iPhone's price down to $399 for 8GB - what now, M8?

Hey, I just read this article, saying that iPhone's price will be cut to $399, which is now adding to the fact that iPhone software unlocking seems imminent. Meizu is going to have to get a low, low price on M8 to compete with this. I mean, true M8 is not a clone, M8 has more features, but Apple is Apple and people are going to go for their highly advertised iPhone rather than M8 if the differences are minimal and M8 is more expensive/just barely cheaper.
What do you think?

Well a price drop for the M8 certainly should be considered now by Meizu. Most people don't know the facts and they see the M8 as a cheap Chinese clone. So of course they'll go for the iPhone that is relatively in the same price range. However if Meizu reduces the cost of the M8 a lot, then most people will go for the M8 once they know about it I suppose. I certainly would like to see what Meizu does about this.

Well isn't the 16 gig M8 priced about the same as the 8 gig iphone anyway. That should be a big plus for Meizu. And the M8 seems to have a more flexible firmware! :D

Actually the upcoming Meizu M8 8GB model was raised to about $399. As stated here: Meizu M8 Approaching - 8GB Model To Be Released First

So to the average consumer the Apple iPhone is the better buy since it's a well known name brand.

Woah. That's pretty cheap. Do I have to pay the AT&T Monthly Plans? Or can I just unlock the iPhone and use something else, so the total price will be $400 for it?

Originally Posted by DimaMP4

Woah. That's pretty cheap. Do I have to pay the AT&T Monthly Plans? Or can I just unlock the iPhone and use something else, so the total price will be $400 for it?

It is VERY difficult/dangerous to unlock the iPhone if you don't know what you're doing. However if you do a lot of research than it's just very time consuming. Existing AT&T/Cingular customers kind of have it easier.

If you want an iPhone (the legit way) and already have some type of service with AT&T/Cingular it's only an extra $20.00 to get the data plan to add on to your current plan. It's actually pretty good since you get unlimited data transfers. So that might be the smarter thing to do. If you have a thirty dollar a month plan and get the add-on it's cheaper than the standard plan they have for the iPhone meant for new customers.

Now unlocking is experimental if you are not careful, but the hardware manipulating technique is confirmed to work. Software unlocking seems a reality now, but the software is still unreleased. After that, AT&T activation won't be needed at all, so no plan either.
If Meizu doesn't drop their 16GB to something near $300, I don't think I'll get M8 instead of iPhone, and I'm already a Meizu customer (M6), so just imagine people who don't know about the brand.

Originally Posted by Chomp

It is VERY difficult/dangerous to unlock the iPhone if you don't know what you're doing. However if you do a lot of research than it's just very time consuming. Existing AT&T/Cingular customers kind of have it easier.

If you want an iPhone (the legit way) and already have some type of service with AT&T/Cingular it's only an extra $20.00 to get the data plan to add on to your current plan. It's actually pretty good since you get unlimited data transfers. So that might be the smarter thing to do. If you have a thirty dollar a month plan and get the add-on it's cheaper than the standard plan they have for the iPhone meant for new customers.

As I live in Sweden, I can't use AT&T. And I hate contracts, I like to use prepaid sim cards. Oh well...

I'll say right now, and dont hate me, i'm NOT an apple fan boy, the only apple product i own was an ipod mini that i gave to my girlfriend. But when they killed the 4GB iphone model they were selling off their inventory of 4gb iPhones on the applestore.com for 299$ so i went ahead and got one, and i'll have to say it is quite nifty. What i've been trying to tell all the apple fanatics here (that are yelling iPHONE CLONE about the miniOne) is that its NOT the touchscreen or phone design that makes the iphone, its the software and the interface that makes it. Touchscreen phones have been around for a long damn time. I'll give apple this, the interface and software on the iPhone is pretty damn good. I have ONE MAJOR complaint about it thou, its a CINGULAR phone, cingular has always been sim card. Which i love the fact that I could swap out my sim card to mulitple phones based on where i was at the time (being deployed i'd break out the motorola military spec phone so it wouldnt get damaged, etc) the iPhone has no sim card slot, i had to spend an hour and a half programming all my damn contacts into it. But the iPhone is very nice, i'm still going to get me a miniOne as soon as they come out because i know jackshit about mac OSX operating system, i'm a windows guy and I want a native OS on my phone i can understand and use.

Originally Posted by eclipsed

I'll say right now, and dont hate me, i'm NOT an apple fan boy, the only apple product i own was an ipod mini that i gave to my girlfriend. But when they killed the 4GB iphone model they were selling off their inventory of 4gb iPhones on the applestore.com for 299$ so i went ahead and got one, and i'll have to say it is quite nifty. What i've been trying to tell all the apple fanatics here (that are yelling iPHONE CLONE about the miniOne) is that its NOT the touchscreen or phone design that makes the iphone, its the software and the interface that makes it. Touchscreen phones have been around for a long damn time. I'll give apple this, the interface and software on the iPhone is pretty damn good. I have ONE MAJOR complaint about it thou, its a CINGULAR phone, cingular has always been sim card. Which i love the fact that I could swap out my sim card to mulitple phones based on where i was at the time (being deployed i'd break out the motorola military spec phone so it wouldnt get damaged, etc) the iPhone has no sim card slot, i had to spend an hour and a half programming all my damn contacts into it. But the iPhone is very nice, i'm still going to get me a miniOne as soon as they come out because i know jackshit about mac OSX operating system, i'm a windows guy and I want a native OS on my phone i can understand and use.

lol you are really clueless.. iphone does have a slim card slot. you just have to use a paper clip and stab that little hole on the top. the sim card slot will pop up and you can remove the sim card. however, the sim card probably wont hold contact information like traditional phones. yes it might be difficult for you to update all your information manually with windows. but as a mac user, i can assure you its amazing for us, we already have our address book application, and bam, we just plug in the phone and everything sync so flawlessly. and FYI im using my iphone on prepaid at&t, no service plans. i might unlock it and go t-mobile.

also unlocking now is easy. its not exactly rocket science. anyone who can read can do it.

the reason now im really happy with my iphone (i only paid 375 (8gig) shippin/tax included for it) i got a refurb. the mini one may have "better features" but it can never sync with mac like the iphone does. thats why i've given up my m6 mini player.. its just too much hassle to drag drop and manually do it. (plus it keeps freezing up during long playlists)

meizu does an excellent job copying iphone (come on, lets not debate this, its obvioius their design are "inspired" by apple) but when it comes to the basics, the userbility its very very questionable. from my experience the m6's got better sound, good design but it cant and wont sync with my computer. the player is buggy and yes i've updated all firmware. the playlists are a pain in the ARSE. there is absolutely ZERO ways to manage the playlists on a mac. ZERO.

so yes, anyone interested in purchasing my m6? its like brand new..pratically. and oh jim tressel the football coach signed the back but that could be removed.

Originally Posted by coneyisland

...but as a mac user, i can assure you its amazing for us, we already have our address book application, and bam, we just plug in the phone and everything sync so flawlessly.

Well, there are obvious advantages to using products manufactured by the same company. Apple's OS X and iPhone play nice together. But the syncing feature that seems so effortless requires software on both devices to pull it off. If I'm a Windows user with an iPhone, things aren't so rosy. First, I need to download iTunes just to get my computer to recognize my device at all. And iTunes isn't the smallest application by far. Then, I'm REQUIRED to use it to transfer files to my iPod. I can't have one without the other. I'm basically forced to use iTunes as my music library manager (against my wishes). And how do I sync my contacts with Windows?

90% of the market still use Windows. So most people won't experience these syncing luxuries and, therefore, can't see this as an advantage to go with the iPhone.

There's nothing to prevent Meizu, or any other manufacturer, from including software that handles synchonization from your Mac address book, or from Microsoft Outlook, or from their own custom contact manager. And if they're truly mimicking the iPhone, I would expect this type of functionality in the new M8.

Originally Posted by bonddotcom

Well, there are obvious advantages to using products manufactured by the same company. Apple's OS X and iPhone play nice together. But the syncing feature that seems so effortless requires software on both devices to pull it off. If I'm a Windows user with an iPhone, things aren't so rosy. First, I need to download iTunes just to get my computer to recognize my device at all. And iTunes isn't the smallest application by far. Then, I'm REQUIRED to use it to transfer files to my iPod. I can't have one without the other. I'm basically forced to use iTunes as my music library manager (against my wishes). And how do I sync my contacts with Windows?

90% of the market still use Windows. So most people won't experience these syncing luxuries and, therefore, can't see this as an advantage to go with the iPhone.

There's nothing to prevent Meizu, or any other manufacturer, from including software that handles synchonization from your Mac address book, or from Microsoft Outlook, or from their own custom contact manager. And if they're truly mimicking the iPhone, I would expect this type of functionality in the new M8.

yes it is possible for meizu to come up with software that does sync but i seriously doubt it. from the interface with m6, so buggy and all, it seems like they dont have enough software developers, especially to care about the mac users.

ps. i was a windows fan-girl before i moved to mac..... thought macs were old, weird and just... horrible OS. but then came along macbook to break me out of my windows shell. i used itunes on windows, it is not as great as it is on mac, but there isnt a huge difference if you have enough ram. but the syncing of contacts/address book on windows is really a problem i guess.

I think most people who are willing to shell out the big bucks for Apple products do so in part so they can tell you how much they spent on them.

I would gather that the Meizu M8 MiniOne's target audiance are primarily PC users who want something cool like the Iphone without paying a premium price for an Apple product.

No matter how cool an Apple prodcut is, there is always a non-apple product that is more complatible with my PC and offers the same features for less money, usally much less.

Originally Posted by coneyisland

lol you are really clueless.. iphone does have a slim card slot. you just have to use a paper clip and stab that little hole on the top. the sim card slot will pop up and you can remove the sim card. however, the sim card probably wont hold contact information like

Gosh... it's required an authorization from the FBI????? :eek::eek::eek:

Most people, regardless of how good they are at hacking or computer in general, are not willing to go through the extensive process to unlock their iPhone. They would rather pay the exact same amount for what they consider to be better and not have to deal with the fear of having it bricked by an update or a voided warranty.

Originally Posted by VyrusNine

Most people, regardless of how good they are at hacking or computer in general, are not willing to go through the extensive process to unlock their iPhone. They would rather pay the exact same amount for what they consider to be better and not have to deal with the fear of having it bricked by an update or a voided warranty.

I agree with that 100%. The iPhone still does not have a removable battery.

Originally Posted by VyrusNine

Most people, regardless of how good they are at hacking or computer in general, are not willing to go through the extensive process to unlock their iPhone. They would rather pay the exact same amount for what they consider to be better and not have to deal with the fear of having it bricked by an update or a voided warranty.

Never mind what I said. I cant wait until next April for this phone. Unlocking an iPhone next week.

Originally Posted by VyrusNine

Never mind what I said. I cant wait until next April for this phone. Unlocking an iPhone next week.

Good luck with your unlocking. Now, I'd have to say that either choice is a good one, but I'm still going to wait until the M8 is out before I make my choice. Even then, I'll probably get neither and instead get a touch or m7(probably m7 based upon expected pricing).

One thing we have to keep in mind is that Apple is being compensated hundreds of dollars by AT&T for every iPhone sold. Without this compensation, I would imagine that Apple wouldn't make much, if any, money on their iPhones.

It's a bit hard for Meizu to compete on this level, since they don't have any such agreements with carriers and will bring you a fully unlocked phone out-of-the-box.

However, at the end of the day, the Meizu M8 Mini One would probably still cost less than the same GB equivalent iPhone.

I am currently using an iPhone but will definitely make the switch to the Mini One once it's officially available. Knowing Meizu, it's gonna be good.

Acording To This: Meizu M8 Mini One Now In Black
The M8 Will Cost A 265$ To The 4Gb, 320$ To The 8Gb, And A 400$ For The 16Gb Version.
With A 3.4'' Screen, And A Full Black Color