Meizu’s newest phone is the Meizu M3E which was launched a few hours ago. Apart from the nice specifications and price, one unique feature of the M3E is its car remote feature, which is putting it in the simplest form.

Just before we dive in, it is important to mention that the phone can only be used with just a particular car at the moment, the Roewe RX5, which is jointly made by Chinese state-owned SAIC, and Alibaba. It is a compact SUV car featuring Alibaba’s specially developed software, YunOS for Car and is marketed as the first mass-produced internet car.

The Meizu M3E acts as a sort of smart key for the Roewe RX5, carrying out functions such as locking and unlocking of doors, heating the seats, and displaying real-time vehicle information.

So if you own the RX5 and the Meizu M3E, you should be able to monitor things like oil level (probably fuel level too), plot navigation routes, heat the car seats before getting in and basic unlock features.

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We hope more features will be announced soon or added in form of updates. However, if you don’t own the RX5 that doesn’t mean you should rule out buying the Meizu M3E. It is a pretty solid phone with a nice price point.

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Meizu has announced that the August 10 launch is for a phone called the Meizu Blue Charm E which is aimed at the younger generation and supposed to take on Xiaomi’s new Redmi Pro.

A leak from a user on Weibo says the phone has a special feature, the ability to control your car; that is if you own the ”internet SUV”, the Roewe RX5. The car which is a product of the collaboration between SAIC (Shangai Automotive Industry Corporation) and Alibaba debuted at the Beijing Auto show earlier this year. The car’s infotainment system is a special version of Alibaba’s YunOS called YunOS for Car.

Owners of the Meizu Charm Blue E will be able to unlock the car, heat up the seats, and control the air-conditioning using their phone. You might be wondering why the RX5 and not other cars. The reason is because Alibaba has a stake in Meizu. The internet giant invested $590 million in the Chinese phone maker last year. This makes things a lot easier for them saving them the trouble of entering into an agreement with another phone maker.

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Reports say the Meizu Blue Charm E will feature a metal body, a 5.5” Full HD display, 3GB of RAM, a Helio P10 octa-core processor clocked at 1.8GHz,  a 13MP primary camera, and a 5MP front-facing camera for selfies. The phone will feature a 3100mAh battery and come with Meizu’s fast charge technology called mCharge.

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Last year, SAIC, China’s leading automobile company entered into a partnership with Alibaba to develop internet enabled smart cars. Earlier today, both the companies jointly set up an Internet Car Fund of $1 billion to further speed up its research and development. This is an open capital fund which means other companies too are encouraged to invest and participate in the development of Internet cars.

The companies are said to be focusing on the needs of the user while developing such a car. SAIC Chief Engineer Cheng said that Internet will become an important aspect of a user’s car and travel plans. Wang Jian, Alibaba’s CTO also said that internet enabled cars will not only help people communicate effectively with their vehicles but also enable other cars to communicate with each other. This will further help in the development of unmanned vehicles in the future.

The partnership also aims to develop a new automobile ecosystem with relevant applications.

Last year’s press release gave us some idea about the plans of the company.

“Targeting end-user experience, the two companies will integrate Alibaba’s Yun operating system, big data, Ali communication, Autonavi navigation technology, Aliyun cloud computing and Xiami music with SAIC Motor’s resources in car and parts R&D and auto service trade, open and merge Internet and big data services. They will also provide users with smart travel solutions through combining and optimizing the two companies’ online and offline resources.”

The first internet car as a result of this partnership is expected to hit the markets by 2016.

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