vB Easy Archive - A few questions before I buy a 903

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A few questions before I buy a 903
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Posted by: Meito-kun

Hey. I want to know a little more about peoples' experiences with the 903, but at the same time I'm happy to hear anyone's comments. I'm thinking of getting the Japanese firmware, but I'm not certain about that yet.

1 - Response speed: Are accessing menus and SMS typing sluggish? Can anyone give a rough milliseconds of their 903's response speed to a button push or menu transition?
2 - Stability: Are your unlocked 903's rock solid or do they sometimes freeze? What are the most common causes for freezes?
3 - Reprovisioning: I'm aware that there's a way around 903 reprovisioning. Is this just a testmode/beta/temporary unlock or better firmware? Also, is there any way around 902 reprovisioning?
4 - Black or white: Which colour is more prone to fingerprints? What do the black keypad lights look like? What colour 903 does everyone have?
5 - Any disappointing/frustrating experiences with 903?
6 - Is it possible to roam in Japan with Euro firmware on the 903?

I appreciate any help. Thanks guys!

Posted by: sketch143

Quote:

3 - Reprovisioning: I'm aware that there's a way around 903 reprovisioning. Is this just a testmode/beta/temporary unlock or better firmware? Also, is there any way around 902 reprovisioning?

Tim has a working firmware that has no reprovisioning.. costs $120 though.

Quote:

4 - Black or white: Which colour is more prone to fingerprints? What do the black keypad lights look like? What colour 903 does everyone have?

Black is more prone on getting finger prints on the front cover, aside from that, it's ok.. the other parts are coated in matte.

Posted by: Meito-kun

$120 is a bit steep!

I think reprovisioning would drive me nuts though, so the extra cost should be worth it.

I assume fingerprints get on that piano finish but not on the bumpy texture then? I just have to see what the black keypad lights look like before I decide. If it looks a lot better than white's then I might get black anyway.

Posted by: aychseven

i believe the lights are the same color on all 903's, but the the white phones have the whole button light up instead of just the text

Posted by: echau

too answer some of the other questions:

1. the response seems pretty quick. better than most phones.
2. mine has never frozen
5. no dissappointing/frustrating things so far

only thing i wish it had was an external lcd...but then i figure it wouldn't blend it as nicely, so oh well

Posted by: scotttttttttt

1. Response time is good.
2. I haven't heard of any serious freezing problems.
3. The only firmware with repro is the Japanese firmware. Timsta sells a variant of the JP fw which he made, which has disabled repro. I am unsure about the 902.
4. Black collects fingerprints more. Keypad is black and numbers and letters are illuminted, rather than the whole key.
5. Not yet.
6. Yes, if your provider has a roaming agreement with Vodafone or DoCoMo.

Posted by: Eyies

5) Yes. God, is there any way to either fast-foward movies faster, or remember where it left off! I'm about to blow a vein if I try to watch a movie (or even 20 min family guys eps) and I get another call! lol ><;

Posted by: Meito-kun

Thanks for the help! I'm happy to hear that the phone is quite fast and is solid, as they are quite important to me.
I just realized that with the phone + extra accessories + firmware upgrade + other stuff, the price really adds up!

scotttttttttt: I checked with Telstra and it has roaming agreements with both Vodafone and DoCoMo (not sure about the subtle details), so at least I probably won't have to switch providers!

Eyies: Is there some kind of 'flight mode' setting where it basically disables all communication features? That way, you'll be able to watch your movies in peace.

Posted by: scotttttttttt

Yep, telstra do have agreements in place. And yes, there is a flight mode I think.

Posted by: scotttttttttt

Just looked for the rates for you (I was also interested), here you go: http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/pr...FTOKEN=16512003

Posted by: Meito-kun

scotttttttttt: I came across that page when I was checking Telstra's roaming agreements with Japan. Thanks anyway! I appreciate it.

Posted by: AL9999

I can tell you right now I'm roaming on Voda JP with my Euro firmware 903. It's working fine. Can't say the same for DoCoMo though, read my other thread on my Japan trip about it.

Posted by: Meito-kun

AL9999: Seems like you're having fun in Japan.

I wouldn't have expected that roaming with Vodafone AU provider on DoCoMo would work well. At least you got it working on Voda JP!

Now I gotta think about which firmware to get...
scottttttttttt: Why made you choose Japanese firmware?

I went to Vodafone store today to have a play with the 903, no luck though. I could only play with the dummy model attached to the wall. I'll try another store tomorrow...

Posted by: Eyies

^Euro is the least troublesome (mp3, mp3 ringtone, [with firmware hack can remove op logo, add a half answering machine, play games from miniSD]..

Jap looks nice with fullscreen wallpapers, but contacts are sorted in a retarded way, and mp3s cannot be read..

HK is like euro, with 100% chinese support opposed to 85% (the 85 is actually from jap kanji).. but no mp3 ringtones

TW has a messed up menu/icon thing.. games don't work at all. hm.. yeah, chinese etc.

Posted by: scotttttttttt

I chose Jap because of my need for Japanese input.

Posted by: Meito-kun

I'm thinking about Japanese FW because of Japanese menu and input, fullscreen wallpapers and other features. I don't think I'll mind stuffing around with aac and mmf files, reprovisioning can be disabled, and I believe contacts can be sorted using the reading field.
Euro on the other hand is cheaper to get and is sufficient enough while I'm in Australia. Also, it has full support for mp3s and I might have less issues compared to Japanese FW with using the phone in Australia.

Eyies: Thanks for the info. I didn't know certain things could be hacked into the Euro FW. The thread on 903 firmwares was quite useful. I'm only considering Euro and Japanese because I can't read any Chinese at all. So I don't mind if Japanese FW only supports 85% of Chinese kanji since this would be 100% of Japanese kanji (?) and I only know about half of that anyway.

scotttttttttt: YGPM. You live in Australia so I wasn't expecting that you'd use the Japanese input all that often.

Posted by: scotttttttttt

YGReply.

and yeah, the 85% chinese characters includes all the japanese kanji.

Posted by: Timsta

scottie. is a hybrid.. thus he uses kanji...

Posted by: Meito-kun

Has anyone heard about people in Japan using fake IDs to buy stacks of mobile phones (buying the phone with contract and then cancelling the contract) so they can sell them online?

I saw this on NHK news today and it's starting to worry me. After discovering this fraud, the phone companies are taking measures to disable the phones that have been bought in such a way (I don't know how they differentiate the good and bad purchases though), probably through using the IMEI number.

As a shopper, is there anything I can do on my end to prevent being sold a phone that has been disabled? Also, if I end up being sold a phone that has its IMEI number comprimised, is there anything I can do with the phone to make it work?

Thanks for your help everyone!

Posted by: bee

1 - Response speed: no delay.
2 - Stability: mine never got frozen.
3 - Reprovisioning: no.
4 - Black or white: orange keypad light, get a fully black one thats more pimp.
5 - Any disappointing/frustrating experiences with 903? cant run symbian s/w.
6 - Is it possible to roam in Japan with Euro firmware on the 903? yes,

Posted by: Timsta

i dind't hear about the fake id thing. but i did hear about hte loophople last year which allowed the selelrs to buy as many 903s they wanted without payin for contract on thne voda site then they fixed it.