User Comments - helzcurrah
helzcurrah
Posted on: Registering for 3G Service
February 26, 2013 at 4:06 AMWhen I moved to China I was told only China Unicom provide 3G. That was two years ago though, so I'll admit that may be different now.
I later replaced my British iphone with a Chinese iphone from the Apple store in Shanghai that was unlocked. I'm not sure what the situation is if you buy the phone from a network though (or even if you can).
Posted on: Registering for 3G Service
February 19, 2013 at 5:01 AMAll phones in China are sold unlocked (as far as I know)
China Unicom is the only one offering 3G service, but it is painfully slow when compared to the 3G service in my home country.
If you are travelling to a lot of rural places, you should consider using China Mobile instead, and live with non-3G data.
To get a SIM card for either company is pretty easy, just buy one from a magazine kiosk in the street and stick it in your phone. You then need to ring up the company (they have a English speaking customer service option) to activate your data package which you pay for every month by buying a credit voucher from the same magazine kiosk or many corner shops.
I used my existing unlocked iphone from the UK and put a Chinese SIM card in,. No problems apart from the cripplingly slow speed, and bad coverage.
Posted on: Trip to Harbin
February 18, 2013 at 4:13 AM@Bababardwan I've sent you a "bing shafa" on weibo :-)
Posted on: Songs for CNY
February 11, 2013 at 12:44 PMYes!
Posted on: Sina's Microblogs
February 10, 2013 at 1:06 PMhttp://chinesepod.com/community/groups/view/weibo-1724
Posted on: Sina's Microblogs
February 8, 2013 at 9:13 AMEmma Watson is on Weibo too.
The finding people near you is searching for anyone, not just your friends. It's mostly used for hookups as far as I can tell.
"wechat and wechat voice" - I only have WeChat. This does the short voice messages. I actually haven't tried the walky talky function yet.
"how is chatting different to the micro-blog in WeChat?"
By chatting I mean talking privately and specifically to one or more of your friends. By microblog I mean posting something on your wall for all your friends to see.
"does the filtering and censorship just apply to Chinese?"
Nope, it applies to everyone. However very little is censored in French, Spanish etc. It just depends what the government can be bothered to try and hide. Usually Chinese and English is enough to stop a big story from breaking.
"must be reasonably user friendly [English speaker friendly] if expats are using it"
It's very easy and very user friendly. The interface is available completely in English, unlike the Weibo app where they didn't translate every menu.
Phew, not sure if I caught all the questions. I'm on a business trip in Korea so I don't have continuous internet access now!
Posted on: Sina's Microblogs
February 7, 2013 at 6:31 AMIt's got so big internationally that being a Chinese app from Tencent is actually starting to become an issue itself. A lot of foreigners are using it outside of China but are still subject to censorship according to this article: http://www.techinasia.com/tencent-responds-wechat-censoring-sensitive-words/
Posted on: Sina's Microblogs
February 7, 2013 at 6:27 AMAs far as I know it's big everywhere in China. It has a function that allows you to look for people nearby, and when I use it I always find people.
I go on business trips quite a lot, so I'm often in other cities in China. I even find WeChat users in Korea when I go there!
It allows both instant chatting (also in groups), and posting microblog a microblog. The best feature though, is that you can send a short voice message and use it like a walky-talky. This is probably the main reason why it's taken off, because chinese is a pain in the a*** to type!
By the way I'm not on commission or anything, I just want to highlight that everyone, including expats is using it!
Posted on: Sina's Microblogs
February 7, 2013 at 6:01 AMYou may call me Helen :-)
Yes, I'm in China so I used a Chinese phone number.
Yes my Sina Weibo has a grey background. I don't really know what the yellow one does.
The main reason I don't use QQ is because I don't like sitting and chatting to people on IM generally, it makes me feel like I'm trapped at the computer and can't leave easily. I much prefer the see-something-and-comment model used in a microblog. I have Skype and MSN too, but I don't use those much either, unless I'm arranging to chat to a specific person,
FYI, Weibo and QQ are already old news in China. Everybody is raving about WeChat now!
Posted on: Hot Spring Vacation
March 22, 2013 at 3:43 AMWhat's wrong with the photo? Looks perfectly fine to me.