Just came across your website unexpectedly when googling on Treo 650 in China. Fantastic blog by the way. I look forward to coming back and reading more.

I’m looking to purchase a Treo 650 from either ebay or a friend but am wondering about the unlocked versus locked criteria. I live in Beijing/Hong Kong most of the time and go home to the United States for the holidays and wanted to be able to use the phone both here in China/Hong Kong on my M-Zone SIM card/HK plan and also back in the states when I just borrow my mom’s Cingular SIM card and insert it in the Treo. Was wondering if this is possible if I have an unlocked Treo and was wondering if all the Treos featured as unlocked on ebay are more or less what I need. They all said it’s unlocked GSM and can work on all US providers but I wanted to confirm if that also means it can be used with my current China SIM card and just charges according to my China plan now.

Secondly, with regards to usage in China and HK, can I receive and send SMS messages in Chinese characters with no problems and I’m assuming I can do this using both pin-yin and just drawing the strokes with my stylus? I don’t want to receive and send messages that have a bunch of ???? instead of the actual Chinese characters? Is there some sort of software I must install into the PDA if I buy it off ebay and if so, is this software free and where can I get it?

Lastly, how well does web browsing and email checking function on this and how do I go about doing so with my current M-Zone plan? I assume I just go to the store to figure that out.

BTW, if I buy a locked Treo from a friend any idea where I can go to get it unlocked in China?

Thanks,

Peter