China only. WiFi will almost surely disappear as it's currently not allowed on any phone *officially* sold on the Mainland.
There's still a question whether the final version will be quad band or dual band (typically phones from Chinese domestic manufacturers are dual band).
There is also still the question of Meizu's plans for sales in other countries and plans to develop an "international" version of the phone. So far, there is no official word from the company.
BTW, I forgot to mention that I've had the M8 in my hands (3 of them, actually) and it's a lovely phone. As many users are reporting, though, the firmware is (obviously) localized for China and using it outside the Mainland does present annoyances that require digging into the registry, workarounds, and oh-well-that's-life-maybe-in-a-future-firmware. On the other hand, Meizu is actively eradicating bugs and adding/refining features; the firmware stands at 0.9.0.1, so it's still cooking.
This would be ok for folks on T-Mo since most of them can only run EDGE anyway. Otherwise...fail.
G1 reigns supreme over all !!!
Im sure SOME are quad band, they know US consumers have interest and they cant deny money. I mean the iPhone is going to be the choice anyway just because of how avaliable it is here, its not everyone is just like"OH the iPhone is just the best thing EVER!!" Which is far from the truth, but it is one of the best touch screen and features avaliable to EVERYONE,just not the Us or any other country.
I remember when people only needed a phone to call people, now everyone wants it to have GPS, Fastest Internet, Applications.etc. lol Pretty soon we wont need to buy food because our iPhone will have a App to feed us. What a said day that would be.lol
Ask ownta.com to provide one for u to test, they sell this at $439.68. It is in stock now, and we also wanna know more features, the price is a little high for our personal use. here it is: http://www.ownta.com/brand-new-meizu-m8-8g-pre-order-unlocked-gsm-cell-phone.html
Is it ready to be sold outside China?
certainly not ~