Hi,
Saw the previous posting in April re lack of blackberry service in Taiwan and wondered if there’s been any news.
Are there any good service arrangements available now? I bumped into someeone using a blackberry and they said as long as not making calls, they had a reasonalbe service agreement.
If there aren’t any good service arrangements for blackberry, what products would be available (treo etc) that can be used in Taiwan, China,and HK? 
You can purchase O2 XDA phones here in Taiwan under the name of Dopod. They are actually made here by a company called HTC. I have one I will be selling. You can check email, surf the internet, etc. all in a Windows Mobile environment with triple band phone service bluetooth etc.
[quote=“ajax”]If there aren’t any good service arrangements for blackberry, what products would be available (treo etc) that can be used in Taiwan, China,and HK? [/quote]I understand that one of the things that people like about BlackBerrys is that they “push” email to you. Instead of waiting for you to check your email, they actively download and notify you of new emails.
There is a program that emulates this function available for Treos. It is called Chatter. I have heard that it uses a lot of battery power, however, and it may not work well with local service providers. In addition, Microsoft-based PDAs are better supported than Treos here and if you want Chinese language support for your Treo you have to buy it from a third party provider.
By the way, Blackberry should be coming to Taiwan soon. A friend of a friend was just in town the other day from Blackberry regional HQ to begin setting things up, i.e., phones for sale, network service and partnerships etc.
Thanks for the info. With the Dopod is the operating system in English or Chinese–will I have to navigate through Chinese to make it work?
When is blackberry likely to arrive? 
Mine is in English. I had it done by Dopod before I purchased it. Want to purchase mine? I am afraid if I put it on Yahoo Bid won’t be many people that want to purchase it. I am thinking of going back to a regular dumb phone instead of a smart phone. Look on the internet what I am selling is the O2 XDA Mini. I will post here in the classifieds soon, unless you want first dibs.
Looks like Blackberry has hit China.
But it still has alot to overcome.
Maybe it’ll come here…someday?
Link
~Ahem~ Launch was originally slated for July, but was pushed back to this month sometime. I’m calling Taiwan Cellular every two weeks or so for updates. I just hope to hell that I don’t have to buy a BlackBerry with bopomofo all over the keyboard. 
~Ahem~ Launch was originally slated for July, but was pushed back to this month sometime. I’m calling Taiwan Cellular every two weeks or so for updates. I just hope to hell that I don’t have to buy a BlackBerry with bopomofo all over the keyboard. [/quote]
I dropped by the TWM office on Ba De Road near Dunhua last Sat. They hadn’t yet heard anything about the launch of the Blackberry service.
What number are you calling? I’ll call them on your off weeks 
You don’t need Blackberry.
tw.shopping.yahoo.com/product_pr … id=7113707
The Dopod is a Windows Mobile 5 based Smartphone.
It can (among other things):
Send and receive Pop email. (for example: someone@yourdomain.com easy to setup - just like Outlook-it even comes with a copy of Outlook 2002 for your PC)
It can connect just like a notebook computer to Wirelesss networks. (It’s very best feature)
Has GPRS connectivity too. But wireless is faster and free whereever you find an open network.
It has Windows Media Player built in. (Does the same as an Ipod I suppose)
Comes with 512 meg mini-SD card, but can be upgraded to 2 gig mini-SD card.
Windows Sync will compress large media files (a DVD for example) onto your SD card for viewing on your phone.
Switch between English and Chinese interfaces. Has Chinese input in English environment.
The only real downside is the little joystick. It becomes a little unresponsive after about six months.
The US incarnation of the Dopod: (exact same as the Dopod 586w)
[quote=“Alleycat”]You don’t need Blackberry… The Dopod is a Windows Mobile 5 based Smartphone.
It can (among other things):
Send and receive Pop email. (for example: someone@yourdomain.com easy to setup - just like Outlook-it even comes with a copy of Outlook 2002 for your PC)
It can connect just like a notebook computer to Wirelesss networks. (It’s very best feature)
Has GPRS connectivity too. But wireless is faster and free whereever you find an open network.
It has Windows Media Player built in. (Does the same as an Ipod I suppose)
Comes with 512 meg mini-SD card, but can be upgraded to 2 gig mini-SD card.
Windows Sync will compress large media files (a DVD for example) onto your SD card for viewing on your phone.
Switch between English and Chinese interfaces. Has Chinese input in English environment.
The only real downside is the little joystick. It becomes a little unresponsive after about six months.
The US incarnation of the Dopod: (exact same as the Dopod 586w)
clubimate.com/t-DETAILS_SP5m.aspx[/quote]Yes, well, Treos do all that too. For the Chinese OS you have to get CJKOS, but that’s easy enough.
As far as I can find out, the only advantage of Blackberrys is that the service “pushes” email to the device as it arrives, rather than waiting for you to check your mail. There’s an aftermarket program available for Treos that does the same thing, but I’m not sure whether it works with service providers in Taiwan. Might do. I just don’t know.
Oh, and they don’t have a joystick: they have a more sensible and durable 5-way button thing.
Will any of these work with prepaid cellular cards (like for a brief visit)?
[quote=“ironlady”]Will any of these work with prepaid cellular cards (like for a brief visit)?[/quote]Treos do, and I guess the Dopods do as well.
The Treos sold here are just standard GSM, unlocked cellphones. You can buy them in the States, too, but obviously they’re more expensive that way than the CDMA versions which are locked to a particular provider.
No idea about Blackberrys. I imagine they’ll be locked to a particular provider here. As I said, they seem redundant to me though I suppose the push email thing might be useful for some people.
Dopod can be set up to check email at intervals starting atevery 15 minutes to “never”.
But you’ll GPRS or Wireless (but Wireless running all the time will kill your battery in no time).
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So the chaps here in Taiwan who do use Blueberry or whatever it is, how are they doing it?
It’s not out yet, but when it does come out, I’ll let you know. 
It’s not out yet, but when it does come out, I’ll let you know. [/quote]
I’m going to meet a chap this evening who uses a Blackberry. I’ll ask him how it’s done. The machine itself is as ugly as sin. it looks like a US$2 pocket calculator.
It’s not out yet, but when it does come out, I’ll let you know. [/quote]
I’m going to meet a chap this evening who uses a Blackberry. I’ll ask him how it’s done. The machine itself is as ugly as sin. it looks like a US$2 pocket calculator.[/quote]
You will soon know why it’s called the Crackberry sir! :uhhuh:
It’s not out yet, but when it does come out, I’ll let you know. [/quote]
I’m going to meet a chap this evening who uses a Blackberry. I’ll ask him how it’s done. The machine itself is as ugly as sin. it looks like a US$2 pocket calculator.[/quote]
You will soon know why it’s called the Crackberry sir! :uhhuh:[/quote]
It’s OK. I don’t have any friends and only get about 2 emails a week.
screw blackberry - i am gettng the Sony Ericsson W600i
Slim touchscreen phone for style-conscious professionals.
The M600i has all you need to keep in touch with friends and colleagues in every way, every day. It gives you secure push email, internet and company intranet access. Surf the Web. Download music and video. Enjoy fast-moving games and your favourite music wherever you go. And when you’re browsing the Web with your M600i, you can still make and take calls. The M600i is a true 3G multitasking device.
Email
Wherever you are, you have your office with you. Send and receive email, access a corporate intranet and the public internet, read, edit and re-send email attachments and, if a compatible printer is nearby, you can print attached documents. When writing, choose from the dual-function keyboard just below the screen, an onscreen keyboard or handwriting recognition.
etc…