• Meizu M8: Can't Afford the iPhone? Buy a Ripoff

    Meizu M8: Can't Afford the iPhone? Buy a Ripoff

    Techtree News Staff, Sep 29, 2008 1446 hrs IST

    A Made-in-China iPhone clone set to land in India. Price? Rs. 18,000

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Ah, the Chinese and their IP-violating ways, bless them. In their eternal quest to duplicate every successful product out there, they have given us this iPhone ripoff called the Meizu M8.



The Meizu is set to launch in the Indian market through Geek IT Stores, a Taiwanese company. Geek manufactures products in China and Taiwan and exports them all over the ever-shrinking planet. We spoke with Amit Naik, the CEO of Geek and he indicated that the M8 is expected to reach Indian shores by the 1st week of December. The phone should cost between Rs. 18,000 to Rs. 22,000, he further indicated.

As for distribution of the phone: the company has taken a franchise route in India -- Geek already has established a network of 18+ franchisees in tier-2 & tier 3 cities. "We were looking for a better, cheaper alternative for iPhone [sic] to Indian customer [sic], since the beta launch of M8 testing is through, we are very confident to make M8 an success [sic again]", said Mr. Nilesh Patel, Head Sourcing, Indian operations for Geek.

Geek eventually plans to offer its products through more than 300 franchisees in India by 2011.

Here's some spec-differences to chew on -- the Apple iPhone versus the Meizu M8, courtesy Apple Matters:


Dimensions:
iPhone = 115 (h) x 61 (w) x 11.6 (d) mm
M8 = 105 (h) x 57 (w) x 11.5 (d) mm

Screen Size:
iPhone = 3.5 inches
M8 = 3.3 inches

Screen Resolution:
iPhone = 320 x 480
M8 = 720 x 480

Input Method:
iPhone = Apple patented Multi-touch
M8 = Standard touchscreen

Storage:
iPhone = 2 models at 4GB and 8GB non-removable flash memory
M8 = 2 models at 4GB and 8GB non-removable flash memory

Camera:
iPhone = 2.0 megapixels
M8 = 3.0 megapixels plus one 0.3-mega pixels on front for video calling

GSM:
iPhone = Quad-band 2.5G
M8 = Unknown but 3G capable

Wireless Data:
iPhone = Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0
M8 = Bluetooth 2.0 + TV-Out

Operating System:
iPhone = Mac OS X Mobile
M8 = Windows CE 6.0

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Meizu M8 iPhone ripoff iPhone clone



Discussion Board
(4) Comments
Nilesh Patel
,Surat, on Dec 21, 2008 07:32 PM
"i-Next belongs to SUDARSHAN firm registered as a partnership firm mainly dealing in Jeweleries and Diamonds, diverted to Electronics by the Grace of Mr.Amit Nayak ex.CEO of Geek IT Stores, Sudarshan has some due?s pending from Amit Nayak which is still unpaid and uncleared by Nayak. Amit Nayak has no License to market or use Meizu for the personal or for the company benefits without having permission of Meizu or it?s Indian distributors SUDARSHAN. Mr.Nayak please pay your balance due?s first and then claim whatever you want to, stop using name of Meizu & your non registered domain of Meizu M8 in public for your personal benefits or we will have to move the case to the court legally. If you have any rights to use Meizu or their products then show it in the public with the Registration of Geek IT Stores what you have been claiming a Taiwanese company which is not. Stop cheating innocent Indians..Those 1900 peoples have registered on the non registered website of Meizu M8 are Innocent Indians they have no idea about the Geek or is that really Freak ???"
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Vilas Pathak
,Bombay, on Oct 01, 2008 07:01 AM
Looks that this Small Boy will at Rs 24000 give a TOUGH Fight to iPhone which is at Rs 36000. Also Nokia Tube is expected at Rs 36000 in Dec 2008. Lot of choice to the Consumer. But Price Level has to come down to make it affordable to the mass in India.
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Girish
,Bangalore, on Sep 30, 2008 11:11 AM
Please do not print false information. 1. The phone cannot have Windows CE 6. It would surely have Windows Mobile 6 which is actually Windows CE 5. 2. Do not compare it to old iPhone, compare it to the new iPhone 3G If you sourced this article from some other website, which is the general cowardly fashion, atleast update it with the latest information.
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Mathew
,Bangalore, on Sep 29, 2008 04:57 PM
Wow...i am sure its going to be a tough competition for iphone...I personally owe a M6 mp3 player....Beleive me these guys produce quality prodcuts....
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