Tuesday 22 March 2011

My thoughts about buying your first cellphone in Japan

So, I came to Japan some time ago, and have had a while to think about what I should have done when first buying my cellphone.
At one point in this blog I said it may be a good idea to buy a Nintendo 3DS and get the Japanese dictionary software instead of buying a Japanese Electronic dictionary. However, it would be far better to buy a decent cellphone right from the get-go. So, for starters, there is 3 main cellphone providers in Japan: Docomo, Au, and Softbank. Asking around, I can't really find many differences in quality/service (this may be different if you live far from the cities in the mountains next to a rice field). However, Softbank in particular seems to focus on smartphones (IPhones, etc)

To cut this short my advice is... think about what you will need during your time in Japan. You are paid well, think about what new things you want to acquire in the next year or two. So, if you wrap all this up in to what you cellphone could potentially do, what do you get? For myself, I found after a while I wanted/needed a Electronic Japanese dictionary (with Kanji input of course), and a way to check up Japanese sentences/travel info. Thinking about this, perhaps it would have been best to get an Android (hint hint, bias here) or Iphone which has dictionary apps for free or cheap, and good internet capabilities. That way you can input kanji by the touchscreen, etc etc.

Also more advice, forget the gimmicks that Japanese phones offer. There is so much packed into some of these phones, but in reality you may never use it. For example, water-proof phones. How often do you plan to submerge your phone in water? If your prone to dropping things in the toilet, this may be actually useful. Many other games/apps/tools loaded by the provider end up never being used. Built in camera? Surely useful, but don't go overkill. A handheld will always be better, and a good one isn't hard to come across in Japan. Solar phone? Good from trampers (hikers), but if you don't do that regularly you can always charge it every night. Ok, get the idea. Don't buy the phone for a gimmick. Check out that it has what you want, you are likely to get a 1-2 year contract. So make sure, if you want a alpha keyboard, that it has a software/hardware one. Does it have access to those apps you want, etc etc.

Also, for those that have signed up and want to change your contract, I have heard (needs confirming) that some providers (Softbank) will pay-off your current contract (on another network) and sell you a phone cheap. Check it out at the nearest store or something if you really want to change.

2 comments:

  1. Very interesting, as usual !! Thank you very much !!! And "Preparing your self introduction" was very good too !!! I'm sorry to ask you something like that, but can you tell us (or me) about your life in school. Maybe about your relation with students, your schedule ??!

    Thank you very much !!!

    頑張ります

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Nico, thanks for the comment. Thanks for the encouragement ;)
    Yeah, sure thing, that sounds like a good idea. I'll write something about school life when I have time. Shouldn't be to long. However, I have an enkai tonight (another part of life here haha)
    じゃね ciao!

    ReplyDelete