The Alternative M8 Products topic

DaremoS · 11-01-2008

Originally Posted by Grossmeister

What do you mean when say "average cell phone sound"? From many opinions in reviews and forums I see that, for example, Moto E8/EM30 are producing sound a way better then "any cell phone", so why M8 can't become new #1?

I said that sound quality is a very personal matter and lots of user find satisfactory the sound they receive, which in my opinion is very good for them, so they feel happy with their investment...

... but when a user have the habit to listen in good devices... portables or not... will notice easily the differences. I had a Nokia 3330 capable of play MP3 which sound satisfactory and I enjoy it... but when I use my Meizu M3 or my Cowon D2 playing the same MP3 the results are very different in what concern to sound quality.
The dedicated sound chips DAC (Digital Audio Codec) of this players are a real thing. It's like to listen music in Panasonic home player vs a Harman Kardon or Bang & Olufsen for those which are familiar with HiFi stuff. Lots of people are happy with their Panasonic machines.
If you are happy with your M8 or your Motorola it will be nice for you... but it won't for me. This doesn't mean that I'm a better person

... just a demanding audiophile.

Now if somebody bring me the devices you mention in a reasonable price you can be sure that I will enjoy them, as I did with that old Nokia 3330, buty I wont pay too much for them.
Edit. Concerning the reviews... I haven't found a review that said that a very known brand devices have bad sound... I think that they assume the big mass position... why spoil a know device with exquisite demands?

Grossmeister · 11-01-2008

Originally Posted by DaremoS

If you are happy with your M8 or your Motorola it will be nice for you... but it won't for me. This doesn't mean that I'm a better person ... just a demanding audiophile.

...

Edit. Concerning the reviews... I haven't found a review that said that a very known brand devices have bad sound... I think that they assume the big mass position... why spoil a know device with exquisite demands?

Yeah, I'll try to explain what I'm trying to say ...

I have some good headphones at home and a perfect soundcard+amplifier for them (Dr.Dac2), and I really care about SQ. Also, if you will look at portable headphones in my info, you'll see they are enough good (not some $5 headphones, bought at nearest market). And there is a difference between Dr.Dac2 and my player Apacer AU524, but this is not a difference that can make me throw AU524 from the window.

In portable use, this difference decreases. And you shouldn't compare Hi-Fi with portable solutions. It's like to say that your home PC is much more powerful than M8 - it's true, but it doesn't mean anything.
And the main point is that even my $50 (1 year ago) player produces nice sound, and the stuff inside it, which is responsible for SQ maybe cost $5, in Cowon it can be $20. So, why mobile phone can't have nice sound? It's enough big, it has good battery, it is enough expensive.

But, of course, in 1 thing you are definitely right - it is good if I could listen M8 (or any other phone) before buying to measure it's SQ.

JkPwNsTeR · 11-01-2008

It really depends, everyone has their own likes and dislikes, remember,

"One man's junk is another man's treasure"

-Anonymous

gkai · 11-03-2008

It seems that Samsung corrected THE problem on their Omnia phone: screen resolution :-)

Posts tagged Omnia at Engadget Mobile

With up to 16 Gb of internal flash, plus a microSDHC slot, good camera, GPS, wifi, 3G, ...
its becoming difficult to find something lacking from the Omnia :-)

Depending on its price, for me it is now the phone to get...M8 is not reliable anymore (I definitely scratched it from my list after reading last news from JW: first no USB host, then no wifi, and missing the international market, all those promised features being cancelled while being more and more arrogant and rude in his explanations, from what I got from the translation...), if this new Omnia HD is shipped to Europe it looks like a better replacement ... likely much more expensive unfortunately ;-)

gabest · 11-04-2008

anyone heard something of the SonyEricsson Xperia X1? Looks awesome imo.

JkPwNsTeR · 11-04-2008

Yeah, awesome yes, affordable, no. I like the design, and with Sony, the UIs are usually great. The keyboard is handy, and the screen is big. The price however, and contract, will kill it.

Suriv · 11-12-2008

Iriver Wave

sere83 · 11-12-2008

Originally Posted by gkai

It seems that Samsung corrected THE problem on their Omnia phone: screen resolution :-)

Posts tagged Omnia at Engadget Mobile

With up to 16 Gb of internal flash, plus a microSDHC slot, good camera, GPS, wifi, 3G, ...
its becoming difficult to find something lacking from the Omnia :-)

Depending on its price, for me it is now the phone to get...M8 is not reliable anymore (I definitely scratched it from my list after reading last news from JW: first no USB host, then no wifi, and missing the international market, all those promised features being cancelled while being more and more arrogant and rude in his explanations, from what I got from the translation...), if this new Omnia HD is shipped to Europe it looks like a better replacement ... likely much more expensive unfortunately ;-)

Well it seems that wifi will be included and they will ship an international version. I think it will be easy to get the wifi driver for the chinese version too as the hardware will be there.

I have used the original Omnia extensively as my friend had it (but sent it back) and I must tell you that this phones interface is horrible. You cannot expect the type of nice touchscreen and good user experience found on the iphone.

I think it uses a resistive touchscreen and is very unresponsive. Windows mobile is also horrific to use with your finger. You must always carry the stylus as you will definitely need it yet the phone does not have a place to store it. Samsung have tried to skin Windows mobile but it is still terrible to use wth your finger as the OS was never really made to be used with the finger. Once you get into the menus a bit it reverts back to normal winmo and is very ugly and impossible to navigate with your finger. Transititions and start up are also very sluggish.

I had high hopes for the omnia but after using it I will never buy a windows mobile device with a touch screen. Perhaps when windwos mobile 7 comes out but definitely not before then. The M8 looks far far better in the video in terms of responsiveness to finger touch and ease of navigation compared to any windows mobile touch based device.

The M8's processing power will also far exceed that of any windows mobile based phone on the market and with a capacitative touch screen and a fully customised OS a stylus will not be necessary. Even the HTC touch HD cannot decode video at 720x480 despite it's 800x480 display. I attribute this to it's slower 528mhz Qualcomm CPU and less Ram. The media player interface is also ugly on the Omnia and poorly designed.

ragnor · 11-13-2008

Now I think I will buy a SE G705 (it'll come soon), while I'm waiting for this improved M8 (or at least not the first version).
It haven't touchscreen, but it have Wi-fi and GPS, and I think that it's more important.

copernicvs · 11-13-2008

hmmm, GPS on a 2.4" screen? that will be interesting, even if you can get some proper navigation software for it...

lgsbigal · 11-13-2008

since the m8 was announced the specs are becoming worse and worse and out of date ; at first i was really interested but now id much rather hav this... Samsung i8510 INNOV8 - Full phone specifications
Samsung Innov8 : 8MP camera, GPS, Wifi, 16GB internal (with epansion slot).. the list go's on..
i no people will complain about the price and the screen but, u realee do get wat you pay for..

ragnor · 11-13-2008

Wow, this Samsung seems very nice.

I agree. Meizu will launch their M8 too late, when market is oversaturated with similar products.
It still being attractive, but not impressive than 2 years ago.

sere83 · 11-13-2008

I personally disagree. Just because the M8 will not be the most high end cell phone available does not mean it does not have a place in the market and some strong features. Lets not forget the M8 is supposed to be a media centred device, considering meizu is after all a company that makes media players.

The Samsung i8510 INNOV8 certainly will not have anywhere near the media playback, codec support (and probably sound quality too) or video viewing experince of a phone like the M8. You can pretty much forget about really enjoying watching video on such a small low res display lik ethe samsung's.

The internet experience is also likely to be far better on a 3.4 inch 720x480 multitouch display. I guess it depends what you are looking for, the M8 is obviously not for you if you want 3G and GPS.

I personally have little interest in cameras on phones, if I want to take photos I will use a real digital camera, also large amounts of Mega pixels does not necessarily mean high quality. The M8's processor will obliterate that of a phone like the Samsung INNOV8 and the interface of the M8 looks far more interesting.

Let's not forget that ease of use and well implemented Interfaces go a very long way. Just look at the success of the iphone. It has a 2 mega pixel camera! and is the second most popular device in the whole of the US! I also don't think the market is saturated with good alternatives. I have not seen any touch screen device with an interface to match the iphone. All windows mobile devices with touch screens are horrific and the other competitors like samsung and LG are producing very average touchscreen phones usually with resistive touchscreens and slow processors.

SteveMB93 · 11-13-2008

There are not many phones that are better than the M8 spec wise, and even then most of these phones are two times the price of the M8, around $800. I would never buy a phone for $800, that's ridiculous no matter what the specs. But believe me, I would love to have a phone like the INNOV8, but for the price and the fact that it has a 240 x 320 2.8" LCD is disappointing to say the least. BTW, megapixels don't matter. If it has the normal plastic lens, the pictures are going to look like crap, just like about every phone out there.

evow04 · 11-14-2008

HTC Max 4G, worldâ€™s first GSM-WiMax Cellphone : Akihabara News .com

Yesterday HTC announced officially (Yep Eric, I respected your embargo) the HTC Max 4G, which is basically your average HTC HD minus the HSDPA (3.5) but with a big jump over WiMax and making it the very first Windows Mobile 6.1 4G phone ever. So what is the advantage of the WiMax, compare to the HSDPA? Well with this new baby in town, you will be able to get “descent” data speed of 70Mb/sec (symmetric). Yep, I can see some of your drooling like babies, want one? No problems, but just brush up your Russian and get your passport ready since this baby is so far only available there.

Processor: Qualcomm® ESM7206A™ 528 MHz
Platform: Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional 
Memory: ROM: 256MB / RAM: 288MB / Flash: 8 GB 
Dimensions: 113.5mm X 63.1mm X 13.9mm 
Weight: 151 grams (with battery) 
Display: 3.8-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with 480 x 800 WVGA resolution 
Network: Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE:900/1800/1900 MHz, Yota Mobile WiMAX 2,5-2.7 GHz 
Device Control: TouchFLO™ 3D 
GPS: Inbuilt GPS 
Connections: VoIP, Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g ,Bluetooth® 2.0 with EDR, HTC ExtUSB™ 
Main camera: High-resolution with autofocus 
Second: VGA-camera 
Additional: Motion G-sensor (automatically rotating picture), Proximity sensor (saving energy while talking due to the switching the display off), FM-radio 
Audio: Ring tone formats: AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, QCP, MP3, WMA, WAV, 40 polyphonic and standard MIDI format 0 and 1 (SMF)/SP MIDI 
Battery: Li-Pol, 1500 mAh 
Talk time: GSM: up to 420 minutes, VoIP: up to 230 minutes 
Standby time: GSM: up to 350 hours, VoIP: up to 50 hours

sami_uk · 11-14-2008

Originally Posted by adamL

japaneses are back:

Sharp Aquos Fulltouch 931SH mobile phone features full HD display - Newlaunches.com

MY GOD

THAT PHONE IS WOOOOW!!!

but the softbank phones are all locked arnt they?

Id buy it right away it kills the m8 but when is it coming out????

JkPwNsTeR · 11-14-2008

lol no way it kills the M8. By the looks of it the phone will be >1000USD unlocked.

Rabsi1 · 11-15-2008

m8 4 eva
quote me if u agree

JkPwNsTeR · 11-15-2008

Originally Posted by Raoul Weatherell

m8 4 eva
quote me if u agree

lol, I will.

Dominic · 11-15-2008

Originally Posted by JkPwNsTeR

lol no way it kills the M8. By the looks of it the phone will be >1000USD unlocked.

It won't be available in the US, but it could well be an alternative M8 for those in Japan...pretty damn nice phone.