Reverse "Imported" Stuff: Why I bought my new Cell Phone from India?

I was in school, when our neighbor sold us a tape recorder for Rs 1000, which I am sure was a great deal for them.. and us sitting in India.  After all it was an American tape recorder!

Whenever someone goes to India from the other countries, specially the US, the expectation is that one would take something “Imported”.  Things outside are always better and cheaper.  Arent they?

Well, things have changed!  MY friend lost his cell phone and bought a new one.  A Nokia 3110 Classic.  It has a 1.3 MP camera and an FM radio and can hold a 2 GB microSD chip, plus it can interface with my outlook through the Nokia PC manager.  I looked at it and wondered if it would work in the US?

After checking on the net and emailing a couple of my friends working in Nokia, I found that it should.  After all it supported GSM 1900 frequency and T-Mobile used exactly that!

Now, the price.  I checked on the price and it was below Rs 5800 off the shelf – UNLOCKED from Shubhiksha retail!  Now, that translates to below USD 150!  I then checked Froogle and found that the best prices in the US were over $150 + shipping and taxes!  And that too from online sites.  What a steal!  In brief, the main reasons for my buy:

1. Ease of transaction.
2. Unlocked phone – ease of use – user friendliness!
3. Lower Price.

To buy this model in the US off the shelf and UNLOCKED you may have to shell out over $225!  That was just insane.

I took the chance and bought it.

As soon as I landed, I started it off to check if I had made a smart choice?  Oh Yeah!!  It worked perfectly and I have already synced my contacts from Outlook.  And so I bought my very first IMPORTED electronic gadget from India to the US.  The delight of using this phone is FAR more than the delight with which I had received our first tape recorder from the US.

And now I am assured that my cell works both, in India and the US – so I do not need to keep buying cheap cells in India when I am there to take care of my communication during my visit, because I forgot to get my phone unlocked or it just wasnt up to it!

Things have changed.