The ULTIMATE guide to keitais!

[yamanote]

$100 is a total rip off. And I don't think it even unlocks internet on the phone (as on some SoftBanks). Damned profiteers abusing our love for keitais.

$100 isn't as bad as the $200~300 unlocks some people were asking for back when software unlocks started... but yeah it's pretty expensive for something which is (presumably) plug, click, done.

Any idea where to get a software unlock done for cheaper though?

[aw614]

100 isnt much more than getting an nec software unlocked that I paid for

[cheeseus]

$100 isn't as bad as the $200~300 unlocks some people were asking for back when software unlocks started... but yeah it's pretty expensive for something which is (presumably) plug, click, done.

Any idea where to get a software unlock done for cheaper though?

Well, it's a matter of what $100 means for you then (how much you have to work to make it). Trust me when I say it is a lot of money for where I am, and I am sure for some other places as well (I believe China too, but maybe not HK, Taiwan etc.)

[LippyTon]

I just got an iNex hypersim for my SH-01B but for some reason I seem to have no signal a lot of the time. At most I would have 1 bar of signal. I was planning on getting the phone software unlocked. Would that help me get better signal with no disconnects? I'm with rogers.

[cheeseus]

I just got an iNex hypersim for my SH-01B but for some reason I seem to have no signal a lot of the time. At most I would have 1 bar of signal. I was planning on getting the phone software unlocked. Would that help me get better signal with no disconnects? I'm with rogers.

AFAIK no one here on the forums has had their DoCoMo keitai software unlocked, so you could do the pioneering job and let us know

[LippyTon]

Oh that's interesting to hear. Where I live, there are places that do soft unlocks for a lot of keitais.

I was playing with my SH-01B and was just wondering how do I set the pictures i put in the phone as my display screen. When I click the menu option, the "set screen" option seems to be crossed out. I place the pictures in the DCIM folder. I've seen some other people say Docomo datalink but I have no idea what that is.

[eddieroolz]

Sorry but isn't the SH-01B not unlockable? Or have something changed recently?

[LippyTon]

I went and asked and they said they'll charge me $100 to soft unlock it.

Btw, do you know how to put pictures on the sh-01b so that I can use it as my display screen? The phone detects the pictures I put in but for some reason I can't choose the option of "set screen".

[qwerty1235]

Try resetting your kisekae theme.

[yamanote]

Well, it's a matter of what $100 means for you then (how much you have to work to make it). Trust me when I say it is a lot of money for where I am, and I am sure for some other places as well (I believe China too, but maybe not HK, Taiwan etc.)

If you put it that way yeah of course it's a lot of money.

Just depends on how you qualify an item/service to be expensive- compared to income or compared to the price of a similar item/service.

For the software unlock- yeah it's a lot of money even here (assuming the unlock is 1000HKD, that'd be 20% of minimum income here) when compared to the average worker's income, but when compared to the price of a similar service (unlocking a SoftBank phone?) it's just about the same and thus not 'a lot of money' (for that service at least).

Now I'm just confusing myself and everyone around me... hah

[LippyTon]

For some reason when I try to change the stand-by screen (front display screen) I can't select anything from my micro sd card. It won't give me the option too.

[cheeseus]

If you put it that way yeah of course it's a lot of money.

Just depends on how you qualify an item/service to be expensive- compared to income or compared to the price of a similar item/service.

For the software unlock- yeah it's a lot of money even here (assuming the unlock is 1000HKD, that'd be 20% of minimum income here) when compared to the average worker's income, but when compared to the price of a similar service (unlocking a SoftBank phone?) it's just about the same and thus not 'a lot of money' (for that service at least).

Now I'm just confusing myself and everyone around me... hah

Both ways of estimating how much is "a lot" are true, obviously. $100 here is 65% of the minimum monthly salary. Heck, I teach at university for $4 per one 75-minute class, ridiculous, eh?

Comparing to other similar services is probably not a very "reliable", should I say, way of estimating it in this case, because there isn't any real competition here - if something is one of a kind, they can sell it at whatever price they like. There's one soft unlocking service for SoftBanks and one for DoCoMos, so it's profiteering time, yeah!

I've spent many many hours at a friend's mobile repairs & unlocking shop to know how long and what it takes to soft unlock a phone and I do think that $100 is a huge pile of money for this "service" (well, maybe not for people who can earn $100 in less than a day).

[eddieroolz]

For some reason when I try to change the stand-by screen (front display screen) I can't select anything from my micro sd card. It won't give me the option too.

That's intended. Move them to your phone memory first.

[yamanote]

Both ways of estimating how much is "a lot" are true, obviously. $100 here is 65% of the minimum monthly salary. Heck, I teach at university for $4 per one 75-minute class, ridiculous, eh?

Comparing to other similar services is probably not a very "reliable", should I say, way of estimating it in this case, because there isn't any real competition here - if something is one of a kind, they can sell it at whatever price they like. There's one soft unlocking service for SoftBanks and one for DoCoMos, so it's profiteering time, yeah!

I've spent many many hours at a friend's mobile repairs & unlocking shop to know how long and what it takes to soft unlock a phone and I do think that $100 is a huge pile of money for this "service" (well, maybe not for people who can earn $100 in less than a day).

Well at the end of the day we can agree that it's a complete rip-off. What does it involve...? Plugging in a flash cable to a box and clicking unlock?

I suppose a better comparison would be to unlocking a 'regular' phone, like a Nokia or HTC. Those cost just $10~20 so yeah by any definition of the word it's a rip-off.

[aw614]

the biggest ripoff is the x10 att unlock it costs 40 bucks, but the robbers one costs less than 5 for the damn code