Buying a Treo in Taiwan

[Luhmann]

Anyone here ever bought a Treo in Taiwan? Mine just died and I need a new one. They seem significantly more expensive here from what I can see online....

 

[Rick31]

Go to the K-mall next to Taipei main station. When facing the building, use the set of doors on the right. All along the right side are little shops selling PDA's/PDA phones. The one furthest toward the back (about 3/4 back if I remember right) was selling it for the cheapest, NT$14,900. The other places had more in the package, though. Never hurts to negotiate...they are all willing.

 

[Luhmann]

Thanks. I decided to try buying a 650 from ebay. It is less than half the price of a new 680 here and there doesn't seem to be much difference between the models except for the casing.

However, now I'm dealing with UPS who are asking me all these questions before they will clear it through customs. They wanted the FCC number and a fax of my passport, etc. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed!!!

 

[joesax]

Thanks. I decided to try buying a 650 from ebay. It is less than half the price of a new 680 here and there doesn't seem to be much difference between the models except for the casing.

However, now I'm dealing with UPS who are asking me all these questions before they will clear it through customs. They wanted the FCC number and a fax of my passport, etc. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed!!!

Hi Luhmann, hope you get your phone through alright. I've heard that mobile and Bluetooth devices are prohibited from import to Taiwan, at least by private individuals. But maybe all the details you're giving will be enough that you can get the phone delivered OK.

For anyone else who's interested in getting Palm OS devices in Taiwan, there are a couple on http://www.pdaking.com.tw (they're who I bought my Treo 600 from).
There are also a few on this page, though my Chinese isn't good enough to figure out exactly what the deal is and why they're cheaper than elsewhere:
http://class.ruten.com.tw/user/index.ph ... ile_office

 

[Luhmann]

I had to give UPS Power of attorney to negotiate with customs to let my device in. (They only agreed to do this after I raised a fuss.) It may not be possible, but I'm waiting. If it doesn't come through it may be impossible to return it to the US either, in which case I made a big mistake .... I'll let you know what happens. I'm not hopeful...

 

[Luhmann]

Hey. Those prices on Ruten.com.tw are very good. Much better than what I saw elsewhere.

 

[Rick31]

Wow, sorry about your ordering hassles...you have just reminded me why I left Taiwan! :roll:

I like the prices on Ruten too, but what concerns me is that in all of the pictures, they have a Cingular Wireless sticker on the phone. I also noticed that it doesn't say if this is an unlocked phone or not. While I'm sure it is, and they probably just stole the pictures from the internet, it would be worth asking about before buying.

 

[Luhmann]

The end result was that I asked UPS to tell customs to dispose of the device. A lot of money down the drain, but less expensive than returning it to the US which would have been expensive with additional customs duties...

 

[joesax]

The end result was that I asked UPS to tell customs to dispose of the device. A lot of money down the drain, but less expensive than returning it to the US which would have been expensive with additional customs duties...

Sorry to hear that.

I like the prices on Ruten too, but what concerns me is that in all of the pictures, they have a Cingular Wireless sticker on the phone. I also noticed that it doesn't say if this is an unlocked phone or not. While I'm sure it is, and they probably just stole the pictures from the internet, it would be worth asking about before buying.

Yeah, that's what bothered me too. And whether unlocked or not, I reckon it's an unofficial import so might not be covered by warranty.

I bought a new Treo 680 on Sunday. I got it from one of those little shops in the K-Mall -- thanks for the tip! It was 15,800 including the free extra battery. That was a limited time offer from Palm, by the way, so if anyone's going to buy a 680, they should get one soon.

The machine I got has a one-year warranty and it has Chinese support on the ROM. That's a handwriting recogniser plus CJKOS (though without Hanyu Pinyin input so I had to re-install my old full copy of CJKOS to get that).

I'm liking it a lot so far. Battery life is certainly less than on my old Treo 600, but that's the only downside. Everything else is great.

 

[Rick31]

Battery life is certainly less than on my old Treo 600, but that's the only downside. Everything else is great.

The newer 680's in the US have the battery problem solved, but the one's in Taiwan may not. Apparently, those who have the older version can download a fix for the battery problem...reviewers on amazon say that it fixed the problem. So, it's worth doing a bit of research to see if you can find the fix.

 

[Luhmann]

FYI: Amazon is selling new unlocked Treo 650s for $300 (via Tiger Direct). This is a great deal, and is what I ended up doing. (My friend will bring it to Taiwan in his luggage.)

 

[gato]

The newer 680's in the US have the battery problem solved, but the one's in Taiwan may not. Apparently, those who have the older version can download a fix for the battery problem...reviewers on amazon say that it fixed the problem. So, it's worth doing a bit of research to see if you can find the fix.

The 680 has a smaller battery than the 650, so it needs to be recharged more often. There was a problem with the camera software of the 680, which caused its battery to run down even more quickly. That was fixed by Palm with a ROM update. Most of the new 680s being sold today should have the new ROM already. Palm's website lists which ROM versions are the latest. You can go there to verify that yours has the latest.

 

[daniu]

Hi!

When I went to Taiwan 2 years ago I also intended to buy a PDA. But after a short while I realized that the price is not really that cheap. In Germany I get 2 ys warranty compulsory and the thing is usable for me - since it speaks German. In Taiwan even an english version is almost the same price as in Germany with less warranty ... (Chinese not significantly cheaper) But I also recommend the Mall close to Taipei Main station - all other places were more expensive or did not sell PDAs at all (ba de lu) And - you can and probably should bargain! Try paying in cash ...

So I decided to buy it in Germany even though the shipping should actually cost something - right? Mine is made in Taiwan
Sigapore was not better ... Maybe HK would be ...

regards
Daniel

 

[joesax]

Thanks for the replies about the battery thing. My 680 has the latest firmware so doesn't need the camera update. But there are a few minor quirks about the ways 680s charge and meter batteries in general. For anyone who's interested, there's more information over on treocentral.com, including some very useful replies to my recent post:
http://discussion.treocentral.com/showt ... ?p=1338509

It's a great machine, though, apart from these minor annoyances.