dddave

Both these phones are unsatisfactory to me, because they both use hybrid sim-SD card slot for the second sim, ie when you insert the second sim card, the SD card slot becomes unavailable.

No such thing exists

That's what I thought but a bit of online research revealed there actually are a number of models released in Europe and the USA wherein the 2nd slot is dual purpose; either micro SIM or micro SD. Sorry, didn't note the model names when I read this.

Lazada has the Zenphone-2, B9000++ for the 16GB version, imported but Lazada website claims one year warranty Should be less when it finally hits the open market, whenever that will be. Asus seem's to be having problems keeping up with demand.

According to what I read, there will very soon be a flood of 2gb RAM/16-32/ROM models with premium features such as 4G, 1920x1280 displays and improved cameras, front and rear, many in the under US$300 (B9000) range. Xiaomi, One+, Lenovo, Meiju all have new releases ready to roll.

The phone business adapts quickly to the market. This should be an interesting year for phone geeks...such as myself.

Last year I exited and re-entered Thailand more than 20 times using a Multi-entry permit (Non-Im."O" visa) and there was never an issue I was aware of.

Maybe the "4" entry number was related to someone noting the break-even point of purchasing the B3900 Multi.

AIS has the best coverage in most rural areas but TRUE currently has the most extensive 4G network. As others pointed out, all three provide "Holiday" packages with a GB or two included.

If you come to Thailand on a yearly basis, inquire as to how you can lock in your number and service. I believe with AIS, a one time top up of B1000+ will extend validity for a year and each subsequent top-up will extend it for an additional year no matter the amount of the top-up. Just be sure to also ask the code to suspend your service when you depart Thailand.

I browse FORTUNE PLAZA pretty regularly and never recall seeing that brand on display there.

RichCor;

Your explanation of "Rooting" is one of the clearest and most concise I have ever read. Thanks.

Are the candy bar phones tied with a provider (locked in)?

The ones sold by TRUE, AIS & DTAC are "locked" to their service but if you already are a subscriber they will tie the new phone to your existing account.

For under B500, their deals are very hard to beat.

I'd suggest passing. An acquaintance bought 2 of them late 2013, one for his GF and one for himself. He has had major problems with both of them, especially with the display. If you look closely at the specs, it's really significantly dumbed down from the full sized S-3...much better values with new phones out there now.

30000mAh power bank from Lazada for 299bht.

Just about charges my 3000mAh phone battery before it needs a total recharge 555

I also have a "No Name" 30,000 mAh power bank that I received free from Lazada as a premium. It has 2 full sized USB ports: one marked "2.1A out" and one "1.0A" There is one Micro-USB "IN"

Data label says: "3.7V/44.5 wh max", "Imput dc5v/1200 mA max", (USB #1) "Output dc5v/1000mA (max)", (USB#2)"Output dc5v/2100mA (max)

It also has a bright flashlite built in.

I have used it for six months without a problem and have traveled several times to the USA and Europe with it in my hand baggage without being challenged.

It does get quite warm when discharging but never "hot".

I can easily recharge my 3000 mAh phone battery from 20% to full several times with power left over for a Kindle recharge or two. Sometimes, on long flights I will connect it to my phone and play music for extended periods. I have also used it to keep a 10 inch tablet going for six or seven episodes of some TV series I've downloaded.

It's fairly heavy, probably more than 200g and about 25% larger than a king size pack of cigarettes. Came with a universal adapter for many devices such as the iphone..

Check Lazada.com, lots of feature phones, sometimes called "Candy Bar" phones. On their main page click Mobiles, then the "Under B3000" tab. You will see many listed in the B1000-2000 range. The posted specs will tell you if it's 3G compatible as RichCor made a really valid point about future 2G availability.

One other good option is any TRUE, AIS or DTAC sales office, in most malls. They have many low cost Candy Bar phones for sale, sometimes with very good promotions tied to them. I know TRUE has a simple 3G Candy Bar phone Package for B299...hard to beat that. Some of the phones will even do 4G.

Another advantage is that they usually will replace the phones if anything goes wrong, unlike most retailers. A friend had bought an AIS "LAVA" phone and after 6 months, the touch screen stopped working AIS exchanged it for a new model without any hassle.

Most phones in retail stores selling for less than B4000 have 512K Ram though in the last few months some low price phones with 1gb have been appearing.

If your wife just wants a basic phone for calls, messaging and social media, then 512 works ok, even with simple games like Candy Crush. However, if she browses the web and makes online purchases from retail websites, then 1gb ram will be much faster and smoother.

For all low ram phones, it's a good idea to periodically download a cleaning Ap such as "CLEANMASTER" that easily clears out junk files and free's up ram and phone memory. It also has the ability to identify duplicate files such as very similar photos, giving you the option to delete them and free up more memory. CleanMaster itself takes up a fair amount of memory so not a bad idea to delete it when finished, then download it again when needed...it's free.

There was major media coverage last year about a group of Thais in one of the Scandinavian countries who were not paid for berry picking they had done. Another story was about the terrible living conditions imposed on some Thai workers in Isreal.

Governments are mandated by the UN to take measures to protect their overseas workers and most countries do require some kind of exit permit. The most important thing is to regulate the overseas employment agencies that recruit them and make outlandish promises, them milk them with paybacks and fee's.

In Isan, it's no secret that most of these agencies are controlled by local politicians.

What with all the major crime, corruption, human trafficking, and counterfeit property racketeering in Thailand, another petty bust makes the headline news. Thais just don't get it. They perceive that throwing flack up, they will win world consensus that they are fighting crime in Thailand and making groundbreaking major busts.

What's petty about it? A person is scammed out of B60,000, not an insignificant sum, at least to me. She deserves protection and justice as much as anybody else does.

Being naive is not a crime. There are not very many of us who have not victimized ourselves with love's or lust's blinders.

This scam is run on an ongoing basis, targeting users on DATE in ASIA along with other similar dating sites. They put up a false express company website that looks quite genuine with what appears to be active package tracking and probably target 100 or so women at a time. They usually claim to be offshore oil workers who are in transit to Thailand, thus unable to pay the custom fees. They promise to pay back double the requested amount. I have known several girls who were targeted.

I am sure these 4 guys are just parts of a much larger ring. This scam is very well organized.

Do some research online and make a list of which phones in your price range appeal to you. Search "You Tube" for those models and you will find dozens of "Un-boxing" and demonstration reviews for most generally available models.

No, most stores do not allow a "Test drive" of a new phone; way too many risks allowing just anybody to install a SIM. In most stores, they will turn a model on and you can go into "SETTINGS", then scroll down to MEMORY or sometimes STORAGE and read the memory specs. Scrolling down further to "ABOUT PHONE" will give you the Android version installed.

If you like detective type thrillers, Christopher G Moore, a resident expat puts a lot of local color in his prolific "Vince Calvino" novels; good departure lounge reading. (Not to be confused with Christopher M Moore, the Sci-Fi writer)

Jake Needham's "THE BIG MANGO" & "LAUNDRY MAN" are enjoyable and well written as are John Burdett's "BANGKOK 8" and "BANGKOK TATTOO". IMHO, the later books that followed these were not as imaginative and original.

ASIABOOKS has several shelves loaded with Thailand based books, many by self-published authors. Many of my friends really enjoy and recommend books by Steven Leather, several of which are based in Thailand, PRIVATE DANCER for one.

Whoops!!, Almost forgot to mention Dean Barrett, arguably the "Dean" of Bangkok genre authors: funny, knowledgeable and totally irreverent.

Laos; not Thailand is the location of Colin Cotterill's "Dr. Siri" series, the charming, witty and singular medical examiner in all of Laos during the early years of the revolution...really entertaining.

You might find this webpage informative: http://www.thaiwebsites.com/books.asp

Still running 4.4.2 on my Zenphone-5. No notifications to date regarding Lollipop. I'm not sure I even want it. I see no real advantages over what I have...definitely not a power user.

A friend from Canada who is on 3 day a week dialysis visited for the month of December a few years ago. His Canadian national health care was portable and covered most aspects of his treatment here as an outpatient at Samitivej Hospital.and he was happy with the treatment he received there. He was helped by the fact that he has a devoted Thai wife who was able to oversee all aspects of his care and the logistics of getting to his treatments.

He had a great visit and really enjoyed himself but it was not easy and could never have been done without a lot of assistance from his wife and friends.

South America; Peru, Chile, Argentina. Brazil is also wonderful but harder to negotiate linguistically. South America also has the advantage of being winter..much cooler.

S.E. Asia?? Laos & Vietnam. The mountainous area of Laos between Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang is spectacular and the Mon villages are a true culture apart. Many small GH's.along the main route 13, .not fancy but amazing.

North and the Central Highlands of Viet Nam offer a wide range of experience, spectacular mountains but with the coast and beaches never more than a half day away. Great rail journey between Hanoi & HCMC.

I found India to be better as an idea than as an actuality. Traveling in India is a lot of work and the pressure on your pocket unrelenting. I won't say scams although they certainly abound...It's just that you can never escape for a minute being a target...no matter where you are. If you resent the sometimes double pricing in Thailand, you will certainly not enjoy the triple, sometimes quad ripple price gouging you will encounter. Filth and bad air everywhere.

Australia?? I spent 2 days in Adelaide and really liked it. That's all I've seen so far but I hope to go back sometime. Aus. $ is week just now so a good time to go with US $ but prices are really up there.

Two years ago, I've bought an Onda V972 which would have met all my specs and had also a better resolution (Retina)

(But crappy batteries, charger, etc)

It was ~7800 Baht, so I was thinking, something similar must be available at ~6000-6500 nowadays.

I also have a 2 year old Onda V972 and though the display was really gorgeous, it constantly crashed. I could never understand the directions on their website for rooting and updating so that went undone.

I'd put it on a shelf several months ago and hadn't used it since. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed it looked a bit odd so I picked it up and the whole case was split wide open and the battery containment envelope was blown up like a birthday balloon. Such was the force of the expansion that the leather case enclosing the tablet was also distorted way out of shape. I have to say I was impressed that the battery containment envelope held intact with so much pressure from within.

This same thing had happened earlier this year with another cheap, 3 year old tablet. Same scenario; inactive for a fairly extended period, not on a charger but put away fully charged. Again, the containment envelope held. I'm not sure if this is unique to cheaper batteries but twice in one home is too much. Be mindful of this when you store your tablet when it's not being used. It also happened to an Onda belonging to a friend of mine.

Now I understand why airlines and cargo companies are nervous about L-Ion batteries. I wouldn't want to see the result if one went off in a packed bag in a cargo hold.

Innerspace,

Is the ASUS RT-N12 fairly easy to set-up? Anything helpful to know in advance? I need to replace a True supplied Zxycel and the Asus looks good.

Thanks.

Hi... I know you have asked him, but I have just arrived home with the Asus.

Setup was easy. nothing to it. If you don't need anything special in terms of functionality, it is a plug and play item. I didn't have a deep look at the Asus interface, because I flashed the DD-WRT firmware right away.

Something to note though- this is a router only. I connect to a true supplied cable modem.

I suspect that your Zyxel is a modem router and has provision for the incoming internet- probably ADSL telephone wire? If so- you need a different product from the RT-N12.

Thanks, Bino for the information and the "heads up" on the modem. I do in fact have True ADSL and was blisfully unaware of the difference. I would have bought the Asus and probably have put a forehead shaped dent in my stucco somewhere along the installation process.

The True Zyxel does not perform very well...never really has and I am tired of the low quality gear they provide. Prior to the Zyxel, they gave me two different Billions that were real garbage. I really want my own quality set-up.

Do I need to ask for a "Router-Modem"??

Thanks also to Innerspace.

Hi KK

I find that with the thermostat set for higher temp...27 degrees and up, I can feel significantly more humidity in the room. That temp. is not bad if I am sitting around with a fan moving air around me but if I start doing any strenuous activity, I get very sweaty, very quickly. 25 seems to dry the air more efficiently. I notice a significantly larger output of water from the drain when at 25. Maybe I'll try to do an experiment and run it at 25 for 30 min and measure the water output, then change to 27 and measure the 30 minute output..might be interesting. I'll report back.

I do often run it at 26 at night.

I hate wearing suits but when I need a business look, I can usually get away with a dark blue blazer and dark slacks. My 30 year old wool blazer is beyond retirement age and is too heavy a wool for this climate so I need to have a replacement made. My abundant dimensions preclude off the rack.

I have stopped by several of the Sukhumvit tailor shops recommended in previous threads on this forum but find my eyes glazing over as they present an endless array of fabrics.

At 70, I won't be needing another 30 years out of this one but I do want it to look good, be easy to maintain and be as comfortable as possible in this climate, all while not costing an arm and a leg.

I'm looking for knowledgeable advice on material, possibly a wool blend. I really have no knowledge myself. As I said, comfort in this climate is paramount.

I shudder at the idea of starting another endless "Tailor" thread but things change quickly on Sukhumvit so any up to date suggestions of a decent shop that won't nag on me to buy an entire wardrobe would also be appreciated.

There was a long thread on this forum late last year about the proposed renovation of Pantip Plaza.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/713926-bangkoks-pantip-plaza-to-undergo-major-facelift-to-draw-customers/

Just my own recent experience. (BTW, another thanks to all the TV members who helped answer my questions on this same topic 5 months ago)

I have a 50 s/m (inside space) single room, one south wall. I had a very old (15 to 20+ year old) 25K unit. My elect bill cool season normally about B3000, hot season; B5 to 6000.

Last fall, the compressor (outside) unit died. AC shop on my soi who I had used in the past recommended new, quoting B40,000. I asked about used and against his advice had them find and install a used replacement compressor, cost me B6000 all in.

BAD idea!!!

Noisy as a locomotive. Crew came 3 times to find ways to quiet it as neighbors were justifiably complaining about the noise at night. Also cycled on and off frequently. Then the bill came for November, it's first full month, normally a cooler period with a B3 to 4000 bill. New bill an unbelievable 7500Baht!!! Needless to say, I totally freaked out.

Once I stopped hyperventilating, I had to admit to myself that I had made a truly dumb move ignoring good advice and going with the used compressor. It was clearly to old and inefficient and nothing was going to make it work any better. Time to cut my losses, get rid of it and get a new one.

I did a lot of research online and posted some questions here which got a lot of helpful responses. Most of the AC info online about the common 2 piece systems used in Thailand was Australia based, not much specific to Thailand in English. I did learn enough that I knew if I could buy a unit with an "Inverter" for an affordable price, that was the way to go.

Most appliance department AC salespeople are not very helpful and finding ones with decent English skills not easy. Most would go to their charts and push 30,000 BTU units with inverter types pushing B45,000+++.

With help from this forum, I decided I did not need to go that high. Coincidentally, POWER MALL at Siam Paragon was having it's annual clearance sale and I was able to find a well reviewed SAMSUNG unit, 21,000 BTU with inverter for B22,000 installed. I had done a lot of shopping and that was an amazingly low price for an inverter unit and Samsung is a reasonably reliable mainline manufacturer. It was fully installed and operating within 7 days of purchase.

I have now had it almost 5 months and I just got my power bill for March 16-April 16: B2600 for a very hot 4 weeks, way less than I used to pay, even in cool season. It is on all night and probably half the day, sometimes all day. I run it at 25 degrees and move the air around with a floor fan. It never cycles "off & on", rather, if I listen closely I can hear the cooling unit increasing or decreasing speed. The neighbors are very happy as it is almost inaudible. Needless to say I am happy with my purchase. It does kill me when I think about how much money I wasted over almost 10 years with the old unit. Expensive lesson learned.

I also was unable to load YouTube videos several days ago..maybe April 24, 25....just wouldn't load on either of my 2 laptops, using both Chrome and Firefox. Did play on my Android phone but only on mobile data, not my domestic wifi. TRUE ONLINE ADSL Bangkok, Phra Khanong area.

No problems running You Tube since.