Sony Ericsson k800i available in China yet?

[randall_flagg]

Ok, I’m still on an Odyssey trying to find my first cell phone ever. And I don’t think I’ve been this frustrated in a long time!!!

After some arguing, I returned the 夏新 phone that I had bought three days ago to the store today. There is no way that this cell phone has 2 mega.pixels, as was advertised. And if it does, something else is wrong with that phone. Seriously, these pictures are a long-shot from being OK, and light-years from being even close to good. Don’t buy 夏新, folks! After this ordeal, I withdrew some more cash from my bank account (autsch!) and bought the k800i. I was pretty happy with this thing until I realized a few odd things:

- no software CD in the box

- no warranty card in the box

- friggin' telephone numbers (at least 40!!!) in the phone book!!!!

Using my "brand-new" cell phone, I called the people in the store about this, and even with me looking at the Sony-Ericsson webpage they kept insisting that things are not like that in China, you don't need a warranty card here and the software is available only. That ain’t true, I’m pretty darn sure of that. And the telephone numbers were automatically transferred to the phone when another customer tried the cell-phone with his SIM card. Yeah, right, and my toaster is in fact an alien spaceship!

- I have no clue what the battery should look like, but the one I got sure doesn’t look like a Sony Ericsson (if anybody out there HAS the k800i, could they PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take a picture of their battery and post it ASAP? I want to let those people in the store know who they are up against tomorrow).

And, worst of all, I can’t recharge this battery! It just won’t work. So I’m going back to that store tomorrow and return yet another cell phone. I know it’ll work OUT, but I’ll be worked UP all night and not be able to sleep well. Another night lost and another few hours wasted running through stupid cell-phone palaces.

In an effort to save my oh-so-precious time, could some of you wiser folks out there fill me in on whether the k800i is actually available in China as of this point? ‘Cause if it isn’t, I’ll a) stop looking for this phone and continue living my merry hermit-life without a cell-phone until it’s available and I’ll B) have one more solid argument for returning the phone faster. They’ll probably not be happy campers when I tell them to their face that I think something is wrong with their phone, I’ve pretty much already told them I’m coming over again tomorrow.

Thank you so much! Hope I’ll have some answers tomorrow. Man, I’m just pissed. How many hours before I’ll find the right phone? This is exactly why I’ve never wanted a phone. Also, during those few days that I had a phone, I found myself constantly waiting for someone to call me and send me a message. Do I want to live like that? Guess I have no choice…life sometimes just stinks!

I'll keep you updated, if you care to read this (aahh, I'll do it anyways)

Randall

[skylee]

I've found this page using google and it says it is compatible for k800i ->

http://www.se-store.co.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=accessory.detail&ProductID=721

[randall_flagg]

Thanks, Skylee, and that exactly what it does NOT look like. This is what it looks like. Also, their are some weird stickers on my phone. I can't make out the characters, though, they are really tiny. I had to use my macro lense to capture them the way I did. Can YOU read them?

[roddy]

K800i seems to be available. However I'm going to go out on a limb and say that even in China it comes with a software CD, warranty card and no phone numbers preloaded.

Whenever I've been buying a new mobile phone (which I've only done twice) I've never been able to opened the sealed box and have a proper play with it - you get to muck around with a demo model if they have one and when you are sure you want to buy they'll open the box and check everything is there with you. Seems odd that anyone would get as far as putting their SIM card in to test it. Swopping a generic battery for a genuine one is also an easy way for dealers to make a few extra yuan.

EDIT: Having seen your pics, I'd guess you've got a model that was imported from Japan somehow - hence the lack of warranty card and CD. If it's fully functional, you can get the battery sorted and you got a decent price I might not worry about that too much.

[randall_flagg]

Thanks, Roddy. But even if they were to sort out the battery for me today, I don't think I want to deal with these people any further. Something is fishing and I feel like I've been lied to one to many times.

And looking at your link, I did NOT get a decent price. So I'll return it and hopefully sleep better tonight.

[randall_flagg]

Ops, forgot to update this as promised:

After discussing this issue with about 5 different people, I managed to return the phone. Turns out it was 水货 after all. So to all of you who are thinking about buying this phone in China: it is not available here! Beware! What you are looking at was smuggled into the country.

[roddy]

So NOW what are you going to buy? If you liked the k800i, you might want to look at other SE options - my W800i does me proud.

[adrianlondon]

I had the W800i (sold it just before I left the UK) and it was a great phone.

Took relatively decent photos for a phone, had a good MP3 player which could even play iTunes' AAC formatted files, and - last but not least - the call quality was good.

[randall_flagg]

In my boundless frustration I bought the cheapest phone out there. A 330 RMB Nokia. And I like it a lot! And guess what: I even has a flashlight! I'll wait for the ultimate killer-ap before I spend that kind of money, I guess. Thanks for your patience with me.

[james_moat]

Sorry to bring up an old thread...

The K800i in China is called the K800c. There's no difference, except in firmware/software on the phone, which has simplified Chinese and English only. Hong Kong or Taiwan firmware has traditional Chinese. Personally I prefer using simplified Chinese.

This phone is the best I've used, not only because of the crystal sharp screen, but the way in which you select a Chinese character is very good for those learning Chinese particularly. It also makes suggestions for Chinese words and phrases, which I've found very helpful learning Chinese. As it supports both English/Chinese simultaneously, it's a very good phone.

As a second point, I've used a K800i with K800c firmware for a few years now. This phone is was so over engineered in design that it's still an excellent phone to choose. I had a couple of other phones in China, but none of them come close to this one. If you are technically minded you can do all sorts to this phone, as it supports 3G, and has a very good CPU. The mp3 player is pretty good, and functions well as a business phone with the calendar, notes and obviously the camera is pretty good, especially compared to some of the so called 3 Megapixel Chinese cameras I had which were rubbish.

Again, sorry to bring up an old thread, but if you're on the lookout for a tough phone that can withstand the usual throwing about, and want loads of functions, including excellent Chinese input, go for the K800i/K800c. A cheap K800i on ebay in Europe is about 50 euro at most, so it's cheap for what you get. I've had more recent Sony Ericsson phones that are easily £300, and are actually significantly slower with less functionality.

For those already with this phone, for making a large number of changes to it (called 'patches') to please yourself, or delete any operator customization, including unlocking it to use with any network (applies to any Sony Ericsson mobile just about) you can look at a website called "Esato", and also "SE-NSE". Both are .com domains.

Edited May 28, 2009 at 08:10 PM by james_moat