With no doubts, one of the remarkable ways to describe 2014 is like the “Year of Selfies”, or perhaps, the year of selfie ascension, putting this aside. We have already seen many phones and brands creating camera-centric phones. The Vivo Xshot and the Oppo N3 are good examples, and now lesser known Meitu are in on the action with a Selfie-phone, the Meitu M4.
Meitu are well-known in China for their Beauty applications, and it wasn’t long ago we saw their Meitu M2 receive Tenna certification. The M2 has not been superceeded by the new Meitu M4 selfie-phone which launched earlier in the week.
The new model maintains the design of the old M2, keeping all the innovations of the M4 “under the hood”. The hardware, for example, has been upgraded to the new market standard, by replacing the old MT6592 with the excellent MT6752 64-bit 1.7 GHz SoC. The upgrades continue on the camera front with both front and rear sensors becoming Sony 13 Megapixel IMX214 units.
The great interest shown by the photographic industry was reflected also in the Meitu adoption of the Fujitsu Milbeaut chip, an image processor that allows a significant improvement in photo quality. The operating system MeiOS (based on Android 4.4.4) has been updated for the occasion too, and now also includes the new BeautyPlus App. Comparison photos below give us an idea of how all these technologies work together.
Gizchina News of the week
The rest of the hardware features include 2 GB RAM, 32 GB ROM and 720p HD 4.7 inch Screen. The battery is only 2160 mAh.
The Meitu M4 is a niche product but if you want to be part of the elite group of owners you will be expected to pay 2199 Yuan (about 354USD) for the standard version or 2499 Yuan a special edition Hello Kitty model.
The Meitu M4 is an interesting concept, one that might do well in China, but we see them struggling due to pricing if they ever plan to launch abroad.
I was reading the specs and thought:
“hey, not bad at all!”
Then I read the price and I thought:
“you gotta be kidding me!”
Yes, the 13mp cameras front and rear is great, much better than the usual 5mp or occasional 8mp that we tend to see.
Remember it’s a “Hello Kitty” edition, aka the price, plus 2 Sony sensors.
I meant the standard version.
Let’s not forget these are meant to be mid-range phones and are priced more than last year flagships (~1999 CNY).
If this is the trend then I don’t want even know about the top-tiers with MT6795 coming out soon.
Also, that battery.
That’s what I meant.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice piece of hardware and the price overall is not bad comparing to Korean manufacturers.
Maybe I’m used to the price of the big Chinese companies and I forget that smaller companies can’t lower the price that much because they don’t sell millions of units..
Welcome here Marco, interesting articles so far but you should proof reading before posting.
US$ or USD but not U$
Sorry for it, now fixed.
Don’t be sorry, it can happen
Although not my cup of tea design wise, i can appreciate the work that went into it. It certainly looks ‘different’.
The example photos look about as convincing as a washing powder advertisement. (It is basically saying “our image processor has to cover up for the rubbish camera module and lens”)
go away meitu
too expensive…
I was reading the specs and thought:
“hey, not bad at all!”
Then I read the price and I thought:
“you gotta be kidding me!”
Yes, the 13mp cameras front and rear is great, much better than the usual 5mp or occasional 8mp that we tend to see.
Remember it’s a “Hello Kitty” edition, aka the price, plus 2 Sony sensors.
I meant the standard version.
Let’s not forget these are meant to be mid-range phones and are priced more than last year flagships (~1999 CNY).
If this is the trend then I don’t want even know about the top-tiers with MT6795 coming out soon.
Also, that battery.
That’s what I meant.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice piece of hardware and the price overall is not bad comparing to Korean manufacturers.
Maybe I’m used to the price of the big Chinese companies and I forget that smaller companies can’t lower the price that much because they don’t sell millions of units..
Welcome here Marco, interesting articles so far but you should proof reading before posting.
US$ or USD but not U$
Sorry for it, now fixed.
Don’t be sorry, it can happen
Selfie phone with no flash in front, genius. Anyone who buys this phone deserves it.
Although not my cup of tea design wise, i can appreciate the work that went into it. It certainly looks ‘different’.
The example photos look about as convincing as a washing powder advertisement. (It is basically saying “our image processor has to cover up for the rubbish camera module and lens”)
go away meitu
too expensive…
Selfie phone with no flash in front, genius. Anyone who buys this phone deserves it.
There is only one thing I hate more than hello kitty and selfies: facebook.
No way they cant go international coz micromax will rebrand it and will release it in 5 important asian countires including Russia….
There is only one thing I hate more than hello kitty and selfies: facebook.
No way they cant go international coz micromax will rebrand it and will release it in 5 important asian countires including Russia….
Sounds good but not for that price. One of my favorite phones I ever had was the THL Monkey King, which also featured 2GB RAM, 32GB ROM, dual 13 MP cameras and can still be found for under $200. The processor is a bit outdated compared to this but for the price it is a much better option, and looks a lot better.
ugly !!!!
Sounds good but not for that price. One of my favorite phones I ever had was the THL Monkey King, which also featured 2GB RAM, 32GB ROM, dual 13 MP cameras and can still be found for under $200. The processor is a bit outdated compared to this but for the price it is a much better option, and looks a lot better.
ugly !!!!