Don't even bother wading through the Polish translations -- Leica has finally got its act together and pushed out English releases to explain its latest trio of cameras to the world. First up is the C-LUX 3, a pocket-friendly shooter that packs a 10-megapixel sensor, 25 to 125-millimeter 5x optical zoom lens, all-metal chassis, optical image stabilization, face detection and a 2.5-inch LCD monitor. Movin' on up, we've got the 10.1-megapixel D-LUX 4, which adds in the ability to extend its zoom range of 24 to 60-millimeters via lens adapters, and a choice of either an additional flash or a 24-millimeter optical viewfinder. Last up is the highly anticipated €4,400 ($6,236) M8.2, which keeps the 10.3-megapixel sensor but adds in a metal blade focal plane shutter, scratch-resistant sapphire crystal coverglass for the LCD, a new "snapshot mode," redesigned bright frame lines in viewfinder and a Quick Override setting. Pricing for the earlier two is still undisclosed, though they should be available in shops this October / November, respectively.

Read - C-LUX 3
Read - D-LUX 4
Read - M8.2

We'll be straight with you -- we're still struggling to wade through Google's machine translation of a few Polish releases, but the long of short of it is that Leica has finally announced the long-expected M8.2, D-LUX 4 and C-LUX 3. All the good stuff (pricing, ship dates, availability regions, etc.) seems to be missing, but the Leica faithful won't mind paying a translator to figure out what the links below really mean.

Read - D-LUX 4 and C-LUX 3
Read - M8.2

[Thanks, Peer]

After what feels like centuries of waiting (and suffering through that painful CeBIT demo), we finally get to see the Meizu M8's OS in action... and it's not as bad as you think. Sure, the interface is totally derivative of the iPhone, and there is that pesky cursor floating around, but all-in-all it looks like the company has managed to knock out a decent -- if incredibly familiar -- UI for its long-delayed phone. Still, there's some low rent hilarity in this video. Our favorites? The smattering of soft porn pictures and video, and Meizu CEO and all-around bon vivant Jack Wong revealed in a reflection... wearing a face mask! Check the clip after the break (and freeze frame of Mr. Wong).

Update: Despite our excitement about Jack Wong in a face mask, some readers have pointed out (and we agree) that it's actually the camera he's using to film the video.

[Thanks, Patrick P.]

The saga of the Meizu M8 is one of the more entertaining dramas in the phone biz these days, owing partly to the endless delays and tweaks, granted -- but owing much more to the truly masterful ripping of the iPhone's industrial design. Unfortunately, there's been very little actual bite to follow up the bark coming out of the Meizu camp, and it looks like we might get a real taste of this thing for the first time as soon as next month. A post on Meizu's website, seemingly from none other than CEO J. Wong himself, claims that a first cut of the M8 will arrive next month -- along with plenty more pictures and details -- but it'll be a somewhat neutered rendition that features just 128MB of RAM and zero flash. October will bring the real deal, a 256MB baddie that rocks 8GB of storage for 2180 yuan, which works out to about $320. Meanwhile, pictures have surfaced of the latest prototype floating around Meizu's labs, looking both as slick and as litigation-prone as ever. Bring these stateside, Mr. Wong, and we'll be the very first to sign up -- just don't be surprised if Apple is right behind us.

[Via Electronista]

Read - August for 128MB model, October for 256MB / 8GB?
Read - Prototype M8 in the wild

Now, we know the official story on the CeBIT Meizu shutdown was related to MP3 codec licensing, and not the M8's iPhone-like UI. Still, it does seem strangely fortuitous that more pictures of the phone's interface have just appeared that seem to showcase a move away from Apple's familiar look. The Chinese site CNMO has new shots of the device's music player, which now appears to incorporate song info, EQ display, lyrics, and volume / tracking controls all on one screen. The pictures also show a couple of different music browsing options, both in landscape and portrait mode. Is this a signal that the company is putting some distance between the M8 and the iPhone? Only time will tell.

Update: Some commenters here and on the MeizuMe forums are claiming that these renderings are fake / fan art. So it might not be healthy to get too excited about the above screenshots.

[Via PMP Today]

While it appears that Meizu's infringement shutdown at CeBIT was for unlicensed MP3 usage, and not at all to do with the eerie resemblance to a certain iPhone, the company still seems eager to prove to the world it is brewing something unique with the M8 mini One. CEO Jack Wong posted a bunch of new shots to the Meizu forums with small interface tweaks that inch the OS a bit away from its iPhone roots -- but certainly not far.

[Thanks, Lino G.]

Well, it looks like that Meizu CeBIT shutdown wasn't for what you'd expect -- in a Meizu forum post, Jack Wong says that an Italian company called Sisvel complained about another Meizu PMP's unlicensed use of the MP3 codec, and that's what prompted the 5-0 to arrive. Interestingly, Jack also says that it's all a big misunderstanding, because Meizu products, including the M8, don't actually play MP3s, just WMA, and that local distributors have to cough up the licensing fees for MP3 playback. Apparently the booth is now open again, with the offending PMP removed -- the M8 remains on display, probably because it doesn't actually work yet.

Read - Jack Wong post at Meizu forums
Read - Heise article about the shutdown

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Remember how the folks at the Meizu booth swore up and down that the M8 Mini One wasn't that similar to the iPhone? Well apparently the Hanover police think otherwise. According to a report, the booth (shown above in its vacated state) was shut down by cops for piracy during CeBIT and passersby were told that, "The venue is closed until further notice." It appears that after stopping down the M8 show, cops proceeded to confiscate equipment and literature associated with the painfully obvious knock-off, and will be making a more detailed statement on Thursday in regards to the action. Meizu, it might be time to get yourself a makeover... and a good attorney.

Update: As you've probably already read, the Meizu booth was apparently shut down due to its use of an unlicensed MP3 codec. At the time we wrote this, all signs were pointing to the cause being the M8's alarmingly familiar UI, though that appears to have slipped through unscathed.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in; Image courtesy Heise Online]

Besides that very early prototype handset, Meizu also brought along a rough (and we mean rough) engineering board and display to show off the M8 mini One's UI and feature set. It was lacking Bluetooth, camera, or WiFi so we weren't able to see those features of the Opera browser which the mini One will one day happily tout. Still, we had high hopes of seeing just how talented Meizu's software engineers are at recreating the iPhone's lauded user experience. Well, from the demo we saw, they've come pretty close but they've got some serious house cleaning to do before the August launch. Rubber banding scroll bars, finger flick gestures, big inviting icons... it's all there. Unfortunately, the wheels fell off when set to motion. Meizu claims the issues seen during the demo are due to the display -- a stock, touchscreen and sensor with plastic screen (the final product will be glass) which was quickly cobbled together for the purposes of the CeBIT demonstration. Regardless, finger taps were more often than not greeted with cold, stilted silence. Be sure to check out the video to hear how Meizu's device is different than the iPhone. It's a bit long and sometimes painful, but if you hang in there long enough you'll see (and hear) Engadget get the first public phone call from a Meizu M8 mini One... prototype, thingy.

It's just three screens on a very early prototype, but for those of you who doubt Meizu's ability to bring the M8 to market, we give you -- the video. Sure, Meizu's just rendering three image files as opposed to any real processing. Nevertheless, there's plenty of catchy dialog to hold you over until these pups go live in China sometime around August. Who knew English as a second language could be so fun.

So we finally had the chance to lay palms to Meizu's M8 prototype. Better yet, we set it up side by side with it's muse, the Apple iPhone. Let's be clear, the prototype is not functional by any stretch of the imagination. It simply turns on and then slaps up one of three images representing the home screen, dialer, or media player depending upon which of the three physical buttons you press along the bottom of the main display. The capacitive touch panel does not work at all. While the physical components may or may not be in place, this is clearly a very early engineering sample. Having said that, Meizu claims that the hardware is complete and final -- they are only working on their Meizu OS tweaks to the Windows CE 6.0 base. However, the GUI and icon designs are pretty much locked in at this point with only minor changes expected before this hits China this August for a to be determined price. Unfortunately, Meizu is still working on their international deployment strategy (duh, they're looking to sign up distributors at CeBIT) so they are not willing to commit to any dates or prices. Gotta say, for all our justifiable M8 bashing, the mini One felt good in the hand and the additional hard buttons, 720 x 480 pixel display, 3 megapixel camera and likely el cheapo price tag have once again perked our interests. Still, it's a long way from it's original 3G HSDPA and kitchen-sink roots and a bit too late (GSM/EDGE in 6 months, Puh-leeze) at this point to be anything more than a novelty outside of China. Nevertheless, the development lifecycle has been fun to watch. Click through for the main features and specifications expected at launch. Video in a jiffy.

Update: Video now available, also of the UI.

So we hurried on over to the Meizu booth in sweaty-palmed anticipation of laying fleshy bits upon a working M8 MiniOne. It's gotta be here, right? After all, Meizu CEO Jack Wong promised it his damn self. Nope. Oh sure, they did bring that siliconless, plastic mockup already seen kicking around the Nets for awhile and they offered to show us a laptop-based demo of the UI if we come back tomorrow. Although even the demo is feature incomplete. Nevertheless, Meizu is confident that it will begin shipping the M8 in China in the next "half year" while remaining coy for a rest-of-world launch. Guess reverse engineering the iPhone isn't so easy, eh Jackson?