Remember how the folks at the Meizu booth swore up and down that the M8 Mini One wasn't that similar to the iPhone? Well apparently the Hanover police think otherwise. According to a report, the booth (shown above in its vacated state) was shut down by cops for piracy during CeBIT and passersby were told that, "The venue is closed until further notice." It appears that after stopping down the M8 show, cops proceeded to confiscate equipment and literature associated with the painfully obvious knock-off, and will be making a more detailed statement on Thursday in regards to the action. Meizu, it might be time to get yourself a makeover... and a good attorney.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in; Image courtesy Heise Online]

If there's one person at CeBIT you don't want to not recognize, it's German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Nevertheless, we can only assume that Vodafone booth workers were left with their tails stuck between their legs after said figure gave its recently announced picture-based search engine a go. Upon Otella returning nothing after a picture was presumably snapped of Merkel, she quickly asserted: "I am not in the database." Better still, she continued by proclaiming: "That's a major gap." Heck, maybe she should be happy -- after all, Vodafone's set to trial the service with Europe's "best selling tabloid," and not being in there would most certainly be a good thing.

Here's the story: this Sony Ericsson T303 is a tiny one. Like, really small. We spotted it behind glass at the Sony Ericsson booth here at CeBIT, and we could easily see it becoming a top fashionista pick. Unfortunately, the paltry specs are going to divert all but the staunchest supporters of fashion minimalism. We're also a little confused why Sony Ericsson still hasn't replaced that generic "SE 123" logo the phone was sporting when we first saw it in February. Forget to pay the sticker guy? Perhaps we'll never know.

T-Mobile gave us a quick look today at Nokia's latest clamshell, the 6550. The Series 60 phone is pretty sexy as far as Nokia flips go -- and quite the looker in its own right -- but it's still clear that Nokia's struggling to make any of its S60 units truly "skinny." The QVGA screen is naturally stellar, and the secondary display on the back includes a few capacitive touch buttons to control music playback. We also liked the main keypad, which is a bit of a departure for Nokia. The phone won't blow any minds, but it's certainly a solid play by Nokia for the budget set in Europe -- how about a little Stateside love, eh Nok?

What will it be, the good or the bad news first? How 'bout the good. After an initial rebuff, we finally managed to grab some photos of that exclusive T-Mobile MDA compact IV. You remember: 7.2Mbps HSDPA, GPS, VGA resolution screen, WiFi and 4GB of on-board storage. It'll also launch "mit neuestem Microsoft Betriebssytem" which we can safely assume is Windows Mobile 6.1 at this point. Oh yes, and the bad news. It's only a plastic dummy and our photographs were restricted by a glass cube. Still, this is as close as most of you will get for a long, long time. Full gallery over at Engadget.

We've finally seen the M8 in the wild, made with real molecules -- sort of. The prototype being passed around doesn't really function beyond showing a few screens, though a rough cut of the full interface was available on a decidedly un-M8 looking prototype board. Check out our comprehensive coverage of the device, which looks nothing like the iPhone, below!

Read - Video: Meizu M8 mini One OS looks very, very familiar
Read - Video: Meizu M8 mini One
Read - Meizu M8 mini One vs. iPhone... fight!

Whoa, no EDGE? That's a surefire sign that Sony Ericsson is targeting the very bottom end of the market with its just-introduced T303 slider, a phone we saw in classic "SE123" form just recently. That seems a bit at odds with the fact that the phone's exterior is mostly constructed of chrome and metal, but we're guessing buyers aren't going to argue too much with that. Features include an integrated FM radio, 8MB of memory, a 160 x 128 display, Bluetooth, and a 1.3 megapixel camera in two flavors depending on which three GSM band combo you'd rather have. Look for it to launch in "mid 2008" for a price to be set by your local distributor -- but expect it to be cheap.

We've certainly seen some clever methods of searching from one's mobile, but Vodafone's latest idea is quite the stroke of genius. Showcased at CeBIT, the Otello search engine simply uses images as input; in other words, handset owners just snap a picture of anything -- a landmark, DVD case, unidentified flying object, etc. -- and Otello then "returns information relevant to the picture to the mobile phone." Reportedly, Vodafone is expected to conduct a trial with German paper Bild in which readers can "find out more about specially-marked articles by photographing them with their mobile's camera and sending the image to [the aforementioned paper]." Unfortunately, the carrier is being tight-lipped with its plans for Otello beyond the trial, but if this stuff functions as advertised, we can't see it remaining a secret for long.

[Via Pocket-lint]

T-Mobile is unveiling its MDA compact IV at CeBIT this week, and despite its somewhat unassuming name, this one should command some serious attention. The HTC-sourced Windows Mobile 6 (possibly 6.1, if we're lucky) device sports full VGA resolution -- a feature that's still dismally uncommon on Western handsets -- along with a respectable 4GB of internal storage, 7.2Mbps HSDPA, quadband EDGE, Bluetooth, and WiFi; since it succeeds the Artemis-based MDA compact III, we'd reckon there's probably GPS in there, too. We'll try to catch this one in the wild as its being passed from hand to greedy hand around the T-Mobile booth in the next day or two, since it's the closest most of our American readers will ever get to it.

Nokia used CeBIT as its stage today to introduce two new models destined specifically for the European marketplace (fine, Nokia, be that way). The 6550 flip will be found exclusively on T-Mobile -- and seriously, we really wouldn't mind having it on the US T-Mobile with its clean looks, external music controls, HSDPA, 2 megapixel cam, and QVGA display. Even better, it should be basically free on contract when it launches in the third quarter. Next up, the 6124 classic candybar is made just for Vodafone customers like the 6234 before it, offering tight integration with its services atop S60. Pricing wasn't announced, but it should hit Voda shelves next quarter.

Read - Nokia 6550
Read - Nokia 6124 classic

Regardless of the cause, we certainly like the trend of these enhanced touch-screen UIs dominating the high-end cellphone market. Now meet ASUS' GUI slickness destined for their newest touchscreen devices including the ZX1. Starting with a Windows Mobile 6.1 core, ASUS slathers on a new customizable Multi-Home 3D interface meant to simplify access to your today screen, life and business applications. Think HTC's TouchFlo only sexier. ASUS even threw in some "album cover flow" to the media app and the ability to more easily manipulate all your digital media with enhanced figure gestures. You can even drop everything into a visual carousel if that's your preference. See for yourself in the video after the break.

While poking around the ASUS booth this morning we had a chance to witness the world premier unveiling of the ZX1 Lamborghini. We even took a few shots before it went under the glass. However, the real treat is the UI based on a Windows Mobile 6.1 core running special ASUS tweaks. It's "just like the iPhone" according to our friendly ASUS guide. The device is expected to fetch an unsubsidized €1,000 ($1,500) price tag when this 3G world-phone launches in Europe this May. Maybe you'll think it's worth it when we get back to you in a few with a video of the GUI albeit sans all that Lamborghini theme nonsense.

So we hurried on over to the Meizu booth in sweaty-palmed anticipation of laying fleshy bits upon a working M8 MiniOne. It's gotta be here, right? After all, Meizu CEO Jack Wong promised it his damn self. Nope. Oh sure, they did bring that siliconless, plastic mockup already seen kicking around the Nets for awhile and they offered to show us a laptop-based demo of the UI if we come back tomorrow. Although even the demo is feature incomplete. Nevertheless, Meizu is confident that it will begin shipping the M8 in China in the next "half year" while remaining coy for a rest-of-world launch. Guess reverse engineering the iPhone isn't so easy, eh Jackson?

So it now looks like that rumored high-end ZX1 Windows Mobile 6 Professional handset from ASUS is a lock for a CeBIT announcement, though we're going to be totally honest, we're not certain it's worthy of the Lamborghini name. Granted, we've got to withhold judgment until we get one in our hands, but outside of a Lamborghini badge-shaped nav pad and a speedometer-inspired clock on the home screen, we're not seeing anything special about the darned thing. On the plus side, it's a 3G world phone with HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 and quadband GSM / EDGE, a 3 megapixel autofocus camera out back with a VGA sensor up front for video calling, 256MB of ROM, 128MB of RAM, microSD expansion, GPS, WiFi, and the typical QVGA display. We guess the 13.2mm thick shell is notable, but Lamborghini notable? More on this one as soon as we catch it in the wild.

Long a tradition in ASUS' notebook line, it seems like the storied Italian marque might be making a fateful move from the lap to the pocket. The rumored ZX1 handset from ASUS is said to be a fairly high-end smartphone -- and frankly, Lamborghini should expect nothing less -- with Windows Mobile 6 Professional, a 520MHz core, integrated GPS, HSDPA, and to loosely translate the French source, "all the colors of the Lamborghini brand." It looks like ASUS will be targeting the Touch crowd with this one, too, thanks to an expansive touchscreen that we'd guess will be at least a bit finger-friendly. If this all checks out, we can expect the ZX1 for about €650 (about $963) this summer following a CeBIT announcement.

[Via Unwired View]