GreenSnapper

In Thailand for sure. Yingluck promised it!

Oh so true, it amazes me that when i ask how much for some item all over phuket and speak thai clearly and slowly they have to tap out on a calculator how much it is and show you, then when you give them say 300bht for a 295bht item they start tapping again to find out they need to give you 5bht ,and these are college grads, amazing Thailand.

Yes, amazing.

I don't know Thai schools or universities from inside. But from what I see daily here, it is amazing that even the simplest knowledge does not exist. Let them show you Myanmar, Cambodia or Laos on a map - they won't be sure.

Ask them who has heard of Angkor Wat. Maybe a few have - isn't that the temple which was built by Thai and rightfully belongs to Thailand?

And I could go on and on.

And the crap being a hub for international education comes from the prime minister. Not from some clueless journalist.

Having travelled in all SE Asian countries, I never saw a place with so many clueless people. Even Cambodia, after years of war, has better educated people than Thailand. Not to talk about Myanmar or Vietnam....

^^ I've seen the Nokia C7 for 8,300, and the Nokia 500 for 6,200. Make sure you are happy with the displays and general lagginess of the UI. I looked at quite a few Nokia models recently and was very, very disappointed in the displays (small, low resolution) and the UI was very slow, laggy and stuttered. Definitely not something most users would be happy with unless they'd never seen a better display or faster UI. Maybe Nokia can improve these with newer Symbian releases?

Utter nonsense. The UI is not laggy at all. You surely have never touched one. Google is no substitute for experience.

I suggest everybody to check it out yourself. TGfone, in the major shopping malls, has most Nokias on display together with the current Android Phones.

Make sure you know what you look for.

My personal criteria are:

Display size - 4" and more if you like extensive ebook reading and/or browsing.

Otherwise smaller, if you like a handy device.

iPhone is 3.5" and slightly wider than Nokia (C7, N8, 701) which all have 3.5"

They are all fine for phone and quick browsing, to small as a tablet subsitute.

Get Samsung GS2 which has a great big screen. But too bulky for daily use IMHO. Consider the Samsung Note, if you want to go even bigger. Comes out in a few months.

Battery: Android's problems are famous. If you don't mind charging every night, it won't matter. Carry a spare battery just in case.

Otherwise Nokia. I charge mine every 3-5 days. iPhone in between. Depends on your usage pattern, of course.

Camera: Top is still Nokia N8. Better than many real cameras. Otherwise, most phone cameras suck. The GS2/C7 are ok but not great. iPhone camera is not bad too.

3G Frequencies: if you want to be flexible, travel often inside and outside Thailand, you need at least 850/900/2100 MHz. Most Androids, incl. HTC and LG, don't support these frequencies.

So get Nokia or iPhone or Galaxy S2.

USB OTG: You can connect a USB-stick, camera, mouse, keyboard.

Only Nokia or GS2.

Quality of radio/connection: Nokia still top.

Quality of sound: Nokia and iPhone - nothing compares.

Gimmicks: FM transmitter. Very handy when renting a car and you want to play your music over the car speaker. Nokia only.

Routing/GPS: iPhones and Androids have google maps which is acceptable but not great. Need to be online(3G) which can be a problem in Thailand on the road.

Nokia has free offline maps for the whole world. I just used it driving in Europe and it was great. No extra GPS navigation necessary. Maps will be updated regularly. European maps are fantastic detailed, those in Thailand and Malaysia are mediocre, though.

Other things to consider:

Operating System: all are good, iOS limited the "Apple way" which is not necessarily bad. Symbian will end in 2016, but the current user base is still huge and app development goes on. Symbian Anna and Belle are a great step forward and can fully compete with Android/iOS. A matter of taste basically. Android is the best for hacking if this is your aim.

Browser: Symbian browser is crap. Most people use Opera. Supposed to be better with Symbian Belle. Android Browser much better, but many use Opera as well. I personally like Safari (Apple) a lot too.

Games - get Android or iPhone. Huge app store / selection.

Coolness - get iPhone.

Price: Nokias very competitive at around 10K Baht if you consider the whole package. I would not buy a Android in that price range. If you have the dosh, iPhone or GS2 is the way to go.

Unfortunately greensnapper is repeating the on going dogma. Think about it does the soil your food is grown in have the vitamins and minerals that is needed. Do you over cook your food, over cooking destroys vitamins and do you really eat a balanced diet or do you kid yourself and say you do, how much pollution are you exposed to each and every day. Do you get enough sunshine and at the right time of the day.

There are a lot of factors one should consider while deciding if taking supplaments is right for them. One example is magnesium, we are constantly told to drink milk for calcium but how often are you told to supplament magnesium very seldom and what is interesting you need magnesium more than calcium. High blood pressure you may need magnesium, shaky leg, cramps you may need magnesium. Cannot sleep at night take some magnesium to relax your muscles

Do your reserch boys and girls and do it before you make silly statements that are proven to be untrue

So you say, the heaps of papayas and mangoes I eat every day are basically unhealthy?

And should be exchanged for some industrial pills?

I guess I will not follow your advice

But seriously, if you have health issues and may need magnesium or other things, then it is called "medication" and not "supplement". And it should be professionally controlled by a doctor/hospital.

Those who are healthy and eat healthy, don't need "supplements".

The new Nokia 500 goes for 6600 Baht. It is the cheapest Pentaband (all Thai 3G frequencies) on the market. You can use it all over the world, not only here.

C7 goes for 9900. New 701 will be 11700.

These phones are all superior to a used or grey market phone with dubious warranty.

If you want Android, get a Galaxy 2.

There are quite a few phones that support even more than those 3 Frequencies.

The Nokia N8, C7, E7 to mention a few, supports HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100.

Yep, these phones are still top-notch hardware.

But iPhones also support these frequencies, some Blackberries do, and what I have read that some Samsung phones can be hacked to either support 850 or 900 MHz. Not for the inexperienced user, though.

If I'd be in shopping for a new phone these days, I'd either get one of those Nokias for around 10-13K, or the Samsung Galaxy S2. There is little that can compete with them.

Who needs supplements when there are so many healthy fruits available everywhere?

Only buy 3g phones in Thailand which have 850, 900, 2100 MHz. These are necessary if you want to be flexible in this chaotic 3g market.

THB 129,208 will not fully furnish, including the listed appliances, any condo I'd care to live in.

You'll get the cheapest stuff they sell in MBK for 3000B a piece. Better buy empty at reduced price.

The condo price will depend on location and view, of course. For just over 2M in Jomtien you can get 48sqm and a great close sea view in a building with low maintenance charges and good security. Or without a sea view you could pay 1M for 40sqm in a brand new building with gym and big pool, or the same in a nice older building with character and gardens. All farang name, of course. Always assuming that you are prepared to wait for a serious vendor and do some hunting, and not just rely on agents. I have seen all of these recently: two are still on sale.

No doubt you know the market in Pattaya well, Darrel!

But my "internet hunting" at agent's websites always gave much higher prices. 1M for 40m2 in a new building sounds quite reasonable. So what's the trick? Visit the places on your own and bargain hard I suppose? Leave the agents out of the business?

the mistake many investors are making is thinking that home prices are stable. they are thinking, well even if i can only rent for 3% a year that beats the money market interest rate, plus the property will increase in value next year. We saw how that worked out in the West.

What you really want to look at is the cost to the developers. if they are building these condos for relatively the same prices yoy, yet sales prices are climbing much faster, that is a bubble.

This is already a bubble.

Recently visited a newly finished top-end condo building in Aree area, not far from BTS, quite a nice location.

115m2 was supposed to be 15 Million Baht. Nothing special here, 3 BR, wooden floor of medium quality, small bathrooms, substandard pool/gym, crappy cheap kitchen. As so often, drainage in one bathroom was smelling of sh+t, "that's normal" the girl said.

Who in his right mind pays 500,000US$ for a cheap construction which will probably be run down in 10 year's time?

Yep, it is all utter nonsense.

There is a harsh economic embargo on Myanmar and that's why they paint it in darkest colors.

Go and see yourself, it is a very pleasant country.

Hello!

can someone tell me,what is the reason,that in thailand,and other asian countrys,the subsidisation,of smartphones,does not exisits,like in europe?

here the "force",the people,to make a contrant ,for 2 years,then all new smart phones,are free of charge!

in thailand,i have to pay 500€ and more for a new smartphone?

Most people here have prepaid phones. Girls change their numbers when they change the boyfriend.

Giving out phones for free and hoping that people pay 2 years for a contract is just totally unrealistic here.

The price for the Samsung Note is supposed to be ~1000$.

That's quite an expensive toy.....

Happy Senior has quite a few restrictions on it.

I think the step-up bonds are much better value.

The stepups seem to be cancelled at Kasikorn. Now the average interest is slightly above 2% only.

With 4 milions he could buy a condo or town house and rent it, that way capital is preserved (going up in fact) and risk is minimum..

This is not minimum risk. There's no income if you can't find someone to rent. There are plenty of apartment blocks that are virtually empty, with noticeboards covered in signs offering the place to rent.

Over time condo blocks become run down and the value of individual apartments falls.

Yes.

This 'over time' in Thailand is about 10 years. These cheap (not price, but quality) condos here run down vry fast. Buy in the West if you want value. Here you shall rent.

Of course there ARE some advantages... I can get three 40 kilogram Thai women for the price of one average 80 kilogram American woman.

Oh, are they down to 80kg again?

171 and climbing......

When Chula girls graduate, they know how to use an iPhone and how to chat on Blackberry.

Could be worse, no?

My sense is that because of the German court injunction barring "promotion" of the Tab 10.1 in Germany, Samsung scrambled to show product at IFA/Berlin, like this model, perhaps earlier than they might have done otherwise? Just a guess.

I think only the new 7.7" tablet got suddenly removed from the show?

Is that scam really confirmed?

I never remember the price to be 550B. Last time I went there it was around 650B. 1100B would be outrageous for medium quality food.

You can make online bookings at their website, BTW.

Due to their great hardware, I think Nokia will do well with the Windows 7 operating system especially in the US.

That will depend on provider support in the US. It hasn't been great in the past, but that may change with M$.

That's not to even mention the much better battery life.

Battery life is abysmal on most Androids - people carry spare batteries as often battery life is less than one day.

iPhones are acceptable, but normally need recharge every night.

Symbian devices are much better, due to better OS tuning and lower processor needs.

But WP7 will top them all.

This one looks sweet, just big enough to be useful but not too big to use as a phone. I've been thinking about getting an SGS2 but might wait and get one of these instead.

Very nice and great to see the stylus coming back.

But it seems that it will not be in the market before Q1/2012. I guess it will be in Thailand April or later.

I do love Bangkok...but hard to explain it being ranked higher than HK or Kyoto. Unless you are looking for girls!

I'd certainly rank HK and Kyoto higher regarding girls too.

Soon after settling here many moons ago I met up with a shy little lady selling clothes from a market stall. I helped her with her English for a week and took her out for dinner on 3 or 4 occasions and then she started talking about marriage. After she made a visit to her parents upcountry she announced that she was willing to marry me if I handed over 250K baht. This from a girl who wouldn't hold my hand in public and wouldn't enter any building with me without a chaperone. I had never mentioned marriage, or even bedding her, and I turned down the offer. After consultation with her parents she told me that the sum had been reduced to 25K baht.

Quite a reduction in price. Seems great deals can be had in Thailand :jap:

But you didn't tell us if the price was justified after bedding her?

Both T & I models were going for 16900THB in MBK last week..

Be careful saving a 1000 Baht or so at MBK.

You may be lucky and everything goes well, but in case of warranty issues suddenly nobody speaks "Inglit" and your great deal will not be so great anymore.