I'm pretty sure that no big, tourist-frequented department store (where I shop) would risk selling pirated/stolen goods. The possibility's there, but I feel much safer about buying. Oh, and I think you'll find that the stuff that goes into a jewel case costs more than $.15- probably... $1?
I don't pirate, I buy CDs. However, I do not do so while I am in any industrialized country. Why? They charge too much. That's a core reason behind piracy. Sell singles for $2 and albums for $5-$8 like in China (I'm talking legit albums with jewel case and the works, not those commercially pirated ones that go for $.50) and WITHOUT DRM (I cannot say how many times I've had to boot into Mac OS just to get around some stupid Copy Control scheme and actually copy the CD I own to my cellphone- thank god for OSx86) and you'll see people turn away from piracy.
I agree- it's the attitudes. The bad thing about America is that the providers try to suit the majority and don't consider those that "think different". What if I *want* to pay more per month and get a bigger subsidy on my phone? I can't. Here in China the providers are the best of both- 5Euro/month gets you 450 minutes and a not-so-wonderful phone; 40Euro/month gets some 2000-odd minutes and a free SE K790. I have a custom package plan, and pay about 3Euro/month for 50MB data, 60 texts, and 20 minutes. I break the 20-minute limit but when overage sits at.01Euro/min I don't really care, and I never break the 60-text and 50MB limits.
Depends. For example, Europe focuses on phone subsidies, making their plans somewhat mroe expensive. I do believe that under certain circumstances you can get an N95 for free- AT&T would never do that. America chooses to focus on cheaper calling minutes instead.
I wonder the same thing. This seems far more useful as a kid's phone than the Firefly. Certainly the Firefly can't give you up-to-the-minute maps and photos of where the kid's going if 911 is dialed (or the battery lock to prevent the battery from being removed).
Yep- I'm just glad that my normal usage is so light that I have the option of inbound roaming from another country and deciding to support their carrier instead (in my case it'll be China Unicom-their lineup and customer service is far better than Verizon's-only $.40/min roaming to America).
No, I'm used to using 112 for emergencies- it's the universal emergency number. Again, that was an accident when I put it down and let some kid fool with it. Of course, the call dropping before it could connect kind of shattered my confidence.
Unless you miss, in which case you have made things a heck of a lot harder for yourself because you have lost the element of stealth. I'm near-sighted; I couldn't possibly do that without my glasses, much less in the dark.
Sanyo makes a phone with a manually-activated alarm (a pull string on the back). It also launches a tracking application that allows you to trace it, even when off. That's a good implementation- Verizon's is not. I wish Sprint sold this model- I think it'd be popular with overprotective parents for their kids.
Yep- in Japan I can have a $8/month no-contract plan with unlimited M2M and a per-half-minute rate for other phones (nice for those really short calls). It's called the "White Plan" by Softbank. I always wonder why no American carrier offers something like it.
Definitely the carrier. I've fooled around with the same phone here in China- it doesn't do that when 911 is dialed (stupid accident, I freaked, but then the call dropped before it fully connected- says a lot about network reliability in Shanghai, I suppose).
Who thought that putting an alarm on a phone dialing 911 was a smart idea? It's not always about alerting anyone nearby to the fact that something's wrong- sometimes you don't want anybody to notice you, like when you're home and someone's broken in. Better to err on the side of caution. Eh, glad I know of shops where I live that can get Korean phones onto the Verizon network- I don't have this issue.
There isn't any one perfect carrier but T-Mobile and Helio come the closest (depends on what you want- if it's freedom to use a foreign phone and great customer service go T-Mobile; if it's Korean input or the Ocean go Helio).
No. But then again, Japanese CDs use DRM that is far less invasive- you can actually do stuff with it, and for me, it was trivial to work around for other uses. And for the true "pirates" JASRAC is far more rabid than their American counterpart the RIAA.
Who said anyone signed anything? I know that my local reseller doesn't make me sign an agreement or anything- hand over the cash, put in the SIM, run Installer.app (iPhone comes pre-jailbroken for the user's convenience; I'll never buy Apple stuff anywhere else) to install what I want, and I'm good to go.
One of the many upsides to buying an iPhone in China.
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Video mobiles only exist in Japan/Europe. Stupid America...
I'm pretty sure that no big, tourist-frequented department store (where I shop) would risk selling pirated/stolen goods. The possibility's there, but I feel much safer about buying. Oh, and I think you'll find that the stuff that goes into a jewel case costs more than $.15- probably... $1?
I don't pirate, I buy CDs. However, I do not do so while I am in any industrialized country. Why? They charge too much. That's a core reason behind piracy. Sell singles for $2 and albums for $5-$8 like in China (I'm talking legit albums with jewel case and the works, not those commercially pirated ones that go for $.50) and WITHOUT DRM (I cannot say how many times I've had to boot into Mac OS just to get around some stupid Copy Control scheme and actually copy the CD I own to my cellphone- thank god for OSx86) and you'll see people turn away from piracy.
I agree- it's the attitudes. The bad thing about America is that the providers try to suit the majority and don't consider those that "think different". What if I *want* to pay more per month and get a bigger subsidy on my phone? I can't. Here in China the providers are the best of both- 5Euro/month gets you 450 minutes and a not-so-wonderful phone; 40Euro/month gets some 2000-odd minutes and a free SE K790. I have a custom package plan, and pay about 3Euro/month for 50MB data, 60 texts, and 20 minutes. I break the 20-minute limit but when overage sits at .01Euro/min I don't really care, and I never break the 60-text and 50MB limits.
I don't know... Apple's?
Depends. For example, Europe focuses on phone subsidies, making their plans somewhat mroe expensive. I do believe that under certain circumstances you can get an N95 for free- AT&T would never do that. America chooses to focus on cheaper calling minutes instead.
I wonder the same thing. This seems far more useful as a kid's phone than the Firefly. Certainly the Firefly can't give you up-to-the-minute maps and photos of where the kid's going if 911 is dialed (or the battery lock to prevent the battery from being removed).
Yep- I'm just glad that my normal usage is so light that I have the option of inbound roaming from another country and deciding to support their carrier instead (in my case it'll be China Unicom-their lineup and customer service is far better than Verizon's-only $.40/min roaming to America).
No, I'm used to using 112 for emergencies- it's the universal emergency number. Again, that was an accident when I put it down and let some kid fool with it. Of course, the call dropping before it could connect kind of shattered my confidence.
Unless you miss, in which case you have made things a heck of a lot harder for yourself because you have lost the element of stealth. I'm near-sighted; I couldn't possibly do that without my glasses, much less in the dark.
I watched the video- it's not exactly ear-splitting or a siren (sounds sort of like one, though), but it's distinctive and probably about 60-70dB.
Sanyo makes a phone with a manually-activated alarm (a pull string on the back). It also launches a tracking application that allows you to trace it, even when off. That's a good implementation- Verizon's is not. I wish Sprint sold this model- I think it'd be popular with overprotective parents for their kids.
Yep- in Japan I can have a $8/month no-contract plan with unlimited M2M and a per-half-minute rate for other phones (nice for those really short calls). It's called the "White Plan" by Softbank. I always wonder why no American carrier offers something like it.
Definitely the carrier. I've fooled around with the same phone here in China- it doesn't do that when 911 is dialed (stupid accident, I freaked, but then the call dropped before it fully connected- says a lot about network reliability in Shanghai, I suppose).
OK... I think that if this is often the case then 911 is no longer serving its purpose and should be tossed and rebuilt from scratch.
Who thought that putting an alarm on a phone dialing 911 was a smart idea? It's not always about alerting anyone nearby to the fact that something's wrong- sometimes you don't want anybody to notice you, like when you're home and someone's broken in. Better to err on the side of caution. Eh, glad I know of shops where I live that can get Korean phones onto the Verizon network- I don't have this issue.
There isn't any one perfect carrier but T-Mobile and Helio come the closest (depends on what you want- if it's freedom to use a foreign phone and great customer service go T-Mobile; if it's Korean input or the Ocean go Helio).
I wish they were this way in America. There needs to be another DSL player in the US market...
No. But then again, Japanese CDs use DRM that is far less invasive- you can actually do stuff with it, and for me, it was trivial to work around for other uses. And for the true "pirates" JASRAC is far more rabid than their American counterpart the RIAA.
Because, y'know, it's totally impossible to learn what a country's doing right without picking up its bad habits too.
Who said anyone signed anything? I know that my local reseller doesn't make me sign an agreement or anything- hand over the cash, put in the SIM, run Installer.app (iPhone comes pre-jailbroken for the user's convenience; I'll never buy Apple stuff anywhere else) to install what I want, and I'm good to go.
One of the many upsides to buying an iPhone in China.
Japan can take away your Japanese citizenship if they find out.
"On the other hands, 0.05% of all Japanese in Japan."
Only 0.05%? No wonder their birthrate's declining, everyone's running away so there's less people to copulate.
The joys of taking a quote out of context...
Or you can become a Japanese citizen and do something about it.
You're comparing Sailor Moon and Buffy with a straight face? Do tell.