Help For an Android User in China!

[Yangshuo John]

Hey guys, this is my first forum post. I will try to explain my problem quickly.

Basically, I live in China and bought a Samsung Galaxy smartphone there. According to the phone's info, it is a GT-S5368, running Android 2.3.6 (which I am sure is old).

My problem is that I don't have the "real" Android OS on the phone, including the app store. All I have is a Chinese app store with Chinese apps, which I can't use very well. I am in the US right now (for about a month or so), what can I do to get my phone to be more like a Western Android phone with all of it's cool apps and features.

A little more info. I am American, so I don't speak or read Chinese. I don't have phone service for this phone (I bought a crappy prepaid phone for my short time in the US), but I am pretty sure I can access wifi.

Any suggestions?

 

[ReDDs3D]

If the galaxy s is real you can root and flash a custom Rom. I'm not a 100% sure but its possible

 

[mikedt]

If the galaxy s is real you can root and flash a custom Rom. I'm not a 100% sure but its possible

I'm almost certain there isn't a non-Chinese ROM for this phone. It's a real Samsung OK, but it's not a Galaxy S, it's more like the Galaxy Ace. The GT-S5368 was made specifically to be sold and used in China, on China Mobile's TD-SCDMA 3G network. TD-SCDMA is unique to China.

Assuming it's unlocked, it should work with GSM carriers in the US, like AT&T and T-Mobile, but you wont have HSDPA 3G or 4G service. And you'll have to live with the Chinese app store and no Google.

 

[Yangshuo John]

Darn. Guess I should have used TaoBao to buy the phone?

So if that is a no go, what would you suggest I do once I get back to China, if I happened to be dead set on having a proper Android OS? Find a nice Samsung or HTC smartphone? and then what? Sorry, I am not very tech-savvy.

I like the signiture tag, by the way. Although I think those are iPhone makers ;D

 

[mikedt]

If you can get it rooted and maybe try side-loading the Google apps?

Darn. Guess I should have used TaoBao to buy the phone?

IMO Taobao is not a good place to buy phones.

So if that is a no go, what would you suggest I do once I get back to China, if I happened to be dead set on having a proper Android OS? Find a nice Samsung or HTC smartphone? and then what? Sorry, I am not very tech-savvy.

If you're currently in the US, buy a phone there. That way you're pretty much guaranteed to have full Android and all the Google stuff. Provided it's unlocked it should work on China Mobile(GSM/EDGE only) or China Unicom(HSDPA). China Telecom is CDMA/EVDO, not sure about getting a US phone to work on that. Are you going through Hong Kong at all? That's an OK place to buy "with Google" Android phones, because it's not Mainland.

I like the signiture tag, by the way. Although I think those are iPhone makers ;D

One of them is called Foxconn. ..and I happen to like a certain Katie Melua song.

There's factories all over southern and eastern China, it's just that all the Android device makers seem to be in Shenzhen. Like all the cheap plastic toys seem to come from Shantou, the microwave ovens from Foshan, pianos from Hangzhou, and all the bicycles come from either Tianjin and Shanghai. Beer from Beijing, Harbin, Qīngdao, Dongguan and Shenzhen. I'm always looking at cartons on things, see where it's all made.

 

[Yangshuo John]

Ah. My problem is that I am only visiting the US, so I don't really have any money. Certainly not enough to buy an unlocked smartphone. I am not passing through Hong Kong on my way back, but I would be in the same situation. I won't really have money for a few months.

So basically, there is no way for me to do this thing IN CHINA? Bummer.

 

[mikedt]

There are some Google enabled devices in China, but you've got to find them. Probably best going to a China Mobile or China Unicom store, look at the phones, see if any of them have Google Play. Taobao might be OK, but you have to be careful, something may say Google Android OS, but that doesn't mean it will have the Google apps on it. And the danger of Taobao if you're buying a foreign make like Samsung, HTC or Motorola, is counterfeits. Plus the special ones they make only for China, e.g. your GT-S5368.


I recently bought a cheap Ampe A76 ICS 4.0 tablet locally in Xilinhot, it's actually got all the Google stuff on it, rather surprised me. Although the tablet itself is rather crap, it's certainly no iPad.

 

[Yangshuo John]

Thanks for all the great advice! Still, a bit of a bummer, but that's China, isn't it?

I will look into it once I start getting my (ridiculously low) salary again. I guess I will check the phone stores when I get back home? You mentioned Unicom, I feel that Mobile is better, simply because they have stores EVERYWHERE.

Also, you say TaoBao has a high risk of counterfeit goods, which I absolutely believe. However, I have heard (when I was wondering aloud the best way to buy an LCDTV) that there is a very well-respected Chinese electronics site? Forget the name, but all my students seemed to know it.

 

[mikedt]

Thanks for all the great advice! Still, a bit of a bummer, but that's China, isn't it?

Yeh that's China, it can be challenging at times. I've been here four years, and have become fairly fluent in spoken Mandarin and the customs. Working on Mongolian now because of my location, and I'm in a Mongolian school. Probably the most useful thing a foreigner can do in China is learn Mandarin. Yangshuo" is that where you live when in China, in Guangxi province?

I will look into it once I start getting my (ridiculously low) salary again. I guess I will check the phone stores when I get back home? You mentioned Unicom, I feel that Mobile is better, simply because they have stores EVERYWHERE.

I suggested Unicom, because their phones are very much standard GSM/HSDPA phones as you find in the US and elsewhere. Probably more useful if you wish to do custom ROMs. China Mobile's TD-SCDMA phones are unique to China, like your Samsung. Where I am, there's just as many Unicom as there are Mobile stores. I bought my Galaxy S in the UK, so I've not had to deal with this. Plus I go to Hong Kong once or twice a year, where the nice stuff is.

I've noticed that many of the China Mobile stores have a heck of a lot of crap, like Motopola, Nckia, Nokla, Blockberry, Somsong, Sory Erocson, many cheap Chinese brands that no one has ever heard of, plus no end of iPhone knock-offs in all shapes and sizes. Some of the small stores have only got fakes. Many Chinese seem to love those gaudy gold flip-phones, horrible things.

Also, you say TaoBao has a high risk of counterfeit goods, which I absolutely believe. However, I have heard (when I was wondering aloud the best way to buy an LCDTV) that there is a very well-respected Chinese electronics site? Forget the name, but all my students seemed to know it.

Tmall, Buy360, Suning? I see you're a poorly paid teacher like me. Although I hope to change that in the next couple of months.