Here’s what you need to know to get the mobile phone that are right for you.
Nowadays, mobile phone can do more than just talk – today’s phones let you send and receive e-mail & text messages, surf the web, and play music and videos. These few tools of modern technology have become as prevalent as the cell phone, which allows you to be in touch all the time and anywhere you are. Sifting through the sea of handsets can be difficult, but we’ll guide you through what you need to know to get the phone that is right for you.
Do a survey and check out the mobile info in the website first. You can check out the phone specifications on this GSMArena site. This trusted site even use by many sellers as their reference! Once you get to know what mobile phone you wish to purchase, next step you need to check out the price. Here’s 2 recommended sites which can act as a price reference are http://www.bestpricemalaysia.com and http://www.mobile88.com/eprice/. After that, this is the most important step -> Identify what type of set it is?
There are 3 types of set in the current market which are Original Set, AP Set and Water Set.
Original Set
Original set comes with authorized distributor sticker. (*pls refer to Mobile Talk 08/08/11, we have the topic of “3 Simple Steps to Identify Original Handphone Set.”)
You can service your phone at any service centers (e.g Nokia Care Centers, Sony Ericsson Certified Service Centers). Besides, original set will have 1 year warranty for the full set including charger, battery and handsfree. And they will use genuine parts for repairing. *Within 1 year, it is essentially to keep the warranty card for warranty purpose.
AP Set
AP sets are Approved Products which means that these products are certified by SIRIM that your product is safe to use. In other words, AP product not brought in by the authorized distributor like Midland for Sony Ericsson, Avaxx or Zitron for Nokia and etc. (again refer to “Mobile Talk” 08/08/11 to get to know the authorized distributors for all the mobile brands.)
AP set is mainly imported from oversea and sell it to the consumers. AP set warranty is by the shops or companies itself. There are 1 year warranty for the phone (transceiver) and 1 month warranty for the accessories like charger, battery and handsfree.
AP set has different of QC. Big AP companies have extensive QC checks. Others small companies are slightly cheaper than big companies. (Whether they replaced their parts with other stuff, it’s another question)
AP set actually pay government tax but is just that they are not taxed by the Local Authorized Dealer. Therefore, prices for AP sets are generally cheaper compared to original distributors’ sets. On the downside, AP sets have limited service centers, original phone distributors have service centers located around Malaysia. AP set is normally distributed by small handphones companies and they might stop business anytime. Furthermore, if there’s major damage on your AP set, the AP companies might not have enough equipment to fix it. At the end, they still have to send it to the authorized dealer (e.g Zitron, Avaxx).
AP set warranty period depending on the company (ranging from 12-18months) and to claim warranty, the customer have to send the phone back to the company where they purchased from. AP set may originate from other countries. Some AP phones might come with operator logo on the phone. Operator sets for example are like T-Mobile (US), AT&T (US), SingTel (Singapore). This is seldom seeing in Malaysia. However, most AP sets sold in Malaysia are already Telco unlocked. It can be used with local carriers such as DiGi, Maxis, Celcom etc.
Water Set
Water set which mean stolen/brought in from oversea without paying tax a.k.a SIRIM sticker. (a.k.a -> “also known as”), can consider illegal.
Speaking of buying water set from a shop, they might say that you did not inspect it properly before buying and thus you are at fault. So guys, if you want buy a phone, do yourselves a favor and do these few things (“avoid getting cheated”):-
- Check for SIRIM sticker. (This is a MUST, everyone should know this.)
- Cross check IMEI numbers on the phone and the box.
- Ask and check the warranty card. Make sure that the warranty card is authorized warranty and not the warranty issued by the particular mobile shop.
- Check all the features of the phone (Make sure everything is working).
- And of course, make sure you get the full package. As nothing missing like the handsfree and others.
By the way, water sets are usually sold without accessories, only phone and charger. So sometimes if you add up buying the accessories elsewhere, it might cost near the same as buying a full set.
There are recon set might be known as water set, so be aware while you purchase a mobile phone. Recon set are second hand handphones from overseas, they just change the phone cover (and might not be original cover) and do some servicing inside and sell it as an AP set with warranty 1 year some more.
After searching from web, if you wish to test the mobile phone, you can go to visit physical handphone store. Physical handphone store is where you can see and test out certain phones before making a purchase. In additional, the physical handphone store which is authorized dealer will provide demo sets for customers to test. From there, you can purchase original handphone set too. DYNACOM is one of the authorized dealers for many brands of the mobile phones such as Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, Blackberry, LG, Dell and Motorola.
Moreover, DYNACOM has many outlets in most of the shopping malls such as KLCC, Mid Valley, 1 Utama, Sunway Pyramid, Tesco Puchong and Jusco Bukit Tinggi. (*More info about DYNACOM, you can go to view the webpage @ DYNACOM Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dynacommunications-Sdn-Bhd/174129775983135)
**Click “LIKE” to Dynacom Page in Facebook and CHECK OUT the page frequently to get more mobile info and surprise!!!
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| Sony Ericsson @ The Garden (KL, M'sia) |
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| Nokia @ Mid Valley (KL, M'sia) |
References
Bellmobiles.B (2011). Latest handphones Great prices. Retrieved from http://www.bellmobiles.com/webshaper/store/news.asp.
MohdHafez.net (2008). Tips To Recognize Original, AP and Water Set. Retrieved from http://www.mohdhafez.net/tips-to-recognize-original-ap-and-water-set/
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