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.]

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 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.

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.

If you had even a sliver of faith left in Meizu that it would change its copycatting ways and turn its heart to creativity, you're probably feeling quite foolish right about now. In a recent posting made to showcase even more interface shots of the MiniOne M8, we got a glimpse at the not at all familiar music interface, more insight on the calling screens and a few more looks (shown after the jump) at how it'll handle messaging. Needless to say, we can just swear we've seen a similar GUI before, but apparently, playing the ignorance card makes it easier to swallow. Oh, and the actual phone now sports a "new edge" with a somewhat grayish motif -- enthralling, we know.

Sure hope you weren't counting on getting your palms around Meizu's oh-so-familiar M8 anytime soon, as it now looks like the handset may not even be available to purchase until mid-next year. Granted, the 667MHz CPU, 128MB of RAM, GSM connectivity, 3.4-inch VGA touchscreen, video output, and built-in Bluetooth 2.0 / WiFi sure are appealing, but those still willing to wait this one out will apparently be paying even more than previously expected. The latest on the street pegs the forthcoming 8GB iteration at around $400, but if money ain't a thang, you may as well continue on pinching those pennies for the 16GB (and potentially 3G-enabled) flavor.

[Via MeizuMe]

Nothing really new here, just the first pictures of the latest MiniOne M8 redesign from the sides, top, bottom, and back. Sorry, we'd love to tell you when this 11.8-mm of sexy will break loose Stateside and beyond but we can't. Still, if it makes you feel any better you can always prop these pictures up next to the dubious import pricing and dates we heard about this morning. You know, with claims of releasing a game changing 3G, HSDPA with WiFi worldphone packing 16GB of flash by early 2008... isn't it about time for Meizu to get this project out of their Chinese language bulletin boards and issue an honest to goodness foreign press release? In the mean time, we'll continue to cast doubt while you go toe-to-toe with product renderings in the gallery over at Engadget. Oh, and before you go... it looks like an iPhone. Ha, you didn't think you'd escape this post without some kind of Apple reference did ya?

Official word from China is that the Meizu MiniOne (AKA, M8, the original iPhone killer) is expected to go up for sale in early 2008. While the final specs and price have still not been confirmed, that hasn't stopped importers from listing the 16GB version of the 3G MiniOne for $988.50 and a claimed "in stock" date of December 7th -- a date which may live in infamy (again) if true.

[Via PMP Today, thanks BrianB]

Here you have it, what looks to be a (re-touched) photograph of a real engineering sample of the Meizu MiniOne (M8). The picture was posted by CEO, Jack Wong, with the promise of more pictures to come in a "few days." At the moment, the 58 x 105 x 11.8-mm M8 is said to carry a spec list which includes a 667MHz ARM11 processor running a Windows CE 6.0 kernel up on a 3.3-inch, 720 x 480 pixel touchscreen display. The MiniOne M8 model will pack GSM with EDGE data while the MiniOne M8 w ("w" for worldphone we presume) is said to go WCDMA/HSDPA/GSM/EDGE. WiFi, Bluetooth, and what appears to be a 3 megapixel camera also come standard with your choice of 4, 8, and 16GB of flash capacities. While we've seen pricing and an "end of 2007" release date before, the specs have changed so dramatically since then that we'll just have to continue holding tight as this pup evolves. You know, if they can actually push this wunderkind out the door.

[Via MeizuMe]

Read -- Specs
Read -- Picture

iPhone clone or not, we've got to hand it to Meizu for equipping its miniOne handset with a veritable what's-what of modern day mobile tech. According to Akhiabara News, freshly-updated specs allegedly indicate that the device -- assuming it makes it past Apple's legal gauntlet, of course -- will ship in configurations ranging from 4 to 16GB of internal storage and feature a 533MHz ARM11 core from Samsung, 128MB of DDR (yes, DDR) RAM, VGA front and 3 megapixel rear cams, Bluetooth, WiFi, DMB mobile television, and integrated GPS all wrapped up in a tight little Windows Mobile 6 package. Oh yeah, and don't forget the glorious 720 x 480 display and the 3G data. Sound too good to be true? Yep, and as long as we see nothing more than renderings of the miniOne floating around, we'll figure it is too good to be true.

With high hopes of putting some litigation distance between it and Apple, Meizu just released these updated renderings of their M8 / miniOne. Still no actual product shots though we hear that a prototype is floating around Meizu offices somewhere in China. So what say you -- is this change enough to keep Apple's lawyers at bay?

[Via MeizuMe]

No, they didn't have the miniOne on display here at CeBIT, not even a plastic mockup. Apparently, there is only one and it's back in the office with CEO, Jack Wong. Still, that didn't stop us from hounding the folks at Meizu for details about their flagship (i)phone offering. After some initial reluctance to discuss the product, we learned that Meizu is planning a miniOne release for the European and North American markets. But wait, there's a catch: it won't be a phone. According to Mrs. Wong and designer Mr. Young Su, Cho, the miniOne will break from China as an audio/video player, only -- no date was given, we asked... repeatedly. This miniOne "entrance" model (which will likely be called something else once the English is cleaned up) will lack a camera and cost $195 for the 4GB model and $305 for the 8GB version. So the $285 and $400 price tags we heard about will come affixed to the 4GB and 8GB miniOne "standard" media playin' phone. It also sports an integrated 2 megapixel camera and TD-SCDMA coupled with tri-band GSM/GPRS (no EDGE). Media on both devices will likely be protected by Windows Media DRM10 and feature the same codec support as their other devices. Meizu also confirmed that the miniOne will absolutely, positively play video at 30fps at the device's full 720 x 480 screen resolution. That's the plan, but anything can happen between now and the "end of 2007" launch in China, eh Jackson?