Getting The Iphone, 3g Coverage, App Store

[livinthailandos]

How I got my iphone 3g, without in a way dealing with a true contract, only informed by the people working at istudio in the siam paragon.

1. Had to walk over to true corp ( its across from siam center )

2. As long as I had some form of true service ( i have ubc ) did not have to get contract

3. Had to provide though passport, work permit and had to have my thai wife give me her ID number

4. I am using dtac for my coverage, true internet is a deal, better than dtac. But coverage with true for phone here on samui is so so.

5. Paid for a 16GB Black iphone total cost 30,495. but no contract with true.

6. talk with many thai's who told me about buying the phone, but for most people I think here in thailand its about 2 things

a. ease of use

b. fashion statement

7. Have warranty good for 1 year here in thailand ( note as long as you don't hack the phone from what employee’s at true told me. )

8. I did register the phone though with Itunes US. Even though I’m here in Thailand.

9. In General, Network you’ll have to turn of enable 3G or your sim won’t work mind you I’m using DTAC.

3G Coverage

if most of you guys would read in the Bangkok post, Database section every Wednesday they have many articles covering this issue, mostly what it comes down to is licensing, fee’s, carriers either suing each other, or trying to make sure there the only one offering it. ( in my opinion anyway ) From what I’ve picked up don't expect full coverage of 3G till end of this year or next year maybe depending on how slow or political issues or who hasn’t gotten money in there pocket yet keeps coming up. Limited areas have 3G already.

App Store

1. Make sure you register Iphone through Itunes with the US version or apparently you can’t get apps. Anyway so far phone is good.

2. on apps store have applications can pay for or get free.

3. Note when registering they have an area where you don’t have to put Credit Card information

4. Just to note I put in an address in the US just in case

5. For the app store if you start looking up online the number of free apps are more than 500 from what I’ve found out, and since starting this app store, apple, developers haven’t really made any money. I would pay for an app but it would have to be something I really need though. Since I have basic needs I have nothing I need to buy

Here’s what I’ve download from the app store so far

Currency

Worldview ( allows you to see any photos from anywhere in the world )

Files Lite ( can store files, etc limit amount 200mb just sync with windows or mac )

IM+Lite ( Instant messanging contains AOL, Yahoo, MSN, google talk, Jabber, ICQ, myspace )

Google Earth app

GPS Lite ( doesn’t work so far)

Epocrates ( used for medical professionals contains drug information, side effects, recommended dosage use, has more than 3000 listed drugs or so they say )

Finger Football

Golf

Checktubes ( like doing speedtest, checks wireless speeds & cellular speeds )

Mylite ( ever go to a club with this you can have your own strobe light )

Units ( covert anything you want, miles, pounds, etc )

USAtoday

Free RSS reader

Bloomberg

Associate Press

Itranslate ( based on google languate translation )

Checkers

Ping ( can do pings, traceroutes, telenet ) it also shows IP Address and network

Have not had a real reason to hack phone yet, since mostly hacking was about getting applications it seems to me. It would seem if the phone wasn’t unlocked though I wouldn’t be able to use my dtac sim card. Yes I know this article is long but hope it helps.

[hughden]

You can open multiple iTunes store accounts. I mainly use the Thailand iTunes store which I set up with a Thailand based credit card. It only has iPhone/Touch applications (no music etc).

[slackula]

We had been waiting for iPhone to be released in Thailand but after True came out with their package we decided to just buy one downstairs in BigC Phuket. These are Italian ones, unlocked from any carrier, it cost just under 30K Baht with a free case included. No need for work permits, passports or anything else. We paid and walked out.

We brought it home, plugged it into the Mrs MacBook Pro and it updated itself fine. Out of curiosity I decided to check the warranty on it and the Apple site reported that the phone was registered as being based in Thailand and was subject to 1 year warranty.

So far it is fine working with a DTAC SIM card and updating fine with the computer it is used with. The only issues are the inability to copy and paste and the lack of a forwarding function with SMS which are strange oversights on the part of Apple IMHO.

[RivaArt]

Im european, iPhone user since 2008, but wanted to get the new one with GPS (and 32gb).

Got myself White 3GS 32bg at MBK for 25 500 Bt (after some usual bargaining with guys at the stalls).

No passport, no work permits, not having to get married in Th to steal my wifes ID, no cavity searches ..

Guess you US guys always have to do it the hard way (joking )

+Im registered at both US and Czech AppStore. Just in case.

[Sir Greg]

Finally bit the bullet last week and went with a True contract. Since I'm an existing customer, I just paid something like 2,300b up front, and now have to pay about 1,400b per month (500 for unlimited 3G, WiFi and enough minutes/SMSs to last me) and 900 for the phone. Granted, it's for two years, but with my old AIS plan I was paying about 1,100 per month anyway.

So far I'm impressed. Obviously the phone is amazing, but the speed of the 3G has been pretty good (found it to be available in about 95% of the locations I find myself in), and wifi is easy to get.

Although.. if I lose it, I'm stuck paying a 'stupid tax' for two years...