Japanese Cell Phones
 

Hi All,

For those thats living in Japan or traveling in Japan now. Can one of you do me a favor and find out how much will it cost to purhcase a phone (Any carrier, Docomo, Softbank, au) without a plan. Please check the price for the latest phone for me

The reason I am asking is that, now that some phones support GSM, they become in demand here in Canada, however, some wants a steep price of USD$750 for a phone. So I am just wondering what is the buy out cost in Japan

Depending on the model, usually between 40000 around 50000 yen new in the shop.

However, I can`t really recommend buying one in Japan to use elsewhere. No, make that I can`t understand the point...
All the services are unique to the phone carrier, so at the best the only thing you`d be able to do is use the lower quality calling features and the camera. Text messaging supposedly uses a different format, as does access to the net via your phone... So it would be a real waste just to get a Japanese cell phone and lack the ability to do pretty much anything with it.

There are lots of GSM phones on Yahoo auctions Japan :
Yahoo!

I don`t think that is what the original poster wants, as those are foreign models. I was under the impression they were looking for Japanese models...

As Nyororin said, there really wouldn't be a point because most of the features of those phones are pretty much only in Japan such as the credit card thing, train ticket, and I don't think they even operate on the same frequency as the US does. Keep in mind though, what I listed was a fraction of what those phones can do.

Your better off looking at European phones if you want something that destroy phones Canada/US(I am assuming they are both about the same, which wouldn't take much), might I suggest the Samsung Omnia HD(spec wise, not features such as the credit card thing) which I think would easily rival any Japan or Korean phones for that matter.

Thanks guys

What kind of "unique feature" are we referring to? Most phones are not build specifically for one carrier (I worke din that field before, and was involved in some major phones out there now), so it can just be a matter of having the right tools to get it to work.

I can see that Live TV can be a feature, but its not a matter of the carrier, its a combination of things...

Streaming audio and video.. same thing... combination of things....

Thanks Nyorin, those prices sound reasonable.. more so than 800USD

When it comes to phones in Japan - they ARE made for one specific carrier. Each carrier has a large number of carrier specific services and features using their own formats - which simply do not overlap. This is why you never see "unlocked" phones in Japan, as it would be pretty much pointless to use one on another network as the only thing that would work would be the normal calling.

The way the phones are made and the service styles in the North America and Europe are drastically different than how things are done in Japan, so it`s really hard to compare. Figure on everything short of normal calling (and often even half of that as Docomo and AU use specific techniques to improve call quality which do not overlap or work on other networks) not working on another network. It`s not a software lock, it`s full out hardware differences... If you want to swap out parts, hack together a Frankenstein phone in order to get a handful of things to sort of work, feel free but I can`t see the point.

I have an iPhone. :D

The docomo network is lightyears ahead of the rest of the world in terms of what it offeres and how it works. I have never used it but I had to research it for an article I wrote a few years back.

Problem is as other posters have stated it doesn't work outside Japan.

What Cell phone brands do japanese like the most? I've always been curious about this P: