I need a phone that works in Canada and Japan, Please help!

[CrunchyShadow]

Good day everyone!

 

Today I broke my Pixel 2. By the way, if you ever thought about purchasing one of those don't- worst build quality I've ever seen in a phone by far. Long story short, I was supposed to go to Osaka, Japan this summer to begin college studies. With COVID-19, obviously that is being delayed until at least fall but nonetheless, I don't have too much money so I need to buy one phone that works in both Canada and Japan. From my understanding the networks here in the east coast use GSM networks but in Osaka they use CDMA networks? I am not entirely sure and it's hard to find online. Apparently there are different frequencies within the GSM and CDMA standards as well? That's so confusing...

 

LTT Forums,

 

Please help What should I look for?

[CrunchyShadow]

Apparently, SoftBank (one of the big providers in Osaka) uses these frequencies. Hmm... How do I find out if a phone works with these? ...

[mortino]

Go with a chinese spy phone, huawai or xaomi, gsm arena website will tell you all the specs you need for any phone you are looking at including the bands it works on.

[CrunchyShadow]

34 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

No budget was specified, so I suggest buying a phone in Canada right now, and then buying another phone from Japan once you get there. This will ensure that you will have a working phone in both countries.

Anything below 500$ would be fine. Two phones with 500$ budget would leave me with two bad phones

[CrunchyShadow]

37 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

Alright I'll look for something that respects your CAD $500 budget, and any info that might indicate network support in Japan/Osaka

Hopefully no idiot comes in and suggests something that busts your budget while not evenassuring you that it will work in Japan

So I found an awesome website called frequencycheck.com and it looks like a Huawei p30 lite MAR-LX1A Dual Sim should work in Canada and in Japan on the SoftBank network but not all the frequencies are supported. It supports at least 1 band in 2g, 3g and LTE. So this means that yes I will probably be able to use my phone in metropolitan areas but the connection might be on and off in places with limited network connectivity. I'll look into it some more, but I think this might be good. What do you think?

 

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/NEW-HUAWEI-P30-Lite-DUAL-SIM-128GB-6-15-2-2GHz-Octa-Core-48MP-Cameras-4G-LTE/124072329862?var=424902624856

[CrunchyShadow]

6 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

Ok so I just took a quick look at unlocked phones on Best Buy, Amazon, and Walmart

 

You should be able to easily obtain a brand new Galaxy A70 for less than CAD $500 (international model, SM-A705FN/DS)

According to Gsmarena, the international model supports 3G GSM bands 900 and 2100, as well as 4G/LTE bands 1, 8 and 41

 

Its a fairly nice phone with big OLED display, ample 4500mAh battery, at least 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage that can be further expanded, has headphone jack, and has received Android 10 update.

 

By extension, the international model A71 should also support the same network bands. It has an even better chipset and improved cameras. Although you might not have it in Canada yet or be within your budget.

 

If there is some other seller/site you intend to buy from, do let me know so I can have a look at potential better options. I am not Japanese, Canadian or American. I am not in or from Japan. I have never been to North America.

A70 looks like a beautiful phone! That looks like a good choice too. I'll go watch reviews for both phones and see which one is worth it. It seems the P30 Lite is cheaper but maybe the A70 is a better option.

[CrunchyShadow]

2 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

frequencycheck for A705FN/DS international

frequencycheck for A705MN/DS (imported APAC model) in case this is what the seller has

Nice! It seems the A70 is going to have less connectivity issues since it supports more bands in Japan. Wow, great tip. It seems the A70 is a slightly better phone too. Now it's up to me to decide which one to take. Thanks for the help!