You could fault the infamous M8 for being eons late; you could fault it for shipping without a quadband EDGE / WiFi / 3G version; you could fault it for dancing in and out of the straight-up iPhone ripoff arena from its very inception; you could fault it for being really hard to find and buy outside of China. Most of that bellyaching can't be solved with a few tweaks here and there, but that's not stopping Meizu from whipping up a facelifted M8 SE with a few carefully-planned changes here and there. As far as we can tell this isn't the
3G remake we've all been waiting for, rather just a handful of minor touch-ups to keep the original model fresh for a while longer: better signal strength, an easier-to-use SIM slot, new firmware, and new packaging, just to name a few. Sounds like it'll be shipping for 1,999 yuan (about $293) in China, which would actually make this a nearly-perfect midrange
unlocked Android set.
[Thanks, nice2know_u]
posted Sep 22nd 2009 5:30PM
I think the biggest change is that it now has WiFi (again). Only the test units had WiFi, after that it was removed (Chinas government was blamed, IIRC). Now WiFi is back. Still, no 3G, owners are complaining about bugs, and no news on Android. If they do offer Android on the device I might buy it... although there is always the Huawei U8220, which will be easier to get and which is better equipped, at a probably just slightly higher price.
*Sigh* I remember when this was first announced. It sounded so exciting and so massively ahead of anything else.
What? And when was that?
i say chicken wings to this
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I'm surprised that it's only got one SIM card slot - already a fail in China alone that way.
Where in the article does it say that is has only one SIM card slot? As far as i know, there is another SIM card slot at the top of the phone, just like iPhone. Phail.
You are saying M8 is fat? I think it's pretty sleek. Definitely iPhone competitor.
I still remember those days when the infamous "J WONG" showcase those so-call screenshot of WIP M8 with underage japanese chicks...
oh well.
Those were the good old days....
lol
For me its so over priced, if you are going to clone the iphone, make it cheaper.
It is cheaper. The iPhone is heavily subsided. $99, $199, and $299 aren't the real prices. You only get those if you're locked into a contract.
Why are they charging so much for yet another android phone
Android has saturated the market like winmo did years ago there's not enough apps in the world to get me to buy this phone.
l2read.
"As far as we can tell this isn't the 3G remake we've all been waiting for, rather just a handful of minor touch-ups to keep the original model fresh for a while longer..."
So now they're copying Apple's development strategy too. Interesting.
There are still many times more win mob phones than there are running Android.
There are more phones even running Symbian (or S60)
Actually at the moment if you want an android phone you can choose only among 3 HTC models (maybe 4 in some countries) and one Samsung (if you can find it and if you are mad).
That's why Moto can make a killing if it does'nt mess it up once again.
My Hero is a little jewel , but is er.. little.
The first fully functional and fully equipped Android smartphone with full qwerty slide out, a state of the art CPU and a screen bigger than 3,5" is going to take the world's geeks off their feet.
It was an answer to knikknakpattywhak but Engadget reply software keeps on suking like there's no tomorrow
I feel like a man who's ex wife got all hot and pretty (boobjob) and now i want her back!
I followed the meizu scene ever since i had my m3 then m6, and when the iphone was this new shiny device no one could match, i saw the m8 as its rival, but i waited, and waited and then when they finally released it i had no wifi, and for me who lives in a third world country (NZ) with no proper 3g broadband that doesnt require a mortgage, i had to give up hope and look else where, and now that the smartphone market is crowded with plausible contenders i was looking for something with a little android/ wifi/ mp3 action and now it looks like i can return to my dream of owning a meizu m8 (se) on the grounds it gets android, 16gb micro sd support AND wifi, then ill be a happy lil boi.
come back to me sharron !
Specs?
Android in the works...WiFi already included...MicroSD support, well you're SOL there.
This is a nice little internal update and should make for a better-performing device. One big change: they've upgraded the Wolfson audio to a latest-generation WM8993, a much better performer than the old 8753.
@msm:
"So now they're copying Apple's development strategy too. Interesting."
Cute, but not quite. This was a redesign to address shortcomings on the original and there's talk of a very generous trade-in policy (like: free) for users who have experienced signal issues with their first-gen M8s.
Since 3G was essentially useless in China up until this summer, Meizu is still only a tiny bit behind the curve there. The clock is ticking, though.
More important right now is ironing out their firmware issues and finally releasing v1.0...they're way, way behind the curve on that count.
Oh, and for the comment somewhere above for being a "fail" in China for not having dual SIM slots: It's only a fail if you're a fan of shanzhai crapware. I've never met anyone in China with a dual-SIM phone; they're around, of course (including a few from major manufacturers) but hardly a must-have. Everyone I know (or have seen on planes, trains, and automobiles) just uses two phones if they so require.
Kinda surprised Meizu didn't include WAPI in WIFI's security protocol, that'll clear its way of allowing WIFI on production phones. Nevertheless it's good that they are continuing to improve the M8. Once the 3G version come out it will be a true competitor in the Chinese market, provided the price stays in the same range.
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