This is a discussion on The Alternative M8 Products topic within the General Meizu M8 forums, part of the Meizu M8 category; My first explanation of this topic back in the good January '08 days:
Many people are waiting for the Meizu ...
My first explanation of this topic back in the good January '08 days:
Many people are waiting for the Meizu M8 to be released. With the most recent disappointments the moral for this phone is surely to drop to some extent. So, for now, let us look for phone alternatives that can perform (almost) as good as the M8 should do.
I know it's difficult finding a alternative as contract-less smartphones are usually waaay more expensive, but let's just try how close we can get.
Over many months, this topic discussed a lot of devices. A few examples of more serieus alternatives below:
Alternatives:
- iPhone2G/iPhone3G/iPod Touch/iPod Touch 2nd gen -
Of course, it's inevitable to have Apple in this list. With m8 first-gen still pending, the second generation iPhone has become mainstream after it's "shortages"-release. Positives are the presence of 3G, GPS, (and a huge jailbreak community). Negatives are the closed OS without jailbreaking and relatively high price. The idea of purchasing an iTouch is to have all the fingertip-fun without paying as much for it (keep a seperate phone).
- HTC Touch/HTC Touch Diamond/HTC Touch HD -
The great world of HTC. While there are HTC smartphones like the HTC Touch that are very affordable and even cheaper than the m8, they do run the sami-hated-WinMo. They all have a nice GUI shell of top of things. The diamond is a very nice vga-resolution phone which is very popular next to the iPhone. The HD is yet-to-come and has a near-epic resolution of 480x800 which is even higher than that of the m8.
neonode is old *g* dont know.. they released the n2 2-4 years ago.. the n1 was all the same story like minione's ... but after it didnt came out for over 1,5 years i didnt look any further for it.. some month ago i saw that they allready made the 2nd one.. but its nothings for todays high tech
The screen looks really strange, with the thicker edge on the left side of the screen in comparison with the right side. Specs look fine, screen res is acceptable i guess (almost same as iPhone), but it's a shame the GUI looks just very cloned.
if it's cheap I could see myself considering it :P
The screen looks really strange, with the thicker edge on the left side of the screen in comparison with the right side. Specs look fine, screen res is acceptable i guess (almost same as iPhone), but it's a shame the GUI looks just very cloned.
if it's cheap I could see myself considering it :P
i believe this isn't the final version of the phone, just a prototype. if you watch the second video you can see that the GUI isn't finished also. iriver's ceo said that it will be cheaper than the iphone
i believe this isn't the final version of the phone, just a prototype. if you watch the second video you can see that the GUI isn't finished also. iriver's ceo said that it will be cheaper than the iphone
Well if they're making practicaly a complete copy of the iPhone you'd expect it to be cheaper
I know it's difficult finding a alternative as smartphones are usually waaaay more expensive
And that's why we wait and wait and wait....and wait :P
For those living in China, no phone comes close to the features of the M8 for the price Meizu has promised. Meizu still has a big window of opportunity (at least at home) simply because those prices are so reasonable.
Frankly, the more I consider it, I wonder just how Meizu is going to pull off a 16GB phone for less than 3000 RMB.
^ One sad thing is that Chinese people never buy Chinese phones because of their extremely low quality, high price and crappy firmware. This might not be the case with Meizu, but most Chinese already have that as a preconceived notion due to their previous experiences.
And it's true. I remember buying a phone from Capitel (company no longer exisits) for 3000 RMB in 2003. The phone played loud and poor quality sounds (and cartoon airplane animations) on startup and shutdown, camera flash was just a toy, there was no way of transferring the low quality pictures you took to a computer and the user interface was ugly and colorful too. Back home everyone was using the super-cool Sony Ericsson T610 which was cheaper than my Capitel! After realizing how I just wasted $400 USD on some crap, I told myself to never buy a Chinese phone again. But this might change now.
It's true that Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung/Anycall, and Motorola are the brands people aspire to, but there's still an enormous market and plenty of Chinese brands to fill all the gaps. The trouble is there are so many brands and their products so undistinguished that no Chinese company seems to be able to rise above mediocrity, establish a really positive brand image, and grab a bigger market share. What's left, then, is exporting to developing markets, which companies like Ningbo Bird do very well. I personally think Lenovo and BBK are capable of producing a phone that stands apart, but beyond them, I struggle to come up with any others.