日本文が後ろに続きます。
I’ve bought an iPhone. I ordered it from a broker in Hong Kong who got it at Apple Store Hong Kong, because the iPhone sold in Hong Kong is locked to no particular mobile carriers. In Japan, you can buy an iPhone at a Softbank cell phone shop but they sell only the iPhone locked to Softbank. Softbank does offer international roaming service, but if you go out of Japan and use it with a Softbank SIM card in a foreign country they will charge tremendously high international roaming charges to your bill (It costs as high as hundreds of thousand Yen per day! Crazy!). That’s why I’ve got an unlocked iPhone so that I can freely replace a SIM card into that issued at the country I’m in when I travel abroad.
When I put a black SIM card issued by Softbank for iPhone use into the iPhone I had bought and turned it on, it recognized the SIM card and the phone number recorded in it activated. When I plugged it into my MacBook Pro, it downloaded music, photos and data via iTunes.
Of course it recognizes either a Softbank SIM card or NTT DoCoMo’s one because it’s SIM-lock-free.
I think the iPhone matches to my MacBook Pro more than any other mobile devices like Blackberry or Nokia cell phones. More than that, there are more applications for iPhone released from both Japan and other countries so it is easier to use even in Japan.
From now on the devices I use on a regular basis would be:
- iPhone with Softbank for web browsing and researches
- Nokia N82 with Softbank for talking
- Blackberry Bold 9000 with NTT DoCoMo for mailing
- Galapagosian NTT DoCoMo N906iL my employer makes me keep for emergency contact
Advice: when you use an iPhone with Softbank, you need a special SIM card designed only for iPhone (the Black SIM Card), NOT a normal SIM card for other Softbank cell phones (the Silver SIM Card). If you put a Silver SIM Card into an iPhone, you’ll have extremely high packet communications charges. To get a Black SIM Card you’ll have to buy one locked iPhone from a Softbank shop because they won’t solely issue a Black SIM Card without selling any iPhone. You may want to keep it unpacked so that you can resell it to anybody else.
ｉＰｈｏｎｅ買っちゃいました。香港の電脳中心買物隊さんでＡｐｐｌｅ香港のＳＩＭフリー版をオーダーしました。ソフトバンクで普通のを買うと海外に出たときに目ん玉飛び出るほどのローミング料金を請求されるので、ＳＩＭフリー版にして、海外に出た時はその国のＳＩＭカードに入れ替えて使えるようにしたいと思って。
事前にソフトバンクの黒ＳＩＭを手に入れておき、それを買ったｉＰｈｏｎｅに入れて電源をＯＮすると、ちゃんとＳＩＭとその中の電話番号を認識してアクティベーションに成功。ＭａｃＢｏｏｋ Ｐｒｏに接続するとｉＴｕｎｅｓ経由で音楽、写真、データがダウンロードできました。
ＳＩＭフリー版なのでドコモのＳＩＭもごらんの通り認識しちゃいます。
ｉＰｈｏｎｅはブラックベリーやノキアよりもＭａｃＢｏｏｋ Ｐｒｏとの相性もいいし、何より日本で使えるアプリが多いので日本でも使いやすいと思います。
これで今後の端末運用はこんな感じでしょうか。
- iPhone：ＷＥＢ、調べ物もろもろ
- Nokia N82：メインの音声通話、ＳＭＳ
- Blackberry Bold 9000：メール端末
- ガラケー（笑）ドコモN906iL：緊急連絡用に会社から持たされている
注意：ソフトバンクでｉＰｈｏｎｅを使う際はｉＰｈｏｎｅ専用ＳＩＭカード（通称黒ＳＩＭ）が必要です。他のソフトバンクケータイ用のＳＩＭカード（銀ＳＩＭ）を使うとパケ死しますのでご用心。黒ＳＩＭだけを発行してもらうことはできず、必ずソフトバンクのｉＰｈｏｎｅ（ＳＩＭロック版）をセットで買うことが条件なので、とりあえず１つ買っておいてあとで転売するのがいいでしょう。