Best Way To Check Email & Internet On Cell Phone?

[PaulAllen]

Hello,

I have lived in Thailand for 3 years and have always had a simple phone with a simple sim card that I use credit on. When the credit finishes, I go into 7-11 and buy more DTAC/Happy credit.

Now it has come a time where I need a phone that can allow me to access the internet and (mainly) check my Gmail account. I can no longer wait till I get home in the evenings to check my email.

So, what is: a) some of the best phones to do this with? The cheap Nokia phone I have now I know will not do the trick. I borrowed my friends Samsun D900i and it has the options to check email and surf the net but they are not 'activated'. Which leads me to question To do this, (internet, email), will I keep my sim card and just pay per access? Or is it better to sign up on a plan and pay one set price each month?

Thanks in advance for this advice on this matter.

Regards,

Paul Allen

[2008bangkok]

It really depends on hoew often you want to check your email and whether you have POP or Exchange email,

If you are using exchange for corporate email then i would say a windows mobile based handset as in my opinion are the best for that although you can get a application called RoadSync which does the same job on a Nokia phone..if you want to access it now and again and it is a normal gmail or any other POP email account then any mid range nokia will do the job..

As far as connection goes that also depends on how often you want to access email as you can program the phone to check at intervals of say every 1,2,5 or 30 mins and it will check and hang up when finished..this is okay on a normal pre paid sim with gprs activated as it will cost only 1 baht max to check your email evertime...If you want to have your email as soon as it comes in then maybe a post paid with a GPRS pakage will do fo you both AIS and DTAC will do unlimited GPRS per month for no more than 1000..

As far as internet goes the only phone i would even think about surfing on a lot is a IPhone every other phone including Windows Mobile or a good Nokia like a N95 are a novelty at 1st if you have never used one before but will quickly wear off as they are clumsy to use and not a patch on a Laptop or PC.

[funfun]

"As far as internet goes the only phone i would even think about surfing on a lot is a IPhone"

best ive seen, and all set up for gmail, and if ya in a city say bkk or pattaya every time you go for a pint, many bars have free wi fi anyway, so phone in poket you dont check owt, it does, and vibrates if ya have mail, really ex phone but lets itselfe down in other depts!

chris

[PaulAllen]

Thank you. You answered quite a lot.

It will only be Gmail and I will manually check it every hour or so. So it looks like the prepaid sim is the way to keep going then.

I would love an Iphone but way out of my price range at the moment and too many features that I have to pay for that I don't currently need. I have been playing with my friends Samsung D900i. He bought it here on Samui for 6,000 Baht new. Anyone have any advice about this phone or its close relatives?

The one thing I don't like is when the slider is shut and the screen is dark, you cannot tell if you have an SMS or missed call. You have to "activate" the screen to see anything (time, date, single strength, etc.) I think because it is a large, color screen it would drain the battery quickly if it stayed on all the time but it would be nice to see if I have an SMS or missed called w/out having to do anything (like my cheap Nokia which constantly displays the time, date and missed calls and SMSs).

Regards,

[2008bangkok]

Thank you. You answered quite a lot.

It will only be Gmail and I will manually check it every hour or so. So it looks like the prepaid sim is the way to keep going then.

I would love an Iphone but way out of my price range at the moment and too many features that I have to pay for that I don't currently need. I have been playing with my friends Samsung D900i. He bought it here on Samui for 6,000 Baht new. Anyone have any advice about this phone or its close relatives?

The one thing I don't like is when the slider is shut and the screen is dark, you cannot tell if you have an SMS or missed call. You have to "activate" the screen to see anything (time, date, single strength, etc.) I think because it is a large, color screen it would drain the battery quickly if it stayed on all the time but it would be nice to see if I have an SMS or missed called w/out having to do anything (like my cheap Nokia which constantly displays the time, date and missed calls and SMSs).

Regards,

Im personally not a fan of Samsung or slidy phones but its personal preference,if your in the 6k bracket i would get a Nokia 6300 or a Sony K800/810i which is a good all round phone with a 3mp camera and pop/imap email support

[tom yum goong]

If you want emails to come straight to your phone without you having to keep checking (Push email), get a Blackberry. I believe you can get one in Thailand for about 30k but not sure as never seen one here in Phuket. I've been told they are much cheaper somewhere like Singapore. Blackberrys do Push email very well and has a qwerty keypad which makes typing emails a lot easier. Everyone i've met who has one swears by them and can't do without their Blackberry.

Being a cheap skate and not being able to find a shop selling Blackberrys in Phuket, i opted for a Nokia E61i which also has a qwerty keypad. It supports Push email using either Blackberry's own Blackberry Connect application, or an application from Nokia which i haven't looked into yet. AIS charges around 800 baht/month to use Blackberry Connect push email. Not sure if its easy to set up a gmail account to use BB Connect though.

I haven't subscribed yet and am currently checking and replying to my emails using a Java app from Google to access my personal gmail account, as well as a separate app (Mail by Google) to access my google apps email. This uses the IMAP protocol and is working quite well, although i have to check for new mails each time.

To avoid having to check yourself, u can configure your phone to retrieve mail at regular intervals using the POP protocol as 2008bangkok has mentioned. if u do this you probably want to be on a data plan and pay monthly. I use AIS who charge 350 baht for 100 hours, or 900 something for unlimited. I imagine Dtac has something similar.

ps. i'm using my nokia e61i for web browsing and its pretty good for light web browsing. Web browsing on the Iphone is much better but the Iphone lacks a lot of functions which are vital for business use. Looking forward to seeing the new Iphone though.

[bill1960]

Google up Samsung Omnia i900

Iphone lookalike but runs windows mobile.

Selling in Singapore for ~ SG1000 (USD800) so I expect they'll be ~Bt30k when they arrive in Thailand.

[tominbkk]

Got my Nokia E51 for about 9500 Baht. great phone that connects just about virtually any way. Use wifi in free places, and when you need to connect to the net use one of the GPRS thingies.... May not be the greatest phone to write long emails on, but witht eh gmail app it is very easy to check on yr mail. For internet, download the opera browser and it ain't so bad.

[PaulAllen]

Ended up buying a 4,990 baht phone, Samsung 600 and with the Gmail app, can check email fine and didn't have to spend a bundle. How do I go about downloading the Opera browser?

[dotcom]

Over at AIS (1-2-call) the prepaid starts at 100 baht for 20 hours per month & goes up from there. if you don't use the full 20 hours you lost it.

First of the month you will be debited 100 baht again.

Yeah you can set your home page to gmail & save a lot of time.

Works brilliant on yahoo mail & windows live mail too.

[Cal]

Dtac has a push-mail application for yahoo, gmail, hotmail, etc.

Very easy to sign up. Just go to wap.dtac.co.th and you will it there.

[Boater]

If you want emails to come straight to your phone without you having to keep checking (Push email), get a Blackberry. I believe you can get one in Thailand for about 30k but not sure as never seen one here in Phuket. I've been told they are much cheaper somewhere like Singapore. Blackberrys do Push email very well and has a qwerty keypad which makes typing emails a lot easier. Everyone i've met who has one swears by them and can't do without their Blackberry.

Being a cheap skate and not being able to find a shop selling Blackberrys in Phuket, i opted for a Nokia E61i which also has a qwerty keypad. It supports Push email using either Blackberry's own Blackberry Connect application, or an application from Nokia which i haven't looked into yet. AIS charges around 800 baht/month to use Blackberry Connect push email. Not sure if its easy to set up a gmail account to use BB Connect though.

I haven't subscribed yet and am currently checking and replying to my emails using a Java app from Google to access my personal gmail account, as well as a separate app (Mail by Google) to access my google apps email. This uses the IMAP protocol and is working quite well, although i have to check for new mails each time.

To avoid having to check yourself, u can configure your phone to retrieve mail at regular intervals using the POP protocol as 2008bangkok has mentioned. if u do this you probably want to be on a data plan and pay monthly. I use AIS who charge 350 baht for 100 hours, or 900 something for unlimited. I imagine Dtac has something similar.

ps. i'm using my nokia e61i for web browsing and its pretty good for light web browsing. Web browsing on the Iphone is much better but the Iphone lacks a lot of functions which are vital for business use. Looking forward to seeing the new Iphone though.

I agree, i own a blackberry, and cannot live without it

Go with true, and it will only cost 850THB a month for unlimited GPRS.

they seem to do a special offer in MBK on the old model for 4500 THB...