Looking for something comparable or better to a nokia N95 - what should I buy?

[slthomas]

I purchased a Nokia N95 last october and have really gotten alot of use out of it so far. It's the first smart phone I've even owned and I felt like it did pretty much everything, but not always perfectly.

I'm looking for a Japanese cellphone keittai with the following features that is at least as good as what I already have on my n95.

1. 5 megapixel or greater camera
2. GPS - do Japanese phones have actual, functional GPS, or is it carrier dependent?
3. Mobile TV - this was the one feature I could never quite get to work on my n95 - even with a slingbox media player.
4. Wireless payment of some sort - I'm likely to be travelling to Japan alot more frequently in the near future and would like to be able to make use of contactless payment systems.
5. All the functions I already have on my n95 - media, calendar, radio, internet, etc. etc. etc.

Can I get all these features and still have them work in the U.S.? If so, which phone?

[joshyth]

1. If you want a 5mp camera phone, get the p905i, n905i, or so905ics
2. the gps on all the keitai won't work outside of Japan, it's semi-network dependent
3.No mobile tv, the one-segment service only work in Japan, and since the data related operation on all keitai isn't usable outside of japan, not even web based video will work, like slingbox
4. I think most of the phone in Japan have the DCMX service on it, or at least all the phones in the 905i series
5.There won't be radio on any of the phone, it just won't work. Also, no interent usage at all, this is the only reason i'm carrying both my p905i and n95.

Beside the 5mp on some of the phones, most of the phones have similar feature in the 905i series, except maybe if you want mp3 format support, you should get the so905i.

I hope this answer some of your questions.

[yangj08]

Nope- a keitai probably isn't right for you if you need all that. Mobile TV, GPS, and wireless payment are all carrier-dependent (DoCoMo or Softbank depending on what phone you were thinking of) as is internet. The hardware is there, but you need a carrier subscription to make use of it (the wireless payment, for one- to use that you need to download IC-appli over the internet, and the one that's usually pre-installed, DCMX, needs activation over the internet before it will work). You're probably better off sticking with your N95.

(I thought the D905i and F905i had radio, though...)

[slthomas]

Hungh...

...typical, I guess. It seems the problem is that the carriers in the U.S. don't really offer any compatible services? Or just don't offer them at all?

If I'm going to be in Japan alot anyway, should I buy a Japanese cellphone, too. And keep my n95? The n95 will work on the Japanese networks anyway, won't it? But I would have to use the Japanese phone with a Japanese sim card or Japanese carrier to get any of the features, correct?

(this all seems like such a pain. As an aside, why do so many people on this website want to buy Japanese phones? Other than serving as excellent models of design, fashion statements, they don't really seem to do any of the things that make them special unless your in Japan???)

[yangj08]

Hungh...

...typical, I guess. It seems the problem is that the carriers in the U.S. don't really offer any compatible services? Or just don't offer them at all?

If I'm going to be in Japan alot anyway, should I buy a Japanese cellphone, too. And keep my n95? The n95 will work on the Japanese networks anyway, won't it? But I would have to use the Japanese phone with a Japanese sim card or Japanese carrier to get any of the features, correct?

(this all seems like such a pain. As an aside, why do so many people on this website want to buy Japanese phones? Other than serving as excellent models of design, fashion statements, they don't really seem to do any of the things that make them special unless your in Japan???)

Yes, you'll need a Japanese SIM card to do a lot of the stuff on a typical new Japanese phone (older Vodafone-branded phones and some Softbank models are fully functional when unlocked).

And people buy Japanese phones to stand out from the crowd, yes.

[slthomas]

The ones from softbank with the "texture" (don't remember the model) - wood panels, leather, kimono patterns. Yeah, I agree, pretty gorgeous. Those would definetly stand out amongst a crowd of typical U.S. phones. But what a shame that something like that can't really do much more than take calls. Is this a situation that will improve with time - is there anyway to hack/modd/reprogram the Japanese phones so that more features are functional?