iphone 3GS

[old-timer]

OT's thinking of getting an iphone, but my daughter reckons the Samsung touch phone is better. Anyone got any advice?

OT.........

[BobHelm]

I had one a while back OT.
I'm not really into phones - into technology, just phones are too dam small for me. ).
It was an 'out of China' via Laos copy & I did think it played music the best I have heard on a phone. The touch screen was useful for someone like me who has not exactly mastered the typing concept on a normal phone. The feature that I really bought it for though was the fact that you could put 2 sims in it. So i had my Thai & my UK sim in it....not that I used my Thai sim in UK, nor UK sim in Thailand, but was convenient & safe way to keep two sims, without carrying two phones. I know many.many other phones have this facility now - so i guess an edge gone.
The other thing I can tell you is that the I-Phone manages water as well as any other mobile - i.e. not at all well. Which is why I no longer have & am back onto a two sim Nokia (care of China out of Laos ).
A thought the I-Phone had some nice ideas, BUT, like with most things from that company, you pay a large amount of money for those ideas!!
I have purchased Samsung products in the past (not phones though!!) & have not been disappointed but I think I will stick with Nokia as far as the mobile goes.

[KHONDAHM]

OT's thinking of getting an iphone, but my daughter reckons the Samsung touch phone is better. Anyone got any advice?

OT.........

I am usually posting from my iPhone like I am right now. Love it. I had the original iPhone up until last month when it decided to jump out of my hand and take a swim in a cup of tea. I felt like a crackhead with no crack and bolted out the door to Central (in Pattaya) and bought the 3GS. Very nice improvements over the original.

Thousands of free and pay applications that do anything you could possibly want to do. You can also search torrent sites using iPod as a keyword and download movies and TV shows. Excellent quality. I cannot rave about it enough. Get one. You will not regret it. I would say that the price is high, but even so, it's a great value. This from a guy who hasn't bought new clothes or shoes in over 5 years.

[old-timer]

I'm convinced, i'm gonna get an iphone, the 32gb iphone cost USD1200 here and then I'll have to pay a further USD600 for 6 months on the imax plan which includes 800MB of data per month. This package is supposed to be worth USD2500 according to Orange. The only network that provides the iphone here is Orange.

OT........

[KHONDAHM]

I'm convinced, i'm gonna get an iphone, the 32gb iphone cost USD1200 here and then I'll have to pay a further USD600 for 6 months on the imax plan which includes 800MB of data per month. This package is supposed to be worth USD2500 according to Orange. The only network that provides the iphone here is Orange.

OT........

Hold that thought. I bought mine, 16GB (I'm an iPhone junkie with dozens of apps, 6 movies, 3-4 video podcasts, 2,000++ songs, and that's plenty for me), for ~THB 27k. All iPhones sold at the Apple store are sold already unlocked. Pop in a standard 12 Call sim and sign up for unlimited internet for THB 999 or 250 hrs for THB 500 ( or any other plan choice), and you are good to go. DON'T go Orange.

Edit: And to my knowledge, 3G speeds are only currently available in Bangkok. I'm about 80km outside Udon at the moment and getting about 230 k down.

[old-timer]

Sounds like I'd be better off getting one out of the apple store in the complex. The 16GB iphone here is USD1050, so I was thinking that for an extra 10% in price I'll get double the GB, that's why I was looking at the 32GB iphone. How does it work when your traveling around the world with an unlocked iphone? I'm talking about internet connection.

OT.......

[KHONDAHM]

Sounds like I'd be better off getting one out of the apple store in the complex. The 16GB iphone here is USD1050, so I was thinking that for an extra 10% in price I'll get double the GB, that's why I was looking at the 32GB iphone. How does it work when your traveling around the world with an unlocked iphone? I'm talking about internet connection.

OT.......

Just pop in a local sim and maybe change the APN setting to whatever is used by the carrier (they'll tell you). In the US, T-Mobile is the closest you'll get to 12Call type service. Never ever sign-up for any carrier's global roaming service. It's a scam and you'll be raped with charges.

Go with whatever size you feel comfortable with knowing that you can delete almost any large file such as a movie with the flick of a thumb to free up that space. IMHO, 32GB is only useful if you either have a huge audio collection 10,000++ songs or like to watch the same movies over and over again. Even large apps, like video games I bought formy daughter to play with to keep her from driving me up the wall during long outings ("Are we there yet?") take up less than 25 MB each.

AND you can keep all the files, apps, movies, or whatever on your PC and cherry pick which you want to load or unload when you sync up.

[BobHelm]

AS KD says..just but a 'pay as you go sim' that offers the best rate per minute in the country you are in. Put in the sim, top up (if it did not come with call time) & off you go.
The con in the UK is that the 'pay as you go' minute rates tend to be a high price....but little point in signing up for a years contract with a high monthly charge including 1,000s of free minutes if you are not going to spend the time there!!
You can actually buy a locked I-phone & unblock it yourself - Google will help!!

[747man]

Bob, I use T Mobile when back in Blighty "Pay as you go " 12p a minute to ANY U.K Number,Landline or Mobile.....So NOT That expensive......

[BobHelm]

Bob, I use T Mobile when back in Blighty "Pay as you go " 12p a minute to ANY U.K Number,Landline or Mobile.....So NOT That expensive......

It is criminal 747!!
when you consider that using VOIP you can telephone Thailand from UK for 2 pence a minute....The VOIP people are not in it as a charity, they are making money out of that......so 6 times the price for a couple of miles down the road IS expensive!!

[izzix]

i have a china copy and its ok without the expense ,TV included .
far far cheaper ...and takes 2 SIM cards ,cant fault it for the money
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4BlsGvdhn0&feature=fvw

[lee]

How about the Google Nexus one? It has a larger screen, faster processor and graphics potential, higher quality camera (Iphone lacks a good camera) etc. http://www.taranfx.com/nexus-one-vs-iphone-3gs

[jorg]

i have a china copy and its ok without the expense ,TV included .
far far cheaper ...and takes 2 SIM cards ,cant fault it for the money
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4BlsGvdhn0&feature=fvw

Where did you buy that? And how much you paid for it?

[old-timer]

i have a china copy and its ok without the expense ,TV included .
far far cheaper ...and takes 2 SIM cards ,cant fault it for the money
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4BlsGvdhn0&feature=fvw

I've seen those chinese phones starting at around $200, they are available at most phone shops here, they seem to have it all but it's the make that puts me off. Bigwavedave was showing me one he had some time back, and it did have all the gadgets.

How about the Google Nexus one? It has a larger screen, faster processor and graphics potential, higher quality camera (Iphone lacks a good camera) etc. http://www.taranfx.com/nexus-one-vs-iphone-3gs

I just checked this phone out, $530 unlocked, however, I then went on to see if they could courier one over to me and was told that it's unavailable here in Africa.

[goronnie]

IMO the best phone currently on the market is the HTC HD2. Biggest screen, fastest processor (twice the speed of i-phone), internal GPS, mobile windows 6.5 (upgradeable to 7 when it comes out next year). Runs word, excel, powerpoint etc. Software (freely available, if you know hwere to look) such as Garmin street map with thailand maps, tomtom can be loaded. Works very well. Pop e-mail accounts easily setup. Excellent on screen keyboard, gravity sensing for orientation (big keyboard when used in landscape - especially with the 4.3" display). Wifi as well as 3G. Bluetooth - which the i-phone lacks. Excellent sync with outlook on you computer. The list is endless. Just google or youtube it. I guarantee better than the i-phone - except not as many aps available yet (as thsy are windows based).