Theyreallrubbish

Bought the Nokia N97 yesterday. Initially was pretty unimpressed and was mentally preparing myself to take the loss and sell it in a couple of months when the Omnia HD comes out.

However, its starting to grow on me. Its not nearly as flashy graphics wise as the Omnia or HTC phones and really it seems to be a Nokia N95 with a bigger screen that is also touch, but although the Nokia N95 floored me with its huge list of features and then floored me again when you quickly realise that you can't use any of the features without keeping the phone permanently attached to the charger, the N97 allows you to use all these features.

Plus, the huge 32GB of onboard memory means storing music, movies, pictures etc is no longer a set of decisions, but just slap it all on.

So far today I used the phone to listen to my music through the car radio using the music player and FM transmitter for about an hour over a few trips, watched an hour long TV program that I'd downloaded to my PC and transfered, having the phone on the table with the angled screen while eating dinner at an outdoor restaurant during the day, the screen was bright and sharp and I could even hear the sound through the speakers over the traffic going by. Also used it to check the internet a few times, taken about 2 dozen photos with flash and, of course, since its new, randomly played around with it quite a bit. Oh, I also made and received about 20 phone calls and received a few text messages.

That used up less than half of the battery and I'd taken it off the charger the previous night. So battery problems seem to be solved, so it'll be great to fire up Nokia Maps and have the GPS lock on *before* the low battery warble comes from the phone. (Anyone who's owned a Nokia N95 will know what I mean!)

I do think the HTC Touch Pro 2 and Omnia HD are probably better phones in terms of graphical sparkle and the operating systems, but they are also 10,000 Baht more expensive and lack certain features that the Nokia has (flash for the camera being one big example that its important to me)

Also, there was only one left in the whole of Central Airport Plaza, so it must be quite popular.

You see these nonsensical kinds of pricing all the time in Thailand and my view is that its a result of the low volumes of sales for most products that aren't basic necessities. With lower volumes the marginal cost of stocking each different type of product is much higher so prices vary very dramatically depending on the relative volume of sales.

My guess is that 12k BTU units are the highest volume sellers and thus the lowest price per BTU

One thing that comes to my mind is how many truly "handsome" young farang men get involved in the dating scene in Thailand? Yes, there are the young guys that come here because they can't get a decent girl to date them back home, but I meet very few of them that would be a big deal back home - most are somewhat neurotic and their obsession with being "young" is just a way for them to feel better about themselves without good reason.

In fact, I have met many more handsome, charming guys that are middle-aged, but have a hard time dating young girls at home. Truly handsome young fellows do not have to go half way across the world to get some nooky!

According to the Thai women I know, it's the potential for younger men to run around that is a virtual turnoff. So where perhaps younger men may be more physically attractive, the probability of them running off with other ladies, thereby causing the current Thai lady to lose face, makes younger men very unattractive.

Think about your own statement here. "Thai women don't like to go with young guys because young guys find it too easy to go with Thai women" The internal logic doesn't quite stand up.

Why misquote me? What I said, as you can see, is that the potential (as perceived by young Thai women) for younger men to run around is unattractive to younger Thai women. The potential exists, and therefore many younger Thai women would rather avoid said risk.

I wasn't misquoting I was paraphrasing to better clarify the core of your point.

Adding the word "potentially" hasn't altered said point one jot

If a person is interesting and charming then looks and age don't matter as much. Women usually find self assured men more attractive than insecure men... even if the guy is young and handsome.

One thing that comes to my mind is how many truly "handsome" young farang men get involved in the dating scene in Thailand? Yes, there are the young guys that come here because they can't get a decent girl to date them back home, but I meet very few of them that would be a big deal back home - most are somewhat neurotic and their obsession with being "young" is just a way for them to feel better about themselves without good reason.

In fact, I have met many more handsome, charming guys that are middle-aged, but have a hard time dating young girls at home. Truly handsome young fellows do not have to go half way across the world to get some nooky!

According to the Thai women I know, it's the potential for younger men to run around that is a virtual turnoff. So where perhaps younger men may be more physically attractive, the probability of them running off with other ladies, thereby causing the current Thai lady to lose face, makes younger men very unattractive.

Think about your own statement here. "Thai women don't like to go with young guys because young guys find it too easy to go with Thai women" The internal logic doesn't quite stand up.

Based on my own experience, arriving here at 22 and currently late 30s, I do find it easier now to get university students than it was when I first arrived. However, there are a multitude of factors that could explain this other than the preference of Thai women students for older men. The acceptability of dating farang has changed, my own wealth has obviously changed, probably my confidence and skill in dealing with women has changed, the level of materialism of Thais has changed and the familiarity with westerners has changed making us less scary and thus more likely to get a positive response to an approach.

What's the name of that club that used to be where Simon Chiang Mai was located? It seemed friendly enough, if a little dark and loud.

Its called "Differ", haven't been for a while but AFAIK its still there, and open til 6

Another one in the same area is Zanta (Iyara Hotel) on Chottana opposite Radjapat also open til early morning and packed with students. Used to be good in its former life as Rodeo.

See, Femi fan I'm not selfish after all, I can tell you all the best places And don't worry, you won't see me there........

I go to Zanta and Differ so just as a warning for others so they're not disappointed, they're very Thai with no English speaking staff and they don't sell beer and whisky by the glass is about half the price of the bottle as they're completely set up for groups to buy a bottle and mixers.

I've also noticed this and put it down to the higher importance of interpersonal relations to Thais.

The reason why most of us westerners don't remember names is because we're not really paying attention when the other person first tells us their name, we're too busy thinking about what we're about to say when they stop talking. For Thais they need to get more info than just the name in order to gauge relative social status and decide how to behave and what words to use, so simply put, they pay a lot more attention initially which leads to much better memory formation and retention.

However, test them on something that doesn't have a social aspect and you'll notice they're just as good at not paying attention and having poor recall as any nationality

The problem is that you want to keep it free from expats other than yourself.

Why is this a problem? Whilst I understand your point, I for one didn't come to Thailand because it was full of foreigners (anyway you've already guessed why I came here ). I work with Thais and socialise mainly with Thais; expats make up a very small part of my social circle. Call me selfish, but I don't see why I would want to advertise to all and sundry about the Thai places I go to with Thai friends. If you want to find these places, make some real Thai friends and you'll soon find you're living in a differnt world to the totally artificial one that exists around Thapae gate (UG: I'm sure I'm preaching to the converted here ) It's human nature to want to keep Utopia to yourself once you've found it (take the storyline from "the Beach" as an example).

So, i'm alright jack for you then. Human nature to keep utopia to yourself? No, i don't think so at all. And forums such as these are places for sharing the wonders of being a human.

And in my experience in thailand not many farang have an extensive network of thai friends like yourself; it's just not quite that simple. As it happens i often went places in bangkok with thais who showed me places i'd never otherwise have found. Such good places i told everyone i knew.

I trust your circle of thai friends are unaware of your selfishness. I can't imagine them being the same. Lucky they afforded you what you don't want to give to others.

I agree. I love to show people places that other people have shown me.

Unfortunately, I've discovered that most foreigners don't like Thai places if they can't speak Thai. They get very paranoid and seem to be convinced at every moment that they're about to be ripped off.

I'm just about ready to give up after the last time where I took a foreigner who lives here to a late night student club. We had about a dozen student girls with us who were paying their own way with the whisky and mixers and the club was full of young student Thais and no other foreigners. Everyone was friendly and as I'd been there many times before the staff were eager to help, Unfortunately no-one spoke English and I spent the entire time trying to calm down his paranoia that the staff were trying to rip him off and over order on his bill. A miserable night for me and he can spend the rest of his life in Chiang Mai going to Spicy from now on as far as I'm concerned as it seems to be the only place he's happy.

This is not the first time this has happened and I've resorted before to telling the whining foreigner that I'll pay for everything just so he'll shut up asking what the price of everything is and whether the bill will be accurate and what did the waitress just say and what is the waitress doing and where did she go and ruining everyone else's night.

How many times has fabrique been shut down for selling uppers in their cocktails now?

Eh???? Thought Fabrique had only been open a few months? At least with that name, though maybe was something else before? Are you thinking of somehwere else?

They sold a "1000 Baht coffee". Apparently it contained a new designer drug that mimics ecstasy. I don't know anything about drugs so I don't know if this is just gossip. They were shut down when the Bangkok police came up and were shutting everything down at 1 a.m. Only ever been once and didn't really like it and haven't been back so don't know if the special coffees are back on

Thanks for your review, I am still searching and just seen this ...

Samsung i8910 Omnia HD

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i8910_omnia_hd-2691.php

YouTube Review ....

It seem's to have every thing on my spec list , but not too sure about this part .... OS Symbian OS v9.4, Series 60 rel. 5

could some one please comment on that ..?

The other thing that I wonder about is , in the past ive had a Samsung mobile phone, and had a lot of problems with up dates, and connecting

the phone to a computer, and I generally found the Samsung mobile web site , difficult and not user friendly .

Thanks

Looks good i have found this review you may be interested in

http://www.mobile-phones-uk.org.uk/samsung-i8910-hd.htm

Do you know the price are they asking for this phone here?

Well the review words .... Outstanding and a Full 5 Stars , has to make any one look , although from my past experiences

in trying to use the Samsung web site , download and use software and tether a past Samsung mobile phone to a PC and Mac , makes me wince just thinking about it .

Features of the Samsung i8910 HD include:

* 8 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom, autofocus and power LED flash

* HD video camera with power LED video light, DivX playback

* 3G video calling with secondary VGA camera

* Display: AMOLED, 16 million colours, 640 x 360 pixels (3.7 inches)

* MP3 player (MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA formats), stereo speakers & DNSe 2.0

* Stereo FM radio RDS

* MP3 ringtones

* Speakerphone

* GPS satellite navigation

* Messaging: SMS, MMS, email (POP3 / SMTP / IMAP4), instant messaging

* Document viewer

* Java games (Java MIDP 2.0)

* Personal organiser functions

* Offline mode

* Memory: 8/16 Gbytes plus microSD memory card slot (up to 32 GB)

* Internet: HTML web browser, WAP 2.0, GPRS Class 12, EDGE, 3G HSDPA (7.2 Mbps), HSUPA (5.76 Mbps)

* Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0, WiFi, 3.5mm audio jack

* Quadband GSM plus triband 3G HSDPA/HSUPA

* Size: 123 x 58 x 12.9 mm

* Weight: 144g

* Talktime: up to 13.5 hours

* Battery standby: 600 hours

As for the price , not sure

has any one seen this phone on sale here in Thailand ..?

Thanks

Saw one yestrerday in carrefour CM on the lower level price was 14900 and the guy said he would discount to 14500 then we went past another shop and it saw one more with the price on it at 13900

YOu sure it was the Omnia HD as that price is a third of any comparable smart phone and the retail price in the west is the same as comparable phones

Wow this thread is going in the hang nam fast. What is this thread about ?

Only connection I can make is my Mandalay club experience. I wandered down the soy to Mandalay club one night. It is the only club that makes CM look like Las Vegas at night. I walked in and sat down at a long table bar in the rear of the place. All I could see was a big crowd of black hair dancing.

All of a sudden I was surrounded by 4 Thai guys,they were not smiling :-) one asked what I want. I said a Heineken please and the guy said 500 BT, I said no thank you and walked out. Lesson learned, some Thai places do not welcome Faranges. Don't know if this is on topic, just a pass along.

I've been to Mandalay dozens of times and always found everyone very friendly.

Have to admit I've always been surprised how few foreign guys I see there considering the quality of the women

Never knew it wasn't farang friendly.

Never gone on my own though, so I guess that might be a different experience

I recently lost my HTC Touch Pro so I'm also looking for a touch screen smart phone. I'm considering the HTC Touch Pro 2, but its 34k Baht and very large and no flash, the Nokia N97 which is only 24k Baht and fully featured but there are rumours its underpowered and slow and the Samsung Omnia HD but I don't know the price yet.

Another phone to consider is the Sony Ericsson Experian X2. The X1 was a good phone, but not quite as good as the HTC touch Pro which it was very similar to and it'll be interesting to see what they've done to improve it.

Since I paid 33k for the HTC Touch Pro and lost it, I'm loathe to spend money on another very expensive phone and may go with the N97 as I got the N95 when it first came out and the functionality of it at the time blew me away

Two observations, which apply as much to me as to anyone. 1) Men are generally very poor at reading women's intentions. 2) Thais are often amused and baffled by farang men's incompetence when it comes to flirtation. We tend to think too much, deliberate, analyze, wanting to understand the situation, environment, risks, costs, etc., rather than simply following our instincts and going with the spontaneity of the moment. So the question, "Is the girl available?" is a case in point. Ask her out and you'll have your answer. Alcohol helps.

I'll give my impression, which is almost certainly totally inept and quite probably also unfair.

I think the girl is a player. I was in a group of 3 western men and I definitely got the impression she would have preferred to have met each of us individually and dated all three of us simultaneously to improve her standard of living and also to join a no doubt long list of other foreign men "helping" her

But I may be wrong. Maybe she really is a sweet girl with no boyfriend who is very friendly to strange foreign men and speaks English very well entirely through her own studying.

She gave me her email but wouldn't give me her phone number.

I agree very strange and never had anything like that happen in Thailand

Since the thread seems to have morphed slightly I'll add my experience in Tesco today.

Went to buy a fridge. They have one at a promotional price. I checked other places and decided to buy this one.

Stood around the fridge for a while looking for a staff member. Inexplicably none around so I walked over to where a girl was selling mobile phones and told her I wanted to buy the fridge. She went off and came back with a Thai staff member.

I told him I wanted to buy this fridge and pointed at it. He asked what color and I said this color. He had a look at the box next to it and seemed to be noting something. He then asked me to follow and I thought we were going to the service desk.

As we walked off I noticed I had now attracted 3 sales staff.

We walked deeper into the fridge section and he pointed at a different fridge and said, "This one very nice."

"Yes it is." I replied, "But I want the one I showed you."

There were now 5 sales people around me and a new guy asked me to come over here. I wandered over and he began opening other fridges. "This one very good."

"I'm sure its wonderful, but I don't want that one. I want the one I asked for."

"What about this one? You like the color?"

By now there were 7 sales staff and they were all standing by different fridges and each was calling out and competing to try and entice me to the fridge they were at.

"I have already looked at many fridges and I know the one I want."

There was a collective sigh of disappointment and the original salesman re-appeared from wherever he had been hiding and finally led me to the service desk.

Paid for the fridge but couldn't pay for a small item I'd picked up unless I agreed to leave it to be delivered as well! Went to the next service desk where a different guy took down my address (written in Thai) for delivery. The address was on quite a major road, but although he knew the road and knew the landmarks I said I lived near to he didn't know where it was. About 15 minutes of me drawing maps ensued covering 4 sheets of paper, but he finally agreed he knew where to go.

I head off satisfied in my accomplishments for the day in buying a fridge and do some shopping in other parts of the store. So about 30 minutes later I've just returned to my car and am climbing in when my phone rings and its Tesco Lotus. Can I come back to the service desk.

OK, back I go to the service desk to be greeted by a completely new guy. He also has no idea where my address is, (Although he also knows the road and the landmarks nearby) so I redo my map drawing until I have a brain wave and get out my phone and show him exactly the route on Nokia maps with Thai road names.

Despite all this I am completely confident my fridge will arrive on time tomorrow as I've been through this before. They seem completely clueless and even brain damaged at times but everything gets done just fine.

Just to update. Fridge arrived exactly on time.

Went to buy some furniture today from the factories around Lamphun and what a terrific service!

Having bought furniture in the UK and always having to wait 1-3 months for delivery, even if you say you'll take the display model in the store today was a breath of fresh air.

I pointed out half a dozen items I wanted and went back to the office to pay the bill and arrange delivery. A bit more map making, but not nearly as much as in Tesco the previous day. I then asked when delivery would be. "Between 3:30 and 4 p.m."

"Ok, but what day?"

"Today"

Bear in mind I ordered the furniture at about 1:30 p.m and even my driving quite fast its 30+ minutes from the factory to my home.

They also surprised me as I got out my money to pay the whole bill and they told me no! I only pay a small deposit and pay the full amount after its delivered.

Got to give credit where its due sometimes. The factory outlets provide terrific service.

Since the thread seems to have morphed slightly I'll add my experience in Tesco today.

Went to buy a fridge. They have one at a promotional price. I checked other places and decided to buy this one.

Stood around the fridge for a while looking for a staff member. Inexplicably none around so I walked over to where a girl was selling mobile phones and told her I wanted to buy the fridge. She went off and came back with a Thai staff member.

I told him I wanted to buy this fridge and pointed at it. He asked what color and I said this color. He had a look at the box next to it and seemed to be noting something. He then asked me to follow and I thought we were going to the service desk.

As we walked off I noticed I had now attracted 3 sales staff.

We walked deeper into the fridge section and he pointed at a different fridge and said, "This one very nice."

"Yes it is." I replied, "But I want the one I showed you."

There were now 5 sales people around me and a new guy asked me to come over here. I wandered over and he began opening other fridges. "This one very good."

"I'm sure its wonderful, but I don't want that one. I want the one I asked for."

"What about this one? You like the color?"

By now there were 7 sales staff and they were all standing by different fridges and each was calling out and competing to try and entice me to the fridge they were at.

"I have already looked at many fridges and I know the one I want."

There was a collective sigh of disappointment and the original salesman re-appeared from wherever he had been hiding and finally led me to the service desk.

Paid for the fridge but couldn't pay for a small item I'd picked up unless I agreed to leave it to be delivered as well! Went to the next service desk where a different guy took down my address (written in Thai) for delivery. The address was on quite a major road, but although he knew the road and knew the landmarks I said I lived near to he didn't know where it was. About 15 minutes of me drawing maps ensued covering 4 sheets of paper, but he finally agreed he knew where to go.

I head off satisfied in my accomplishments for the day in buying a fridge and do some shopping in other parts of the store. So about 30 minutes later I've just returned to my car and am climbing in when my phone rings and its Tesco Lotus. Can I come back to the service desk.

OK, back I go to the service desk to be greeted by a completely new guy. He also has no idea where my address is, (Although he also knows the road and the landmarks nearby) so I redo my map drawing until I have a brain wave and get out my phone and show him exactly the route on Nokia maps with Thai road names.

Despite all this I am completely confident my fridge will arrive on time tomorrow as I've been through this before. They seem completely clueless and even brain damaged at times but everything gets done just fine.

Thanks all,

I knew about pee, but loong just seemed a little over familiar.

They don't use it when talking to me, just when talking to each other about me.

So for example, if my name was Bill they greet me saying "Sawatdee ka Khun Bill" but for example I heard one staff member say to another over the phone, "Loong Bill ja py offit by sahm"

I asked the staff member why she called me loong and she said that the 8 year old daughter of one of my staff members calls me loong so they all do. She then added, "You're not young any more you know" !!! :D

I was just wondering since I'm not related or married to any of them and since I'm their boss if by being so familiar with me they were being disrespectful

They call me Khun when talking to me but refer to me as Loong "uncle" when talking to each other.

Is this polite or not? A good thing or a bad thing?

I'm not that old, late 30s only!

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding

In all of the directions it can whizz

As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,

Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.

So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,

How amazingly unlikely is your birth,

And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,

'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth.

Perhaps theres has simply been too much Dollar badmouthing by the Chinese, and it

has come back to haunt them!

Bubba

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8139902.stm

They sold Billion 27,52 Yuan out of Billion 28 Yuan and that's indeed short with a staggering 1,71% of the total.

Why that is now haunting them is a mystery to me but maybe you know something that I don't ?

What that has to do with the US$ is also beyond me but it seems that the Chinese handle the rising house prices a little better than Western countries.

If the USA and some European countries would have followed the Chinese rules by enforcing stiff down payments when buying a house, the Western world wouldn't have been in the severe trouble we are in now.

"Hangzhou has doubled the minimum deposit for purchases of second homes to 40%, and also increased the rate on mortgages for second homes to 10% more than the benchmark set by the central bank."

That means that "old" deposits were already 20% of the buying price.

Apart from the above 28bn Yuan is a small amount in China.

In comparison:

".........10 Chinese banks signed a syndicated loan contract for 18 projects totaling 176.2 billion yuan, China's largest syndicated loan in the history of its banking industry. "

and:

"By the end of 2008, China's syndicated loans reached 956.6 billion yuan, growing 53% year on year. "

Source: Chinastakes.com

LaoPo

I don't know the exact figures for Chinese government bond auctions, but in US auctions anything below a 3 times cover is considered worrying by the markets.

The market had a bit of a fit yesterday when a 1 year auction came in at only 2.7 times cover.

Hope this adds a little perspective and shows what a big deal an outright failure is

Excellent close up of a pale blue petal.

Really well done. I think the lighting and contrast and framing are superb!

you lot and yes all of you are so full of compassion its sad, as a new member of this forum i have watched and read and come to the conclusion that most of you have nothing better to do than slag anyone who falls out of line, yeah ok the guy did wrong and should be punished but give me a break, we are talking about 1500 baht, would you rather he had just commited suicide than go out for a drink with no money.

Welcome tibap - but I am not sure we need you to become another member of the bleeding hearts club !

Suicide ? just a trite comment that is irrelevant to this situation, I may as well say that in the Middle East he would have his hands cut off.

The guy went out without the means to pay for goods that he knew he was going to consume. In his country, under the Theft Act 1968, such an activity is indeed ....... theft. I agree entirely that it is not a hanging offence. We can probably assume that this is the thin end of the wedge as far as HIS problems are concerned. HE needs to sort them out, taking whatever support/advice is available - he may find a greater degree of sympathy in his home country.

I agree and with the likelihood that the unpaid bill will be taken out of the staff's wages, it was an incredibly selfish act as well by stealing from people on such a low salary that it may well be a week's wages for them.

I agree with the previous poster that it reflects badly on all of us. Many more selfish thieves like this and the Thais will switch to the UK system of paying for every drink as it comes as they won't trust foreigner's not to run out on the bill

Was up very early to drive to a hill tribe village about 60 kms away to give food and clothing on the Big Buddha Day!

Really cool and nice and the roads were almost completely empty.

Stopped at a market in Doi Saket to buy the food and when the stall holders found out what the food was for they wanted to donate as well and ended up with enough food to feed a village for 100 Baht!

Driving up into the mountain was a bit scary on the wet mud but the green and freshness was worth it.

However, when I got to the hilltribe village I was surprised to see that they all had large modern houses with new cars parked out front, satellite dishes on the walls and new clothes.

The person I went with had been going there since she was at university in Chiang Mai 15 years ago and I had to tell her that it may be time to change her view on their need for help as they had nicer homes than she did!

I used to visit Hilltribe villages myself 16-17 years ago and things were rough back then and I'd see diseases that hadn't been seen in the West for a century. Now, at least in this one village, there has been a dramatic transformation and they're living better than the urban Thais.

Fat people are happy people my sister says,, she is 140 kg

Unfortunately depression stats don't back that up.

I'd love it to be true that we could eat our way to happiness, but its just not

I am always more than stuffed when I get the 100 baht veggie Thali at the Royal India if that tells you anything.

In that case, you won't be much help at evening out the odds at a buffet. The Royal India Veg Thali is about what I can handle, although it always leaves me just a little overfull.

I agree that a rating system at MOW4U would help with those difficult decisions on what to order when presented with menus galore. A simple initial low tech way to implement it would be for Mike to simply request clients to call him back after a meal to offer a rating which he then averages out (after say ten ratings) and sticks an appropriate number of stars next to a restaurant name.

The issue would seem to be that any restaurant that doesn't get 5 or nearly 5 stars is going to consider pulling itself from the site and at the very least waste a lot of Mike's time complaining. His business isn't an internet restaurant site but a delivery site that wants as many restaurants signed up as possible with as light an administrative burden per restaurant as can be achieved.

Comments would be impossible as he'd need full time moderation. Never underestimate the power or ubiquity of OCD lunatics on the internet.

BTW I'd also add that Mike goes above and beyond to be helpful and his service has never been anything short of exemplary

A few questions raised by the above posts: What is "sour acid"? Do the Crest Whitestrips only keep your teeth "clean-looking" or do they actually whiten them? My teeth are plenty clean, the problem is that they are more yellow than white. What is "have the get kit also" and what is "java"?

I've been using Sparkle Booster Gel for a couple months. This product claims to "whiten teeth" with "Peroxide Whitening Power". After using two tubes of this stuff, I must report that it has zero whitening power. Yes, it does make my yellow teeth sparkle, with a golden sparkle. This is not what I want.

The Sparkle contains about 3% peroxide, so its pretty much useless. In contrast, the strongest brand of White strips is about 36% peroxide.

Peroxide is the stuff that is in the gels the dentists use to whiten teeth.

I have some crowns that were put in when I was a teenager and at the time they were whiter than my natural teeth. After using Whitestrips and nothing else the crowns are now darker than the rest of my teeth!

Your actual results will vary depending on the natural color of your teeth.

One of the big advantages of the whitestrips for me is that I can calibrate how white I want my teeth to go. I can't get the laser treatment because of the crowns as I worry that if the rest of my teeth turn out too white the crowns will look really yellow in comparison.