Korean Job Discussion Forums

Drew345 · Joined: 24 May 2005

Hello phone experts,
I went to Yongsan market and looked at some phones, but the number of phones makes it rather intimidating. There are hundreds of phones with some Korean scribbles below them and not a one has price listed.
Can someone tell me what was the best-selling, most poplular basic Motorola or Samsung (because I want English) phone last year. What ever was most popular should be fine with me. If it was most popular last year, I should be able to find it second hand.
I am not interested in phone, MP3, polytone. Just most popular basic phone. If most populat phone has camera, then that's just fine.
Sorry to bring up phones again on this forum, but please understand my situation. Staring at a 100 phones without any english help is very frustrating. What is the most popular one with English. For example, if you were in Bangkok, the answer is 'more people have Nokia 3300 than any other phone'.
Thanks,
Drew

Drew345 · Joined: 24 May 2005

Is there a Motorola or Samsung phone that anyone on this forum has that they really like? I would like to know a good phone to start looking at then I can go up or down in price from there. It is just so daunting to see a counter with 100 phones, no english, no prices. Where to start? What model is popluar with reader's of this forum?

Thanks,
Drew

BigBlackEquus · Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:56 pm Post subject:

Your question sort of eats itself, because the most popular phones probably did have a camera, mp3, etc.

Your task is much easier than what you think. You can't see the forest for the trees. Simply ask for the Motorola and Samsung models that don't have .mp3, and you'll narrow it down. Personally, the lower-end samsung and motorola cameras suck (by my experience). There is a motorola phone that is a few years old, but an excellent little performer, and thin/light. It has rounded edges and no camera. I would suggest a used one of those, if you can find it. Sorry I don't know the model number.

Gord · Joined: 25 Feb 2003

Motorola's most popular phone is the Razr phone, which for a model without a camera will set you back about 450,000.

No clue about Samsung phones.

hypnotist · Joined: 04 Dec 2004 Location: I wish I were a sock

I have a Samsung SPH-X8300. It's an ok little phone, doesn't do much except phone calls, messages and Push-Push, but it has English menus.

I couldn't get one with a camera due to my work, so this is the one I ended up with.

Hater Depot · Joined: 29 Mar 2005

The Razr is a lot cheaper if you sign for service with the same people you buy it from. Supposedly it can also switch easily between nations--you can go back and forth with it between Korea and the USA. If this is so, it will be my first purchase when I come back.

Drew345 · Joined: 24 May 2005

Thanks for the advice,
Since I wasn't looking for anything special. I just went to the LG shop and asked for a contract and basic phone. First they showed me the basic Cyon that had camera, MP3, and little speakers for 150,000. But this phone had no English option. So next was the basic Samsung Anycall SPH-E3350. It has camera (no MP3) and costs 160,000. The Extra price seems to be for English. It was fine, I bought it and got a contract. They only needed my bank acct number and Alien Registration Card for contract, no deposit. I walked out with working phone. The instruction book has about 10 pages of English in the back, mostly all incorrect. Many key instructions for putting phone in Silent Mode, switching text MSG from Korean to English were all wrong (referenced the wrong keys entirely). And so much is missing (how to put numbers '1, 2' in messenges. But I am slowly getting it figured out and the phone does seem to operate in English just fine. I am so happy for finally having phone. I was indeed not seeing the forest for the trees before.
Thanks,
Drew