Best smartphones in China?
- Joined: Dec 28th, 2008
- Posts: 4,101
I'm going to the states in a couple months and thought I'd take advantage of that to buy a phone at a cheaper price.
I've tried iphone and blackberry and now I'd really like an Android, but to be honest I haven't been keeping up with all the latest gadgets so I don't know what's best. I may just go back to iphone.
More importantly, though, I want to make sure the phone will be fully usable in China. Unlocking usually isn't an issue, but what do I have to consider when buying for China use?
I assume Quadband GSM must be a given (so no Droid Incredible?), and no 4G available in China yet, right? Would some phones require me to switch to Unicom (then again, I need a new number anyway)? Is Chinese language support necessarily a given? Do any phones in China offer GPS support, and would it work with a US phone? Etc etc.
Really, I'm embarrassingly in the dark on all this, so all suggestions on how to pick the best new smartphone for use in China would be greatly appreciated.
Sometimes I feel it is maybe unbearable always be traditional Chinese girl.
joe_blow
Re: Best smartphones in China?
It depends on what you want.
As far as I've read there's no 4G here yet. 3G is still getting built out so you'd probably be ready for another new phone when they finally get to 4G.
Some phones may require you to switch to China Unicom. From what I've read Unicom uses normal 3G specs, but China mobile uses some special "Chinese" version. There may be a difference in models. I've heard for the iPhone you can use the phone service on China mobile, but the data service doesn't work right.
I know the iPhone does offer gps, Blackberry shouldn't unless they've come out with a new model since the last time I've looked and I don't know about Android.
Would it work with a US phone? Should except for the new iPhone 4G. They have some new mini-Simcard so you can't use the one that's in your phone now. You'd have to buy an older 3G or 3GS.
iPhone can be set up to use most languages right out of the box, I think if you buy a Blackberry in the US you don't get Asian languages, but you can download them for free. Or, at least I remember doing that on my old work phone. Android I'm not sure, but it's probably a download for phones bought in the US.
Oh, the other thing you need to look out for is many phones officially sold here don't have Wifi so you'd be stuck using a data plan and might not have internet access in other countries.
Ironfrost
Re: Best smartphones in China?
Be careful. Phones aren't as cheap as they look in the US, because they usually come with a 2-year contract and a big penalty if you want to get out before then.
Yes, but the Droid Incredible is also available on GSM/WCDMA as the HTC Desire
Yes and no. They'll still work on China Mobile, but the 3G network isn't compatible. So internet access will be slower as you have to rely on GPRS/EDGE.
The iPhone includes Chinese language support. Android phones can read Chinese, and Google Pinyin is a free download so you can write it too. Don't know about Blackberry.
Yes, the GPS on foreign phones works fine here, and lots of Chinese phones support GPS.
Use the nciku Mobile Chinese Dictionary - the same dictionary content as nciku.com, but for mobile phones (now also available offline as an iPhone app).
teaman
Re: Best smartphones in China?
Ironfrost is right. I've been thinking about switching to China Unicom so I can get 3G on my phone. Anybody know how the coverage is in Beijing?
I'd actually recommend just buying it in China. Beijing is full of smartphone geeks who sell grey market phones brought in from around the world. They're not fake, but they haven't paid the import taxes (or disabled wifi, which China makes most phone makers do, including Apple).
Android works well with Chinese. If you root, you can even get a customized ROM (OS, actually) which is optimized for Chinese language (pinyin searches for character-based contacts, Chinese call location, etc). If you're looking for that, go to androidin.com. I recommend their version of CM 5
If you want to go Android, I'd recommend getting an HTC phone that was made for the Asian market. They have the best Chinese-input features and some other good customizations.
machwan
Re: Best smartphones in China?
Smart phones in china are used extensively. As the technology is very high and vast the new technology appears now n then and thus the smart phones are very popular there as compared to the other countries. Could anyone give me some comparision on the features and prices for smart phones with other companies in China?
Lead Generation, Database Management
Eubulide
Re: Best smartphones in China?
As far as I know China has 3 different kinds of 3G standards.
China Telecom = US-3G-standard CDMA-2000
China Unicom = European 3G-standard WCDMA
China Mobile = TD-SCDMA
Unfortunately, this web page is not up to date but it still offer a plenty of knowledge.If you are really interested in it, check it out.
http://www.umtsworld.com/technology/technology.htm
Musta Lammas
Re: Best smartphones in China?
I think I like my Samsung Galaxy SII GT-I9100G (I just got it yesterday). But the definite disadvantage for me is that the phone is catered to (restricted for) the Chinese market with different Chinese firmware. That means that the phone is not Google, Android Market, Facebook, Skype, or YouTube friendly. I cannot get these apps as far as I can tell so one might have to use a VPN to access Google, Facebook, or YouTube. I guess I can forget about Skype and a whole bunch of other cool utilities unless I can get Android Market somehow.
I dialed *#272*IMEI# (enter your phone's IMEI) and saw that only CHZ and CHN (firmware?) setups were available. I have tried both without being able to distinguish between the two.
As far as I can tell from the XDA-developers forum, trying to install a new Android OS in order to get around the local (Chinese firmware) restrictions results in soft bricking (inoperability), so I have not tried that. Supposedly someone has come up with a Chinese language solution called "ownhere" that allows one to get Android Market and other goodies without having to install a new Android OS on the Chinese market SGS2's.
http://bbs.gfan.com/android-2099143-1-1.html
I have not done this myself because I do not understand Chinese or what to do. So I am looking for advice from anyone who has any ideas or knows of a gray market service that can do this for me in Beijing or through TaoBao.
Any responses would be appreciated. I am also curious to know about others' experience with non-iPhone smart phones. Cheers.
Samsung Galaxy SII GT-I9100G
Android 2.3.5, I9100GZCKI1
China Unicom 3G
alwn1708
Re: Best smartphones in China?
If you want to buy 'handset only' in the UK and US they are not much cheaper than here in China,as most of the handsets there are subsidised by airtime contract providers.They use the 'phone as a loss leader because they make their money from locking you into a 12/18/24 month contract.
I have just replaced a Sony Experia X10 with an IPhone 4s and probably the biggest waste of 6000 kuai I have made,the X10 is far more superior and worked perfectly ok on China Mobile. Apart from the Facebook,BBC I-Player,YouTube but you can VPN those if you need them.
Life is like a jar of jalapenos,what you do today might burn your ass tomorrow