Re: No 680 in China yet
Hai Zi said:
I just went down to Hailong to see if they had the 680 - all the people I asked said it wouldn't be on the Chinese market for another few months - and when it does come on the market, it's not going to be cheaper than the 650 - probably even more expensive. So, I'm thinking of getting one this Christmas (in the sales) when I go back to the UK... could anyone tell me what I'll need to do to the machine when I bring it back to Beijing... First of all, I'll need an "unlocked" one, so that it'll work in any phone network area, right? Then, I will need to add CJKOS for Chinese - is it a free download? Apart from that, is there anything else I need to do?
Thanks
Hai Zi
PS By the way, lmcjipo, could you tell me where you bought your 680 for such a good price? And what was the price?
Yes, you will have to get an "unlocked" one. When you get the "unlocked" version, you will have a choice of probably 4 colours. The locked version only comes in 1 colour (graphite).
Yes, you will need to add CJKOS for Chinese or another software that does this (I've heard that there are others but CJKOS is the best known). Yes, it is a free download but it is not free software (28US$, 218HK$ or 238RMB). The software is located here:
http://www.dyts.com/en/cjkos.html
CJKOS is not required for PlecoDict. However, you do need CJKOS if you want to be able to use the PlecoDict's "Instant Access" feature. I don't use "Instant Access" so this is one of the reasons why I didn't purchase CJKOS. I tried it on my Treo 650 briefly and I found that it "totally messed up my interface" since it changed most of the program names to Chinese names and my Chinese reading ability is very weak. What I wanted was the ability to read Chinese on my Treo 650 without having all my menus changed to Chinese. I also didn't know how to configure CJKOS because all the menus/options were in Chinese. I decided to delete it even though I would have liked to be able to view Chinese characters occasionally on my Treo 650 outside of PlecoDict.
In regards to where I purchased my Treo 680 and how much it costs, I'm located in Canada and I purchased it from someone in Canada who was planning on purchasing a lot of unlocked Treo 680's from Palm's website. The person qualified for a Palm's volume discount (
http://store.palm.com/groupsales/index.jsp). He charged me $375 CAD which is approximately $326 USD and 2558 RMB for the unlocked Treo 680. The price that Palm Canada sells unlocked Treo 680's for is $499 CAD (taxes & shipping not included). A locked Treo 680 costs $299 CAD based on a 3 year contract. I would have opted for this route but my service provider is not offering the Treo 680 and it is another Canadian provider that is offering it.
I'm not sure what his price was per unit but he informed me that he purchased about 80 of them. He works at an electronics store. He told me that he would receive all of them sometime after New Year's (approximately January 14). If I don't receive it by January 14, I will inform him and then call my credit card company and cancel the charge (if he doesn't refund my money).
Since I don't really know the guy, it is a bit risky but I accepted the risk for the price (and also because I can always call my credit card company if I don't get the Treo 680 by January 14). Once (if) I receive my Treo 680, I will sell my Treo 650 (which is less than 1 year old) and I can probably get $375 CAD for it since I am throwing in a lot of accessories that I purchased including a spare battery (the Treo 680 uses a different battery).
