The Alternative M8 Products topic

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.

If the M8 is such a letdown (to you), why are you still on this forum?

Possibly because he either wants to complain, or he wants to wait for the next best thing. I'm guessing the latter.

I still have some interest in the phone, having followed it for the past 2 years or so. But if you give me the choice between the iPhone 3G and the M8... probably I would take the 3G. Yes, as a PMP it sucks. Big deal, I've still got my M6, and it's not exactly huge, so I don't mind bringing along both devices. But the apps and 3G and WiFi support... sorry, the M8 has to be much cheaper. And to be honest, I wouldn't want the iPhone too. I'm holding out for the Pre now. It's all about the interface (and the hardware isn't to bad either, though I'm not a fan of the Ti OMAP CPUs).

The M8 doesn't really have superior audio quality, the audio chip is a pretty standard part, nothing special there.

actually, if we're in the alternate products topic anyway, i'd be interested to see what the Tegra platform will be like. there was news just a few days ago, that HTC promised to release some tegra based phones pretty soon. maybe we'll see some info in that at MWC.

so far the Pre is the number one alternative for me, but it's waaaaay too pricey, and buying with some operator subsidy is not an option, since i wanna use it in China or HK.

Originally Posted by copernicvs

actually, if we're in the alternate products topic anyway, i'd be interested to see what the Tegra platform will be like. there was news just a few days ago, that HTC promised to release some tegra based phones pretty soon. maybe we'll see some info in that at MWC.

so far the Pre is the number one alternative for me, but it's waaaaay too pricey, and buying with some operator subsidy is not an option, since i wanna use it in China or HK.

I would hope for a tegra based android device from HTC, but it is not very likely, I think nvidia has agreement with microsoft to propose tegra as a WinCE/WinMobile platform and nothing else (no support documentation for linux kernel for exemple)...but maybe it was an agreement limited in time and they will open the platform more now? Could be, it does not makes sense for nvidia to limit themselves to WinCE kernel, except if they got a lot of money from microsoft ;-). Still, I bet the first tegra phones will be WinMo phones...

That said, a WinMo Tegra HTC phone would be very interresting and if the price is right, and they implement all the functionalities present in the chip, that's probably what I will buy: sure the interface is dated and not very pretty (they made an effort for WinMo6.5, due in a few month, but I guess only WinMo7 can get them back to parity with Pre/IPhone/Android), but there are TONS of native applications, which imho is more important...

Remember the NVidia proto they showed, to demonstrate the tegra platform? It was very nice, although a little bit thick....still, if this thickness came from a large battery and they had the battery life that comes with it, I would not mind and would buy this proto ;-) I hope HTC will not downgrade the concept too much!

The M8 is still a good phone, but it's definitely not a great phone (in my opinion, it's probably different for someone who doesn't care about Wi-Fi as much as me). It could be one of the best if it had Wi-Fi. If it had USB OTG, it would be an elite phone. How many phones have USB OTG? Not many.

Originally Posted by SteveMB93

The M8 is still a good phone, but it's definitely not a great phone (in my opinion, it's probably different for someone who doesn't care about Wi-Fi as much as me). It could be one of the best if it had Wi-Fi. If it had USB OTG, it would be an elite phone. How many phones have USB OTG? Not many.

I just hope that you will be able to get all the money to get this excellent cell phone...

Have you noticed that the price of one of this cell phones is almost the same of a notebook?... depending of the notebook it will be able to play and store nicely all the music wanted and have it ordered and displaying cover art... etc etc etc...

But a person won't be able to make phone calls!!!!

Not true, Daremo. You could always buy an ExpressCard 3G adapter and connect to the Internet and make calls using Skype.

Skype?... It has Skype?... I would love to have Skype® on the meizu M8

Originally Posted by JkPwNsTeR

Not true, Daremo. You could always buy an ExpressCard 3G adapter and connect to the Internet and make calls using Skype.

Originally Posted by Rabsi1

Skype?... It has Skype?... I would love to have Skype® on the meizu M8

He means that if I bought a notebook instead of Meizu M8 (the price is almost the same) and a ExpressCard 3G adapter I can do phone calls from the notebook using Skype.

Maybe a notebook is more machine that a M8? .

Well, considering the battery life, the portability, boot times, and other factors, you'd be way better off getting a mobile phone dedicated for media and phone calls.

m8 is pretty strong in the video and music sections

I think that as long the pmp-functions are good, the m8 would still be interesting to some people. It's a given, the screen res is more than ideal to watch video on; and the general impression is that the sound quality is fine too. The huge codec-support is a big plus; however we are 2 years further now --> movies are getting higher-res and the idea of watching video without 'having to convert' may not apply to all your movies anymore.

As a phone, I don't see an reason why Meizu wouldn't be able to fix all the bugs, it's just a matter of time. I really mean that last part, as they took a while fixing some m6 bugs. Anyway, as a simple phone the m8 will suffice.

As many people have said the smartphone-part is getting weaker in my opinion. I don't know all the details about licences and stuff, but they were attempting to sell non-test units in the coming months? Wifi/3G is a big blow obviously. How are you going to connect to the internet, GRPS is unusable and EDGE is still 7x slower than 3G (i got 150kb/s on my iPhone). You will hate websites with pictures on EDGE unless you can turn them off on the m8.

What I'm actually trying to say is that a m8 alternative doesn't have to beat all the specs or features of the m8. A phone with huge smartphone functions but less codec-support might be the good alternative nowadays too. This is because the m8 doesn't cover all aspecs of a jezus-phone anymore.

Off-topic:
wow; when did everyone become a valued member around here?
why am I still stuck as a senior member? I know, i'm a controversial member, but still :P

Originally Posted by DaremoS

I just hope that you will be able to get all the money to get this excellent cell phone...

Have you noticed that the price of one of this cell phones is almost the same of a notebook?... depending of the notebook it will be able to play and store nicely all the music wanted and have it ordered and displaying cover art... etc etc etc...

But a person won't be able to make phone calls!!!!

That's true, many unlocked phones are more expensive than far more powerfull netbooks...But this is the price of portability, to me the appeal of a smartphone is that it is something that fit in my pocket and is instant-on...i.e. something that I carry on me all the time...which is not the case for a netbook, as small as it can get. Except to make phone call (and even that is less frequent with skype), I never use my phone nor pda when I am home, or have access to a laptop: i use my PC (tower or laptop)...(ok, pda get turned on at night, for ebook function in my bed, and that's all).

What I find much more troubling is the big price difference between basic PMP and smartphones...for two devices that share a very large part of their components...In fact, besides the GSM/3G chip, they are virtually the same hardware-wise. Software differ, but given there are now opensource OS tailored to smartphones, it should not be a big difference. And the GSM/3G chips cost what, maybe 10$? 20$ at most?
So my conclusion is: we are being ripped off, either by networks and governments (network license, conformity tests and taxes may be high), or device manufacturer which takes huuuuge margins on smartphones, or both.
I expected the m8 to break those high margins...it does it somewhat, but much less than I hoped 1 year ago, and is not something that could bother the other manufacturer imho and make them less like to rip us off...

I think that each time we buy a high end phone, we are being milked hard, and I do not see the end of it in the immediate future

Originally Posted by DaremoS

He means that if I bought a notebook instead of Meizu M8 (the price is almost the same) and a ExpressCard 3G adapter I can do phone calls from the notebook using Skype.

Maybe a notebook is more machine that a M8? .

You must have really big pockets on those cargo pants.

I too still have my doubts about whether what is esentially a pmp with average phone capabilities is worth the asking price. If the M8 had decent speed internet connectivity,what ever people say, it would make a huge difference to the functionality of the device as you would suddenly have access to infinitely more information on the move, which imo would make it so much more attractive.

We have to be realistic though the M8 in it's current state is simply not a competitor to the iphone and with the first M8 ebay prices coming very close to iphone prices I find it hard to justify buying an m8 at this time. I also find it difficult to believe we will see an international edition either, the way apple are talking the M8 would not last a second in the international market >>>>

Apple on smartphone competition: "if others rip off our intellectual property, we will go after them." - Engadget

We will have to see how the pricing shapes up once the M8 has been on general release for a while. The idea of having a powerful media player and phone in one device is still no doubt attractive but, in it's current state with no connectivity the M8 will age very quickly and prospective international and even domestic customers may choose to look elsewhere for a proper smart phone which can be easily purchased at the m8 sale price.

Part of me is starting to think that meizu should have just removed the phone functionality from the M8 and they should have made it into the M7 instead and dropped the price. I think then it could have had the potential to be a success overseas too and helped to improve meizu's international image yet still sold well domestically. Unfortunately I hate to say it but in it's current state the M8 will look like a pale iphone clone/imitation to many people outside of China.

Originally Posted by JkPwNsTeR

Well, considering the battery life, the portability, boot times, and other factors, you'd be way better off getting a mobile phone dedicated for media and phone calls.

i think the meizu m8 is well capable for media...

It should be, it came from a company who used to make high-end audio players, in terms of sound quality anyways.

Originally Posted by sere83

...
Part of me is starting to think that meizu should have just removed the phone functionality from the M8 and they should have made it into the M7 instead and dropped the price. I think then it could have had the potential to be a success overseas too and helped to improve meizu's international image yet still sold well domestically. Unfortunately I hate to say it but in it's current state the M8 will look like a pale iphone clone/imitation to many people outside of China.

This what you said of M7 it's really a dream, partially solved by Cowon S9, which is really an awesome player, but this Korean products have some problems: starting by the price (which is similar to the garbage sold by USA and Japan). Delightful player but I don't want to spent the money they are asking for.

I just hope that Mr. Wong ending his dream of put M8 in the market go back to his roots and deliver this M7 you say. At an affordable price.

Originally Posted by Rabsi1

If the M8 is such a letdown (to you), why are you still on this forum?

Why am I still on this forum? Even though the M8 is a letdown, and even though I have already purchased another phone (T-Mobile Android G1), I still want to see how things work out for Meizu with their M8. Hopefully by the time I have outgrown my G1, Meizu will have released a phone that warrants my money. Unfortunately, the M8 doesn't fit that category for me... Maybe the M9! lol