In Shanghai: What GSM phone to get to bring back to States?

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Baby 2: Due 10-8-09

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I'm in Shanghai, China for 4 weeks, visiting the family and the like. As luck would have it, it is my birthday soon, and I am looking for a new cell phone. My old one is a black and white 4 year old Siemens that I got free from Cingular I was looking at that LG Chocolate phone (ads everywhere), but is probaly damn expensive (haven't seen the price exactly in China, but online it goes for $400 USD.. too much for a phone that people say doesn't even live up to it's expectations). I'm looking for preferably quad-band, a decent camera (1.3 megapixel plus), and a good size (not too bulky.) Budget is about 2500-3500 yuan.
 
Hey, I need the opposite info please. What are the GSM systems being used in Shanghai? I'm going to move there next January 2007 and I'm bringing a US phone.

To answer your questions, T-mobile uses 900/1800 MHz GSM. Cingular uses 850/1900 MHz GSM. If you get a quad-band phone, you are pretty much ok with any of the current US GSM systems.
 
China Mobile and China Unicom both work on predominantly the 900 band. 1800 coverage is available as well but a bit spotty. I used a Nokia 8800 in China (and in the US) and it works well.
 
Ups. I've just realized that I did not answer your original questions on the quad band phones with 1.3+ MP. Well, you can probably make the pick from this list: (list price probably less than $350.00 each)

Nokia 6125
Nokia 6270
Motorola V635
Motorola V3i (1.23MP)
Samsung SGH-D820 (with TV-out)
Samsung SGH-D600 (2.0 MP)

If I were you, I'd go with Nokia because I like their GUI. Motorola has sucky GUI that is hard to master.

Is it cheaper to get the same model of phone in Shanghai than here in US (without contract)?
 
That is an incorrect statement. The GSM bands that are used in the US are 850 and 1900. T-Mobile and Cingular both use those bands. 900/1800 only exists in Europe and Asia.
 
Is T-mobile using 850 in the U.S. now? I thought they were 1900-only, but sell 850/1900 phones due to having roaming partners who use 850.
 
Yep, you are correct. I did not know that T-mo has 850 now. Thanks for the correction

OOT: Why would the US carriers always try to be so special coming out with 850 instead of using the standard 900? Most of the world still uses 900/1800. They are trying to be special although the mobile phone selection still sucks. I'm drooling over Nokia E61 on T-mo Germany website
 
In the US, a lot of cordless phones operate on 900MHz for some reason. Smooth move by the FCC to allow that.

Apparently though in DC there is 900MHz mobile service.
 
What's with the special chinese editions of all these phones I'm seeing? I'm looking at the w810, but all I see here is the w810c, not i.

Btw, will I be able to change this cell, if I buy it, from chinese to English?
 
Only true difference is firmware. I had a W800i but flashed it to a W800c so that I could text in Chinese to my friends in China.

The w810c has full english capability including a proper English dictionary for SMS and phone books. It differs from the w810i (US version) in that it also adds Chinese language support.
 
I'm in the same situation as you. I took a stroll in a electronics outlet, and I saw a d608, which I believe is just a chinese version of the d600, w810c, and some quad nokias I think. There's alot of various brands like haier or w/e, but I'd prefer not to get those since they don't seem to be one of the larger brands.

I think either the d608 or w810c would be the best choice. They both have very good features, and are both quadband. It just depends on which form you like better.

Also can someone clarify whether the d608 IS infact a d600? What's the difference? And would both phones convert into english if I just insert my cingular sim card?
 
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