firdouss.com

Here’s a little tip for those who’s rather new into the [tag]mobile phone[/tag] world (myself included), when buying phones at certain places where they keep suggesting you to buy more and more. There’s a few “fake” facts been thrown around, that always got the unaware customers cheated without them realizing.

First of all, when you’re buying new phones, make sure you know what you’re buying. Yes, not all phones are alike – you can be buying the same model from various shops, for various prices and thinking they’re similar? Most of the time, they’re not. How can they differ? Well, let me explain a few common types of handphones available:

1. [tag]Original[/tag] Sets
- Comes with complete warranty for everything in the package (charger, acessories, phones)
- Upon servicing/repairing, only authorized original replacement parts will be used.
- You can return your phone to any of their service centers for warranty claim/repair

Note: Original products from these distributors often a little bit pricey compared to the ones sold by the others. This is one of the reason why many people don’t buy the original ones

2. Approval Products (AP Set)
- Usually are an imported phones, that is approved by Sirim to be sold in Malaysia
- Often comes with 12 months warranty for the phone ONLY, while the acessories (charger, headset) and the battery is only guaranteed for 1 month.
- You will have to return the phone to the exact shop you got it from if your phone malfunctions/broken.
- Usually priced a few hundred Ringgit cheaper than the Original package.
- Phone sometimes carries certain logo of oversea’s Telecommunication Operator (like TIM, Vodafone, Orange etc), depends on which countries it is brought in from

3. Water Sets (Smuggled/Stolen)
- Illegal to be sold in Malaysia
- No Sirim sticker whatsoever
- Usually comes with either a 30 days warranty or none at all
- Priced significantly cheaper than the Original ones (sometimes can be almost half price)
- Often bought by the people or students who studies/works overseas, and sold them off here.

Depends on the amount of risk you’re willing to take, and how much money do you have when you’re wanting to own a certain phone, you can pick your choice of version. For more in-depth information regarding these phone types, you can read the post about this in LowYat.net’s Forum.

Here’s a few extra “myth” I picked up on the way while dealing with a couple of phone purchases thus far:

“Your phone needs a special 3G memory card, else the 3G would not function”
Verdict: Total Bullshit
Explanation: The operation of the phone’s 3G/EDGE function doesn’t even need any form of memory card to begin with. Furthermore, there’s no such thing as a “[tag]3G[/tag] Memory Card” – so if you come across dealers that insist you buy one of these cards for outrageous price (i.e 1GB usually cost RM120, but he claims the 3G capable one is RM250), just ignore him.

“You must buy [tag]memory card[/tag] else the phone won’t work/won’t connect to the pc”
Verdict: Total Bullshit
Explanation: A mobile phone can work with and without a memory card installed as they usually have certain amount of built in memory. And they don’t need the memory card to be able to hook up with a PC. What kind of stupid manufacturer woul make their phone refuse to work without a memory card anyways?

[tags]Nokia, Motorola, Siemens, Samsung, Panasonic, LG, Mobile Phones[/tags]

posted on Thursday, June 8th, 2006 at 18:30 in Guides, Toys & Gadgets.