Traveling to Thailand, should I take my Epic?

[hotis300boy]

I will be going on a huge asia vacation this week for 5 weeks, going to thailand, singapore, and philippines. I know they have CDMA but it would cost me an arm and a leg there, I bought an iphone unlocked to use on their carrier I wish in that respect this was a world phone would be so much better!!! Should I take it just to text friends and stuff or its not even worth it?

 

[igobytony]

May as well take it to use when you're in cities and can grab some Wi-Fi somewhere. Then you wont have to use the iPhone as much.

Might suck to carry two devices for just that much use though. And out could get lost out damaged.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

 

[wiltonmanorsx]

I took mine overseas. I used Google Voice to stay in contact via text. It was good for sending e-mails, web surfing, etc. I also took along a few movies on the SD card since my flights were quite long. If you're taking a laptop along, you might want to check out Gmail calling. It can be pretty useful.

I think it might be a bit much carrying two devices, especially if one is just for calling. If I were you, I'd just take along the Iphone and buy a prepaid SIM when you get there for any local calls. I too wish there was an Epic with a SIM slot for travel outside the US.

 

[ragnarokx]

Now that the iPhone has an official Google Voice app, you could just use that to stay in touch.

 

[shaundizzle]

if your already taking the iphone theres really no point unless you simply just want too.

i heard they had recently that a google voice app for iphone was released. idk if they took it down though (supposedly the first one got denied a while back) even without the app, the website is designed for a mobile phone when apple refused to carry their app

 

[jscher2000]

I will be going on a huge asia vacation this week for 5 weeks, going to thailand, singapore, and philippines. I know they have CDMA but it would cost me an arm and a leg there...

Regarding Thailand, the CDMA coverage is not that great and yes, at about $16/megabyte (last time I checked) Sprint's data roaming is quite expensive. You might bring it for wi-fi use only -- resort areas will have plenty of that -- but then again, every extra thing you tote around is more weight, more recharging, and more potential for theft or breakage.

(I ended up taking my Sprint Treo to Thailand because I wanted it at the airport on both ends of my trip, but I didn't use the roaming and instead used an unlocked Treo Pro with a DTAC SIM card and a local data plan.)

 

[hotis300boy]

thanks guys, Jeffro, is it true Thailand has lots of designer label brands clothes and all for dirt cheap and its authentic? what about Apple stuff?

 

[wiltonmanorsx]

Bigb82, I can offer two pieces of advice about shopping in Thailand. 1) Buy in Bangkok. In tourist areas, you pay tourist prices. 2) Haggle. If the prices is 1000 Baht, offer 500 or 600. Just trust your instincts about how low you can start. It drove me crazy that my friend paid 1500 Baht for a scarf and I got two for my Mom at 300 Baht each.

 

[jscher2000]

thanks guys, Jeffro, is it true Thailand has lots of designer label brands clothes and all for dirt cheap and its authentic? what about Apple stuff?

Authentic and cheap: choose one. But seriously, check out TripAdvisor forums for shopping advice as I haven't gone to any of those kinds of markets.

I'm not sure what Apple stuff would be sold there that you can't get online in the States for about the same price with a better warranty.

 

[golden_35]

There is a huge mall in central bangkok where there are many goods that come from Chiang Mai and many other areas. It is 6 stories tall and has hundreds of stores. There is even an electronics floor with thousands of pirated nintendo DS's and games. They are run by local people and have local goods for the most part. You will find the same scarves and vases being sold in North Thailand as South as Bangkok itself.

The only truely unique stuff you will find is in villages. One piece of advice...tuk-tuk drivers will try and give you free rides to "real" shopping because its a national holiday and all rides are free today. Not true. They will take you to overpriced "tourist" stores where they will say the money is going to charity to help the sick or blind (sometimes true, but rarely) and you will pay 20x the price of the good in a local market.

Street vendors are great, food is fresh. Try the mango shakes.

 

[jscher2000]

There is a huge mall in central bangkok where there are many goods that come from Chiang Mai and many other areas. It is 6 stories tall and has hundreds of stores. There is even an electronics floor with thousands of pirated nintendo DS's and games.

Sounds like MBK Center (Wikipedia) Pretty good food court, too