Is The M8 Worth The Asking Price?

I would really like to know what people think, as I am still trying to figure it out myself!

I abstain because my answer would be:

-In China, definitely yes.
-In countries with crazy-high electronics prices & taxes, yes.
-For anyone who plays the carrier subsidy game & changes phones frequently, no.
-In the USA where everything is cheap, depends.
-For a test version, yes.
-For an official version, no way.
-Right now, yes.
-In six months, no.
-For a entertainment phone, yes.
-For a smartphone, no.
-For anyone who wants to own their phone outright, depends.
-For anyone who wants an all-in-one solution, depends.
-For anyone who enjoys constantly tinkering with their phone, yes.
-For anyone who wants an idiot-proof, no-drama phone, no.
-For anyone looking for something different, yes.
-For anyone who could care less and just wants a phone that works, no.

differernt answers to differnent one~~
I am curious what do you want.
maybe yes maybe no
or maybe not probably
make any sense?

I don't think it's worth the price...at all...
especially for those living outside of China...obviously Jack Wong has no interest whatsoever in marketing the M8 anywhere outside of Asia and the unstable WI-FI plus the heavy price tag just makes things worse...better to wait and see what the year of 2009 brings us cuz Meizu sure as hell won't bring anything worth looking at...
I'd buy the Iphone over this mess of a product any day...

IMO Meizu should stick to what they can do best and that is make pmps with awesome sound quality...
...all I (and am sure a lot of other Meizu fans) wanted was an upgrade from the M6 as in better gui, more codec support for video/audio, touch screen (well at least I wanted one), and better sq (if possible) among other things...
it's sad really cuz if they would've produced the M7 then I'd totally buy it and I'm sure it would have been flying off the shelves.

but instead they try to make a phone and end up with a less than spectacular product with oh so many bugs.
Meizu, you have a lot of fans going .

(lol sorry for the rant, been a while since I posted )

The only answer known to me is YES, ABSOLUTELY. An iPhone (plus unlock) will cost near to 8000 RMB. Meizu M8 is 2380, and is VERY similar. so, if you want to save money, the m8 is definitely what your looking for

Definetely. It's getting better and better and more user-friendly with every firmware update, and it's already quite good. Also it's cheaper than any other phone with the same (or nearly the same) capabilities, so in my mind it's a perfect choice.
I've had it for one and a half months now, and I still like it just as much when I first turned it on. The fact that it's an open platform will always bring some new things, and you'll never get bored of it.
Just my opinion

yh, the constantly updated firmware, new features and new applications almost make it seem like a new phone evry month!

yes above all with the firmware which is going better and better.

Yes, for the 2380 it is being sold for in China.
No for the 3150 - 3500 it is being sold for on eBay.

differernt answers to differnent one~~
I am curious what do you want.
maybe yes maybe no
or maybe not probably

make any sense

Very little....but if you're asking me personally if it's worth it, I have mixed feelings.

In fact, I think no one symbolizes the conflict -even schizophrenia- that some Meizu fans have felt about the development of the M8 than the OP of this thread. He is a longtime contributer to MeizuMe and, over the long road to releasing this phone, has passionately defended, scratched his head, and thrown up his hands (possibly the contents of his stomach, too) in disbelief...sometimes all in the same week. He is also not a slavering fanboy, typically taking a very balanced view of things. There are probably quite a few Meizu fans that still wonder what the heck Meizu is doing here. They may or may not realize that Meizu decided to drag themselves out of the quagmire of me-too Chinese MP4 manufacturers endlessly chasing their tails and evolve into a business focused on the future. Thus, the M8. They could have done something else, something a little easier like a hybrid MID that Korean companies are so good at doing, but a mobile phone makes sense in China. I mean, you have a mobile phone subscriber base getting on as big as the entire population of Europe, minus a couple of Frances. Who wouldn't be tempted?

As for me, I'll follow up my first post:

-I live in China and can buy the phone at the best price; not many MeizuMe members have that luxury. The M8 is a good deal here but pushes the boundary when you start talking $400+.

-Some forum members live in countries with ridiculous taxes on electronics, so getting a phone like the M8 shipped in grey market may be a very attractive option.

-A lot of the people who rail against the M8's price are comparing it to subsidized phones. I don't blame them; for some folks a phone is something you switch out every 6 months or one year...almost a disposable commodity.

-I'm also American, so the next time I go home I can pick up an awesome phone cheaper than probably anywhere else on earth. It'll also have a lot more connectivity options than the M8 currently does.

-I'm in China now and test versions are still readily available. That's good.

-Without WiFi or quad band, the official version is a no-sale; sorry Meizu.

-Right now, in China, the price of the test version is great for the features you get.

-In six months if the price is the same and there hasn't been any significant development to the M8's hardware and/or software, it will look really lame.

-I would prefer a multimedia phone and the M8 is as good as they get right now.

-Don't need a smartphone, but a lot of people do and they're probably going to laugh at the M8's current capability in that regard .

-I prefer to buy a phone outright.

-I don't need an an all-in-one solution, so I don't have to buy a phone like the M8. My other portable media devices are better than the M8, especially for music.

-I don't want to mess around with my phone's registry and whatnot, so I'm conflicted there. I can deal with the Chinese-language issues, but others may not want to.

-I'd prefer a no-drama phone.

-I want something different, so yes, the M8 fits the bill perfectly.

-I also really don't care and want something easy to use, so all the little headaches forum members are reporting every day give me pause.

So there, sorry for the novel, but I hope it can help point some other souls in the right direction.

An iPhone (plus unlock) will cost near to 8000 RMB. Meizu M8 is 2380, and is VERY similar.

8000 RMB is $1,170...if you're looking for an iPhone at that price, I have one to sell you.

An iPhone 3G in China is 4000-5000 RMB, by the way.

The M8 is far to expensiv on eBay. If it would be the 1:1 price from China, it would be OK and a hot seller. But if I really have to pay about 400€ for an not finished phone and "only" 8GB is too much. For the same money youc an buy an iPhone, which is in my opinion the better choice =p
At least MEIZU said at the bening the M8 would be about ~250$ and that would have been a nice price for sure. But it as we all know, it's not!

Chrisi

Very very yes.....

For ebay price - NO.

if the you buy under 400 $ with shiping...yes yes very worth the price

I had the experience of playing with the iphone 2G very briefly recently - including unlocking it for someone who didn't know how - this was a previously activated phone on AT&T so the unlocking included one an additional step that is not very common - all in all it went very well. And, since this was my first time with an iphone for any length of period i was REALLY impressed with it; it was a pain to use/get used to if your only other phones have been HTC Diamond or the M8 (I have had mine for about 1.5 months now). I still wouldn't go for the iphone simply because of the itunes issue and lack of comfort using the phone as a smartphone connecting and transferring files etc. Otherwise interface, ease of use and apps, all other fronts everybody comparing the iphone to the M8 are way off the mark - there is no comparison.

In the short time that i have owned the M8 there have been 3 new fws and we are no where near a solid acceptable fw which we all are dubbing 1.0. None of my original bugs and most others reported have been fixed (they added calendar sync function, but its still buggy and as good as not being there; they added more cities to the clock, but if you sync in active sync mode the clock resets the time and you still need to do a registry fix for that yourself). Most of the fw fixes i would categorize would be in the fluff sector - and appreciated by the media player crowd, and not the phone users. I mean simple things like searching contacts through first name and last name you can't do right now; it also messes up addresses when syncing with outlook, amongst other things.

The development being done for the phone is great, and will probably get better; but will undoubtedly be 90% in Chinese and useless to the rest of us. Most of the stuff is games or leisure related, personally, i wouldn't need most of them anyway...

I have said this before the price of the M8 either China price or a legitimate grey market import price ~450USD may be acceptable; but the value to what you get is not acceptable, or definitely doesn't feel worth it. It may get better for those of us with the test version of the phone if and when Meizu comes out with a better fw.

Personally i have agonoized with putting the phone up for sale or just keeping it as a media player. I vowed not to manually change all my outlook contact phone numbers format and wait for a fw fix, but eventually did that on the phone, now i simply don't sync with activesync - and frankly the phone isn't a smartphone so there is no need either.

I have watched two or so movies on the M8 with headphones while waiting for flight or similar situation and it was certainly better than having to deal with a laptop, sound/picture was great - though a full movie sapped my battery nearly completely. Music is good on the phone as well, but i don't get myself to the gym often enough to really use the music player function.

My conclusion - it works for now, and i'll use it until something better comes along. But wouldn't recommend it, even if you could get it in China - paying for the phone at this point is like rewarding Meizu for something it doesn't deserve rewards for (its a chicken and an egg thing, if there weren't people buying the phone the development in the phone we have seen in such a short time would not be there either Meizu would have no reason to continue - if no one buys the phone from now on, all us owners maybe SOL!)...

I'm not sure if customer service or follow up on bug reporting is better for Chinese customers as it is for English customers; but regardless, had it not been for MeizuMe the phone would be a complete wash - but then again if it hadn't been for MeizuMe i wouldn't have bought the phone or known that it was out!

i think you can't take into account the ebay price, or any other second level seller.... or simply its 2 different aspect... its all logic to jack up price, its business.

so asking price = 2380 rmb , YES very very worth it.... it will be about 100% on the separate poll.

all other sellers = its your call to decide, if that the only way to have the merchandise. talking this into a poll, it will have a mixed answer... that's the rating above.

anxiousone made some very good points there. The reason it has been so difficult for me to answer the question is obviously that I don't own one but also the fact that I have yet to see any comprehensive in depth reviews in English. However....from what I have learned from the forum it poses a dilemma for me.

In about 3 weeks time I may well have enough money to buy an M8. However I am still completely undecided. The main problem lies in the fact that, as I had thought would be the case prior to release, the M8 is esentially a work in progress. I like to tinker with devices and am no stranger to modding Firmwares and creating themes etc etc. However....it seems to me that at the moment (as I feared) the M8 cannot perform all the basic functions well. I mean having to dial your country code to call someone? and having to re input all your contacts, poor internet performance and wifi issues. Having to turn my phone of a couple of times a day, very average battery (although it being removable does help) etc etc. These type of issues would just end up pissing me off. I do not want to constantly be at the mercy of the M8's firmware engineers, preying that the release a fix to a problem. I mean look at the M6, people are still waiting for a fix to the stuttering issue, is this what owning an M8 will be like?

Of course it is still early days and I can see the M8 improving considerably. But...the problem for me is that I know if I don't buy soon all the wifi units will be gone but at it's current price point I'm not sure if I can justify spending that kind of money on a 'test' product.

Then of course we have the iphone factor. As I have mentioned before a few times the iphones OFFLINE price here in the UK is very very close to the M8's price. For £350 you get a 8gb iphone 3G on pay as you go (no monthly payment contract) + 12 monthes unlimited free 3G internet.

Now I had never really considered the iphone an option due to all it's restrictions but when you have no monthly fees and unlimited 3G you begin to realise how useful that would be. We also must consider the fact that you can get so many incredible applications for the iphone and the community is so big, it is simply in a different league to the M8.

Nevertheless I like obscure stuff, and I hate the fact that soo many people own the iphone, you can't look anywhere with out seeing one. I was also reading an artcle the other day which claimed that a huge percentage of people download iphone apps and never actually the use them. I also question really how much I would use 3G and Apps and all the rest. I currently have a low end nokia and I never do anything on it, not even take a picture. This leads me back to thinking that perhaps the M8 may be ok as I don't really need 3G or apps (although if I did have these options maybe I would use them) and neing able to drag and drop music onto my phone would certainly be a blessing.

Then we have the issue of value.....If the M8 were a polished product it would represent extremely good value, considering it's spec. But the truth is the phone is cheap but it doesn't perform anywhere near as well as more expensive main stream devices like the iphone (not suprising though considering it is new to market). There is also the fact that for the money I could buy a whole host of other really nice media/communications devices.

So I have come to the conclusion that I cannot solve this dilemma!

Originally Posted by JkPwNsTeR

Please do not buy an M8 at this point if:
1) You don't feel comfortable using unofficial modifications
2) You don't feel comfortable tinkering with some system critical settings

and especially if
3) You want a maintenance free phone

I'm not trying to be rude to any of you guys who want one, but you will need a decent knowledge of computers to use a M8 easily.

A lot of unofficial modifications will be released in the lifetime of the M8. If you want to use them, you will need to essentially jailbreak the M8, tinker around with the registry, and hope nothing goes wrong.

You will also probably not have any support fixing the M8, basically you have to fix it by yourself by following instructions here or elsewhere.

Basically the M8 at this point is just an expensive toy, so if you're that interested in it, you could buy it, but for me it is not worth the asking price, especially considering the current RMB to CAD rates. Honestly 444CAD for a toy?

Keep your beater phone and buy a Cowon S9 or, probably better, a Samsung P3 when it's released.