Meizu MX2 Launch Event Is The “REAL” Apple Keynote Knockoff in China (Videos)

By Herman Lai, posted Nov 28, 2012 at 6:13 PM, 11,670 views,

Meizu MX2 Launch Event Is The “REAL” Apple Keynote Knockoff in China (Videos)

To survive in the fierce competition of Chinese mobile market, the phone makers in China are trying to imitate everything from Apple. We have attended Meizu MX2 launch party in Beijing, which was considered to be another equivalent to Apple’s keynote event. Previously, we remembered CNN has mentioned that Meizu was formerly the coveted smartphone brand in China, but that mantle has passed on to Xiaomi which — like Apple — masterfully markets its technology like a lifestyle. But now we believe Meizu has strike back, which proved they can host a better Apple keynote knockoff in China. After having a preview video of Meizu MX2, we’ve made another video to take you through the magnificent Meizu MX2 launch event inside Beijing WaterCube. Meanwhile, we will look at Meizu MX2 in more details and how Meizu gives Xiaomi a big punch.

The Launch

Here is a Youku Version for Chinese user

The event was held at Beijing WaterCube. Meizu picks WaterCube to hold its launch event is because the whole building matches the color theme of the brand. WaterCube was being served as an aquatics center for the swimming competitions of Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, but it has an indoor tennis court. The tennis court is where Meizu’s launch party was held. Beijing WaterCube only has two main entrances, the entire building is surrounded by fences, security guards and surveillance cameras are everywhere. The property is managed by the Chinese government.

Meizu’s enthusiasts were feeling very exciting outside the stadium. Even the weather was merely 32°F (equivalent to 0°C), it still did not cool down their passion.

The press invitation is a piece of glass that packed in a well designed CD envelope, which is probably the best looking media invitation in China tech industry. On the envelope, it has a barcode and a WaterCube’s security label.

Meizu’s receptionists put an entry pass over each attendee’s neck

Meizu’s receptionists

There is security check at the entrance, all attendees’ belonging must go through X-ray inspection before enter the hall.

Over 800 people flocked in to the event, including 200 local and international medias, 250 Meizu’s fans, and the rest are dealers and business partners.

Many medias were doing living blogging at the event, treating it as if Apple keynote

Surprisingly, we saw many people using Samsung smartphone at the event

The launch party is pretty much another ripoff of Apple’s keynote event after Xiaomi held a launch event in August. Comparing the two Apple Keynote knockoff, we think Meizu’s launch event was more grand, while Xiaomi’s launch event was more playful. They both have different style.

Meizu MX2

Meizu MX2 would carry an amazingly-sharp 4.4-inch HD+ display with 347ppi, which sits within a 3.15 mm bezel on the phone. This approach maximizes the screen viewing space by eliminating the black frames or bezels around the display, which maintained the size and the form factor. With “HD+”, it is a new term that Meizu used to describe a display with 16:10 aspect ratio 1280×800 resolution. Meizu explained the display would bring accurate clarity with automatically-adjusted brightness, helps saving 20-50% of energy use.

Although HTC One X is larger than MX2, the display width of MX2 is wider than HTC One X.

The home button has been redesigned. It’s a touch sensitive button with breathing touch-light and green Neon light. It’s one of the features that we like the most, we have see how this feature exactly works in our in-depth review.

Meizu MX2 has a metallic surround framing the perimeter of the top surface.

Meizu MX2 will be using a new processor called MX5S, which is a Samsung-made quad-core processor running at 1.6GHz, paired up with a 533MHz GPU and 2GB of RAM!

The back cover remains the same as the previous generation, features double coating design. Making it looks smooth and glossy without cheap plastic feel, giving users premium feel and look. You may also noticed the Meizu MX2 has the date and the Chinese word of “WaterCube” printed on the back cover, but these words won’t appear on the device when it released to the public, it’s just a special edition to showcase at the event.

The built-in camera has a new backside illuminated sensor that’s more sensitive to light in addition to upping those megapixels. Its front-facing camera and rear camera can shoot video at 720p/30fps and 1080p/30fps respectively.

The rear camera lens has five-element optics and a blue glass element to reduce infrared radiation. The aperture of the lens have been reduced from f/2.2 to the current f/2.4. Furthermore, Meizu adds two new functions to its camera — 9 frames per second continuous shooting and four-direction panorama.

Meizu’s CEO showcased some photo examples of MX2 built-in camera,
click here for the large image (1), (2), (3), (4)

Meizu MX2 has a very special hardware design, which has an inner cover that gives better protection for internal components, and helps prevent interference from static electricity and electromagnetic waves.

Under the inner cover, we can see all the internal structure design and a non-removable 1800 mAh battery. The device will use Micro-SIM card, which will work with GSM/GPRS/EDGE/WCDMA/HSPA+ networks. It will have three internal storage capacity options — 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. Sadly, it does not come with a micro-SD card slot for memory expansion.

The back cover can be removed, but it did not say whether it’s compatible with the old MX’s multi-color back covers.

Meizu MX2 will be running Flyme OS 2.0, which is an Android 4.1-based custom ROM. The good news is Flyme OS 2.0 can be rooted! That would mean Meizu probably doesn’t want to follow what Apple is doing, not restricting users to customize the user interface. In addition, Flyme OS 2.0 will include Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English and Russian.

Meizu’s Flyme OS 2.0 Official Video

Meizu’s Flyme Cloud Official Video

Pricing:

16GB — 2,499 yuan (US$403)
32GB — 2,999 yuan (US$484)
64GB — 3,999 yuan (US$645)

The machine will be available for sale in three locations — China, Hong Kong and Russia. Meizu official said Russia will have the MX2 for sale is because they found the market demand is very similar to China. MX2 will be release two weeks later.

All the fans and medias immediately hasten to the hands-on section.

At the center point of the hands-on section, there’s a display box exhibited a dissected Meizu MX2. There’re sufficient units of Meizu MX2, and it has no time limit for people to play with the device.

A Meizu fanboy testing the camera performance of MX and the new MX2.

Another fans testing the screen size by watching a 1080p video.

At the exit, there was a music band farewell fans and attendees.

Meizu’s Jack Wong VS Xiaomi’s Lei Jun

Jack Wong Above, Lei Jun Below

Jack Wong is the icon of Meizu, his absence is the biggest disappointment in this launch event. Jack Wong always stayed low key in public, he likes to work at home for most of the time. Over the last 10 years, Jack Wong only communicated with his fans on the company’s forum. He does not have a Sina Weibo’s account or other social networks. Pretty extraordinary. Not many people have seen Jack Wong in person before. The photo above is a picture of him that took 10 years ago. Despite all that, he still has thousands of followers on the internet. As he’s not here at the event to announce his masterpiece, his partner Bai was there to announce the new MX. Bai is the CEO of the company, where Jack Wong is the founder of Meizu.

Meizu’s current CEO — Bai YongXiang

With Bai’s presentation skill, it has a very different presenting style as Xiaomi’s Lei Jun, he used a lot of English terms in the presentation, but both of them also imitated Steve Jobs presentation style. Moreover, the design and effect of the powerpoint, especially when announcing the price, is basically the same as Apple Keynote. Well, Mr.Bai, perhaps you can be the Chinese Tim Cook.

According to several Chinese tech sites, there was rumors saying Lei Jun used to be a friend of Meizu’s Jack Wong. Lei Jun was one of the angel investors of Meizu, but he left Meizu after learning how Meizu was running — from phone design, production, supply chain, marketing and even financial operation. Then he funded Xiaomi Tech, and that’s the time their friendship broke up.

Lei Jun is known for being the public face of Xiaomi. Like Jobs, he has intense loyal fans—mostly young, male gadget hounds. Lei has more than 4 million microblog followers in China. When the company launched an annual convention, there is a feel of religious revivals, which is very similar to Apple culture. Lei Jun is the guy who produces Jobs-like buzz in China right now.

Our Thoughts

Meizu’s launch event is obviously a ripoff of Apple Keynote, which has pretty much moved all the Apple Keynote’s elements from head to tail to its launch event. Overall, the launch event was successful and memorable. With this launch event, it has set a new standard for Xiaomi, OPPO and other Chinese smartphone brand to follow. Sounds like there will be more Apple Keynote knockoff next year.

As with the new Meizu MX2, we think the design is inspired by Apple’s previous iPhone 5 prototype. There were many concept shots of the iPhone 5 from last year that showed a super-thin bezel display design, and that’s what makes us believe Meizu has taken Apple’s iPhone 5 as reference. Besides all that, Meizu MX2 is gorgeous, the screen looks sharp and bright. The upgrade from MX to MX2 is quite similar to Apple’s upgrade from iPhone 4S to iPhone 5, which both of them also enlarge the screen but remain the size and the look. Other things that we really love to see on Meizu MX2 is the new home button design with breathing light, it looks shocking beautiful and unique. However, Meizu did not talk too much about how the breathing light works, which is quite disappointing. Something that we must say is MX2’s build quality and craftsmanship are very good, the metal edge and the inner cover design for internal protection are very unique. Furthermore, Meizu also has sales channels in Russia.

Nowadays, Chinese smartphones are selling cheap with high specification, but we suspect how much effort will the Chinese manufacturers put on build quailty. Many Chinese consumers have forgotten a basis of what you get for what you pay. Meizu is emphasizing the price will show the quality of the device. Actually, we are doing a long term review on Xiaomi Phone 2 right now, and sooner or later, we will also pick up the Meizu MX2, both phones have recevied a lot of market attention in China. We will pay close attention which phone will be more favored by users.