Open letter to Meizu/Flyme

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2017-03-04 21:18

Dear Meizu/Flyme,
I want to share with you my disappointment, whichI think is similar for many of your customers: in December 2015 I pre-orderedyour Pro 5, considering it a great smartphone, from aesthetic and performancepoints of view, at a fair price considering the smartphone features (€ 519).The software version on board, however, was not up to it (Flyme 4.5.4.2 withAndroid 5.1) but with the promise that the Flyme 5 (announced in September 2015but still based on Android 5.1) would come soon.
I was also lucky enough to enter immediately inthe Global Beta Test Group to be one of the first to receive the new Flymeversion and to help developers fix some bugs and improve translations too.
Well, after about 15 months from having boughtit, I have a smartphone that after two months of testing, has received a publicbeta of Flyme 6 (STILL based on Android 5.1) and, as it was understood, alsoabandoned with regard of Beta testing.
The semi-official explanation for the movenever happened to Android 6 was that "the functions of Android 6 werealready present on Flyme 5", while it was speculated a jump to Android 7that there has not been and probably there will never be.
If the smartphone is still appreciated from anaesthetic point of view, as well as from the hardware point of view, it hasaccumulated a significant delay from the hardware point of view and if I wantto sell it, it would enough affect on the price, as the version software is thebasis of the operating system, not relying on the latest available API, becauseyou cannot carry all of the features on an older operating system.
Also this as all other smartphone Meizu are nolonger certified by Google, or have never had: this is a big deal for thenot-Asian market.
So I ask you to be clear, once and for all andas you have never been, in order to give us customers the opportunity to beable to run for cover before our smartphones become completely unsupported.