903SH or a gamble on 904SH

[fred09]

Hello Sharp 3G users,

I really want to get either the Vodafone 903SH or the 904SH. What are your recommendations on what I should get?

I will buy the phone in Japan, and I need it to work in Australia with an Australian SIM card (Telstra).

Because I can read Japanese, I am hoping I can leave the firmware as Japanese, but just unlock the SIM ability (This is a good way to foil anyone if they ever steal my phone!). Would that be more stable?

People seem to be able to unlock the 903SH, and in fact I know shops here in Japan that can unlock it for me. However, I have not seen any success stories yet on unlocking the 904SH. It's hard to say, but does anyone think the phone will be cracked sometime soon?

Thanks for your informaiton in advance!

fred09

[Kevbodian]

Originally Posted by fred09

Hello Sharp 3G users,

I really want to get either the Vodafone 903SH or the 904SH. What are your recommendations on what I should get?

I will buy the phone in Japan, and I need it to work in Australia with an Australian SIM card (Telstra).

Because I can read Japanese, I am hoping I can leave the firmware as Japanese, but just unlock the SIM ability (This is a good way to foil anyone if they ever steal my phone!). Would that be more stable?

People seem to be able to unlock the 903SH, and in fact I know shops here in Japan that can unlock it for me. However, I have not seen any success stories yet on unlocking the 904SH. It's hard to say, but does anyone think the phone will be cracked sometime soon?

Thanks for your informaiton in advance!

fred09

at the moment the 904sh is unlockable. the unlock method may be coming in the next few months but right now you will not be able to unlock it. also, the only thing the 904 provides over the 903 is the better screen (VGA vs QVGA). I personally think that the 903 is sexier looking.

im not familiar with telsta if it is 3g or just gsm, but if it is either of these it will work as the phones have both 900/1800gsm and 2100mhz UMTS.

I can also read Japanese, but because the menu is graphical, anyone who can recognize a screwdriver next to a phone will realize that this is the SETTINGS menu; and the language menu is writtin in English even if the phone is in Japanese. When you unlock the simlock, the phone will be usable on any gsm or 3g network (except of course for the limited 3g availability in the USA). Unlocking the phone requires flashing it and the firmware that is available is Euro, China and Japanese. Pretty much Euro is the easiest firmware to deal with and with the Euro you can still have the answering machine of the Japanese and the ability to remove the operator logo.

right now, as far as i know the 904sh has only been unlocked by some mystery ppl in HK. however, their story is not trustworthy as they havent come out themselves to announce it.

If you would like your 903 unlocked or your 904 unlocked when available, go to howardforums.com and look for a user named AL9999. Him and I have both been banned from there because of a little tiff with an admin, but AL is very knowledgeable and he lives in AU.

Good luck,
Kevin
{in Canada}

[fred09]

Kevin,

Wow, just wanted to say thank you very for your comprehensive reply. You managed to sum up in 1 post what I had been searching for all day.


I will definitely keep your suggestion of contacting the other board in mind. And I will let you know how I go when I finally buy one of these. Definitely cooler looking than the other phone models available in AUS in my opinion - and more technical too.

Cheers again

Fred09

[Siemens man]

hmmmmmmmmmmm............................

[theslydog]

fred09

I got a 902SH working fine on Telstra so go for the 903SH if u want to use the phone as soon as u get back. Vodafone Japan roam ***** with price using in Australia and a 904SH unlock could be months away.

tsd

[Kevbodian]

if you can wait, try getting a 904 and just wait for unlock. it should be pretty soon.

[fred09]

Hi again all,

Well after 2.5 years I am back in Australia and have taken a 903SH along with me!

I had the phone fixed before I came back, and have successfuly managed to get onto the network and make calls etc. with no problems.

Really only 2 problems remain:

1. Everytime I click menu, an annoying screen asking "Do ou want to get the latest provisioning data and update?" screen pops-up. Clicking yes results in a failure; no allows me to access the menu.

Minor but annoying.

2. Everytime I send an SMS mail, the message appears in the unsent box and is labelled as FAILED. However, the message is still received on the other side.

Baffling.

I am searching now for any solutions to this, but have come up empty so far. Maybe its related to Telstra (my provider)?

[sketch143]

1. Everytime I click menu, an annoying screen asking "Do ou want to get the latest provisioning data and update?" screen pops-up. Clicking yes results in a failure; no allows me to access the menu.

If you're willing to spend $120 canadian dollars... this can be solved. =)

2. Everytime I send an SMS mail, the message appears in the unsent box and is labelled as FAILED. However, the message is still received on the other side.

I have no idea about this one.. do you put subjects on your sms?