A brief history of Meizu: from an MP3 player to a smartphone

Now Meizu is known as a manufacturer of smartphones, but ten years ago, in 2003, for Meizu, it all started with completely different devices - multimedia MP3 / MP4 players. Over the ten-year history of existence, the most important devices released by the company are portable MP3 players Meizu M3 MusicCard, M6 MiniPlayer, as well as smartphones M8, M9, MX and MX2. Together, let’s follow the path that the company has gone from its first simplest music player to the modern MX2 smartphone, which can compete with devices from well-known companies.




The first half of the material is based on the article “The Brief of Meizu company, from MP3 player to Smartphone” , supplemented and revised, the second half is written by meizu

Meizu MX

The first player released under the Meizu brand was the Meizu MX model, back in 2003, when the company was born and planned to deal only with MP3 players. The player, resembling a small bar, had 512 MB of flash-memory, a recording function and a small LCD-screen with blue backlight, Meizu brand, of course, did not have then fame. Few people know, but that “very first player from Meizu” was in fact a complete copy of a player released a year earlier from the Korean company Cowon - the iAudio CW300 model. The copying was so obvious that the reproaches of users fell in the direction of Meizu and, as we can see now, this very first lesson was beneficial. Later, the company no longer allowed such an explicit copy, and then the chosen development path,

Meizu ME

In March 2004, a second audio player, Meizu ME, was released. This model was no longer a copy of anything and laid the foundation for the success of the company, providing it with recognition among Chinese users. The player was equipped with a small LCD screen, built-in flash memory for 126/256/512 MB, worked on the Sigmatel 3520 chipset, was powered by one AAA battery or battery and had a characteristic control unit with a joystick, which was later used by Meizu more than once.

Meizu MI

Then, in March 2004, Meizu Mi appeared on the market, the first player of the company with an unusual body shape, designed for girls. From the previous model, the control unit and a similar display were preserved here, as well as all other functions - only the design was different.


Image from site: mxapk.com

Meizu E2

In September 2004, the light saw Meizu E2, very similar to the ME model. By the way, at that time Meizu was not yet producing the player on its own, but ordered them from manufacturers on a par with other brands. So Meizu E2 was not the only one, it found complete analogues, for example, the Onda VX505 model.


Image from site: mxapk.com

Meizu X2

In January 2005, the company introduced the popular Meizu X2. This player was distinguished by a strict design, right angles and straight lines, the model was designed for a male audience. The player’s case was made of an aluminum alloy that had undergone polishing and oxidation treatment, as a result of which an aluminum oxide layer was formed on the case, giving the device beauty and protecting the player from wear. The maximum flash memory in this player was already 1 GB.

Meizu E5

In April 2005, Meizu E5 appeared on the market - a huge step forward for the company. This player had several new features at once: support for FM-radio, alarm clock, the ability to read texts on a 6-line screen, the ability to update firmware. The controls in the player were also unusual - a spinning wheel was used with an independent central key inside, with it it was convenient to scroll through text or tracks. There were also functions characteristic of previous models: a voice recorder and display of lyrics (lyrics). The player played music for 40 hours on a single charge of AA-battery, at that time such an indicator of autonomy was impressive.

Meizu X6

In April 2005, Meizu X6 appeared - one of the first players of the company, sold outside of China. This model also featured features typical of previous brand players: a voice recorder, FM radio and a joystick as the main control element. The X6 was distinguished by a futuristic design with bright blue backlight around the joystick and an OLED screen. The body of the player was made of metal.

Meizu E3

In August 2005, the classic Meizu E3 model appeared. The main factor in the success of this player, as in the case of ME, was the use of a high-quality chip from a well-known brand - Philips Nexperia PNX0102. The rest of the player resembled the very first devices of the company - the same case in the form of a bar, control with a joystick, only the screen here was no longer used LCD, but OLED. Before the appearance of E3, Unika, HACHA, OPPO were already represented on the market, sharing among themselves the main shares of the segment of MP3 devices, but even though E3 appeared later than the above devices, it became the most popular MP3 player in the domestic market at that time.

Meizu X3

In November 2005, the company released the fashionable device X3. There were no features other than a bright design in it.

Meizu E3c

In February 2006, the company introduced the Meizu E3c with a color screen. Seamless anodized metal frame and front and rear panels, made with a minimum of connections, have become part of a very concise design of the new item.

Meizu MiniPlayer (M6)

In May 2006, Meizu showed the world one of its iconic models, which made the brand world famous in the circles of audio player enthusiasts - Meizu MiniPlayer. The device was designed to play music, games, view photos and videos, audio recording. It also had the functions of a radio, an e-book, and a disk drive, making MiniPlayer the universal multimedia device of its time. The output of this model coincided with the mod on the PMC (Personal Media Center), but, unlike the classic PMC, the Meizu player was compact and lightweight.



As regards MP4 players, namely Meizu MiniPlayer (M6), this company belonged to one of the pioneers of the market. Other Chinese brands began to release their MP4 players after Meizu. However, Xvid support, a high-quality QVGA screen, a unique design and a proprietary control system, controversial in terms of convenience but not less original, the use of metal - all these elements made MiniPayer one of the most famous MP4 players of its time. The model was sold in many countries, including Russia, where it was known under the brands Ritmix (player RF-9200) and Powerman (XL850).

Later, in 2007, Meizu will release an update to this model called Meizu M6SL - the new player was about 3 mm thinner than the original model, equipped with a slightly less capacious battery (600 mAh versus 750 mAh in the M6), but had a matte cover, which significantly reduced her wear. It was the shiny M6 cover that was one of the main problems of the original model, in which it was worth removing the protective film from the screen and the cover - the surfaces were immediately covered with a grid of tiny, but numerous scratches.


Image from site: mobile-review.com

Reviews: China is coming! Overview of the Flash Player Powerman XL-850 (ferra.ru) Media Player Powerman XL-850 (ixbt.com) Overview of the MP3 Player Meizu M6 (mobile-review.com)

Meizu MusicCard (M3)

March 2007 marked the launch of Meizu MusicCard, Meizu’s Chinese response to Apple iPod Nano 1G / 2G players. A unique feature of this device was the design, as well as a very thin body, the use of aluminum and a proprietary control system. Fans of an uncompressed audio player should also be remembered; in 2007, apart from Meizu and Cowon, few offered the market omnivorous compact players supporting such rare formats as WMA Losless, Flac and APE.



Reviews: Ritmix RF-7400 Media Player (ixbt.com) Review of Meizu Music Card MP3 Player (Ritmix RF-7400) (mobile-review.com)

Meizu M8

In February 2009, Meizu introduced its first phone, the Meizu M8. As in the case of Apple, for the company it was the first experience in creating such a device. At the same time, rumors that Meizu is preparing its own phone began to appear on the network in early 2007, since then various concepts and options were presented, but almost until the last moment no one knew what the Meizu M8 would turn out to be. The first telephone of the company worked on the Windows CE 6.0 operating system, more precisely on the CE core, the interface was made by Meizu developers from scratch, as well as separate applications: telephone client, mail, and so on. At that time, it was one of the most serious redesigns of the interface, comparable to what HTC did, completely changing the appearance of the familiar Windows Mobile OS using HTC TouchFLO.


Image from the site: mobile-review.com

Outwardly, Meizu M8 resembled the Apple iPhone, and functionally and technically - the current communicators of the time based on Windows Mobile. For its time, the Meizu M8 turned out to be a truly unique smartphone, and the point is not even that it was based on the design of the Apple iPhone and the Windows CE platform unused for communicators and phones. The fact is that for the first time a brand completely unknown to anyone at that time released a device that could compete with phones from famous brands, for Meizu the release of the M8 was a major event. After this smartphone, the attitude to the company around the world has seriously changed for the better, in addition, the name Meizu just became much more famous than before the appearance of the M8.


Image from site: mobile-review.com

Reviews:
Chinese "iPhone" Meizu M8 - review (exler.ru) Meizu M8 (habrahabr.ru) Review of GSM-phone Meizu M8 (mobile-review.com)

Meizu M9

However, Meizu, naturally, did not continue to develop the idea of ​​smartphones on Windows CE, because 2010 was the first year that the Android platform was firmly stepping on the planet after its launch in 2008-2009. Meizu took several years to develop an Android smartphone, and finally, in January 2011, the company introduced its first smartphone on this platform - Meizu M9. In terms of design and dimensions, the M9 was a direct continuation of the previous model, it also resembled the appearance of the Apple iPhone, although it was made of more practical matte plastic, unlike the M8, which used glossy black plastic. The smartphone was equipped with a high-quality display with a resolution of 960x640 pixels, had good sound and an up-to-date platform.



The device was based on Android 2.2 OS with a lot of changes, on the whole, the Meizu M9 interface was a bit like classic Android: it had no familiar menu of programs, and all applications were located directly on desktops (like on iOS), but there was a convenient lock screen with the ability to quickly jump to calls or messages, and other features. The main thing is that this smartphone stood out from the rest of the models of that time - attention to details, from the original packaging to individual interface elements.

Reviews: A detailed review of the Meizu M9 Android smartphone (gagadget.com) Meizu M9 review: a noble Chinese (itc.ua) Review of the Meizu M9 GSM / UMTS smartphone (mobile-review.com)

Meizu MX

Exactly one year later, in January 2012, the next smartphone of the company saw the light - Meizu MX. The most successful and already really well-known outside of China, it is enough to say that the reviews for this model were published on the world's largest resources on portable electronics: Engadget, Gsmarena, Phonearena, Slashgear and many others.



Outwardly, the new smartphone again resembled the Apple iPhone, but this time only on the front side, the lid in the MX was made of two-layer plastic with a white matte base and a transparent top layer. The smartphone was equipped with a high-quality screen with an ASV matrix from Sharp, an 8 megapixel camera and worked on the basis of a dual-core platform from Samsung, one of the most productive for that time. Inside was Android, completely redesigned, the new interface was named Flyme OS and in it the company continued to develop the old ideas of maximum simplicity, which Meizu laid the foundation of its first phone - M8.

Reviews: Review of the Meizu MX smartphone (itc.ua) Review of the GSM / UMTS smartphone Meizu MX (mobile-review.com) Meizu MX review (engadget.com) Meizu MX review: Amaze U (gsmarena.com)





Meizu MX Review (phonearena.com)

Meizu MX 4-core

Following the Meizu MX, in the first half of 2012, its quad-core version appeared, which differed only in a more productive platform and versions with a large amount of internal memory (32 and 64 GB).


Image from the site: mobile-review.com

Reviews: Review of the GSM / UMTS-smartphone Meizu MX 4-core (mobile-review.com) Review of the Meizu MX 4-core: an original smartphone level Galaxy S 3 (mobiltelefon.ru) Meizu MX 4 -core review (engadget.com) Meizu MX 4-core review: Twice the power (gsmarena.com)

Meizu MX2

The new flagship of the company - Meizu MX2, was introduced on November 27 in Beijing, this is the logical development of the previous model, MX, the design was changed, the diagonal and resolution of the display were increased, a new platform was installed and the Flyme interface was redesigned, control was changed and the camera was improved.

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Meizu MX2 review in preparation, in the comments (or in the meizu profile ) you can post questions on the new smartphone and state exactly what you want to see in the MX2 review, what information on the device is most relevant and important for you, what tests or measurements are required .

I remind you that you can also find all the news on the official Russian-language website Meizu , and on the forum you can ask questions on our smartphones and get tips from device owners.