Smartphone/ tablet/ cheap phone to take to SEAsia?

Hi

Can anybody give any advice on what is the best device to take to South east asia (Thailand mostly) .

• I need something to make calls with, upload photos/ save photos on, and use wifi

I cant use my samsung galaxy phone to make calls (because its locked to a network), so do i opt for a cheap handset or make use of public phones when away? I can however, use it for the wifi- but do i get a tablet so its bigger?

• will internet cafes and the internet speed allow me to upload and store photos to photobucket etc.?

Many thanks , for the help :)

You could probably find ways online or in person to break that lock on your Samsung. I bought a phone in HKG withotu the lock so cannot be specific ....

RE: cheap calls. Roaming is expensive and I don't make that much to get a simcard locally. I just use Wifi at the accomodation to Skype home. IM with friends etc .. .check the news and weather.

The Internet cafes - isn't that time managed so you pay for how long you are there for? Not srue on the speed when it is shared and that is is in SE Asia not the fastest. If you just shoot JPEG maybe ok but if you are into photography and shoot RAW probably not, haha. Some photographers take a laptop or a portable hard drive that can plug memory cards into it.

LIke you can upload it to Google G Drive, 15GB size that's everything I think like emails etc. Or get more than one.

Edited by: Rayonline

Rayonline- This is a silly question, but with skype, i have juust downloaded the app to my phone- Can i make calls through skype via my phone to landlines in the Uk? If so, is it just a case of toppping my skype account up?

Secondly, im going to get a portable hard drive upon your recommendation. Ill be taking RAW pics, so do i go to any internet cafe, pluge my drive into the computer.. then plug my camera in and transfer pictures that way? Or are there specfic portable drives, then transfer npics directly from the SD card when its been plugged in?

Many thanks for your help

Yes, just like on the big computer or with the cellphone back home or overseas you can call other skype accounts for free. I call some people in Japan on their cellphone b/c they have all they can use 3G when they are outside paying for their groceries! With credit I can call normal telephones too ..... 2c Euro a minute is many countries price rate .... For me - I call home b/c family members have Skype accounts so it is free they have Skype on their computers and on their cellphone when at home via Wifi.

Re: HDDs there are ones with memory card slots so you don't need to copy to a real computer first. You can do it outside b/c it is battery operated.

Eg
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Portable-Data-Storage/ci/3369/N/4083163867

Edited by: Rayonline

Don't use internet cafes in Asia to transfer images to your hard drive. Too many viruses.

If you shoot a lot of images and in raw one of those portable devices linked by Ray is the way to go. Expensive at first but solves your back-up problem.
Try to get one that has USB OTG - means you can transfer from that image drive directly to another standard hard drive as well.
Double back-up your images, they should be in two locations.

Tools4fools- a lot of people have told me to not bother plugging my drive into a computer at a cafe, so I have decided to go down the following rout ;

• I have got a memory card reader for my SD card, to plug into the internet cafe computer and upload to a cloud system. is my SD card reader at risk of an infection this way? or does this sound safe to you.

-Will i be waiting ages for the pics to upload to an internet based cloud system?

cheers

Rayonline- thanks , that was a great help. My mum doesnt have skype, so to clarify- if i topup my skype account i can ring landline for a small charge?

If i ring my sisters mobile with skype on there- it will be free?

cheers

Yes, you will ages in Thailand uploading raw images in internet cafes.
Bring a tent...
:-)

SD cards have a little lever on the side which says 'lock', if you use it they are read only, so should keep safe then, but as said cloud isn't a option here for the amount of data you need to upload.

How much do you shoot? Maybe card reader plugged into cheap android tablet and then backup on extra sd cards is good enough?
Plus you can do all your mail-skype-etc with it as well.
If not get an image tank as linked above.

Yes, you can call landlines for a very small fee.
Yes, you can call cell phones for free IF those cell phones are connected with the internet and online.
Means if she has Skype app on her phone it is free if she is online.

If not you can call her phone number, but then you pay small amount again.

Tools4fool

Okay took your advice into consideration, and dropped the cloud idea. Instead what i think ill do is take a few 16gb memory cards with me (lock them as you advised) and just take JPEG images, or JPEG/ RAW .. hopefully i should have enough space.

The thing with getting a tablet or a netbook is i lose things easily and break them too... so my thinking is ill take a few small backups in the form of memory cards and ill be good to go :)

Thank you soooo much for explaining Skype, Ill be using it to call landlines, aswell as other skype users :)

Thanks a million for all the invaluable advice youve given me on a few of my forums !!! :)

I'm looking at possibly moving from a netbook to a small tablet as it seems the motherboard of my lil' ol' netbook is fried. My main reason for not going down the tablet route was the inability to connect up an external hdd to use as a backup, but it seems that might no longer be an issue after reading this tutorial.... How to Back Up Your Pictures Using an Android Tablet and External Hard Drives

I shoot in RAW and stay in low cost accom so I dont have the option of backing up to the cloud so I'm looking at this as a possible solution. I'd also pick up a couple of the cheap 64gb usb pendrives as well for extra backups. These may have painfully slow transfer speeds but that's not really much of an issue for me unless I'm using them all the time.

Two thoughts:

1) If you decide to go with just your galaxy and it is locked, when you get to Bangkok, go to MBK mall, 5th floor, and choose amongst the hundred of booths that will unlock your phone for, well, next to nothing. You could then buy your Thai SIM card at the same place for, well, next to nothing :-). For a few €s more, you could get a SIM with data plan for essential photo uploads, if you thought that would help, keeping in mind that...

2) noting that a typical smartphone photo 'weighs' 1.3 MB, if you have 1GB free on your phone, you can store ~750 photos. If you have 8GB free, you have room for LOTS of photos. Then if you find yourself in a guesthouse with wifi in room, set your phone to upload backup photos directly to your cloud provider while you sleep. You cut out the cybercafé risks and don't even have to wait for the upload to finish. In all cases, best not to lose your phone.

Worldranger, I think I didn't need to root my Asus tablet. The hard drive was connected without. As long as it has its own steam of course.

Another way around it - and you can use apple tablets this way too if I am not mistaken - is using a external drive with wifi build it and connect the hard drive this way.

Currently waiting until the i5 windows tablets come down in price myself.