Side-by-side, I have to admit that the Meizu M8 can match iPhone in looks. Ultimately, in China it’s going to be features like hardware sleekness and video playback that are going to make the difference with the Chinese people. As the China iPhone will be sold with the WiFi disabled, features like 5 MP camera, Bluetooth 2.0 that supports file sync and support for multiple video files available in the Meizu M8 may be too much a temptation for Chinese users.

[video at clonedinchina]

Though the Meizu M8 isn’t going to be as far from iPhone as we’ve all been hoping in its next few refreshes, the user interface seems a lot more polished than before. Can you say “So-fist-ti-cated”? The crisp high-definition icons seem to be only the beginning of it. We got a dock at the bottom of the screen that seems to say there’s going to be real multitasking. Meizume says it’s coming in August.

[meizume via engadget]

J.Wong, the dynamic CE of Meizu has announced that users of the current 2G Meizu M8 will be able to upgrade to 3G for an additional $190 and $220 for the 8GB and 16GB respectively. No mention of the Meizu M8 3G MSR, and we’re expecting it to appear months ago. The good news above is that the screen should be way amazing for an “iPhone clone” at 720 x 480, and some forum posters there at Meizume are crossing their fingers on the possible AMOLED goodness.

[meizume via engadget]

Jack Wong, the dynamic CEO of Meizu, has announced that future plans of their uber iPhone clone will include Google’s Android as an OS option, aside the Windows CE the Meizu M8 is currently running. Apparently, there are already leaks of the supposed Meizu M8 running Android. We have posted the screen shots below. The user interface design is by Eico, the designer of the current M8 UI. The Android-based interface moves the M8 and future Meizu smartphones farther away from the M8’s current iPhone clone designation. Read on, it’s a very interesting sight.

Thumbnail image:

[via cnbeta 1 and 2]

It comes as no surprise when Meizume reported we’ll have to wait till 2010 for the Meizu M8 3G. As earlier reported, the 3G version of the best-known iPhone clone will have improved specs like GPS and a 5 MP camera. It will use the same Mymobile Meizu M8 OS which is a customized Windows CE 6.0.

Read the specs of the 3G Meizu M8:

[via meizume]

Networks: TD-SCDMA (M8-G3) and WCDMA (M8-W) - both 3G networks

Dimensions: 112mm x 59mm x 10,5mm (H x W x T)

Processor: Samsung C100 or C110 (800 Mhz or 1 Ghz)

Display: 3.54″ (50×75 mm, 2:3 ratio), 16600K colors, 720×480 pixel resolution

PC Interface: USB 2.0 Ultra Fast Data Transfer

Flash Memory: 8 or 16 GB of flash NAND

System Memory: More than 256 MB memory (not yet specified)

Operating System: Meizu OS aka Mymobile (Based on Windows CE 6.0)

Video Playback: AVI, FLV, MPEG-2, RM(VB), WMV, MPEG-4/H.263/H.264 at 30FPS

Camera: 5 megapixel with LED flash

Battery: not yet specified

Support For:

• Bluetooth 2.0
• Line-out
• Built-in GPS
• Multi-touch

Additional Features:

• Light sensor
• Tilt and movement sensor

I guess spending $350 for the lowest-capacity Meizu M8 can put too much strain on on our bank accounts in this economic environment, which is what the good people of MeiLi must be thinking when they made their own version of the M8 Apple iPhone clone. The MeiLi M8 is undeniably a lookalike of the Meizu M8, a phone generally acknowledged as the finest iPhone clone there ever was. The question is if the MeiLi M8 is a Meizu M8 clone and the latter is a clone of the iPhone, then theoretically Apple can sue MeiLi for copyright infringement, too. Right?

Specs after the break. More cheap phones like the $100 touchscreen MeiLi M8 at our cheap electronics page.

[store]

MeiLi M8 specs:

• Quadband GSM/ GPRS/ WAP
• 2.8-inch touchscreen
• SMS, MMS
• Bluetooth, JAVA, MP3 and MP4 support
• camera (unspecified pixel count)
• 1200mAh battery
• Price: $99.99 (includes two batteries)

We totally missed this piece of Meizu news. The rumored Meizu M8 White has finally been officially launched. There was a little to-do about it in China. They’ve got pretty girls, paparazzi and everything. Just for your information, only the back is white. The front is still totally bordered with black. So not like the iPhone.

[source]

Jack Wong, Meizu CEO, has recently revealed in a Chinese forum some features of the Meizu M8 successor, to be called the Meizu M9. It appears that Chinese 3G support is going to make it to the Meizu phone iteration. In addition, the Meizu M9 will sport a 5 megapixel camera with LED and built-in GPS will undoubtedly excite travellers. But, really, the most important question for Meizu: will it be available nefore 2011?

[via meizume, engadget]

The Meizu M8 will have a CDMA and 3G sccessor soon. The Meizu M9c phone is meant for CDMA2000 networks, while the M9t will support TD-SCDMA or Chinese 3G.

No mention of a hardware or UI change.This announcement, according to Meizume, comes from CEO Jack Wong himself. The site administrator Err0r thinks no hardware overhaul at all. If you go to the link below, there is mention of Meizu’s former racket as a pretty good MP4 player manufacturer, which we didn’t really see in one Meizu M8 review.

[source]

Our pals at Journal du Geek finally published their review of the Meizu M8. The phone is only available in India and China for now. The Meizu M8 is not a 3G phone but my hope is that it will be once it gets released in Europe (dubbed Meizu M8 3G or something like that) but it’s no ordinary iPhone clone. The company Meizu was one of the leading Mp4 player manufacturers in China before it went on to focus its limited resources into creating an iPhone rival. It took them a while and after several delays have given us a lot to laugh about but to dismiss the M8 is to be totally unfair to Meizu. The Windows CE 6.0 phone has a pretty good screen, a UI designed by Eico is significantly different from the iPhone UI. That is not to say the Meizu M8 interface is not user-friendly because it is.

What to expect from the Meizu M8: a $400 to $500 price tag is not so bad for this smartphone. The 3.4-inch touchscreen is a crisp 720 x 480 and powered by ARM11 667MHz with 256MB RAM, it’s a speedy hand held. It also compes with a ton of video and audio support, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, speaker and TV Out. Nothing to brag about to iPhone-owning friends but definitely not one of those sorry-looking iPhone clones.

Video review from Journal du Geek after the break.

[journaldugeek]