New mobile phone. Any recommendations?

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p800asia

Newbie

Joined: Apr 25, 2005
Posts: 4

Status: Offline

Posted: May 16, 2005 - 03:51 PM

I also buy all my gadgets in Hong Kong. Not many places can offer such a variety of models from all over the world. You can find special models which otherwise can only be seen in specific countries only. For example, last month I just bought the new unlocked Vodafone V802sh 3G phone which is supposed to be for the Japanese market only. Not that I can use the 3G service in Shanghai, but will be handy when I go back to Europe.
As for digital camera, they always have 2 different prices, one for official product and the other for parallel import. The latter can be 30% cheaper. If you don't need the warranty, why not?

maxiewawa

Raver

Joined: July 10, 2004
Posts: 418

Status: Offline

Posted: May 17, 2005 - 05:35 PM

expatauction.com would have me believe that I can get a motorola e680 for 2628RMB. But I can't find one in the shops for less than 3600. 2628 seems much more reasonable considering these phones are going for $400 AUS on ebay.com.au . ebay.com.cn has them going for 2600...

Am I just bad at bargaining?

turtle

Reacher

Joined: May 10, 2005
Posts: 252

Status: Offline

Posted: May 17, 2005 - 05:57 PM

chinick wrote:

concerning Andreas comment

why is it the norm to buy ''high-tech'' stuff in HK rather than directly in Shanghai?
Isn't there any large, reliable retailers in town carrying top brands and not just counterfeit products???
Is it just a pricing issue?

I'm moving in Shanghai in a couple of weeks, need to buy EVERYTHING (cell laptop blackberry...) and was hoping to get it all in Shanghai.

I'm going in HK later on anyway, do I really need to plan a few hours for electronics shopping?

Firstly it's a pricing issue, there's no tax on imported products for HK like there is for China. My mobile phone cost HK$3500 and it's going for RMB4500 here. Also for mobile phones, Nokia ones (I'm not sure about other brands) aren't able to input traditional Chinese characters and can only input simplified Chinese characters which isn't too useful since the rest of the world doesn't use simplified characters. Also, if you look at products at digital cameras, the Sony digital cameras sold in HK are made in Japan whereas the ones here are made in China.