HK Tech Phooey

Tapping the pulse of this gateway for Asia's IT

by Victor Cheung, Hong Kong SAR, PRC

iPhone 3GS launched in Hong Kong, rates announced

Jul 9, 2009 23:35

3 Hong Kong finally announced details on the new iPhone 3GS, which is going on sale tomorrow (10 July 2009) at their major retail outlets. For details of the contract rates, please refer to the following chart (all rates in HK$, for conversion to US$, divide the HK$ by 7.8). Prepayment will be an up front charge, deductible in a 24-month basis (against the monthly fee).

As predicted in my previous post in June, The real deal with iPhone 3GS, the so-called upgrade plan came as no surprise, "rip-off" is the first and only word that came to my mind.

For existing iPhone 3G users with 3HK, the upgrade plan calls for HK$3,580 (US$459) prepayment for the 16GB version and HK$1,100 rebate over 12 months period. On top of that, the current contract has to be extended for a further 12 months. Net payment minus rebate = HK$2,480 (US$318). As for the 32GB version, the prepayment is HK$4,360 (US$559), other remains the same. net price = HK$3,260 (US$418).

So what's a better deal? getting a new contract or opt for the upgrade plan? well, you tell me.

Leave a comment | Share

Bare essentials of safety from Air New Zealand

Jul 3, 2009 14:13

Something light for the weekend.

On June 20, 2009, Air New Zealand staff bared all in the name of safety.

This video is one of the most viewed TV commercial from New Zealand Air.�All NZA staff members in the video took part in getting their body painted in this New Zealand Air Safety Video. Check them out, it's absolutely brilliant.
Read more »

5 comments | Share

Global Blogger Survey Results--Text100

Jun 30, 2009 15:11

Last week, I was invited to participate as a panel member at the Global Blogger Survey Results launch by Text100 here in Hong Kong.�Text100, a reputable global public relations firm, surveyed 449 bloggers from 21 countries between April 6 and May 18, 2009. The Web survey, being first of its kind, was designed to clarify bloggers' relationships with PR people and corporations and also to explore the characteristics of bloggers from the US, Europe and APAC.
Read more »

Leave a comment | Share

Are we ready for the iPhone 3.0 OS?

Jun 16, 2009 14:14

Mark your calendar, if you haven't already. Just two more days to go before the launch of the iPhone 3.0 OS. If you don't own an iPhone, quit reading. If you do, apart from just sitting here waiting, start wondering how the new OS would do good for you.

What's good? well... maybe:
Read more »

3 comments | Share

The real deal with iPhone 3G S

Jun 10, 2009 23:30

And you thought you heard it all about the iPhone 3G S. Well, not quite. Here're a few things I noted some 30-plus hours after Apple's Keynote Address.

Consider this, you've an iPhone 3G some time ago and are STILL stuck with a God-knows-how-long contract with the mobile carrier. Here comes the announcement of the all new iPhone 3G S which the same mobile carrier is probably going to end up carrying. So how are you going to go about getting the new iPhone 3G S? Well, first thing first. I don't think the mobile carrier is going to let you trade in your iPhone 3G, and the next thing you know is that if you want the 3G S so bad, you will probably end up with another 24 months tapped on top of your current contract.�If your carrier is as crappy as AT&T, I wish you all the best. Another thing to consider is that should Apple decide to launch a new iPhone every 18 to 24 months, you probably will be stuck with the same mobile carrier for the next decade or so, or end up paying a hefty fee for the upgrade.

For one to go through the painful upgrade as mentioned above, what's the upside then? Well, you're getting a faster phone (it claims, but don't you think the carrier also has something to do with the speed as well?); more onboard memory for your video and music library; a normal battery (hopefully one that can last longer than 24 hours under NORMAL usage); a better camera, voice control (like you really need this); digital compass (Tom-Tom stuff, nice one here); direct YouTube upload; MMS (well, wait here, if you read through the fine print on Apple's site, it mentions that "you can't send photos or videos if MMS isn't supported by the carrier"... (for the full list, better check out my fellow CNET Asia blogger Jesada's post).

So, on upgrading to the iPhone 3GS, you're probably thinking about giving the old iPhone 3G away to your girlfriend, sister, mother, mother-in-law (someone who's not so tech-savvy). Well, refer back to the first bullet. You're still stuck with the carrier.

If you ask me whether I will be getting mine upgrade, my answer is still yes.�I think I'm a lot like you guys out there, stuck with Apple AND the carrier. Wish me luck.

3 comments | Share

About Victor Cheung

A true tech junkie at heart, Victor Cheung has been obsessed with all tech gadgets since his college days. His favorite gizmos span from tablet PCs to UMPC, to PMPs, gaming consoles, mobile phones and anything with WiFi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.0 on it. A newcomer to the blog scene, he started his own quasi-tech blog, The Hong Kong Phooey in October 2006.