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............and credit cards.Quote:
Originally Posted by race aficionado
On a brighter note, I have been following the prices of the Samsung Galaxy Ace and there is a model S7500 Plus , and the price appears to be creeping down little by little each day.
I can foresee a point where you have a miniscule wearable phone for everyday use, with a screen that folds out or unrolls for browsing or viewing media. Imagine a roll-up projector screen, now shrink it down to cigarette size and have a 6" screen rolled up in your pocket. Type of thing.
i don't think we'll see it in stores until spring time.Quote:
Originally Posted by henners88
OK! I admit that I have been questioning the advantage of having a tablet over the advantages of a Laptop. Imagine when you can have both in the one device:Toshiba Satellite U925T-S2300 Ultrabook, Now we can stop babbling about the advantage of a tablet over a laptop - I am waiting till I can lay my hands on one of these at my favorite store. :)
I don't know yet, I usually don't "plan" my purchases that far ahead.Quote:
Originally Posted by henners88
I do would like a new phone but if and when I decide that I can afford to spend
£400-£500 on a new phone, I will take a decision to buy a new phone and
I will look around to see what models are available, how much the cost, what
their specs are and etc. Just regular research.
Then I make a choice and then starts to look around for lowest price and etc.
Maybe a week or two later I buy one.
Unlike many other phone owners, I usually don't buy a new phone just because the
a new model have been released. I only have a HTC Desire now which have served me well
so I intend to replace it sometime next year since I need to. Wether it will be a S4 or
something else I don't know yet.
However if I had an HOX(+) or S3 I would probably not buy an S4 when they come out.
I kind of upgraded early, but only because Caroline had a really rubbish phone and I gave her mine and bought a new one for myself for Christmas. Don't see any point in upgrading early usually though.
I received my HTC one x yesterday. I'm very pleased with the way it moves but that's no surprise considering I upgraded from an iPhone 3g. I have one major issue though. It seems the phone can't handle secure Wi-Fi connection. I didn't figure out what can I do about it but this really sucks.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
No you don't have to upgrade only when there is a new model. But it pays to be aware of the product cycles. As the difference between a few weeks can be a vastly better device for the same money. Or perhaps the same device for less money.
I've been studying the matter but didn't find a fix yet. I updated it yesterday. I have the ICS 4.04 and Sense 4.1. That's what's available up to now. I can only connect to an unsecured wi fi. It's not that much of a problem at home (though I don't like it) since the router is not too good anyway. The signal drops nicely even inside our own little apartment so I won't provide free internet to the whole building. BUT I can see myself coming across this problem very often if I can't fix it.Quote:
Originally Posted by henners88
I've tried to make some changes to the router settings but that's not a good approach. It's the phone that should work with various router settings... at least the common ones
That's not one I've come across since I've had the HTC, its been equally happy connecting to secure or unsecured WiFi. You're on the same software version as me too
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
Doesn't seem to be my problem though. The connection is just fine if it's unsecured. It's stable and fast enough. Only when dealing with secured connections it keeps authenticating for a while and then just gives up. I'm not an engineer but that sounds to me more like a software issue.. I might be wrong though. Anyway I'll wait a little.. try this and that... maybe an update will fix it..
To be honest I don't know if it's that easy in this part of the world...
This is pretty much my problem
Loop obtaining ip address htc one x - YouTube
That depends on the company. There is no such entitlement under law.
Well, this is a serious issue here in Melbourne. All the latest Netgear modem+routers come secure with an already installed security system and access code.Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Ben
I am still trying to decide what phone to buy for Christmas,and may settle on a Samsung Ace plus 7500, Sony Xperia, or a Lumia. I'm not in a hurry, and am making do with an ancient Nokia red phone (7 years old). :(
Insecure wifi is not suitable anyway.
Problem solved. I'm not sure how and if for good but now it works. I went home yesterday, reset the password on my router and then restarted it. After that I told my my phone to forget about the connection, looked again for it and when it asked for the password I also checked the advanced settings options... I thought that will prompt another screen with more wifi settings... but it didn't.. It just connected to the network and worked fine ever since.
Happy Ending :)
I'll wait and see how it handles other secured routers. So far I only tested it on mine. I'm not going to ask left and right to reset their routers for me :p . I'm happy though because it doesn't seem to be an hardware issue. That's my amateur opinion at least.
Anyways... I like this phone a lot. It's fast and it looks nice. I like the huge screen and the size hasn't bothered me much so far... and it's slightly lighter than my old iphone. The camera is impressive but then again it must be also the fact that I got so used to the $h1tty camera the iphone has. It's almost useless. I've tried the burst shots, panorama shots... everything worked better than I expected.
I like the OS too. I'm kind of new to the Android and my old phone got stuck to the iOS 4.1 so that's all I can compare it too.
The sound's great.
The battery behaves pretty much as expected. I think I'll be able to get through the normal days with just one charge
As a first impression I'd say I'm happy I switched to Android and at this point I wouldn't touch an iPhone with a stick :p .. but it's early :D
OK! just doing some research from Oz: how much did you pay for it and where did you buy it? Is it unlocked or linked to a provider with a plan?Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Ben
I've been on the iPhone user when I changed from BlackBerry to the iPhone 3.
My carrier is AT&T and they had an exclusive with Apple's iPhone until a short while ago when others like Sprint, Verizon were also able to offer the iphone as a phone option.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1937
I remember seeing adverts that said that AT&T's iPhone offered features that other carriers didn't.
Then I saw this. i thought all iPhones could multitask in terms of talking and surfing the web at the same time. Looks like it's not.
How is it for the iPhone users on the other side of the pond?http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/11/26/5a5a2yhu.jpg
Well yes, of course you can. Not sure about non-3G networks, but otherwise, yes.
I paid 180 euros for the phone and I'm chained with a 23 euros/month plan. I live in Romania so I doubt this info will help you much. For some reasons (because they take us for chumps) they are more expensive here than in the first world.Quote:
Originally Posted by Valve Bounce
Vb, I got the HTC in oz, free phone on $60 per month with optus
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
Well, I do have a plan, a very old plan where I was provided with 2 very basic Motorola phones for $20 per montha 8 years ago. My wife upgraded her phone to an unlocked Nokia, while upgraded to a Motorola Razr 5 years ago, and which I recently lost. These plans are no longer on the market, and I have been advised by an Optus dealer that whatever I do, these plans are so good that I should not ever,ever let them lapse.Quote:
Originally Posted by Robinho
Yesterday, I bit the bullet and ordered a Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus 7500 :Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus S7500 - Full phone specifications for around $200. It should arrive tomorrow (Inshalla) and it becomes my wife's phone,and I will then use her 6 years old Nokia in the interim. If the Samsung is or exceeds what we require, then I will probably order one for myself before Christmas.
$60 = about 40 quid, my old Orange contract in the UK was 38quid I think. plus I get pretty much unlimited minutes and texts (more than I can use anyway) plus 1.5gb web, plus unlimited facebook, twitter and a couple of other items. Its actually one of the few things that is pretty competitvely priced over here compared to the UK, especially being in WA which seems to have an added premium for most things. plus they are giving away prety much every phone free on these cntracts (except Iphone 5 obviously!) whereas in the UK I found it difficult to get the very latest phones free on a contract/upgrade unless you went to about 60-75 quid a monthQuote:
Originally Posted by henners88
Yep, I don't get that either. Some of the handset costs and monthly plans in Romania are just ridiculous. I guess only US and UK guys get those super deals. That's why I kept my 10 euros/month plan, added 1 GB extra traffic for 7 euros (I never go over that anyway), and bought my Galaxy S3 on the credit card. I pay much lesser over 2 years this way.Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Ben
I've been trying to get my Galaxy S3's screen repaired and the guy at the Samsung center at Bucharest quoted me close to 200 euros for the screen replacement AND the warranty being discontinued. Now this is weird, because a friend in Helsinki got his Galaxy S3 screen replaced for 80 euros. Quote in UK was around 80 pounds. I called up the Indian Samsung repair shop, and the quote was 100 euros. So, I'll be getting my phone repaired when I go down there in December.
I really don't get what's the 100 euros extra in Romania for?!? :confused:
I used to have a 8 euros/month plan and Orange offered me the Galaxy S3 for something close to 500 euros for renewing my contract... :laugh: while I could buy it for around 440 euros unlocked in Media Market in Germany for instance. I don't expect some huge discount for that contract but I still think it's not unreasonable to expect to be at least at the same price as an unlocked device. When they started selling them the price would start from 299 euros... so for a 50 euro/month plan you'd still pay 299 euros for the handset... just ridiculous :laugh:Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainRaiden
The British networks paid off the costs of establishing their infrastructure years ago and the running costs are peanuts, hence why they can charge so little money for phone minutes and texts. Its the one thing where we're better off than other places, usually we get ripped off left right and centre.Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainRaiden
The Romanian networks are probably still paying for the cost of establishing the networks and are merely passing some of the cost onto you.
I wouldn't complain too much with that price plan, I'm looking at paying £20 a month for a similar deal to yours, sim only.Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainRaiden
What anything costs is rarely a function of the actual cost of providing a service. The laws of supply and demand outweigh this by some margin. It's probably just that in Romania the competitive marketplace for mobile operators is not yet as firmly established as it is in the UK.
I don't know what the market for mobiles is in Romania but when you have a situation like in the UK where something like 99% of the adult population has a mobile phone, then you see big competition and economies of scale.
I get plenty in my 23 euros/month plan. More than I need:
2000 minutes - same carrier,
2000 SMS - same carrier,
200 minutes - other carriers and international calls,
200 SMS -other carriers
1000 MB internet
Seems ok.
I don't know about other countries but here you have much better deals on prepay. For 9 euros you get 3000, 3000, 150, 150 and 500 (same order as above) for instance.
It's kind of odd.
That's near about what I got quoted for the S3 replacement screen in the UK and India. I don't get why it's double that in Romania. When my wife asked the guy at the repair center why it is so much more expensive there, he simply said, "Well, because this is how it is here." Highly confusing. I'm guessing it's just a simple "making an extra 100 euros" exercise at this point.Quote:
Originally Posted by henners88
The phone works great so far, even with the cracks. I'm able to play games, read everything fine. All the touch screen functions work as good as before. I just don't want to pay double for a simple replacement for no apparent reason. Since I go down to India in December anyway, makes sense to get it repaired then. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by henners88
It's not just that, but a lot of other stuff is more expensive here. I had a chat with two of my acquaintances who visited Romania, one British and one from Dubai (filthy rich), and they couldn't believe how expensive groceries were in supermarkets. In particular, the British guy said they find food much cheaper in British supermarkets.Quote:
Originally Posted by Malbec
The Google Nexus 7 is more than $100 more expensive here than anywhere else. Like I said in my reply to henners above, I'm being asked 100 euros more for the same Galaxy S3 screen and digitizer replacement in Bucharest compared to Helsinki, Cardiff and Mumbai.
I'm guessing it's some mystery tax levied by the hated government or just because their economy is pants ATM.
Yep, my deal is quite similar. I forgot to add above that it was 12 euros for 1 GB extra, so I pay a total of 22 euros monthly, which is more than good enough, no complaints.Quote:
Originally Posted by Malbec
Naah, I am an Indian, and we've got better prepaid plans, while Romania has much better postpaid plans (even if so expensive). :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Big Ben
You can't find flagship smartphones even with half off offers with postpaid in India. Most of the time you have to pay the full amount. I guess it's because of too much population to keep track of, lack of better mobile infrastructure, lack of a unique ID code, and more people willing to scam the companies and run away. :p
Besides if they started providing smartphones at 0 initial cost and a $40 monthly rental, the supply would be ridiculously behind the demand.
This is why telecom companies in India concentrate on providing better prepaid business, and you get many more options and bang for your buck than postpaid.
Yep, the problem in Romania is that people simply pay whatever they are asked for, even though they are being paid peanuts salaries.Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainRaiden
If you want cheap and good quality groceries in Romania then avoid the supermarkets and go to the market where the peasants sell their crops.
As far as phone plans I have found Austria one of the best places up to now, for 35 Euro/month I get 1000 minutes to call in all European countries as well as 3 GBs High Speed data (after the 3GB are reached the download/upload speed will be limited to a slower rate, but will still work for no additional costs) and I get a new smartphone of my choice every 2 years, for free. I can easily live with this.
Any chance of picking up a mobile phone or tablet at a good price at these markets? Maybe one that has been slightly used?Quote:
Originally Posted by ioan
That's an amazing deal!Quote:
Originally Posted by ioan
That's good for fruits and vegetables, but a lot of other daily stuff that we need, found mostly only in supermarkets, is grossly overpriced. I think that's because a lot of stuff isn't manufactured here, but instead imported, and that results in higher prices.Quote:
Originally Posted by ioan
For example, I found a Kiwi shoe shiner in a Romanian supermarket the other day stamped with "Made in India", and about 4 times the price of what you can get it in India for. :p
Ironically, even at the "peasant market" ( where I suppose you've already noticed the ones who sell aren't the producers but guys who buy cheap and increase the price about a few times ) in most of the cases products aren't exactly romanian but displayed as romanian.Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainRaiden
Then all jonathan apples are presented as coming from Voinesti -which is practically impossible, all nuts are from Vrancea, all potatoes are from Covasna, etc.
If you want cheaper products forget supermarkets and go to hypermarkets, the difference is considerable.
Import taxes + transport costs+ a VAT of 24%+ a consistent profit for retailer+etc. etc.etc.?Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainRaiden
Btw, I can't understand a thing. There are some indian soaps on tv and some indian housekeepers are presented at the market ( ironically they always complain about the high prices ) buying some absurd quantities of vegetables. For ex they ask for 1/4 kilo of cauliflower, 1/2 kilo of eggplants, 1/4 kilo of tomatoes - despite cooking for at least 5 persons. And then I come back to our market where no "peasant" will admit to sell less than 1 kilo. Can't really understand what you eat....Don't think that I've ever seen a cauliflower of 1/4 kg.....
As for the difference of 100 euros, I suppose you know that romanians have a crazy appetite for gadgets of all kind. Most of them buy products without even knowing to use their all functions just because they want to look trendy.
Who cares if you're torn in the a*s and buried in debts if you have the latest model of phone/tablet?
Well, of course. I guess it would help if Romania could mass produce a lot of daily use products themselves. Would help offset the cost of importing and make it easier for their citizens.Quote:
Originally Posted by gadjo_dilo
You're making the mistake of guessing buying and eating habits of a country of 1.2 billion by their soap operas all pretty much produced in one state. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by gadjo_dilo
Nobody buys like that, at least I remember my mother didn't. ;)
I guess you're not aware of the context I mentioned those 100 euros in above. In short, my Galaxy S3 fell on the concrete and the front glass cracked. My wife called the authorized Samsung repair center in Bucharest, they quoted me 200 euros. I checked through my friends in Cardiff, UK and Helsinki, Finland for the exact same repair (front screen and digitizer replacement) from the authorized Samsung repair center, and were quoted 80 euros. I called up the authorized Samsung repair center in Mumbai, India, and was quoted 100 euros. What I don't understand is why are they asking me double price in Romania. :confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by gadjo_dilo