SmartQ is driving a wedge between me & the M8

chengdude

So I heard the rumors a while back and this week SmartQ made it official with the announcement of the SmartQ 5:

Translated version of http://www.smartdevices.com.cn/information/news/200902/12-190.html

They're calling it a Mobile Internet Device (MID), but whatever you want to call it, I think it's what Meizu should have done as a bridge between the M6/M3 and the long wait for the M8.

The headline features of the SmartQ 5 are:

-4.3" 800x480 touchscreen (resistive)

-WiFi & Bluetooth (for real, they can do it; it's not a phone)

-USB OTG

-virtual keyboard + "Chinese character input method", which hopefully means handwriting recognition considering the resistive screen

-Wide-ranging applications: web browser/IM/music/video/e-book/PDF/office apps/game emulators (no sweat since emulators are how SmartQ got started)

For anyone not familiar with SmartQ, they are the only other Chinese manufacturer besides Meizu that designs players that actually work well: their firmware looks great and does what it says. They're also rather unique in that, a) their players don't use built-in memory: you load the firmware & content on SD cards and swap them out as you please and b) since 2007, they've really only made 2 players...a big contrast with the player-a-month philosophy of other brands.

If the 5 holds to previous SmartQ platforms, they will use an ADI Blackfin processor (previous players ran at either 533 or 600Mhz) and the ubiquitous Wolfson WM8987. They're making a big deal about the high price of other MIDs on the market, so I'm hoping this thing ends up being around half the price of the M8...hopefully less.

The big If is whether the Blackfin is up to all the tasks they're pushing.

No, it's not a phone, but if SmartQ can deliver on their promise and they manage to hold to (or improve on) their previous firmware design, they'll get my money for sure. Sorry Meizu; this is what I really wanted to see from you since I really don't need a powerful phone.

Quinny

I have to admit that is one hell of a good looking player ... although im not to sure if using a blackfin processer is a good idea. Anyway one downside with these players is their GUI it is always so crappy and generic that i dont even think of buying them. I think the last one i saw was the T2? that didnt have such a bad GUI. Hopefully they can pull all of this off and i think they are in with a grin.

marcelo1251

have you ever heard about Maxian? They ain't chinese but korean, althought since I started looking at Meizu back in 06 (sounds like alot of time isn't it?) they were already doing amazing players that honestly nowdays are hard to see, at least specs wise... haven't ever seen one myself.

I for one recall how bad I wanted the D900 for quite a long time. No luck finding it online tho.

Take a look at them, I'm completely sure they've gone far away than SmartQ 5's offering.

Cheers

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chengdude

Thanks; yes, I do know Maxian...unfortunately like many of their peers, they're pretty much a Korea-only company. Not sold in China, either. Not so many people realize that Korea has by far the coolest portable gadget market on earth.

It's true that these sorts of devices have been done by Korean companies for at least a couple of years now. I wrote some time ago in another thread that Meizu should have been looking at Korean companies like Maxian rather than Apple to take a big first step above all the other Chinese brands....but they wanted a phone. I'm glad SmartQ is doing it, though; they're a good company, but smaller than Meizu.

It's also true that -unless SmartQ has a suprise in waiting- the 5 won't be so powerful as anything like those Maxian units (they frequently use TI DaVinci chips) or even so robust as the Samsung processor in the M8. Still, it's going to be an interesting product and one much closer to what I'd like to own.