This is a discussion on A small M8 education for those losing faith. within the miniOne M8 forums, part of the Meizu Product Discussions category; It seems to me that a few people are complaining about the delays of the M8 and losing faith when ...
It seems to me that a few people are complaining about the delays of the M8 and losing faith when not actually being fully aware of what the M8 is capable of and how it compares to other phones on the market. So here is a few facts to make those who don't know really understand what we are dealing with and why IMO it is definitely worth waiting for. All these facts/figures and specualative comments relate to mobile phones and pda's which are widely available in europe or the US.
1. The M8's processor will be the samsung ARM S3C6410 processor. This processor is so new it has has not gone into mass production yet. It is highly likely that the 2nd generation iphone will use this processor as the 1st gen iphone uses the samsung ARM S3C6400 (the S3C6410 is the new updated version). Maybe this fact may go some way to making people understand part of the reason the M8 has not been released yet.
2. This processor runs at 667Mhz and has advanced video decoding capabilities. It will be without a doubt one of (if not the most) powerful mobile phone processors of any phone widely available in the US or Europe. ( I am not including HTC's 'Advantage' and 'Shift' models as they are not phones but UMPC's). This Chip is 3G capable.
3. Total number of phones widely available in the US and Europe which have.... ( again htc 'shift' and 'advantage' are not includued):
A 3.4 inch 720x480 res multitouch display >>>> 0
A screen size over 3.3 inches >>>>> Apple iphone, very few more (if any)
Multitouch >>>>>> 1 (Apple Iphone)
A 720 x480 or above resolution >>>> 0 (I am aware of) (sony ericsson xperia will have 800x480 but is not avilable yet)
Total number of phones with tv out >>> Nokia N95 and a few more (but still very few)
Total number of phones with usb otg/host >>>> 0 (I am aware of)
Total number of phones with 16gb of nand flash on board >>> 2 I am aware of (apple iphone, Nokia N96)
Total number of phones that can decode full res mpeg 4 at dvd quality (720 x 480) >>> 0
Total number of phones supporting opensource audio and video codecs (out of the box) >>> 0
Total number of phones using a customised Win CE 6.0 interface (not windows mobile) >>> 0
Total number of phones with line out >>> 0 (I am aware of)
As you can see from these statistics the M8 has a number of features many phones simply don't have. It will also be cheaper than most phones in it's category with similar specs. All these reasons lead me to believe the M8 will still be a good option when it is released, unless some groundbreaking device hits the market in the next 4 monthes to trump it (seems highly unlikely).
1. The M8's processor will be the samsung ARM S3C6410 processor. This processor is so new it has has not gone into mass production yet. It is highly likely that the 2nd generation iphone will use this processor as the 1st gen iphone uses the samsung ARM S3C6400 (the S3C6410 is the new updated version). Maybe this fact may go some way to making people understand part of the reason the M8 has not been released yet.
Yes, and on a less positive side it also show that Meizu was over-confident when first anouncing the M8, when they though they can achieve the same feature list you mention here with the 6400 processor...I hope they are not over-confident when anouncing the new release date of the M8, but personally before a video of a functioning sample (not prototype) and testing of this in the chinese bbs, I would not trust any release date anymore...
2. This processor runs at 667Mhz and has advanced video decoding capabilities. It will be without a doubt one of (if not the most) powerful mobile phone processors of any phone widely available in the US or Europe. ( I am not including HTC's 'Advantage' and 'Shift' models as they are not phones but UMPC's). This Chip is 3G capable.
agreed, promising processor, as is the NVidia one. I hope its power consumption is low, did they go to a finer process than the 6400?
imho 3G capable is not interesting though: it is a feature that will not be present on m8 (except some new major delay, but then it will smell more and more vaporware...), and it is not like you will be able to upgrade your phone with a "3G antenna" afterward, isn't it? So processor features which are not implemented in a phone because some supporting hardware/chips is not present should not be mentioned: there is no chance a firmware or OS upgrade activate it later on...
A 3.4 inch 720x480 res multitouch display >>>> 0
640*480 phones are availble, though (but not common), and it is imho comparable. Current processors are a little bit weak to drive those display, but for static tasks like reading ebook they are great....They are fine for dynamic tasks which do not demand high framerate too, like GPS software....
A screen size over 3.3 inches >>>>> Apple iphone, very few more (if any)
HTC produced quite a few models with this display size...
The touch and ETen models are a little bit smaller, but this give you a smaller phone too, which is nice. IMHO iPhone is already on the largish side, meizu should be good for me but a smaller screen would not necessarily be bad (if the device is also overall smaller, imho a screen that cover almost all the front side of the phone is the best design, I do not like thumb keyboards)
Multitouch >>>>>> 1 (Apple Iphone)
a small feature imho, one I would exchange for earlier availability in a heartbeat.
in fact I think gesture-based input (with single touch) is more promising...
Total number of phones with tv out >>> Nokia N95 and a few more (but still very few)
interresting feature: I would like to be able to output movies on hotel rooms TV while on the move :-)
Total number of phones with usb otg/host >>>> 0 (I am aware of)
This one is very interresting, if implemented correctly. Especially if it is full speed usb2 OTG (it seems to be, reading the speclist of the 6410), this would basically add a high-speed bidirectional standard port to the phone, something that is sorely lacking on devices without SDHC slots. Great for USB key, cheap additional storage! :-)
Total number of phones with 16gb of nand flash on board >>> 2 I am aware of (apple iphone, Nokia N96)
but some come with SD or SDHC card slot. Have you checked the SDcard prices and capacity lately?
As you can see from these statistics the M8 has a number of features many phones simply don't have. It will also be cheaper than most phones in it's category with similar specs. All these reasons lead me to believe the M8 will still be a good option when it is released, unless some groundbreaking device hits the market in the next 4 monthes to trump it (seems highly unlikely).
I agree with you, I am not bashing the m8 at all cause I still plan to buy one if nothing with a better quality/price ratio and a HVGA or better screen comes out before (I do not want QVGA screen anymore, I have been spoiled by a VGA PDA, now there is no turning back...)
The big problem is that the release date keeps shifting all the time, which make me doubt that it will be shipped at all....or that it deliver the promised feature list if it is, or that it is supported correctly (with firmware update...or opened to get android on it).
Now I agree with you, it is unlikely that in the next 4 month, a comparable device comes out....except the iPhone 2, but it suffer from Apple "total control" philosophy that personally I do not like at all (basically, I prefer to tinker than pay).
I would even go further: I feel that if the m8 is released this year, it will still hold its ground against the competition (that do not progress as fast as everybody tell: look at the hard specs: screen resolution and processor power have been quite stagnant, many new shiny shells but few real changes in the touchscreen devices department....except for the fast increase of onboard flash...Well, given the current price of flash memory, this seems quite normal ).
However, with the multiple delays and silence of Meizu CEO lately (after all the noise around CEBIT), i am not so confident about having a released m8 in 2008 anymore...
If Meizu further delay and is so late than m8 is not special technically anymore (which should happen after the release of 6410, nvidia or similar processors, and WM7 or android), I think it may not be released at all and meizu will probably dissapear outside China...
Basically, it is no big deal for me, it means I will get something else...but unfortunately later and probably at a higher price than I though when the m8 was anounced...
1. The M8's processor will be the samsung ARM S3C6410 processor.
...
Maybe this fact may go some way to making people understand part of the reason the M8 has not been released yet.
Well you know that's not entirely true. When the specs were released last year april the cpu was already clearly specified. It was that cpu which proved to be "not good enough", which made them pick this Samsung one. What you say is correct, it just only explains the 2nd half of the total delay.
2.
...
This Chip is 3G capable.
Which is unfortunatly not the same as having 3G. For the people who are not completely up to date, the first eversion of m8 will be 3G-less with a 3G-version planned for end-2008. Whn comparing the first m8 to other phones one has to keep this in mind, almost all phones have 3G nowadays.
(again htc 'shift' and 'advantage' are not includued)
Haha, I know what you're trying to point out as both of them are as bulky as hell. I am however under the impression that you can make a call on them, which makes them both phone and umpc.
Total number of phones with 16gb of nand flash on board >>> 2 I am aware of (apple iphone, Nokia N96)
Well phones running on a MicroSD SDHC can beat this 16Gb, Sandisk has an 8 gig now and is releasing a 16 gig card in the summerperiod.
Total number of phones using a customised Win CE 6.0 interface (not windows mobile) >>> 0
You are making it sound like a phone without a cust WinCE is not as good as the m8 with it. So it's not really a statistical feature.
I think we should judge now whether August is a plausible releasedate with begin july as alpha-testing period. And how long it takes for a 3G followup, bacause the m8 now simply doesn't have that feature. If it would really just take them 4 extra months (aug-dec) for the improved 3G version, I wouldn't know who would want to buy the initial one. I mean, if you've already waited 18 months than 4 extra months isn't going to hurt you. First batches tend to have the most bugs anyway.
Well you know that's not entirely true. When the specs were released last year april the cpu was already clearly specified. It was that cpu which proved to be "not good enough", which made them pick this Samsung one. What you say is correct, it just only explains the 2nd half of the total delay.
This is a good point, however it just shows how inexperienced Meizu are. Meizu are no samsung or apple. For them to produce this type of device msut be unbelievably difficult and should be reflected in the time it actually takes them to make. Their R & D budgets must be so small compared to apple.
It is true many phones have 3G nowadays but I thik the lack of 3G is reflected in the M8's lower price point. I personally don't need 3G yet as I do not have enough money to invest in a data plan right now. It will be something that Meizu really need to implement as soon as the can though after the inital non-3G M8 release, if they stand any chance of selling outside China.
Originally Posted by DusL
Haha, I know what you're trying to point out as both of them are as bulky as hell. I am however under the impression that you can make a call on them, which makes them both phone and umpc.
It is true they are phones too but the shift would be classified as a umpc first as it runs vista. The Advantage is in strict terms a phone but it is soo bulky and so expensive no one in their right mind would class it in the same category as the M8. The Advantage in effect needs a category of it's own.
Originally Posted by DusL
Well phones running on a MicroSD SDHC can beat this 16Gb, Sandisk has an 8 gig now and is releasing a 16 gig card in the summerperiod.
I do definitely prefer sd cards to flash memory soldered to the main board. However the 16gb cards will probably only have been out for a couple of monthes if the M8 comes on time. Also micro sdhc is still quite expensive (especially here in the UK) compared to traditional sdhc and a 16gb card will be a large expense on top of buying a phone itself.
Originally Posted by DusL
You are making it sound like a phone without a cust WinCE is not as good as the m8 with it. So it's not really a statistical feature.
I agree that that haveing a cust WinCe interface is not a feature or necessarily a bonus even. It was more just to illustrate the fact no manufacturer is doing what meizu is attempting. Making a winmo 6 based unit is infinitely easier than customising a whole touch based interface using only a Wince 6.0 foundation.
I think gkai also makes a very good point too >>>
gkai quote: I would even go further: I feel that if the m8 is released this year, it will still hold its ground against the competition (that do not progress as fast as everybody tell: look at the hard specs: screen resolution and processor power have been quite stagnant, many new shiny shells but few real changes in the touchscreen devices department....except for the fast increase of onboard flash...Well, given the current price of flash memory, this seems quite normal ).
After looking into the market more I too think the M8 will still be able to hold it's ground if released around August. As gkai says screen res and processor power have remained pretty stagnant for a long time. It is only recently that a new wave of powerful media capable devices have started to appear.
Well - although I respect that you show some good points, you will have to face the fact, that in four month a phone without 3G, gps, 32 GB, and front camera will have no selling point. There will be (more expencsive) phones of established brands offering more. So no arguments in price will be accepted. A small chinese company offers a well priced phone without anything special. Thats it.
You will say: "Hey look the price". I will respond: "Well, that is due to the missing GPS, TV-features, missing expansion slot, and the small capacity".
I cannot understand why everybody is so fond of the screen? What is the bigger idea? I cannot see me copying a full DVD (4.2 GB) on it only to fill the screen! I have a iPod Touch 32 GB and I hardly can get 4 - 5 (shrunken to 500 MB) movies on it! Movies soon will be on Blueray, so I will have to shrink them - but due to the small storage (16 GB are not much!), I will shrink them to the ipod size (500 GB) - so the screen of an iPod Touch is fine! Even more: on each Blueray there will be a iPhone shrunken version, and if you buy a movie online, you can buy them formated for the Ipod size.
I my point of you, MEIZU did a big mistake to stay on the screen as it might be the main reason, why they have to shift the release date to a time, noone is interested in the phone anymore.
Well - although I respect that you show some good points, you will have to face the fact, that in four month a phone without 3G, gps, 32 GB, and front camera will have no selling point. There will be (more expencsive) phones of established brands offering more.
Maybe...and if it is the case and the price is not too high, I will buy it...I am not as optimistic as you, though. In 4 month, I expect an Iphone 2.0, updating the current iphone only by including 3G and front camera*.....and that's all, no other competition. Imho, the bulk of the competition will come in 2009, not earlier...
It will take at least this amount of time before the new generation of processors trickle down to the small manufaturers (chinese clones), and the big brands will not yet release an open device, they are too happy for now to sell expensive locked-up gadgets via carrier contracts. I expect HTC, Acer/Eten and the likes to be the first to release real competiton for the iPhone, as sexier PDA phones for broadening the current business-oriented market. And I expect things to really heat up once android is available, and microsoft try to react.
I cannot understand why everybody is so fond of the screen? What is the bigger idea? I cannot see me copying a full DVD (4.2 GB) on it only to fill the screen! I have a iPod Touch 32 GB and I hardly can get 4 - 5 (shrunken to 500 MB) movies on it! Movies soon will be on Blueray, so I will have to shrink them - but due to the small storage (16 GB are not much!), I will shrink them to the ipod size (500 GB) - so the screen of an iPod Touch is fine! Even more: on each Blueray there will be a iPhone shrunken version, and if you buy a movie online, you can buy them formated for the Ipod size.
I my point of you, MEIZU did a big mistake to stay on the screen as it might be the main reason, why they have to shift the release date to a time, noone is interested in the phone anymore.
You are perfectly right...if you consider using your screen mainly for watching movies.
It is not my main usage, just a nice to have (I do not like to watch movie on such small screens anyway, so it would be restricted to the travels when onboard entertainement system is not up to the task (which is a very rare occurence in modern planes, so only for trains or buses I guess), or on the move to check my own camcoder footages).
For ebook reading, or GPS maps, or web browsing; basically anything that involves reading or looking at static content, a high-DPI screen is a huge advantage, if you have reasonably good eyes. It makes reading much more relaxing, and allows to fit a lot on small screens, being a map or a webpage...
I use my PDA for ebooks, offline wikipedia, dictionaries and GPS navigation. I come from a QVGA (ipaq), saw HVGA screens (palm, iPhone) and now have a VGA (acer).
Given this experience, there is NO WAY I go back to QVGA. HVGA maybe if the device is otherwise outstanding...But a VGA+ screen is almost a must have...
* Maybe, also, an internal GPS, but this would come as quite surprising for me. It would be a good surprise though, maybe I would buy an iPhone 2.0 then, depending on the state of developper community and the GPS application included...But I expect 32 GB to stay the maximum included memory for a looong time, well into 2009...
Well - although I respect that you show some good points, you will have to face the fact, that in four month a phone without 3G, gps, 32 GB, and front camera will have no selling point. There will be (more expencsive) phones of established brands offering more. So no arguments in price will be accepted. A small chinese company offers a well priced phone without anything special. Thats it.
You will say: "Hey look the price". I will respond: "Well, that is due to the missing GPS, TV-features, missing expansion slot, and the small capacity".
I cannot understand why everybody is so fond of the screen? What is the bigger idea? I cannot see me copying a full DVD (4.2 GB) on it only to fill the screen! I have a iPod Touch 32 GB and I hardly can get 4 - 5 (shrunken to 500 MB) movies on it! Movies soon will be on Blueray, so I will have to shrink them - but due to the small storage (16 GB are not much!), I will shrink them to the ipod size (500 GB) - so the screen of an iPod Touch is fine! Even more: on each Blueray there will be a iPhone shrunken version, and if you buy a movie online, you can buy them formated for the Ipod size.
I my point of you, MEIZU did a big mistake to stay on the screen as it might be the main reason, why they have to shift the release date to a time, noone is interested in the phone anymore.
well....In 4 monthes 3G, GPS and 32gb certainly will not be standard on all phones at all. I predict that not that many will actually have 32gb flash as mico sd cards and sony m2 micro cards currently are only available up to 8gb and this is the memory most phones use. By summer there will be 16gb cards but there probably won't even be a 32gb micro sd or sony m2 micro card available. The majority of manufcturers are not including on board flash.
Only high end handsets are likely to have all these options anyway and will be very expensive offline. Why should the M8 have all these options anyway? Most of Nokia's (the biggest phone manafacturer in the world) sales come from basic low end handsets, why does the M8 have to be in the very top category? It will still be a strong media focussed phone even if it does not have all the features available on high end handsets. No one seems to acknowledge the fact that this phone is mainly aimed at those intrested in playing back media, how do you think meizu got it's name? why does it have all this codec support, tv-out blah blah blah....because it is a media orientated device.
As gkai mentioned having a high res 720x480 screen makes a huge difference. It means you can view webpages fuller and it will be much much sharper than a vga screen so pictures & video will be much easier on the eye. It will especially make a huge difference for video as the screen will be quite small so the more crisp and sharp it is the more detail it retains and the better the viwing experience. Also, combined with a powerful processor popular internet movies and series formats like XVID and RMVB will be able to be played without converting, simply drag and drop. If you have a 32 gb ipod touch you can fit 16 500mb movies on it. A 16gb m8 will fit 8. But lets not forget the M8 has USB HOST and OTG meaning you can carry more if you have a memory stick (32gb sticks are now under £100 here in the uk), so whether the phone has 32gb or not is not really a problem.
well: time will tell, if I am correct with my expectation.
But: as far as the rumors are correct: the iPhone 2 will have the same Processor the M8 will have, and for sure aGPS. But you are right: we will see.
In four month (and if the promotions on Cebit + CES will hold) there will be more competitors (LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, etc.) with front camara, aGPS, 3G, and expansion slot! 5 mega pixel are up to date, 3.2 Mp are standard (all with at least LED flashes) for new phones, etc. Even if the big brands will delay by two month: They will be on market before the m8 with a comparable feature list!
And even more: I will not spend 220 € for the small m8 - I would spend it for the big one - so I will have to wait until december!!! Thats a delay of 2.5 years. And only idiots buy a phone in december (X-mas and Barcelona fair in February - ever noticed the price drop after this fair?).
I agree on: 32GB internal storage will be enough for long - but only as ALL the other (exept apple) offer expansion slots - we speak about the 300 + € price segment (thats more than 450 $)! Got it?
IMHO: we all have waited for the the m8 roughly 2 years then. There will be no argument left in december to buy it simply by technique or price (if not lower than 250 €). In december no one will take a note on a chinese company offering a "clone" of an out-dated iPhone. Not when androids has started!
P.S.: my iPod Touch 32 GB is a perfect PDF reader - the screen is very good - thats the reason why I blame Meizu so much for wasting the efford for the high resolution! The ebook thing is no argument - really not. I have very good eyes and nither I nor my friends can see one single pixels on the iPhone/iPod Touch sceen.
Bringing now the argument: on 720x480 screens you see webpages fuller is nonsence as the screen is too small! Try it on the iPhone - it is not unsharp, the fonts are just too small! 720x480 pixels on 3.3"- be serious. Compare it with your monitor. Most pages are optimized to 1024x786 on 19". Simply guess what that means for a 2.5 mm letter.
Last edited by midsommer; 04-27-2008 at 09:29 PM..
You can't even get a 16GB micro SD card for a decent price. Most phones with expandable memory have a micro-SD slot, although there are a FEW with regular SD. Can you tell me which phone has a resolution of 640x480, so I may compare it? The iPhone has a resolution of 480x320. The Meizu will have a resolution of 720x480. That's a pretty big difference. Why do you think that Apple would update the CPU to be the same as the M8 in the iPhone 2? What I am curious about is the other competitors that will be coming out. Will they be as cheap or cheaper than the M8? Will they have a nice screen, and a nice CPU? Will they be unlocked?
Last edited by SteveMB93; 04-28-2008 at 03:10 AM..
P.S.: my iPod Touch 32 GB is a perfect PDF reader - the screen is very good - thats the reason why I blame Meizu so much for wasting the efford for the high resolution! The ebook thing is no argument - really not. I have very good eyes and nither I nor my friends can see one single pixels on the iPhone/iPod Touch sceen.
Bringing now the argument: on 720x480 screens you see webpages fuller is nonsence as the screen is too small! Try it on the iPhone - it is not unsharp, the fonts are just too small! 720x480 pixels on 3.3"- be serious. Compare it with your monitor. Most pages are optimized to 1024x786 on 19". Simply guess what that means for a 2.5 mm letter.
Maybe you have a perfect far vision, and you never look at your screen from closer than 50 cm...
Im a slightly myopic (so not perfect vision from far away, but very crisp below 2 meters.)
At 30 cm, I can barely see individual pixel on my current PDA...which have a VGA 3.5 inches screen! At 20 cm, I can definitely see them, and 20 cm is a comfortable viewing distance for me.
So the DPI of the m8 will not be lost, I can assure you. As I told, I have used daily QVGA and VGA 3.5'' screens, so here I feel perfectly able to give a fully backed-up opinion, not some vague preference...
QVGA is simply not enough for my kind of usage, I need higher resolution.
I have seen HWVGA 3-3.5'' screens too (480x320, the iPhone resolution), on iphone and multiple Palm devices (Tungsten T5, livedrive,...). They are just OK for me, not great but OK. More than adequate for movie, not crisp enough for text of static images at my closest comfortable viewing distance.
As I said, I am slightly myopic, so I may be more sensistive to "not-high-enough DPI" than average...However, there is no way than young people, which are not yet suffering from presbitism (is it the correct english word? I mean that can not focus on very near objects, an almost universal condition when you get older (the typical glasses for reading newspaper, or old people looking at their newspaper with arm straight....), make no difference between a HVGA and VGA screen if it is 3-3.5 inches.
BTW,1024x786 on 19'' is a very crude monitor imho. I had a colleague using a Dell replacement desktop notebook with 17'' 1920X1200 screen. It was very fine, but usable. In fact, they even do 15 '' 1920x1200 screen*, which maybe over the top but that shows there is demand for high DPI.
In fact, now that I think of it, high DPI screens are often found in business line for laptops, while consumer often go with lower res glossy screens that look good when watching DVD movies but suck when you edit documents or code...
* to spare you with computation, the 15'' 1920x1200 screen has about the same DPI as an iPhone screen....but for smaller screens, i look closer, so a higher DPI has sense...
I do not think m8 resolution has big advantage compared to VGA...but they choose a WVGA form factor, which is more adapted to new HD shootings, which are widescreen.
You can't even get a 16GB micro SD card for a decent price. Most phones with expandable memory have a micro-SD slot, although there are a FEW with regular SD. Can you tell me which phone has a resolution of 640x480, so I may compare it? The iPhone has a resolution of 480x320. The Meizu will have a resolution of 720x480. That's a pretty big difference. Why do you think that Apple would update the CPU to be the same as the M8 in the iPhone 2? What I am curious about is the other competitors that will be coming out. Will they be as cheap or cheaper than the M8? Will they have a nice screen, and a nice CPU? Will they be unlocked?
We speak about the release date in December - not now! There you definitelly find a 32GB microSDHC! And: I use my phone longer then 1 year. It would be idiotic not to include the capability to use such cards.
And iPhone 2 is said to use the same processor - but these are still rumors. But why should they not use a mass product?
Finally: the price of 450 $ for the small m8 is too high! The iPhone will again drop in price after July - belive me (iPhone 2!). Of course: worse screen, but the iPhone screen is fantastic (if the same as the iPod Touch one)! I would not pay more money for the 720x480 resolution. If you would, do it. I can only speak for me. And btw: the SE Xeperia 1 will most likely be out September with 800 x 480. for a price tag of about 900$ In December mostlikely it will be at 700 $. But even then it offer more then the _big_ m8 (aGPs, full office suit, expansion slot, etc.), which price is still unknown and most likely be around 550 - 600 $ (100 to 150 $ more then the small one).
P.S.: in December (end of 2008) the _big_ version of the m8 (front cam, 16 GB) will come - the pricing will be? Well - most likely 550 - 650 $. In such a catagory you will find tons of better phones! Just see the CES anouncements!
Do not speak about FREE phones, jailbreak or debrand them. You can not speak about warranty for the m8 - as long as you do not come from china.
BTW,1024x786 on 19'' is a very crude monitor imho. I had a colleague using a Dell replacement desktop notebook with 17'' 1920X1200 screen. It was very fine, but usable. In fact, they even do 15 '' 1920x1200 screen*, which maybe over the top but that shows there is demand for high DPI.
In fact, now that I think of it, high DPI screens are often found in business line for laptops, while consumer often go with lower res glossy screens that look good when watching DVD movies but suck when you edit documents or code...
* to spare you with computation, the 15'' 1920x1200 screen has about the same DPI as an iPhone screen....but for smaller screens, i look closer, so a higher DPI has sense...
I do not think m8 resolution has big advantage compared to VGA...but they choose a WVGA form factor, which is more adapted to new HD shootings, which are widescreen.
I respect your point, and as you said: the iPhone screen is OK. I am fully happy with it, and am not willing to spend 100 $ only for a higher resolution - that is of course only my oppinion.
my computations: I was speaking about what webpages are optimized for. This is now: 1024 width on a 19" screen. For such a resolution most people design their webpages. Of course it will look nicer on higher resolutions. But face the fact: meizu (maybe) have been out since the start of this year (as the resolution seems to be the problem). And most people would have been happy! (Ever noticed, that most people do not even notice the dead pixels on their iPhone as they are so small?).
P.S.: most movies are downloadable now for the iPhone resolution - so the m8 will have to scale it! This will drain the battery. And: the m8 8GB would only be able to keep one DVD (4.2GB) movie - I will definitelly use the shrunken iPhone optimized one (500 GB). btw: that speaks against your wide screen HD argument, too. You will not be able to use it, as you run out of storage. or you are willing to overwrite your unremovable storage many times - so the storage will be out of order soon (the only reason why flashes are said to hold longer now, is mostlikly due to the OS file system avoing rewriting cicles as much as possible. But if you have always to use allways the full space, the flash will be gone within 1000 write cycles (ok - that will be 2 years, but not guaranty).
Last edited by midsommer; 04-28-2008 at 08:24 AM..
P.S.: most movies are downloadable now for the iPhone resolution - so the m8 will have to scale it! This will drain the battery. And: the m8 8GB would only be able to keep one DVD (4.2GB) movie - I will definitelly use the shrunken iPhone optimized one (500 GB). btw: that speaks against your wide screen HD argument, too. You will not be able to use it, as you run out of storage. or you are willing to overwrite your unremovable storage many times - so the storage will be out of order soon (the only reason why flashes are said to hold longer now, is mostlikly due to the OS file system avoing rewriting cicles as much as possible. But if you have always to use allways the full space, the flash will be gone within 1000 write cycles (ok - that will be 2 years, but not guaranty).
We agree, VGA+ screen is not a wisest choice for a flash-based media player with a small screen (in fact the norm is now WQVGA, so the iPhone WHVGA seems very good for this purpose).
For PDA-like tasks, though, it is very nice.
I though about another fact, which can explain why meizu opted for such a high resolution: their main target is the chinese market, and for chinese characters, I guess high-res screen are an even bigger selling point than for roman ones. For exemple, in japan, people have high-res clamshell phones since a very long time...It may be related to the comfort they bring while writing sms and browsing the web almost exclusively in kanji. If your intentended market consist in people using lot of non-roman fonts and more sensititve to calligraphy than western peoples, I guess the screen resolution is a much bigger selling point ;-)
BTW your point on flash cycle is good, but if I buy a m8, I do not intent to use the onbord flash for storing movies, I would use flash usb keys for that. Onboard mem would be for applications, ebooks, GPS maps, offline wikipedia, and such...
USB key memory is really cheap, and almost disposable, so if M8 have USB2 OTG and can read USB keys at good speed, it would be perfect...
We agree, VGA+ screen is not a wisest choice for a flash-based media player with a small screen (in fact the norm is now WQVGA, so the iPhone WHVGA seems very good for this purpose).
For PDA-like tasks, though, it is very nice.
I though about another fact, which can explain why meizu opted for such a high resolution: their main target is the chinese market, and for chinese characters, I guess high-res screen are an even bigger selling point than for roman ones. For exemple, in japan, people have high-res clamshell phones since a very long time...It may be related to the comfort they bring while writing sms and browsing the web almost exclusively in kanji. If your intentended market consist in people using lot of non-roman fonts and more sensititve to calligraphy than western peoples, I guess the screen resolution is a much bigger selling point ;-)
BTW your point on flash cycle is good, but if I buy a m8, I do not intent to use the onbord flash for storing movies, I would use flash usb keys for that. Onboard mem would be for applications, ebooks, GPS maps, offline wikipedia, and such...
USB key memory is really cheap, and almost disposable, so if M8 have USB2 OTG and can read USB keys at good speed, it would be perfect...
Two very good points! Thanks for that.
The chinese characters might indeed be a reason for the high res. screen - I tend to forget the market meizu aims at... But this does not help me at all.
The USB-stuff seems a good point! I even could use the PS3 for encoding. But: as far as I know, the m8 will only have a mini usb connector. I am not willing to carry an adaptor cable with me only for the USB-flash... if they use a USB2-OTG - why not implementing the standard _big_ in/output?
Last edited by midsommer; 04-28-2008 at 01:02 PM..
you could use 700mb hd rips that look great, if you like watching movies. the adaptor doesn't need to be the cable, heres also litle plastic thingies to put on usb drives to convert to mini usb. i personaly don't intend to use m8 for movies, i have a psp with 4.5" screen and i like watching good ol' divx on it, it's about 400-500 mb per movie and it looks great.
P.S.: most movies are downloadable now for the iPhone resolution - so the m8 will have to scale it! This will drain the battery. And: the m8 8GB would only be able to keep one DVD (4.2GB) movie - I will definitelly use the shrunken iPhone optimized one (500 GB). btw: that speaks against your wide screen HD argument, too. You will not be able to use it, as you run out of storage. or you are willing to overwrite your unremovable storage many times - so the storage will be out of order soon (the only reason why flashes are said to hold longer now, is mostlikly due to the OS file system avoing rewriting cicles
