Hyakuman

i thought we were stopping this because you started crying last time i called you a mactard, fagger.

haha, that's what i said in (i think) some other thread. the only brand name bag (or really anything) that can be shown off by heterosexual dudes would be burberry!

Britishchris

Says it all about the quality of burberry really

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Coollead

iPhone 3GS most popular phone in July: survey - The Mainichi Daily News

At least I'm #2!

Britishchris

Make something dirt cheap and odds are it'll sell.
It's actually a pretty good value plan especially with the iPhone for Everybody (with a credit card) campaign.

Anyway yeah, we are going round in circles now with this bullshit.

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Coollead

Haha. I wasn't talking shit at all!

Just linking a website. I'm surprised my phone is #2, however. Figured it was more niche...but I've seen a ton of them around.

Britishchris

I meant us all, in general, I think we have exhausted ALL conversation about phones right now.

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Beaux Beltran

so I'm getting a docomo phone. which plan should I get? pake hodai double?

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Girl you thought he was a man, but he was Muffin!

Coollead

I don't have the double plan.... I think the double includes PC Browser as well... If you don't see yourself using the Full browser for the internet, it's not really that big of a deal.

I have the MAX 50 plan, because I hardly ever call anyone....everything is email. I call my girlfriend occasionally, but we usually just use the computer.

Lydscl

cheers for the advice guys, so softbank white plan it is then

nuttybuddy

Hey, I'm not sure if this is a softbank deal or a deodeo deal, but they are clearing out the 3g 8 gigs for the low low price 5400Yen-ish for "new" customers, and half the ALTs and their girlfriends here just dumped whatever they had before for iphones and softbank. There was a bit of hassle, but I made it clear I was familar with the plans and that I knew about the mandatory month or whatever with Double White, and I got out fairly unscathed. Because I cancelled out of my old contract to get one though, I did have to change my number though...but I think that may have just been the store people messing up. Everyone else got to keep their numbers, even as they switched from Docomo...
and yeah, they did demand I put a credit card on file, but it didn't have to be Japanese or anything...

mighty_adam

BritishChris,

any luck upgrading to an iphone? I'm interested to know how that works out...

also, although the topic came up twice in this thread I don't think it was ever settled: Has anybody heard tell of someone successfully unlocking a Japanese iphone to use back in the states, or anywhere else? my various google searches mostly just give me links about how many perverts there are in this country. would be really nice to know if I can take it home.

one more thing, I started reading this thread from page 1, for extreme lack of anything better to do in the office today, and I find it pretty facking amusing that the iPhone is the #1 seller now, after all the wailing and gnashing of teeth and "its a terrible phone for japan/japanese people!" What say you now, naysayers?

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Blame it on the boogie

Britishchris

Ask me on sunday. going to take someone to get a phone on saturday so will try an upgrade then.

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Coollead

I'll bite.

If you haven't noticed, there's a significant amount of foreigners in this country, and it seems like all of them are getting iPhones. Japanese people see this, think the gaijin are cool, and get one themselves. I've yet to see a Japanese person who actually knew what they were doing with one. It's really cute to watch a Japanese girl typing on one, one kana every 10 seconds, because her nails don't activate the screen.

It's not a terrible phone, just not for everyone. Unfortunately, the same thing that happened in America with Blackberry phones is now happening here. All sorts of people are buying smart phones and not having any clue how to use them.

mighty_adam

really? are you really suggesting that the reason the iphone is so popular is because Japanese people all over the country are snatching them up in a fit of gaijin imitation fever? I find that sort of a ridiculous idea, bordering on racism, especially the bit about them being too stupid to use them. the iphone interface is about as easy as it gets. sure, touch screen no work with nails. that girl is dumb. but, come on. also, as far as I know the foreign population here is less than 1% (not including Koreans and Chinese because they don't count), hardly enough to influence the sales that much. I find myself wondering why is the iphone #1 right now, in a cell phone market that is and has always been dominated by Japanese manufacturers? It's been out for over a year. MAYBE, just maybe the iphone especially the new 3GS is a good phone, nay, a great phone, for a majority of gaijin and nipponese alike. I'm interested to know why you seem to have such an aversion to that idea...especially in the face of the numbers that back it up.

I'm not an apple fanboy in the least, and I realize you have been here longer than me and are probably much wiser re: life here in many ways, but I just had to take issue with your...somewhat ignorant seeming...assumption.

arguing for the sake of arguing is great fun innit

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Blame it on the boogie

NinjaPenguin

So here's a link to an article that a game designer friend of my posted recenty. Johnny Holland - It’s all about interaction Blog Archive The iPhone is Not Easy to Use: A New Direction for UX Design Which makes some interesting points about the iphone.

I find it interesting that the iphone was number 1 last month but I definately agree with Coollead that while it's a good phone it really isn't for the Japanese market. Pretty much all the new JETs in my ken got iphones and if they could have gotten the bluetooth working to actually send and receive info to my awesome softbank non-iphone or if the iphone had infrared I probably wouldn't care but it was sooo troublesome to have to manually enter my details into everyone's iphone. If it were a little more localized than I think it would be an amazing phone in the Japanese market, but as it is, I believe it's a great phone in a non-Japanese environment but only and ok one in a Japanese environment.

As to the popularity I have no clue.

Coollead

Yeah. It's really easy to say a bunch of stupid things to see people's reactions.

It's doing well in Japan because it's actually cheaper that most J-phones, if you're looking at it upfront. Giving something away for free usually does wonders for sales.

mighty_adam

maybe it's easy for you. I find it really difficult sometimes!

NinjaPenguin, thanks for the article, he does make some interesting points. I like how he compares the overall playfulness of the design to the video game industry and the tutorial is a good suggestion. but did anybody else feel a little creepy reading this quote:

And then he began stroking it and kissing it ever so gently.

k maybe it was just me..

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Blame it on the boogie

charliekowalchuk

So, because I live in a land where Softbank coverage only goes about 1/2-1/4 mile inland, otherwise, its devoid of iphone 3G coverage goodness.

So, I unlocked my iphone and I'm on Docomo. I got the Biz-Hodai Double, because thats what I've read on the internet is what works with the iPhone. (Besides, Docomo sells the Android phone and signs everyone up for Biz-Hodai, why wouldn't it work?)

Well its not capping my data charges. So in one week, I've racked up ￥16,000 bill in data charges alone. Evidently Docomo doesn't want to see my iPhone as a Keitai, and chooses to see it as a PC, so they are charging me tethering fees.

The Japanese girl helping me out at the Docomo store, I've been seeing her like once a week for the past few weeks, monitoring my bill. She's excited to help because she wants me to help her buy and unlock an iPhone for herself. LOL

So, right now, I've switched to Pake-Hodai Double because there is a ~￥13,500 cap for tethering charges on that particular plan (why Biz-Hodai doesn't is a mystery/ripoff).

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please let me know.

So, I'm sure most Softbank iPhone users are in shock and saying, why don't you go Softbank, baka gajin. Well, I love the iPhone and I live in Docomo country.

I also bought the SH-04A with the Docomo plan. So, if anyone is familar with the phone and knows if it has an app store or something, please let me know.

I really like using Skype on the iPhone. If SH-04A had one, well that would pacify me okay. Also, the Japanese have no business developing software for a qwerty based phone. Typing a sentence is awful. I have enter every single word individually, and then manually enter a space. Why, I take it Japanese don't see why someone would really need to use the space bar. LOL.

nuttybuddy

The salesguy I had when I bought it said I could just switch the SIM card to a Canadian carrier and I'd be fine, but I think he was probably lying (the day before, he told two of my friends that there were only two left in stock, which was later refuted by the other salesperson there). He claimed that the Japanese iPhone was special and not locked to Softbank

Charlie,
That's cool, didn't know you could do that!
With the iPhone unlocked, can you use Skype to make calls even without wireless coverage?

Hyakuman

I have to say that I'm becoming more and more addicted to my keitai web & PC browser on my j-phone. I'm starting to look like the many drones on the train stairing away at their phones.