J.Wong 3.5 UPDATE NEW!

Originally Posted by hotboxx

Why does everybody says that the M8 is a iPhone clone? Does the iPhone has 3 buttons? Does the M8 has a dock in the today screen. Does the M8 uses the same icons as the iPhone, does the M8 uses the same backgrounds as the iPhone, has the M8 the same color Keypad as the iPhone?

Everybody says that the m8 is an iPhone clone because it doesn't take too much imagination too see a little resemblance in the GUI with the iPhone. I mean, be honest to yourself about that. True, m8 has 3 buttons, which omits the purpose of a dock in the "home" screen and make it less clony.

Concerning the icons, backgrounds and keypad it also doesn't take too much imagination to think that it would be just too much of a coincidence that the icon/etc designers made 100% original icons that just happen to have a iPhone counterpart on that.

Just be realistic, it was easier for Meizu to make the GUI and hardware unit...."look like" the iPhone than to develop an entire new style. I mean, Meizu couldn't affort that kind of R&D.

yes your right, there is no doubt that the M8 looks like the iphone, anyone would be stupid if they thought It didn't. What really pisses me off though is that just because apple have such a cult almost obsessive following and iconic status people act like they are the gods of originality which is simply not true. The fact is apple themselves have copied elements of many designs so have hundreds of other tech companies. Particularly the japenese and south koren companies in the late 70's and 80's. Perhaps Apple are less blatant than others but there are also examples of companies being just as blatant as Meizu have been and infact using the exact same components and re-branding products.

The west has been brainwashed by corporate branding and they believe that it has some kind of deep significance, all this tech equipment is made by poor chinese workers in cramped horrible factory conditions, whether it has an apple logo on it or not. Clones are often made in the same factory sometimes during the night shift. The only difference is that apple have more money for R&D, better designers and more stringent checks. The simple fact is all these companies exploit the chinese workforce for huge profit margins. F**K apple, they make this stuff for money and power and to feed there own egos, no other reason. I like seeing companys like Meizu trying to fight back against hundreds of years of western opression and exploitation.

Wong has put his hands up and admited that you must imitate and try and improve first before you can innovate, he also makes no secret about his intentions of trying to shake up the domestic chinese cell phone market. In 30/40 years apple will probably not exist. Most of the biggest tech companies in the world will be chinese.

Originally Posted by sere83

yes your right, there is no doubt that the M8 looks like the iphone, anyone would be stupid if they thought It didn't. What really pisses me off though is that just because apple have such a cult almost obsessive following and iconic status people act like they are the gods of originality which is simply not true. The fact is apple themselves have copied elements of many designs so have hundreds of other tech companies. Particularly the japenese and south koren companies in the late 70's and 80's. Perhaps Apple are less blatant than others but there are also examples of companies being just as blatant as Meizu have been and infact using the exact same components and re-branding products.

The west has been brainwashed by corporate branding and they believe that it has some kind of deep significance, all this tech equipment is made by poor chinese workers in cramped horrible factory conditions, whether it has an apple logo on it or not. Clones are often made in the same factory sometimes during the night shift. The only difference is that apple have more money for R&D, better designers and more stringent checks. The simple fact is all these companies exploit the chinese workforce for huge profit margins. F**K apple, they make this stuff for money and power and to feed there own egos, no other reason. I like seeing a companys like Meizu trying to fight back against hundreds of years of western exploitation.

Wong has put his hands up and admited that you must imitate and try and improve first before you can innovate, he also makes no secret about his intentions of trying to shake up the domestic chinese cell phone market. In 30/40 years apple will probably not exist. Most of the biggest tech companies in the world will be chinese.

Wow, you amaze me...

But still, i guess you will be pretty upset with theese news then...

Meizu´s booth has been shutdown because of plagiacy.
Dang, I spose the german authorities does´nt share your point of view...

Meizu CeBIT booth shut down by German authorities - Engadget


(BTW, I also think this sort of stinks )

why does that amaze you? btw they will never stop meizu in china, ever. Meizu will be on the next flight home and have more time to bring the M8 to market.

Originally Posted by Doomedsabre

Wow, you amaze me...

But still, i guess you will be pretty upset with theese news then...

Meizu´s booth has been shutdown because of plagiacy.
Dang, I spose the german authorities does´nt share your point of view...

Meizu CeBIT booth shut down by German authorities - Engadget


(BTW, I also think this sort of stinks )

I would guess that the CEBIT got heavily sponsored by Apple and maybe other big phone manufacturer, to go after cloners...Big brand are starting to bribe^D^D^D^D^D lobby heavyly in Europe too it seems, and CEBIT may be in need of easy cash, given that they are concurenced quite a lot by other exhibitions right now ;-). Not sure it is the right move here though, they did not went to the right cloner: Closing the booth of HiPhone would be quite well accepted, in the case of Meizu I suspect either over-zealousness of not-too-technically-minded inspector that will lead to apologies tomorrow, or a very broad definition of plagiarism that seems completely unlike past industrial design practices...If Apple try for that, I hope they will loose in court or the future for european consumers (and I am among them ) looks very dark (not for the m8, a smartphone is not that important , but in general...)

Jeah, one little problem though, if German authorities find this to be indeed piracy, then there is a possibility
(Not extremely likely, but still a possibility) that it will be "banned" in entire Europe (except for som east-european countries where I very mouch doubt they give a rats ass)... and Wham, no Ipod-killer-clone for Europe, sry.

It amazes me how one actually can argue for something as unargueable (is that even a word?) as the M8 not being an Iphone-clone, when it is so obious it is... -.-

But, as I said, i do find it kinda sucky that they closed the booth down...

If they ban M8 in Europe, there is still going to be a chance to import it I guess.

Jeah, probably... but I dont know if that´s legal?

Originally Posted by Doomedsabre

But, as I said, i do find it kinda sucky that they closed the booth down...

Let's get this straight.

Help me defining "clone".

Is this a clone?


And this?


So, this is?

Imo, there is a distict different design, allthough similar, on the forst two thingys, but not nearly as overly similar as the m8.

The answer is, no, no, yes.

Originally Posted by Doomedsabre

Jeah, one little problem though, if German authorities find this to be indeed piracy, then there is a possibility
(Not extremely likely, but still a possibility) that it will be "banned" in entire Europe (except for som east-european countries where I very mouch doubt they give a rats ass)... and Wham, no Ipod-killer-clone for Europe, sry.

It amazes me how one actually can argue for something as unargueable (is that even a word?) as the M8 not being an Iphone-clone, when it is so obious it is... -.-

But, as I said, i do find it kinda sucky that they closed the booth down...

If I had to guess what will happen, in case they go to european court: Apple will get trashed, only thing they can manage is a delay (which may be sufficient, given the relative size of meizu).
Apple is not very clean given the European trade regulations (in belgium, it can not be sold because it does not exist officially unlocked: it is considered force selling of a GSM network contract), and look at microsoft, it seems that european courts do not like monopolistic practice...
I am neither an apple fan nor basher (I have an ipod nano 2nd gen, and like it: strong, small, does its job, and not much more expensive than similar capacity device at the time I got it :-) ). However, the last moves from apple are in line with microsoft technique, I do not like the media-centered-RIAA-like-apple at all and I start to feel some bashing itches ... sad as my brother is a big apple fan, but I guess even him will find this move at CEBIT quite disgusting...

Originally Posted by gkai

If I had to guess what will happen, in case they go to european court: Apple will get trashed, only thing they can manage is a delay (which may be sufficient, given the relative size of meizu).
Apple is not very clean given the European trade regulations (in belgium, it can not be sold because it does not exist officially unlocked: it is considered force selling of a GSM network contract), and look at microsoft, it seems that european courts do not like monopolistic practice...
I am neither an apple fan nor basher (I have an ipod nano 2nd gen, and like it: strong, small, does its job, and not much more expensive than similar capacity device at the time I got it :-) ). However, the last moves from apple are in line with microsoft technique, I do not like the media-centered-RIAA-like-apple at all and I start to feel some bashing itches ... sad as my brother is a big apple fan, but I guess even him will find this move at CEBIT quite disgusting...

Well... yeah, if its actually Apple that goes to court, I dont know how it works but i spose that authorities can take this matter on their own, without corporation-involvement? Like, in france police can arrest you for wearing "fake clothes" like louis vuiton hand-bags and stuff, without the involvement of the fashion industry.... (atleast thats what ive read)

soo... in that case, Apple wouldnt need to get their hands dirty... EU does it automatically without their involvement?

Originally Posted by Doomedsabre

Imo, there is a distict different design, allthough similar, on the forst two thingys, but not nearly as overly similar as the m8.

The answer is, no, no, yes.

Actually, given these three examples I would say "no, no, no". The M8's main menu is no longer that similar to the iPhone's.
(the only remaining similarity are the icons displayed in rows of four, and that is not copyright-able.. and probably not even patentable)

However, if you mention any other parts of the GUI, especially the interface demonstration made using the bigger motherboard... then the iPhone similarities are evident.

Still, there are differences even in the parts that clearly ressemble the iPhone, so I wonder how can the police jump to a "guilty" verdict so fast? Shouldn't these things be analyzed by specialists and decided by a judge before a conclusion is made?

Originally Posted by Doomedsabre

Imo, there is a distict different design, allthough similar, on the forst two thingys, but not nearly as overly similar as the m8.

The answer is, no, no, yes.

Funny. The second "thingy" is actually the LG KE850, announced 12/12/2006 ( before Apple announced the iPhone ).

So... who's ripping who?

Originally Posted by Doomedsabre

Well... yeah, if its actually Apple that goes to court, I dont know how it works but i spose that authorities can take this matter on their own, without corporation-involvement? Like, in france police can arrest you for wearing "fake clothes" like louis vuiton hand-bags and stuff, without the involvement of the fashion industry.... (atleast thats what ive read)

soo... in that case, Apple wouldnt need to get their hands dirty... EU does it automatically without their involvement?

This is true (and a reason I try not to transit through Paris anymore: I do not care for fashion, but I do not want to worry for the few times I bring a gift to a friend or my mom from the far east...) BTW I do not feel guilty doing it, but I feel the french police is morally wrong: they are clearly policing for private company intrests, against the intrest of their citizens, but this is another debate.
In the case of Meizu, this would be the same if they called their phone HiPhone, YPhon, or put a double-bitten apple as a logo. None of it here, style is the same, but in my eyes even more close to the NVidia APX2500 demonstrator (less thick, but same bezel around the screen) and anyway there are not a lot of variation around a screen-only brick, a format that is in use since the first PDA...
Same for the interface, which is by no way functional at this time anyway...so here Apple, german police and CEBIT are playing with fire: I really do not understand how they will get out of it untarnished, except maybe using well paid Apple lawyer, and the lack of interest for techies news from the general public.

BTW, Meizu, no need to replicate iphone interface, just sell the m8 cheap and make it availabel fast, with its current specs, a working CE6 OS and open it so that people can install other UI or linux-based distro: other will replicate iphone UI it if they want, you will trigger a ton of opensource project dedicated to just that ;-)

Originally Posted by gkai

I would guess that the CEBIT got heavily sponsored by Apple

Apple doesn't have a booth at CeBIT, as usual they give a f*** about exhibitions.

I don't see what the big fuss is: Meizu took the iPhone and practically copied the looks. That might not matter in China, but you cannot do that in Europe. It's their own fault. Only thing they should've done is be more creative with the design and all and there would not have been a problem. Stop blaming Apple, CeBit (if either of them had anything to do with it) or the authorities: they only did what is logical.


PS: no, I do not own any Apple stuff. My wife has an old Shuffle, but I can't wait 'til she gets something that supports OGG.

Originally Posted by Edu115

Funny. The second "thingy" is actually the LG KE850, announced 12/12/2006 ( before Apple announced the iPhone ).

So... who's ripping who?

:eek: no?? you´re kidding?? wow... -.- w8...
erhm.. no... w8 a minute, did you even read what I answered?

I said NO theyre not overly similar, doesnt matter in what order they came then, now does it? if I had said yes, then, yes, that would be funny... but...
I did`nt?

hey im sry for being an ass, im just hungry, and a bit cranky, sry

what are you talking about, how can two screen only phones look different?

jeah your probably right, how can they?

Just look at the thre pictures in the previous posts, they are all identical, right?