muyongshi Posted October 2, 2009 at 02:38 AM Report Posted October 2, 2009 at 02:38 AM Well I thought I would start a thread that could discuss the official release of iPhone in China, current news, updates, useful apps {not just resources for studying}, questions, etc. I think a lot of us are excited for the release of Pleco and it's timing seems to be pretty good with the actually release by unicom. originally apple only listed the 3G as being available but in the last week it looks like the 3GS is available as well. The 3G comes in the 8GB model and 3GS in 16 and 32. Unicom is now accepting preorders for the iPhone. The price tag is pretty hefty overall but a lot of options have a "give back minutes" style so the options are enough that I think it's more about finding the balance of what you will actually use. Here is the link to the plans and from there you can get to the preorder page. One discussion that I remembered earlier was about wifi on the iPhone and I have a friend that works in Unicom in the middle management for sales {for the whole of Sichuan I believe} and he was saying that they did get the wifi approved. But I'm not seeing here on that same pages 规格 section or here on apples website so I am disappointed about that. Another note about the prices, while it does require a two year contract based on the prices I've seen for 水货 prices with the money going to the actual plan it seems comparable and possibly even a better price to just buy from unicom. I guess my only question would be is that if you buy a 水货 can you just get into the Unicom plan without the two year contract or the hefty service fees? My guess is no. Quote
imron Posted October 2, 2009 at 02:59 AM Report Posted October 2, 2009 at 02:59 AM As far as I understood, with a 水货 phone you can only sign up for a generic 3G plan, and not any of the special iPhone plans. Quote
muyongshi Posted October 2, 2009 at 03:03 AM Author Report Posted October 2, 2009 at 03:03 AM What would the difference be? Quote
roddy Posted October 2, 2009 at 05:29 AM Report Posted October 2, 2009 at 05:29 AM One discussion that I remembered earlier was about wifi on the iPhone and I have a friend that works in Unicom in the middle management for sales {for the whole of Sichuan I believe} and he was saying that they did get the wifi approved. But I'm not seeing here on that same pages 规格 section or here on apples website so I am disappointed about that. The effective ban on mobiles with wifi was always at the carriers behest - they wanted to protect data income. If they're worried about competition from grey imports and realizing they could make money from their own wifi hotspots they may change their mind - but having approval to add wifi doesn't mean they necessarily will. Quote
imron Posted October 2, 2009 at 07:15 AM Report Posted October 2, 2009 at 07:15 AM Not sure on the specifics. China Unicom's deputy GM recently said: 任何用户都可以选择购买联通版iPhone裸机，但不会享受到中国联通为iPhone定制的专有促销套餐，只能选择联通3G基本套餐资费。I imagine 水货 will fall into the same category as unlocked phones.Regarding Wifi, it was also China Mobile and the MIIT protecting both China's own wireless standard WAPI and also its 3G format TD-SCDMA. 2G + Wifi for many people is more than enough and offers many of the benefits of 3G. If wifi was available on phones, it would have had a serious effect on the people signing up for TD-SCDMA phones - which are crap anyway. Likewise, no-one would use WAPI if Wifi was around because it was the more mature technology. Quote
muyongshi Posted October 2, 2009 at 01:24 PM Author Report Posted October 2, 2009 at 01:24 PM So it seems more it's about the service plans {my guess then that means the prices of service would be higher} than any specific plan features. All this makes me wonder if I would rather just get a 水货 {the US ones are under 6000 and the HK ones are over} and just stick with China Mobile for service, forget the 3G and just rely on WIFI. Not a bad option overall. Quote
gato Posted October 2, 2009 at 02:24 PM Report Posted October 2, 2009 at 02:24 PM I read on test3g.com China Unicom's 3G coverage is still very spotty at best. You might be better off going with a 水货 Wifi-enabled iPhone and staying with China Mobile's 2G. Quote
muyongshi Posted October 2, 2009 at 03:46 PM Author Report Posted October 2, 2009 at 03:46 PM That is actually what my friend inside Unicom said. Well kind of anyway.... he said China Mobile's 3G blows unicoms out of the water so to speak. Quote
imron Posted October 2, 2009 at 11:08 PM Report Posted October 2, 2009 at 11:08 PM he said China Mobile's 3G blows unicoms out of the water so to speak. It's absolutely the opposite technology-wise. Unicom uses WCDMA which is essentially the world standard, it's mature, faster than other 3G technologies and has the best support among handset and network vendors. China Mobile has TD-SCDMA which is locally developed and has all sorts of problems. Coverage-wise might be a different story however.If you're going for a 水货 iPhone, go for the HK one over the US one (even if it is more expensive). The reason is that the HK ones are unlocked. The US ones aren't and I believe you need to modify your SIM card and use some sort of adapter to make them work with another network. Quote
vr2nr Posted October 18, 2009 at 03:23 PM Report Posted October 18, 2009 at 03:23 PM (edited) With the imminent release of the iPhone in China, China Unicom has in the past few weeks turned on their 3G network here in Kaifaqu (very near Dalian), and apparently many other locations. I was with China Mobile on a 3G iPhone (using EDGE), but now on a 3Gs bought in the US with China Unicom (just signed up yesterday). The coverage around Kaifaqu appears to be very good. No problems getting to 3G from anywhere around town so far. But like the selection of any cellular service, you need to make sure that the coverage works for you. If the coverage is overall GREAT, but does not work where you live or work, then it does not do you any good. With that said, from my perspective, it was worth buying a month or two of service to "test" the service. So far, I have not been disappointed. I am paying 156 RMB per month of service which gives 500Mb of overall 3G throughput per month. My unscientific testing puts the performance at "manyfold" faster than EDGE. I do not believe there is an unlimited plan, but they have a variety of price plans depending on your data consumption needs. I will need to operate with the network for few weeks to see if that is the right plan, but with EDGE I required about 150Mb per month. As for the official iPhones sold in China, they will note be cheap and they will not have Wifi. Edited October 18, 2009 at 09:42 PM by imron removed links. Quote
md1101 Posted November 7, 2009 at 07:30 AM Report Posted November 7, 2009 at 07:30 AM so from what ive been hearing the iphone hasn't been doing too well in China since its release. No wifi and competition with the 水货 iphone price is being blamed. i think it is a real kick in the backside removing the wifi feature. The local chinese aren't dumb wifi is massively important especially considering all the cafe's that provide free wifi in china nowadays. It'd be nice to sit in a cafe and make a skype call, browse the news or go on instant messenger without worrying about how much data you're using or a crappy 3g signal. I've got an iphone here in oz. The carrier im with unlock it for free which i've done so i can use it anywhere. no need for a software unlock and got my wifi too. Quote
gato Posted November 8, 2009 at 08:00 AM Report Posted November 8, 2009 at 08:00 AM so from what ive been hearing the iphone hasn't been doing too well in China since its release. No wifi and competition with the 水货 iphone price is being blamed. It's estimated that there are already 2 million 水货 iPhones in use in China before the China Unicom introduction. I see people using iPhones in the Shanghai subway all the time. But given the exorbitant pricing of the China Unicom 3G service, 2G (EDGE) plus Wi-Fi is probably the way to go on the iPhone in China for now. Quote
muyongshi Posted November 9, 2009 at 05:37 AM Author Report Posted November 9, 2009 at 05:37 AM The amount they've been able to sell just shows how bad of a marketing move it was to price the iphone the way they did. But it seems that happens with a ton of "real" phones. I am actually currently thinking about going for an HTC with windows mobile at the moment and the 水货 of those are not as big of a difference as the iphone but still a very large gap compared to what I think it should be. Quote
roddy Posted November 9, 2009 at 05:53 AM Report Posted November 9, 2009 at 05:53 AM I suspect that as with many high end products, Apple's strategy in China is to develop the brand and establish a presence in expectation of massive future profits. It's also worth noting that although 水货 phones might not be showing up in the China iPhone sales figures, Apple has still sold those phones somewhere and presumably made a profit - it's the Chinese tax collectors that lose out on that particular deal. Quote
muyongshi Posted November 9, 2009 at 06:07 AM Author Report Posted November 9, 2009 at 06:07 AM Most likely they are bought and paid for but some of them could be hijacked goods. In which case there are more than one party who is unhappy but..... The sales figures DEFINITELY do not include 水货. Quote
langxia Posted January 10, 2011 at 04:17 PM Report Posted January 10, 2011 at 04:17 PM Ok gonna necro this thread for my iphone question then. Is there anyone from Beijing who has some experience to share about buying an iphone ? What is the cheapest (should also be safe) option ? Quote
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