Para

On a slightly different note does anybody know how I can tell which Bluetooth keyboards will work with the iq6?

Bluetooth is Bluetooth mate any keyboard and or mouse will work.

Nokia has a cute one that folds in half and has a stand to place the hone on fairly cheap on eBay or use a full sized. I bought one of them tiny micro keyboards which mostly works but with sausage fingers keep having to make corrections. Only advantage is I can pair it with my desktop and use it as a remote. Remember I am using Nokia Symbian right now so aint blessed with the remote options you Android guys have.

Slightly OT but I was reading about the LTE (4G) data plans available in the UK OMG they are expensive.

I think 500mb of LTE was about 35GBP.

I paid 8300 but big c and tesco do for 8500 I notice.

I think I just got lucky the 200 was not a consideration but being AIS compliant was.

So difficult to find one in stock it took me three days as the Thais love them.

This really feels like a top end phone and camera is fantastic.

Used GPS first time tonight finding new restaurant and was less than impressed to be honest.

Cheers for sharing that Britgent.

I noticed on her i-Style Q6 (why do they gave to make the model numbers so bloody similar?) that GPS locking was VERY bad even with both A-GPS and E-GPS. Maybe this is the reason Hyperdimeonsion is struggling with his compass apps as they need a GPS lock.

I bought my Nokia N8 as soon as it came out and to a degree still love it. The picture quality with the Carl Zeis lens is as good as I will ever need but I paid over 18k. Shows how technological leaps are getting bigger and bigger.

Can any Q6 users comment on GPS locking please.

I wish I were back in the US or UK, where I could reliably get a fast signal, nation-wide, cheaply and with fantastic customer service to boot.

I blame Thailand's 3rd world telecommunications on Thaksin!

You don't have to go that far.....just pop into Laos - Nationwide 3G and really GOOD CS!

Not just Laos, Cambodia is doing better than Thailand.

What with the Thai obsession with losing face how they can allow true third world countries to offer better TelCom services is simply beyond me. This has been going on for YEARS and how much further forward are we?

Up pops the latest updates on how 3G is almost here. Then there are the advertising board proclaiming 3.5G I think I even saw one offering 3.9G and we all get excited thinking 'maybe this year it will really happen' but no just more old news falling on deaf and bored ears.....

Bought an iq6a and really happy with it. Price is great.

BritGent whats the current price on the IQ6A please and where did you get it?

That's a lot of smack and taking it into MY means a death penalty......

That's it bigger and uglier pictures is the best deterrent!

Oh maybe not in today's TV news update was this little gem....Number Of Thai Smokers On Upward Trend To 13 Million

Yet another Thai farce.

We are struggling to get an acceptable level of coverage that not even Bangkok has while the whole world is rolling out LTE!

News? You have to be kidding right......

Bought an iq6a and really happy with it. Price is great.

Can you please try a compass app like Smart Compass and tell me whether it works?

Please also try Skype and tell me whether microphone works in it.

I couldn't get these things working on my IQ6A.

Have you been back to the shop to get them to test?

Regarding the compass I will say for some reason her i-STYLE Q6 (see I now know what she has!) took so long to get a GPS lock. Wondering if a firmware UG is needed. Don't think I will bother with the clowns at Pattaya Nua will have a day out in MBK and get it done in 1 hour.....

Cant cheat anyone who isn't greedy and for the most part stupid.....

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck damn sure its a duck!

Found the work ticket and looks like i was wrong she has the i-mobile i-STYLE Q6. Crazy naming convention IMO.

Really happy you guys pointed this out as I would of rooted it with the IQ6 ROM's when it came back.....

Just confirmed she paid 6500 for it.

Could she have bought the i-mobile i-STYLE Q6 instead of the i-mobile IQ6? They are different phones with different prices.

Possibly I don't have the receipt to confirm.

Just confirmed she paid 6500 for it.

No idea on compass but yest Skype worked.

Just found a site with the ROM's for the IQ6 so it can be rooted.

Need to get the screen warranty fixed tomorrow then I will give it a try.

Did you manage to root it? What instructions did you follow?

Unfortunately I fell for the lies/incompetence of the shop staff in the I-Mobile shop so the wife's IQ6 is currently on a 4 week holiday to BKK to get fixed.

I did however follow the instructions and have all the required ROM's and porting software ready to do for when it gets back.

The instructions were written in Thai but for a change Bing made a very good translation. Good enough for anyone to follow. Here is the link.....

Rooting i-Mobile IQ6.

They also have the ROM's for the IQ6A

I have not tried this to completion and do not accept ANY responsibility for the contents of the translated Thai site. As always rooting iffers many rewards but do so at your peril ;-)

It's unfortunate that Imobile almost cannot be found in the regular small phone shops.

I always buy my phones in the same shop and get service above and beyond what the manufacturer offers.

And for example Samsung can be just as slow (multiple weeks) for repairs/replacement.

Had one instance where I needed outright replacement due to manufacturing fault, after the initial 7 days outright replacement period, Samsung service center said they have to send to Bkk, estimated 3 weeks, the shop I bought exchanged straight away out of their stock and absorbed the 3 week wait for a replacement unit.

See all this useful info after I have sent mine away but at least I am well armed next time as we all know there will most certainly be a next time,

The *LMFAO* after service here in Pattaya is disgusting. I have always been a Nokia man and they are not so bad at least you get a loan phone while yours is being fixed. What I am furious at is I found the supposed main i-Mobile customer/service shop for Pattaya on Pattaya Nua they quoted 4 weeks, I made a *bleep* point of asking if I was able to take it to BKK myself and they said it would also take 4 weeks. A kind TV BM pointed me towards MBK and in 30 seconds I found out they would fix the phone in 1 hour. I am fuming. No loan phone and her's is away for 4 weeks.

Don't suppose you wish to share the gem of a dealers you have do you?

Live and learn, live and learn.

Actually I do...

TukCom.

First floor (phone floor), taking the escalator up you'd walk straight into the shop (unless they moved direction of escalators again).

They also have a big selection of 2nd hand phones, and previously with another repair (of an older phone) they gave me a loaner out of their extensive 2nd hand collection, free of charge...

Must say I probably bought over 8 phones there in the last 5 years...

And, as mentioned before, no I-mobile.

And I'm seriously considering one, the one with the IPS screen has an extremely good price/specification level.

I like my Samsungs, but even with them I never went top level (can't justify for my needs), but relativly speaking they are way more expensive...

Sounds like a lucky find. I have been using various phone shops/counters since Tukom opened. I actually remember having to wait 2 years for them to build it thats how old I am.

I have a few friends with S3's and they love them but at 18-20k especially for the wife its too expensive. ThaiCBR put me onto the IQ6 and she was very happy with it. Only problem is the IQ6 doesn't support 3G on 1-2-Call it does on all the others. They recently brought out the IQ6A to rectify this but I'm guessing you knew this already.

For a 6000THB phone its great (until it breaks)

Just found a site with the ROM's for the IQ6 so it can be rooted.

Need to get the screen warranty fixed tomorrow then I will give it a try.

Did you manage to root it? What instructions did you follow?

Unfortunately I fell for the lies/incompetence of the shop staff in the I-Mobile shop so the wife's IQ6 is currently on a 4 week holiday to BKK to get fixed.

I did however follow the instructions and have all the required ROM's and porting software ready to do for when it gets back.

The instructions were written in Thai but for a change Bing made a very good translation. Good enough for anyone to follow. Here is the link.....

Rooting i-Mobile IQ6.

They also have the ROM's for the IQ6A

I have not tried this to completion and do not accept ANY responsibility for the contents of the translated Thai site. As always rooting iffers many rewards but do so at your peril ;-)

It's unfortunate that Imobile almost cannot be found in the regular small phone shops.

I always buy my phones in the same shop and get service above and beyond what the manufacturer offers.

And for example Samsung can be just as slow (multiple weeks) for repairs/replacement.

Had one instance where I needed outright replacement due to manufacturing fault, after the initial 7 days outright replacement period, Samsung service center said they have to send to Bkk, estimated 3 weeks, the shop I bought exchanged straight away out of their stock and absorbed the 3 week wait for a replacement unit.

See all this useful info after I have sent mine away but at least I am well armed next time as we all know there will most certainly be a next time,

The *LMFAO* after service here in Pattaya is disgusting. I have always been a Nokia man and they are not so bad at least you get a loan phone while yours is being fixed. What I am furious at is I found the supposed main i-Mobile customer/service shop for Pattaya on Pattaya Nua they quoted 4 weeks, I made a *bleep* point of asking if I was able to take it to BKK myself and they said it would also take 4 weeks. A kind TV BM pointed me towards MBK and in 30 seconds I found out they would fix the phone in 1 hour. I am fuming. No loan phone and her's is away for 4 weeks.

Don't suppose you wish to share the gem of a dealers you have do you?

Live and learn, live and learn.

Just found a site with the ROM's for the IQ6 so it can be rooted.

Need to get the screen warranty fixed tomorrow then I will give it a try.

Did you manage to root it? What instructions did you follow?

Unfortunately I fell for the lies/incompetence of the shop staff in the I-Mobile shop so the wife's IQ6 is currently on a 4 week holiday to BKK to get fixed.

I did however follow the instructions and have all the required ROM's and porting software ready to do for when it gets back.

The instructions were written in Thai but for a change Bing made a very good translation. Good enough for anyone to follow. Here is the link.....

Rooting i-Mobile IQ6.

They also have the ROM's for the IQ6A

I have not tried this to completion and do not accept ANY responsibility for the contents of the translated Thai site. As always rooting offers many rewards and pleasures but do so at your peril ;-)

SOURCE

On a Wednesday night deep in the jungles of Kathu in central Phuket, a man dressed as a chef is lying on his back twirling a pole with his feet upon which two French maids are sat. Surrounded by bored-looking tourists eating dinner and Russian-speaking Thai staff, the chef is performing in the circus tent of Palazzo Phuket – one of the many recently launched businesses looking to take advantage of Russian tourists on the island.

The tailors of Patong and Karon are learning Russian as well. Touts in front of the countless custom suit shops on the neon tourist trap streets of these two Phuket beach towns have added “privet” to their repertoire of greetings in addition to the “g’day mate” they throw at groups of singlet-wearing suspected Aussies or “guten tag” to Germans.

Russian restaurants with signs in Cyrillic are popping up around the island, serving borscht and blini next to pad thai and fried rice joints. And the big white tour busses of Russian tour agency Pegas Touristik – with its now ubiquitous green and blue Pegasus logo – sometimes travelling in convoys of three or four – are an everyday sight on Thepkassattri Road, the island’s main artery.

These are all symptoms of a Russian wave of tourists that has washed over the island of Phuket in recent years that is unsettling many in the island’s THB100bn (USD3.3bn) tourism industry. In 2005, only 107,017 Russian tourists arrived in Thailand. Since then, numbers have skyrocketed. According to statistics from the Department of Tourism and the Tourism Authority of Thailand arrivals leapt from about 190,000 in 2006 to about 280,000 in 2007, and from 320,000 in 2008 to 337,000 in 2009. There was then a massive jump of about 91 per cent to 645,000 in 2010. From January to April this year,
the last available records, 389,656 Russians entered the Kingdom, 47.8 per cent more than the 263,643 from the same period in 2010 and on pace
for a record 1.17 million total arrivals this year.

Phuket-specific statistics from the Department of Tourism measure “arrivals at accommodation establishments” and are generally not as well kept (there is a conspicuous and unfortunate gap for the last three months of 2007 and 2008), but they show the same uptrend. In the first nine months of both 2007 and 2008, roughly 75,000 Russians checked into Phuket hotels – so around 100,000 for the year. In 2009, which has complete statistics, about 178,000 Russians checked in to Phuket hotels and in 2010, Russian hotel arrivals in Phuket jumped 28 per cent to nearly 230,000. Marriott Hotels in Phuket alone, for example, have recorded a roughly 21 per cent increase in Russian visitors from 2009 to 2010.

One reason for the dramatic increase in numbers is simple – with Russia’s petro-economy pumping, more Russians have more money than they ever did before. Another reason is that it’s never been easier for Russians to get to Phuket. With visas available on arrival, three charter airlines now run direct flights between Russia and Phuket International Airport – Transaero, Nordwind, and Blue Panorama Airlines.

Roughly 39,000 Russians arrived in Phuket on one of these charter flights in 2009 while nearly 138,000 did in 2010, according to airport statistics. Pegas Touristik, one of the biggest Russian tour agencies in Thailand, began chartering flights from four cities in Russia to Phuket during the 2009-2010 season through Nordwind, its sister company. In the 2010-2011 season, they more than doubled the number of departure cities to nine – including many in Siberia like Omsk, Irkutsk, and Surgut. Next season, says Pegas Thailand managing director Kubilay Atac, they will run direct flights to Phuket from approximately 15 cities.

“Vacation for everybody, this is the main idea,” says Atac, who is Turkish. “Before, people in Siberia had to come to the big cities to travel so for them it was double the expense.” Back at the circus in the jungle, Palazzo Phuket’s Ukrainian executive producer Alexandra Bond, says that nearly 99 per cent of their
customers are Russians in the high season and about 70 per cent in the low season. Most of this business comes from package tours who are generally lower middle class, she says. Bond says that there are two main classes of Russian tourists – the lower middle class and the ultra-wealthy – just like the two classes back in Russia.

Indeed, extremely wealthy Russians have begun to conspicuously buy-into the island. Real estate billionaire Vladislav Doronin and his girlfriend model Naomi Campbell visited in February and were photographed by paparazzi frolicking on the beach in Surin. A mega-villa in Phang Nga, just north of the Sarasin Bridge to Phuket, was sold last year to a Russian buyer for a reported USD26mn, the most expensive property that anyone can remember being bought in the area. And the most famous and powerful of Russian of all, President (now Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin himself, visited Phuket in 2003 and was photographed swimming in the Andaman Sea. But these examples are outliers, and the vast majority of Russians visiting Phuket come as part of package tours.

The island is abuzz with talk of these new tourists and it must be said that they do not have a great reputation. They’re known for spending hardly any money outside their nearly all-inclusive package for which they’ve paid a flat fee in Russia. They are also known for drinking heavily but buying their alcohol at 7-11 rather than spending money at local establishments, and being aggressive. Many of the package tourists are industrial workers and farmers from Siberia, says Bhuritt Mswongssa, vice president of the Phuket Tourist Association and deputy general manager of Patong Resort, so they are “low yield” and not necessarily the most cosmopolitan of folks.

A tailor from Burma named Mawdu sitting in front of M@ster Fashion World in Karon puts it succinctly when he says, “They’re not good business for the tailors or the beer bars.” Still, he’s put up a letter and photo from a satisfied Russian customer on his door, hoping to bolster business with the new tourists. He estimates that roughly 70 per cent of all passers-by are now Russian in Karon.

In January 2011, local media reported that six Russian tour groups were banned from operation by the Phuket Tourism Business and Guide Registration Office for operating as “zero baht” agencies – saying basically, that because their clients were paying a flat fee for the whole trip in Russia, zero baht was going into the local economy. This ruling came after complaints were filed in late 2010 by local tour guides alleging that the agencies were using Russian tour guides, breaking Thailand’s law requiring all tour guides to be Thai. “These Russians are stealing our jobs,” a tour guide told the Phuket Gazette.
Phuket Tourism Business and Guide Registration Office Chief Piyasuda Sukcharoen says that actually eight tour groups were banned, simply because they were breaking the law by using non-Thai tour guides.

But upon further investigation, can a huge influx of new tourists really be that bad for Phuket’s vacation economy? Are all these Russians really spending zero baht, as some claim?

“That’s absolutely rubbish,” says Bill Barnett, founder of hotel consultancy C9 Hotelworks, which publishes regular statistical reports on tourism in Phuket. “At the end of the day, when these Russian tour groups stay in a hotel most of that money comes through because the hotels are usually owned by Thais.”

Bhuritt agrees that the notion that Russians are “zero baht” tourists isn’t true. The package may be booked with a flat fee in Russia, he says, but local companies are contracted on nearly every step of their journey from hotels to busses. Despite the fact that money is definitely going into the Thai economy from the Russians, “there are two sides to the coin,” says Bhuritt. “It’s great to increase the tourist numbers, but Russians don’t get along very well with other tourists.” Bhuritt says that Phuket needs to find a balance of Russian tourists without driving away other Europeans – the British, Germans, and Scandinavians that are Phuket’s historic bread and butter. He gives what has happened to Pattaya, where Russians have come to dominate the foreign tourism market at the expense of others, as an example of what Phuket needs to avoid.

The bosses from Pegas Touristik balk at the notion that their business isn’t putting money back into Phuket’s economy. Espen Westlie, managing director for Pegas’ Phuket office, says that numbers have increased almost 150 per cent in the last three years to where they are now handling 5,800 to 6,000 guests per night. “With the increase in numbers, hotels are earning more and locals are earning more,” says Westlie.

Prices for packages to Phuket with Pegas Touristik vary widely depending on factors like the hotel, time of year, and flight occupancy, but the minimum is about USD3,000 for a 12 night stay, says Pegas managing director Atac. Pegas tours include only breakfast, so travellers must buy their own lunch and dinner – most likely putting that money into a local restaurant. The company uses Thai tour guides, he says. Atac also points out that Pegas has about 380 Thai staff in Thailand – for Phuket he’s not exactly sure of the numbers – but is that money not going back into the local economy? And don’t these families
from Siberia deserve their moment in the sun? “With 11 months of grey weather, people have to travel somewhere to restore their energy. That’s the main reason why we’re focusing on Siberia,” he says.

But Phuket Tourism Business and Guide Registration Office chief Piyasuda, says no. She has tried to ban Pegas Touristik but says that the company is registered in Bangkok so she has no jurisdiction over them. She also believes that although the Russian tour groups are putting some money into the local economy, they spend less than other tourists and drive those other tourists away. “I believe Phuket will lose more than it will earn from Russian tour groups,” she says. “But I don’t think Phuket will ever be like Pattaya because it has more local strength.”

Certainly Phuket has a well-deserved reputation for hardcore protectionism in its tourism industry. The so called “tuk-tuk mafia”, which has a monopoly on the island’s transportation and charges extortionate prices, immediately comes to mind. Bhurrit says there’s nothing new under the sun, and that the uproar that’s going on now is exactly the same as when Japanese, Koreans, and Germans began visiting Phuket in all-inclusive tours years ago. The local tourism industry was up in arms about these new visitors back then, but in short time figured out maximising income from them – especially by learning their languages.

If Phuket has show anything before, it’s that it can turn every new stream of visitors into revenue. And this new stream from Siberia likely won’t be any different.

oilinki whilst your logic is sound the reality is quite different.

I can only answer for Pattaya but local businesses are not seeing any Russian money as they are on total package holidays with very little extra available for domestic spending. Yes the local hotels need staffing to cope but as far as restaurants/bars go they are not benefiting.

Considering the fact there were only 100k Russian visitors to the Kingdom back in 2005 now we are seeing 1M+ and its growing strongly something needs to happen to get the balance right of Russian visitors and Russian spending or the resorts that they visit will be drained.

I am certainly not one of the many anti-Russian but I do see potential problems if the influx continues without supporting local business with their money.

What I mean by all of this. Phuket has already became a 'lame' place to go for an vacation. Quite like Teneriffe some 15-20 years ago. I believe that Phuket will not get it's glamorous status back for Europeans at least for the next few decades. The people who came here year after year have already got tired how the island started to turn out. They are and have been sourcing new places for their dream vacations. For example in my networks people seems to be talking more about Cuba than Thailand these days.

But for Phuket. If we think what these place would look like if all the Russian, Chinese, Middle Eastern and future Indian tourists would be taken out of the picture. That would not be a good for local economy. This is the reason why Phuket needs these new comers. Even if they don't play with the same rules as the previous visitors did.

Don't confuse quantity with quality.......

Let me dig out a piece written about Russians in Phuket hang on.

I would, there are thousands of Russians coming to Thailand now on very cheap package tours.

What percentage of the total are spending big or even likesay a european tourist?

I have talked to a lot of Thais here in Pattay about the Russian tourists and all say the same thing. They hate the Russians because they are rude, brash, laud and very cheap.

I know a bar tender at the Camelot who told me the Russians, who dominate the hotel, go to 7 Eleven and buy booze and then want to sit in the hotel bar and drike it. When told they have to pay a table fee they get outraged.

Pretty much my experience, I live in Jomtien about half of the year and hear the same things.

Some Hotels are even putting notices outside "No Russians".

Why would they do they if they were getting benefit from them?

I was in Kata for a couple of weeks last November, heard noting but Russian on the street but in the restaurants and bars, very very few!

Ah the joys of Jomtienski!

I was on Pratumnak for a few weeks recently and was amazed at the volume of Russians walking around. Then you have the added problem of trying to get a bahtbus from Jomtien into Pattaya. The buses are often full to the point of being dangerous and the traffic making it quicker to walk or take a bike.

Their cultures are certainly different from ours but change is the only constant in life.

This is VERY hot on another board that I post on and it seems one of the plus sides is the way they will happily push in front of Thai's that are queuing at 7-11!

oilinki whilst your logic is sound the reality is quite different.

I can only answer for Pattaya but local businesses are not seeing any Russian money as they are on total package holidays with very little extra available for domestic spending. Yes the local hotels need staffing to cope but as far as restaurants/bars go they are not benefiting.

Considering the fact there were only 100k Russian visitors to the Kingdom back in 2005 now we are seeing 1M+ and its growing strongly something needs to happen to get the balance right of Russian visitors and Russian spending or the resorts that they visit will be drained.

I am certainly not one of the many anti-Russian but I do see potential problems if the influx continues without supporting local business with their money.

R.I.P.

I was recently in the same boat as you trying to find a new place.

Standard now is 200THB/person water with electric 8-10THB.

All the old haunts I used to live in have almost doubled their prices which means the Thai's that were living there are all being squashed into the bottom end of the market making it close to impossible to find a reasonable place.

Thankfully I did eventually but it took a couple of days riding around on a bike to do so.

Good luck.

Round trip Pattaya-Bangkok transportation time via slow buffalo maybe...or maybe the shop you bought your device from must use a different repair shop in Bangkok. Maybe the 4 week estimate is a worst case scenario assuming some repair parts have to be ordered vs being onhand.

Or Thai time.

I am used to Nokia who give a loan phone and generally turn around within 24hrs I almost hit the floor when she said 4 weeks. Whats really got me is I specifically asked her if I took it to BKK how long would it take and she said the same 4 weeks.

Might try and call Pattaya and if they have not sent it get it back and go to BKK myself.

Another shining example of Thai after service.

You might want to checkout the I-Mobile by Smart Service Center web page at this Link. It may be helpful if applicable.

Seriously not happy.

Says MBK service center will fix in 1 hour I have to wait 1 ****ing month................

With an estimate 23M tourists coming here in 2013 I don't see how a first world country could manage the amount of data generated by hotels having to daily report let alone Thailand with its anal demands for untold copies of all forms.

As for the excuse its to make sure they can track us in emergencies what a load of BS its is as always about the money.......