Did you buy an iPhone 4?

[GomiGirl]

Comparing these sorts of prices to what Australians have to pay, we do have it pretty bloody good in Japan for excellent phone, cable, internet, keitai services. Australians pay through the nose for crappy internet which is usually capped to bandwidth limits to add further insult.

Forget streaming, forget tethering forget even sending large files around the place like say after a wedding and you are getting all your wedding pics sent.

Just thought I would throw this little comment into the conversation. Not sure on what happens in the US or UK though.

[McTojo]

I had pre-ordered my iphone 4 back in late June and finally got it a few days ago in Japan. I'm loving it. If you love shooting in HD and loading it up quicker to youtube or FB then you will not be disappointed at all. I can't keep my hands off of it.

[Takechanpoo]

If shitty Softbank's SIM lock is released, I will buy one. But unfortunately it seems like Z-Korean Son Masayoshi keep clinging to it.

[xenomorph42]

You can choose. If you buy the wifi version then you get data to/from the iPad via your wifi and there are no data fees. If you buy the 3G version you get both 3G and wifi but if you want to use 3G then you need to pay Softbank monthly for a data plan.


Like your current phone, how much you pay depends on how much you use.

If you go and buy a brand new 32GB iPhone 4 today this is what you will pay:
1. Phone cost: 2400yen/month (for 2 years)
2. 2 year Contract Discount: -1920/month
3. Calling Plan (White Plan): 980/month
4. Calling Plan Upgrade (W White Plan): 980/month
5. S-Basic (Data Charge): 315/month
6. Unlimited Data: 4410/month

Total: 7,165yen/month

The above gives you the following:

- Unlimited data, email, SMS, MMS. No tethering to your computer allowed.
- Free calls to other Softbank mobile phones between 1am and 9pm.
- Calls to Softbank mobiles between 9pm and 1am are 10.5yen/30secs
- Calls to non-Softbank mobiles or land lines (24/7) are 10.5yen/30secs

Exactly how much you will pay depends on how many calls you make that get charged at 10.5yen/30secs. If you take the rough estimate of 10,000/month that you have heard from a lot of people that means they are making about 150mins/month of calls that are billed at 10.5yen/30secs. If you make none of these sorts of calls you'll pay 7165yen/month (in fact if you make very few billable calls you can remove the 980yen calling plan upgrade too). If you make 300mins/month of these calls you'll pay a total of about 13,500yen/month. Generally I pay about 12,000/month for my iPhone 3GS.

But this largely depends on if you call to a AU or Docomo phone, right? So what is the "unlimited" calling plan for?

[FG Lurker]

But this largely depends on if you call to a AU or Docomo phone, right? So what is the "unlimited" calling plan for?

What unlimited calling plan?

[Greji]

If shitty Softbank's SIM lock is released, I will buy one. But unfortunately it seems like Z-Korean Son Masayoshi keep clinging to it.

I don't know if that will last Take. I got a mate that works for Son that thinks we're in for a change. If I hear more exacting stuff on that from him, I'll post it here....

[IkemenTommy]

I think he meant by unlimited data plan.

[xenomorph42]

What unlimited calling plan?

I thought during the weekdays the White plan has unlimited calling or something like that.

[Taro Toporific]

[SIZE="3"]Reality distortion field remains strong with Darth Job[/SIZE]
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[SuieiPrincess]

Not yet...

[Ketou]

I thought during the weekdays the White plan has unlimited calling or something like that.

I think that's only to other softbank phones and from 9am-9pm (not exactly sure on the time).

[Mike Oxlong]

Yes, that is basically correct. As FGL wrote earlier, it's 01:00-21:00.

[FG Lurker]

I thought during the weekdays the White plan has unlimited calling or something like that.

Sorry, been away for a few days.

As mentioned by Mike and Ketou, the unlimited calling is to other Softbank (or Disney) phones, and runs from 1am to 9pm.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I fucking hate i-phones, or any other mobiles...the Japanese stare at them incessantly and I cannot move freely anywhere. If you want to look at your fucking phone, get outta the express lane, cunts.

[wuchan]

I fucking hate i-phones, or any other mobiles...the Japanese stare at them incessantly and I cannot move freely anywhere. If you want to look at your fucking phone, get outta the express lane, cunts.

Japanese people have zero sense when it comes to spacial awareness. If random muggings were more common, maybe they would pay attention to what is going on around them. Mock bag snatching is a surprisingly effective way to pick up girls in Tokyo.

[IkemenTommy]

Mock snatch bagging is a surprisingly effective way to pick up girls in Tokyo.

Fixed that for you.

[Yokohammer]

Japanese people have zero sense when it comes to spacial awareness.

This is so damn true! At first I thought it might be something physiological and they have almost no peripheral vision ("unique Japanese vision"), because you can walk up beside someone waving your arms and playing a trumpet and they won't even notice you until you are right up their nose. But if you think about it there's hearing and other senses that should come into play, so it's probably more of an attention issue.

Some of the people you see involved with their phone or some stupid game while walking along a crowded train platform while a train is pulling in, for example, are accidents waiting to happen. It's as though their brains get totally sucked into the device and they have none left over for sensing their environment.

Whoops ... pet peeve and wrong thread ... I'll stop there.

[Mike Oxlong]

It's kinda on topic, 'Hammer. Japanese have developed a different cultural coping strategy for crowding. While New Yorkers, for example, have developed a very direct and brusque way of communication to cope with crowding and noise, Tokyoites have gone the opposite way. Someone noisy and bothering you? Tune them out. Ignore it and forget about it. Cell phones fit perfectly into that strategy. Gives you something else to focus on, somewhere to escape into. Thing is, while that may be fine in your own noisy apartment block or while sitting on the train, it does not work well when walking through a station, or on a crowded street, or while driving...

[Taro Toporific]

I fucking hate i-phones, or any other mobiles...the Japanese stare at them incessantly ...

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

It's kinda on topic, 'Hammer. Japanese have developed a different cultural coping strategy for crowding. While New Yorkers, for example, have developed a very direct and brusque way of communication to cope with crowding and noise, Tokyoites have gone the opposite way. Someone noisy and bothering you? Tune them out. Ignore it and forget about it. Cell phones fit perfectly into that strategy. Gives you something else to focus on, somewhere to escape into. Thing is, while that may be fine in your own noisy apartment block or while sitting on the train, it does not work well when walking through a station, or on a crowded street, or while driving...

Maybe it's the short colons...or, perhaps, the unique four seasons...?

[Pearse]

I only did a very brief search for Samsung Galaxy information here and didn't find any.
My son wants to get a Samsung Galaxy and told me that it's better than an iPhone4. Any opinions on this would be greatly appreciated by clue-less me.

[Coligny]

I only did a very brief search for Samsung Galaxy information here and didn't find any.
My son wants to get a Samsung Galaxy and told me that it's better than an iPhone4. Any opinions on this would be greatly appreciated by clue-less me.

These are tools.

If you don't know what they do, don't buy them.

If you don't know what you need, that means you don't need them.

There's still few payphone around.

[BigInJapan]

I only did a very brief search for Samsung Galaxy information here and didn't find any.
My son wants to get a Samsung Galaxy and told me that it's better than an iPhone4. Any opinions on this would be greatly appreciated by clue-less me.

You won't find much info about the Galaxy in English in Japan yet, but it is already out overseas.
It's kind of like comparing apples and oranges (two different OS for starters).
You can't just compare specs, you have to know what you (or your son) want to do with the phone.
You might gain some insight from these articles:

iPhone 4 Retina Display vs. Galaxy S Super AMOLED... fight!
iPhone 4 vs. Galaxy S, part deux: HD video playback (video)
Apple iPhone 4 Vs. Samsung Captivate (Galaxy S) - Which One is Better?
If he just wants to play games, save some money and get a Nintendo DS or Sony PSP (although the actual games cost a lot more).

[Behan]

These are tools.

If you don't know what they do, don't buy them.

If you don't know what you need, that means you don't need them.

There's still few payphone around.

Cut him a break. It's not as if your misspelling and lack of grammar and punctuation is funny any more.

And you do know there's a difference between I/you and him, don't you? cuz dere is a differnz ya no......

[Yokohammer]

Cut him a break. It's not as if your misspelling and lack of grammar and punctuation is funny any more.

[Grammar Nazi]
It's not as if your misspelling and lack of grammar and punctuation are funny anymore.
[/Grammar Nazi]

[Coligny]

Cut him a break. It's not as if your misspelling and lack of grammar and punctuation is funny any more.

And you do know there's a difference between I/you and him, don't you? cuz dere is a differnz ya no......

I know the difference, what I don't know is what concept you tried to convey. I was stating a rule of thumb.

Excuse me if I find a question like "My son wants to get a Samsung Galaxy and told me that it's better than an iPhone4. Any opinions on this would be greatly appreciated by clue-less me." nearly as stoopid as the "whatcha think aboot them japanese porno" one.
There is no answer to the generic "which is better" question.

His son specifically asked for the Samsung. That means he wants it, and surely have good reasons or at least HIS reasons that should prevail upon random advice from strangers.
If it was for his 80yo grandma, the problem would be different, we'd have to focus on the final purpose and how easily-reliably it performs. But for kids, whatever you throw at them, they should be able to understand, master and if possible improve it.
No need to go fishing for 3rd party advice in order not to buy him the model he want. To sum it up that would be like "here my son, I bought you the IPhone, some bloke I don't know told me it was better at doing what I don't know you want to do with, since I never saw him I must assume that he's smarter than you, also: fuck you"


(*)shrinks can have a field day with my statements...

[IkemenTommy]

[Grammar Nazi]
It's not as if your misspelling and lack of grammar and punctuation are funny anymore.
[/Grammar Nazi]

The FG board is swarmed with a bunch of eikaiwa senseis these days.

[Crystal Skull]

No, the 3 still works.

[Yokohammer]

The FG board is swarmed with a bunch of eikaiwa senseis these days.

Yeah, but if you look closely that one's a bit of a double entendre, at least it was supposed to be.
Sort of bombed though, it seems. Ah well ... can't be funny all the time ...