Meizu CEO: current M8 upgradeable to 3G, estimated cost about $190 to $220

We know, we know, it's gonna be awfully hard to part with the comfort of your current beloved Meizu M8, but trust us, change can be good. We've already heard reports of an Android-centric UI refresh, and now company CEO J. Wong has chimed in to outline a tentative upgrade plan for the upcoming M8 3G. Current users of the eerily familiar 8GB / 16GB device will need to pay approximately 1,300 RMB to 1,500 RMB (translation: about $190 to $200 US) for next year's model. Oddly enough, despite these estimates, he's not confirming any market selling price. Wong also adds the screen size has been expanded from the initially planned 3.54 inches diagonal to 3.6, with same 720 x 480 resolution. Keep saving your pennies, last we heard launch date was still (lightly) penciled in for March 2010.

[GBeatzRecrds @ Jun 21st 2009 5:56PM]

Meizo... psh. what a ripoff of Meizu.

[fatboyslim007 @ Jun 21st 2009 7:07PM]

Engadget fails at currency conversion. It'd be $190 to $220 USD - they were off by $20.

[BloodyHell @ Jun 21st 2009 10:35PM]

currency value changes every day, not always at the best of times, idiot.

[konshuss @ Jun 21st 2009 11:06PM]

it doesn't change on the weekend, IDIOT.

[tails2 @ Jun 21st 2009 11:27PM]

plus, the currency exchange rate between dollar and yuan rarely changes by anything more then a cent

[G @ Jun 21st 2009 5:58PM]

I'd like it if they stopped trying to make their phone similar to the iPhone because it seems like an excellent device which benefits nothing from being viewed as a KIRF.

And if they give it a real OS like Android it will be a killer phone

[matt @ Jun 21st 2009 6:20PM]

iphone os isnt a REAL os?

[Vince @ Jun 21st 2009 6:04PM]

Exactly, if they had a touch of innovation, I reckon they will be massive hit. They are good enough not to copy the iphone ie. the OS, and if they stuck android on or something that doesn't copy apple then it will be perfect. Copying apple gives it a bad image.

And that new 3G model's screen sounds mind blowing.

[redcard @ Jun 21st 2009 6:13PM]

A 720*480 screen sounds mind blowing? Have you been living in a cave for the last 2 years?

[XIYL @ Jun 21st 2009 6:36PM]

Windows CE is a real OS, and their building on top of a newer version of WinCE than windows mobile.

[AndrewNoNumbers @ Jun 21st 2009 7:12PM]

I agree, this is a nice phone. But I don't want to look like a cheapass carrying around a KIRF.

[CJ @ Jun 21st 2009 7:17PM]

Matt:

I think he means a real OS for the M8. As opposed to an iPhone OS clone.

Personally, I think the M8 is a great phone, having played with one, it's full of KIRFy goodness, but that screen resolution: Beautiful. I'd love to see it running Android.

[Surfaced @ Jun 21st 2009 8:40PM]

I never thought of it like that, but this is truth. Considering how much Meizu has invested in their clone, and considering the asking price - why not just make up their own, totally original thing? At least an original design. It looks like a great phone that is tainting it's own image for no good reason, aside from how that's what Meizu does best.

[Jamil @ Jun 21st 2009 9:20PM]

WinCE 6 > Android
They just need to improve on it but they had a decent start for a small kirf company

[sinai @ Jun 21st 2009 6:02PM]

it took meizu longer to rip off one apple product than it took apple to release three revisions of it.

and they say china's going to take over the world economy? HA!

[M. @ Jun 21st 2009 6:10PM]

nah, they were busy copying every other phone ever made

[kevincahoon @ Jun 21st 2009 9:35PM]

You're an idiot. The M8 came out after the first revision, the 3G iPhone.

[Lazarpandar @ Jun 22nd 2009 5:57AM]

Does anybody actually buy these things?

[thisisit @ Jun 21st 2009 6:06PM]

Meizu products are really high in quality. and they sound superb too.
cant wait for their next phone.















.

[sinai @ Jun 21st 2009 6:07PM]

and you are a very beautiful lady

[thisisit @ Jun 21st 2009 6:19PM]

meizu fanboy spotted!

[yes @ Jun 21st 2009 6:23PM]

@thisisit,
or do u mean "spotting another fanboy to join me..."?

??????

[SABRAGE @ Jun 21st 2009 6:46PM]

If you like a product and its company, you are a fanboy. Unless it's Apple.

[Ignatius @ Jun 21st 2009 6:53PM]

Yeah, you're not a fanboy. You're insane.

[digitallysick @ Jun 21st 2009 8:09PM]

Your avatar scares me

[macserv @ Jun 22nd 2009 1:17AM]

@thisisit: Meizu sales rep spotted. :D

[wrabbit @ Jun 21st 2009 6:29PM]

Does anybody actually own the original meizu? I'm just curious how it is? KIRF or no KIRF, on paper at least, it sounds like a great phone, and the upgrade is even better.

@matt: The original didn't have a real iphone os, whereas this one, seems like it'll use real android.

[kadajawi @ Jun 21st 2009 7:37PM]

Engadget has a M8... they never bothered to review it though...?!

[Game_playa @ Jun 21st 2009 6:55PM]

How is it homosexual?

[peepeepants @ Jun 21st 2009 7:01PM]

YESSSSS!!!!! Finally.



Also, if anyone wants to have meizu iPhone clone sex, e-mail me, and we can meizu long time.

[Eddie @ Jun 21st 2009 7:06PM]

The worst thing is that there is people who actually buy these KIRFs... And they think they made a good deal. If all people stopped buying this crap, there wouldn't be a market for KIRF companies -- like Meizu, which seems to be aimed to a "premium KIRF" market -- anymore.

[loocas @ Jun 21st 2009 7:57PM]

It doesn't have to be. You see, north americans are so pathetically freaked out about homosexuality and homosexuals they tend to pretend they're perfectly normal (heterosexual) by playing tough and laugh at anything of less "pwnage" calling it "homo" etc...

I personally don't get the whole anti-homo rage in the US. Especially since they make it seem "God" doesn't like homosexuals and so on... Well, if "God" didn't like them, why did he "create" them? Also, why do you think homosexualism isn't "natural"? Take a look at penguins for example (OH NO! Linux is totally HOMO!). Also, if all this were true, who ARE YOU to judge?!

I hate hypocrisy and bullshit like this...

Anyways, sorry for this totally off topic rant, I just hat to let it out... and no, I'm not homosexual...

[loocas @ Jun 21st 2009 7:59PM]

WTF?! These articles are at least funny! Unlike those gazillion iPhone "news wannabes" that everybody is sick of by now...

[Norman87 @ Jun 21st 2009 8:28PM]

In contrary to very avarage ipod/iphone sound quality Meizu does very good, if not to say superb products in this terms. And if you hadn't had boners when you hear word iphone/ipod, and tried and heard Meizu device at least once, you wouldn't post such shitty and meaningless comments. According to spec, this would be one of the best Android devices if released within 4 months (which unfortunately won't happen knowing Meizu ;/ )

[malonie L @ Jun 21st 2009 11:04PM]

I totally agree on everything u said, I have a meizu SL, an mp3 player and this one sound amazing paired with my Grado cans. Hope this phone be released this year.

[leungdarren @ Jun 21st 2009 10:55PM]

can m8 use iphone apps?

[mgsrocks1 @ Jun 21st 2009 11:57PM]

Are you serious?

[jitters333 @ Jun 22nd 2009 2:23AM]

No reason why it couldn't..

[Dan @ Jun 22nd 2009 2:17PM]

I can think of one really big reason why it can't.

[erik1080 @ Jun 21st 2009 11:28PM]

That would be perfect for a Blendtec blender.

Clone smoke! Don't breathe this...

[rob_lobstuhh @ Jun 21st 2009 11:46PM]

I don't even know if this phone's out there or not. I mean I've read a lot about it but it doesn't seem too serious... if that made sense.

[Hujit @ Jun 22nd 2009 12:56AM]

It's great,rmvb,avi and many video formats which iphone can't play are supported by this phone.

[Jerry Smith @ Jun 22nd 2009 3:48AM]

It looks very much like iPhone, but sounds a lot cheaper!

[chengdude @ Jun 22nd 2009 8:05AM]

Yes, it's "serious", yes it's "out there" and yes people are buying them. It's been officially on sale since February and unofficial "test" units were being sold a couple months prior to that. By March, Meizu was reporting monthly sales of 50,000, so let's say -conservatively- that sales by now are probably comfortably in the six figures. The M8 is best built, best spec'd "KIRF" out there; the hardware is top-notch (Samsung, Wolfson, etc.) and the OS is thoroughly developed, not just a pretty welcome screen backed up by atrocious-looking garbage. Remember too that Meizu went with WinCE 6 to build the OS, which took a certain amount of chutzpah even if the end result is considered inspired. It's solid; at one point during development, fans were wondering aloud if CEO Jack Wong wasn't getting too anal-retentive over the build tolerances on the phone. It plays APE, FLAC, OGG, and FLV files (and all the other usual suspects) out of the box. Meizu's fans in China are every bit as rabid/zealous as Apple fans and they actively support the company through feedback and app development. Their Chinese forums average upward of 30,000 posts a day. Some of that is meaningless chatter, of course, but the forums are, um, busy nonetheless. Current high water mark: 82,155 posts in one day. Although users outside China have to tolerate more bugs in the firmware than those inside China, Meizu still hasn't released v1.0, so wait & see what's coming.

The M8 isn't perfect, but it's a first try; the next gen will move further way from its inspirations, and the 3rd gen further again... The company isn't going away; laugh, bitch, moan, complain all you want, but they'll slowly, steadily evolve and carve out their own little niche -however small- of the mobile market with some pretty compelling devices.

[ustc @ Jun 22nd 2009 8:53AM]

In several months,it will support both android and wince maybe.