After what feels like centuries of waiting (and suffering through that painful CeBIT demo), we finally get to see the Meizu M8's OS in action... and it's not as bad as you think. Sure, the interface is totally derivative of the iPhone, and there is that pesky cursor floating around, but all-in-all it looks like the company has managed to knock out a decent -- if incredibly familiar -- UI for its long-delayed phone. Still, there's some low rent hilarity in this video. Our favorites? The smattering of soft porn pictures and video, and Meizu CEO and all-around bon vivant Jack Wong revealed in a reflection... wearing a face mask! Check the clip after the break (and freeze frame of Mr. Wong).

Update: Despite our excitement about Jack Wong in a face mask, some readers have pointed out (and we agree) that it's actually the camera he's using to film the video.

[Thanks, Patrick P.]

The saga of the Meizu M8 is one of the more entertaining dramas in the phone biz these days, owing partly to the endless delays and tweaks, granted -- but owing much more to the truly masterful ripping of the iPhone's industrial design. Unfortunately, there's been very little actual bite to follow up the bark coming out of the Meizu camp, and it looks like we might get a real taste of this thing for the first time as soon as next month. A post on Meizu's website, seemingly from none other than CEO J. Wong himself, claims that a first cut of the M8 will arrive next month -- along with plenty more pictures and details -- but it'll be a somewhat neutered rendition that features just 128MB of RAM and zero flash. October will bring the real deal, a 256MB baddie that rocks 8GB of storage for 2180 yuan, which works out to about $320. Meanwhile, pictures have surfaced of the latest prototype floating around Meizu's labs, looking both as slick and as litigation-prone as ever. Bring these stateside, Mr. Wong, and we'll be the very first to sign up -- just don't be surprised if Apple is right behind us.

[Via Electronista]

Read - August for 128MB model, October for 256MB / 8GB?
Read - Prototype M8 in the wild

Now, we know the official story on the CeBIT Meizu shutdown was related to MP3 codec licensing, and not the M8's iPhone-like UI. Still, it does seem strangely fortuitous that more pictures of the phone's interface have just appeared that seem to showcase a move away from Apple's familiar look. The Chinese site CNMO has new shots of the device's music player, which now appears to incorporate song info, EQ display, lyrics, and volume / tracking controls all on one screen. The pictures also show a couple of different music browsing options, both in landscape and portrait mode. Is this a signal that the company is putting some distance between the M8 and the iPhone? Only time will tell.

[Via PMP Today]

While it appears that Meizu's infringement shutdown at CeBIT was for unlicensed MP3 usage, and not at all to do with the eerie resemblance to a certain iPhone, the company still seems eager to prove to the world it is brewing something unique with the M8 mini One. CEO Jack Wong posted a bunch of new shots to the Meizu forums with small interface tweaks that inch the OS a bit away from its iPhone roots -- but certainly not far.



[Thanks, Lino G.]

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]

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!

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?

Given the sheer bulk of press Meizu's M8 has received over the course of its young, controversial life, it'd seem likely that even the slightest trickle of units onto Chinese store shelves would lead to unboxing shots, videos, and reviews within hours, wouldn't it? Reports are starting to flow across the 'nets that M8s are now being made available through several of Meizu's suppliers, but without a single in-the-wild picture of a fully functional, final spec unit -- from Meizu, much less a paying customer -- we're not buying it. For one thing, there aren't any "zomg I just picked up my m8!" posts on MeizuMe; secondly, MeizuMe's Err0r says that his site will be the "first place" we read about a release (and frankly, we believe him); and third, after the trials and tribulations the handset has gone through on its long journey to retail, you'd think that we'd at least see it at a trade show before it hit the streets. So, anyone want to prove us wrong by posting shots of their M8?

Given the Meizu M8's not-so-faint resemblance to another semi-famous handheld, you'd think trying to get a patent on the design would be fairly fruitless -- but it looks like the company's giving it a shot anyway. This Chinese patent app was apparently filed last February, but China's patent office just published it on the 16th, so we're not even certain which bad render, doctored photo, or cardboard mockup of the M8 is referenced within. Still, Jack Wong had better get his lawyers in gear and get this patent on the books -- Apple might be slow in getting to China, but it's not going to be happy once it does.

Meizu's Windows CE-based M8 continues to get tweaked ahead of an alleged CES debut, but the company is breaking from tradition and forgoing the typical renderings or dummies. Why? Turns out they're adding a couple of extra buttons up front -- three in total now -- and Meizu's CEO wants to keep the design under wraps while it navigates the patent process. We're not too sure what exactly there is to patent about a triplet of buttons, but hey, if these guys can get a little IP under their belts, it might give some much-needed street cred in the "we're not an iPhone clone" argument. Pictured here is a fan rendering of... well, you know, what three buttons might look like (in case you needed some help visualizing it) along with what is said to be the back of Meizu's latest prototype.

Why merely steal the entirety of your product's industrial design and user interface when you can gank so much more? Philip Warner of Lithium Picnic studios dropped us a line to let us know that the wallpaper being used on the latest rendering of Meizu's M8 MiniOne is his own work -- and surprise, surprise, Meizu hasn't licensed it, which ironically only serves to rip off Apple's own ripping off of artists. Yeah, you've gotta have stones to survive in this industry, but Meizu's chutzpah takes it to a whole new level, particularly if they makes good on their apparent intention to debut the M8 stateside at CES in a few weeks. Then again, when they said "CES," maybe they meant some knockoff tradeshow held in a vacant lot somewhere.

[Image via CNMO]

Listen fellas, are you sure you want to venture onto US soil with this thing? Compared to Meizu's native China, the US is a haven for intellectual property protection -- and as far as we're concerned, not a single tweak done to the M8's design since its intro has ventured far enough from the iPhone to keep Apple's sharks lawyers from circling. Nevertheless, Chinese site CNMO reports that the M8 could make its first real, actual public appearance (as opposed to the countless renderings and dummies the company has produced so far) in Sin City itself as part of the CES festivities in early January with retail availability as early as February. That would put us just shy of a full year since the M8 was announced, and probably just weeks (if not days) before Apple gets an injunction against sales here. Just a guess.

[Via myminiOne and Meizu Me]

Everybody's favorite IP duplication engine is back in the news. Meizu's M8 Mini One iPhone clone just received an iPod touch makeover in a bid for protection from Apple's lawyers. See, the M8 is a phone, the touch is an MP3 player -- so toootally different your honor. They've also bumped the display from 3.3- to 3.4-inches with pricing still pegged at about $265 / $320 / $400 for the 4GB / 8GB / 16GB models if they ever make it Stateside... or locally to China for that matter. We're at 10 months and counting since it was announced.