Best smart phone in Taiwan (iPhone or Android)

Which smart phone is better for Taiwan, iPhone or Android? I plan to buy unlocked phones in the US before leaving.

I would like to do the following with it

  1. Unlimited data plan
  2. Two users on the account (so two phones)
  3. Use it for maps / GPS
  4. Be my primary and only phone
  5. Have an English interface but be able to read and type Chinese.
  6. I would like to tether it and use it as my primary home internet connection. This is not a deal killer, but I would prefer this over a seperate connection if I can save money doing so.
  1. NT$850 or so a month on contact, or you buy 5 day scratch cards if you don’t want a contract, but it gets a lot more expensive
  2. Well, you need two SIM cards then… I don’t know if they do two users on one contract, you’d have to check with the service providers here
  3. Any smartphone does that today pretty much, depends if Google maps is good enough for your needs or not
  4. Uhm, yes?
  5. Both Android devices and the iPhone can do that, but you might have to install third party software to use specific input methods
  6. That’s included in the unlimited data contracts, it’s not like in the US where you have to pay an extra fee for tethering

Do keep in mind that many phones in the US work on different frequencies, so not all are suitable for use here. Whatever you get must work on the 2100MHz band.
As they sell different models in the US from pretty much the rest of the world, it’s impossible to advice on specific models when it comes to Android.
You might want to consider signing up for a handset here though, as you get pretty good “discounts” if you can call it that, you have to pre-pay the cost of the phone, but a large chunk of that then goes towards your monthly bills for the next 12-15 months or so.
Have look here emome.net/channel?chid=32 for some ideas of the costs on the largest network here, although you have to click on through to see the specifics. Google translate should help you with the rest. The other two large service providers are Far EasTone and Taiwan Mobile.
As an example, a Samsung Galaxy S2 would set you back NT$5,990 on a contract that would cost you NT$1,349 a month, but you’d have to pre-pay 21 or 22k when you get the phone with the difference being used to pay off your bills for whatever period of time that works out to be. That includes unlimited internet usage, tethering, access to CHT’s Wi-Fi network and NT$589 towards calls and texts every month.

Pretty much any modern smartphone will do all of the things you mentioned. You can have two or more plans and subsidized contracts under the same name, but you’ll have to check with the carriers to see if they offer any sort of shared minutes / “family” plans.

There isn’t any phone that is better specifically for Taiwan. Different people prefer different platforms. I use both Androids and iPhones day to day and prefer iPhone. It just works a lot better & easier despite what feature sheets might imply.

There are also a few stickies in this forum to help with this, as well.

Look here for evaluating what your options are depending on how long you will be staying and whether you will have an ARC:
forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … 7&t=103629

Look here for evaluating and pricing out plans and contracts.