Buying an Android device abroad - any problems?

[StevenX]

I'm looking to buy an Android device (maybe two!) abroad in the near future, and was after some advice from those in the know, as this will be my first Android device.

I live in the UK, and will be visiting the US in June. I'm planning to buy a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 whilst on vacation, as it'll likely be significantly cheaper than it would be in the UK. Is there anything I should be aware of when buying an Android device in a country other than that in which the device will be primarily used? I'm thinking particularly in relation to the Android Market; coming from the PreCentral forums, I know that a webOS device stays locked to the App Catalog of the country in which it was activated which can be problematic - activate it in the US and bring it back to the UK and the Catalog will remain the US Catalog. Is this the same with Android? Is it safe for me to activate the Market in the US before bringing the Tab home and buying apps from the UK Market here in the local currency?..

I'm visiting the US again in September and will also potentially be in the market for an Android phone to replace my aging Palm Pre, but from what I gather if I brought a US smartphone back to the UK it wouldn't work on the UK 3G network (2G only) - is that correct?

Any help for an Android newbie much appreciated!

 

[Johnly]

Good question, I have no idea. I would get a world device if you are going to be over seas with it just to be sure. Droid 2G seems like a decent one. Happy hunting.

 

[Moscow Desire]

Big issue.

Remember the voltage. US is 110, whereas UK is probably 220. Make sure the device can accept this. (the charger.)

You will need an adapter. If the charging device can do dual voltage, then you only need a simple adapter for the prongs.

Other than that, I can't see any other issues.

Oh, if you plan on a phone, make sure you get quad band (frequencies) Tri.... is weak in europe.

 

[Moscow Desire]

And the market, is attached to google. Worldwide, so no problems there.

 

[StevenX]

Big issue.

Remember the voltage. US is 110, whereas UK is probably 220. Make sure the device can accept this. (the charger.)

You will need an adapter. If the charging device can do dual voltage, then you only need a simple adapter for the prongs.

Other than that, I can't see any other issues.

Oh, if you plan on a phone, make sure you get quad band (frequencies) Tri.... is weak in europe.

I'd buy a power cable or adapter for it from eBay or something when I got back to Britain. For the original Galaxy Tab, I believe the power cable was a USB type cable, which plugged into a wall adapter, so I'd imagine for the new Tab it'll be a similar set-up and I'll just have to get a wall adapter, which should convert the voltage. For the Galaxy Tab, Samsung has a travel charger with interchangeable plugs for international use, which would also work for me.

As for the market being worldwide - if I activate the device on vacation in the US I assume all prices will be in US$. Will this change to the local currency when I get back home?

 

[Moscow Desire]

Now, prices in US dollars, I Don't know. I live in russia, and maybe, google knows where you are at, and converts the price into local currency. But if I remember correctly, I have bought, in both currencies. Regardless, you won't have a problem.

It should charge by USB, but just be sure, the "charger" is dual voltage if you connect it to the wall. It says on the charger itself. I pugged one into an outlet in turkey,,,, goodbye rechargable CD player.... (batteries only()

In otherwords, any prices were converted on my cc.......

 

[anon(265564)]

I'm visiting the US again in September and will also potentially be in the market for an Android phone to replace my aging Palm Pre, but from what I gather if I brought a US smartphone back to the UK it wouldn't work on the UK 3G network (2G only) - is that correct?

Correct. North America uses different 3G frequencies from Europe. Some recent Nokia devices have Pentaband (i.e. multi-region 3G) support, but no Android devices currently do.

 

[ls377]

Correct. North America uses different 3G frequencies from Europe. Some recent Nokia devices have Pentaband (i.e. multi-region 3G) support, but no Android devices currently do.

Actually, most US Android devices (GSM) have the European 3G bands in addition to the N.A. ones.

 

[StevenX]

Actually, most US Android devices (GSM) have the European 3G bands in addition to the N.A. ones.

So, if I bought something like the HTC Sensation which is Quad-band, I'd be able to pop in a UK SIM card when I got back to the UK and use 3G data alright?

EDIT: Looking at http://androidforums.com/htc-desire/55951-can-i-buy-uk-desire-use-us-network.html it seems that I need to make sure the phone has "tri-band 3G", which seems to be 900/AWS/2100 (and it has these bands in addition to the quad-band GSM (i.e. 2G) bands).

So if I get a tri-band 3G, quad-band GSM phone (such as the Nexus One or the Sensation), it should work properly with both 2G and 3G over in the UK, if I'm correct? In essence, it appears that if I get an unlocked phone from T-Mobile US, it should work here...

 

[ls377]

So, if I bought something like the HTC Sensation which is Quad-band, I'd be able to pop in a UK SIM card when I got back to the UK and use 3G data alright?

EDIT: Looking at http://androidforums.com/htc-desire/55951-can-i-buy-uk-desire-use-us-network.html it seems that I need to make sure the phone has "tri-band 3G", which seems to be 900/AWS/2100 (and it has these bands in addition to the quad-band GSM (i.e. 2G) bands).

So if I get a tri-band 3G, quad-band GSM phone (such as the Nexus One or the Sensation), it should work properly with both 2G and 3G over in the UK, if I'm correct? In essence, it appears that if I get an unlocked phone from T-Mobile US, it should work here...

It doesn't matter if its tri or quad band 3g. Any phone that has the 900/2100 3g frequencies will work.

Sent from my SGH-I897 using Tapatalk

 

[StevenX]

It doesn't matter if its tri or quad band 3g. Any phone that has the 900/2100 3g frequencies will work.

Sent from my SGH-I897 using Tapatalk

Yes, I suppose it doesn't really need to be tri-band 3G (although it would still need to be tri-band 2G to get normal voice service in Britain).

 

[ls377]

Yes, I suppose it doesn't really need to be tri-band 3G (although it would still need to be tri-band 2G to get normal voice service in Britain).

Yeah, but any gsm phone you get here is going to have the same 4 gsm frequencies.

Sent from my SGH-I897 using Tapatalk

 

[Moscow Desire]

I think the frequency issue is a done deal.