The Alternative M8 Products topic

JkPwNsTeR · 01-09-2009

Originally Posted by Traps

Now, let's see the pricing on that thing... ~550USD unlocked, like JkPwNsTeR suggested, would actually be a great price for it's taget market. Unfortunately, it would still be a little too much for me.

Well it's a big dent in your wallet if IT isn't playing for it.

chengdude · 01-09-2009

For all you Chinese-language fans, Nokia will release the 6208c in the first part of 2009. It's not an M8 alternative per se, but it is in competition for my money, so that makes it an alternative for me at least:

??? - 6208c ????

The 6108 was a pretty popular phone in China some years back and the 6208 is its spiritual successor. Why it took almost 6 years from the announcement of the 6108 is a bit of mystery. The touchscreen + keypad is how I wish Meizu had looked at the M8 in the initial design stage. I'm really looking forward to seeing how Nokia has integrated Chinese character recognition on this one...it's the raison d'etre of this phone so it better be good.

A_N_T_H_O_N_Y · 01-17-2009

The lack of WiFi and the incredibly high prices on the eBay listings forced me to give up on the poor little M8.

I bought a T-Mobile G1 instead (eBay). Should be getting it on Monday or Tuesday.

gkai · 01-17-2009

Originally Posted by A_N_T_H_O_N_Y

The lack of WiFi and the incredibly high prices on the eBay listings forced me to give up on the poor little M8.

I bought a T-Mobile G1 instead (eBay). Should be getting it on Monday or Tuesday.

I am waiting to see what the pre, G2 and new tegra-based HTC will really be like. Info should come in the 2 month to comes, I think. And then, touch HD and G1 may be much cheaper too...

I hope my phone and PDA will resist a few month more (they are in poor shapes

), but I have given up on the m8: the [feature set+probable support] / [price] ratio is simply not there anymore, compared to the current batch of concurents.
Pity, I liked the form factor and screen resolution...

Grossmeister · 01-17-2009

Motorola A3100
Seems like it should have 3.5 mm audio jack. Main question is price.

gkai · 01-18-2009

Originally Posted by Grossmeister

Motorola A3100
Seems like it should have 3.5 mm audio jack. Main question is price.

small QVGA screen...not for me ;-)
Given the spec and what is coming to market, I would say that the price will not be too high, else it will fail: appart from the front camera, it is a low end 3G winphone now...

chengdude · 01-18-2009

Tegra will indeed be interesting.

Tegra trivia tidbit: the Wolfson 8753 used in the M8 is also part of the Tegra platform.

Rabsi1 · 01-18-2009

What I don't understand is the fact that this THE website for everything meizu and that one f the most popular threads is a thread about alternatives to the meizu m8, which people avidly talk about alternatives, and point out alot of the meizu's cons, less than it's pros.

Now i must say that you must not see this is an offensive rant, more of a boyish humorous rant (which i am full of) and an expression of feelings (which i do alot of)

I continue my rant with a mentioning of the thread 'Doesn't the Palm Pre make the M8 irrelavent?' where someone has gone and posted an entirely new thread on a phone that makes the m8 seem irrelavent, though it clearly costs twice as much as has a much uglier look.

I think we should try to be more positive about the meizu m8, i'll give you an example here: When the news that meizu had obtained the license the sell the phone, there was joyous outcry, but not as loud as the outcry when the meizu has delayed for 3 months, or when it was announced that wifi had been removed (which is still moaned about today.

This concludes my rant. I hope it gives my something interesting to read on the meizu forum. Maybe i should turn it into a weekly column. In the meantime i just want to say, be more positive about the m8, negative energy will only drive the release date further back!

PS Sounds kinda yoga doesnt it?

PPS Yes, i do yoga

DaremoS · 01-18-2009

Originally Posted by Rabsi1

What I don't understand is the fact that this THE website for everything meizu and that one f the most popular threads is a thread about alternatives to the meizu m8, which people avidly talk about alternatives, and point out alot of the meizu's cons, less than it's pros.

...

Adding something to your rant... here is my rant:

This website have changed from a PMP forum into a cell phone forum.
From a non so expensive hobby to a very expensive one, where lots of us are out of it.
From an eye over a decent company named Meizu PMP maker into a very dubious cell phone maker. This is not so bad surely JW will win more selling 1 cell phone than 3 PMP... with less problems... if this business succeed.

Anyway, and going back in topic, M8 is really a cell phone out of cell phone standards. It's an awesome player with great quality of image, excellent quality in sound and lots of formats supported.

None of this "alternatives" go closer to Meizu in this aspects (image, formats and sound) nor Nokia, nor Sony, nor Motorola and none of all the bunch of Korean shit. These are great cell phones... but all concerning PMP is pure shit... simply and pure shit... I've tested the sound and image of my Nokia, my cousin Sony-Ericsson cell phone (walkman type)... and believe me is shit. A shame for Sony whose PMP are also shit.

This players are awesome cell phones, full of cell phone features and some of them really beautiful... but in the PMP arena are simply garbage. Except for Meizu M8... which unfortunately is absolutely out-of-reach nowadays except in rich countries... where lots of members of this forums seems to be living.

Rabsi1 · 01-19-2009

well, lets talk about the m8, then!

A_N_T_H_O_N_Y · 01-19-2009

If the M8 wasn't such a letdown maybe we wouldn't be talking about alternative products.

gkai · 01-19-2009

Originally Posted by A_N_T_H_O_N_Y

If the M8 wasn't such a letdown maybe we wouldn't be talking about alternative products.

Indeed, quite a lot of people here have given up waiting for the m8, either because it took too much time to be released, or because removed specs turned the attractive device into a no-no (for example, no USB host made me hesitant, and no wifi killed the m8 for me).
For some others, it was the price that did increase, especially with the change rates chaninging, adding shipment, other good phones getting cheaper.

All in all, if you compare the situation 1 year ago and the situation now, the m8 is objectively much less interresting. For some people, it is still interresting, but for some others, including well known and respected members here, it does not cut it anymore.

I do not see how it could be different, hyping your product 2 years before the release, and then removing features while increasing price during the last months before release will not make every fan happy, right?

pKraz · 01-19-2009

Originally Posted by gkai

Indeed, quite a lot of people here have given up waiting for the m8, either because it took too much time to be released, or because removed specs turned the attractive device into a no-no (for example, no USB host made me hesitant, and no wifi killed the m8 for me).
For some others, it was the price that did increase, especially with the change rates chaninging, adding shipment, other good phones getting cheaper.

All in all, if you compare the situation 1 year ago and the situation now, the m8 is objectively much less interresting. For some people, it is still interresting, but for some others, including well known and respected members here, it does not cut it anymore.

I do not see how it could be different, hyping your product 2 years before the release, and then removing features while increasing price during the last months before release will not make every fan happy, right?

Its still a good phone. The specs for the price are still very competitive. What other phone at the price of the M8 can play nearly all codecs (and play them well since it has a great audio chip), and be able to decode all sorts of video formats at a great resolution?

Even with the extra postage costs making it come close to an 8gb iphone (just the phone itself), its still a better deal! Over time with fw updates, it will improve! Remember these units ther selling are "TEST" units, so meizu can receive feedback, so that official release version is better and more well implamented, i.e. the hardware.

DaremoS · 01-19-2009

Originally Posted by gkai

...

All in all, if you compare the situation 1 year ago and the situation now, the m8 is objectively much less interresting. For some people, it is still interresting, but for some others, including well known and respected members here, it does not cut it anymore.

...

... I've noticed this too!

But I've noticed too a immense loyalty for the nice Meizu PMP maker (which is slowing leaving us...

) and its interesting but incredibly expensive product.

I just hope that this loyalty doesn't mean that this well known and respected members do not do suicidal financial sacrifices to get the long waited M8...

pKraz · 01-19-2009

Its either an M8 or an iphone; what do you think? Thers no way i would give up and buy an iphone.
BTW A year ago i wouldn't of being able to purchase M8 anyway.

copernicvs · 01-19-2009

Originally Posted by pKraz

Its still a good phone. The specs for the price are still very competitive.

that is the problem (at least for me). it's an excellent multimedia device, but it's not a good phone at all (yet)! the stuuf i heard from owners made it clear, that they still need to work on the software, and maybe the hardware too.
the phone funcions are not that advanced, wifi is not stable, no alarm when turned off (okay, this can be due to the windows core), no profiles, no voip (as of now), and so on.

i think for most of these flaws, JW would just have to sit down, take a phone (and i mean a normal phone, not some wimo-pda-whatever, just a phone made by a proper company), and study it for a while. then fix these stuff int the firmware.
i'm hoping they will do such thing, and then the next edition will be much better

pKraz · 01-19-2009

Originally Posted by copernicvs

that is the problem (at least for me). it's an excellent multimedia device, but it's not a good phone at all (yet)! the stuuf i heard from owners made it clear, that they still need to work on the software, and maybe the hardware too.
the phone funcions are not that advanced, wifi is not stable, no alarm when turned off (okay, this can be due to the windows core), no profiles, no voip (as of now), and so on.

i think for most of these flaws, JW would just have to sit down, take a phone (and i mean a normal phone, not some wimo-pda-whatever, just a phone made by a proper company), and study it for a while. then fix these stuff int the firmware.
i'm hoping they will do such thing, and then the next edition will be much better

Im sure those people who have the test units with wifi right now will be able to have ther M8 work as well as the future official ones, using future FW updates. As for a hardware problem, the wifi problems; I think it could be that the software is not interacting correctly with the hardware (a fw may fix/improve it; lets hope it does!).

But even if WIFI isnt perfectly implemented; its probably better than no WIFI at all on the official ones (but were not 100% sure on that yet!). Lets hope Meizu bring out official units with wifi and FW fixes for the bugs.
I will be one of the people purchasing an M8 test unit anyway just in case thers no WIFI on the official ones.

gkai · 01-19-2009

Originally Posted by pKraz

But even if WIFI isnt perfectly implemented; its probably better than no WIFI at all on the official ones (but were not 100% sure on that yet!). Lets hope Meizu bring out official units with wifi and FW fixes for the bugs.
I will be one of the people purchasing an M8 test unit anyway just in case thers no WIFI on the official ones.

I do not want to crush your optimism, but imho the chances for Meizu to support wifi functions of the test models through bugfixes and firmware updates are around zero, if the official version has not wifi hardware:
What would be the commercial incentive for Meizu to support a feature that is present in only 500 test models, and that is officially hidden anyway, accessed only through a hack? Zero, and even if they were tempted to suppor it through good heart, they would have to do hit quite subreptiously to avoid Chinese officials to go down on them...
So, i am pretty sure that if the official models do not include wifi, wifi support of test models is not likely to improve with time, at best it will remain what it is today...

pKraz · 01-19-2009

Originally Posted by gkai

I do not want to crush your optimism, but imho the chances for Meizu to support wifi functions of the test models through bugfixes and firmware updates are around zero, if the official version has not wifi hardware:
What would be the commercial incentive for Meizu to support a feature that is present in only 500 test models, and that is officially hidden anyway, accessed only through a hack? Zero, and even if they were tempted to suppor it through good heart, they would have to do hit quite subreptiously to avoid Chinese officials to go down on them...
So, i am pretty sure that if the official models do not include wifi, wifi support of test models is not likely to improve with time, at best it will remain what it is today...

Well im fine with that. I would not purchase the phone if it had no WIFI. Here in Australia, it is similar to Europe; 3g is at a fair cheap price with contracts on crappy 3g phones. CDMA has finished about a year now, people are using GSM phones; others getting cheap 3g phones.
There have recently been a huge growth of shops and places with free/paid WIFI hotspots (like McDonalds-free or Starbucks-$$$). People are using Wireless more than ever.

Bearly no one uses Edge for internet; its slow and it costs too much. But wifi is similar speed; usually faster and half the time its free.....well in the cities anyway. I dont live in a big city, but down my main street, there are wifi hotspots.

gkai · 01-19-2009

Originally Posted by DaremoS

Anyway, and going back in topic, M8 is really a cell phone out of cell phone standards. It's an awesome player with great quality of image, excellent quality in sound and lots of formats supported.

Originally Posted by copernicvs

that is the problem (at least for me). it's an excellent multimedia device, but it's not a good phone at all (yet)! the stuuf i heard from owners made it clear, that they still need to work on the software, and maybe the hardware too.

I agree with u, and I think I understand now people who think m8 is still an excellent package: They see the m8 mainly like a PMP...also a phone, which can be handy, but the PMP functions comes first.
For me, the phone functions are more important, on the same level as PMP, but those two are behind the PDA aspect...I see it more like a smartphone, because it is the main use I have for such devices (handheld, with a screen in the 10 cm range).
Phone has to be reliable but nothing fancy (3G is not too important), pictures, movies are for surprise shots (I have a camera for serious shots), PMP is on the same boat (usefull sometimes, but I do not enjoy movie watching on small screens).
But I want to be able to use my handheld as a small multifunction computing device, with organizer, navigation software, metro table, ebook, offline wikipedia, document viewer, internet browser&mail when I hit a free hotspot, ...
M8 promised to be a great contender in this area too when it was first anounced (wifi, usb host, great screen resolution, cheap compared to the other smartphones, compatibility with WinCE, or even WinMo applications), but given the latest news I feel that while it remains a very good PMP phone, it is no longer a competitive contender in the smartphone arena...