Typically, we'd expect a company like Best Buy to be looking out for its loyal customers coming in to pick up some bleeding-edge mobile tech (by US standards, anyway), especially when they're willing to pay super-premium prices for the privilege. Imagine our surprise, then, to get a promotional email from
Escape (Best Buy's pet project for high-end electronics in Chicago) advertising LG KG800s -- that's the original
Chocolate for those not up to speed on LG's model numbering convention -- at a stiff $520. That in and of itself is neither surprising nor interesting; KG800s are relatively easy to come by, even in the States, and plenty of importers are willing to ship one to your door. What
is interesting, though, is that the KG800 doesn't support GSM 850. Why would a giant in the American electronics retail market push crippled, not-intended-for-US-sale phones, knowing full well that the buyers are going to have a subpar experience? And furthermore, couldn't they come up with an actual shot of the KG800 rather than using Verizon's press photos of the VX8500, a phone that doesn't even look the same? We called Escape yesterday and were told that the phone had sold out pretty briskly after the promo email had gone out, which doesn't surprise us -- we wouldn't expect the average Escape customer to think twice about the compatibility of a shiny new phone in their showroom. If it has Best Buy's blessing, it must be at least
usable... right?
Update: To clarify, the KG800 being sold by Escape is a tri-band GSM model with reception on the 900, 1800, and 1900MHz bands. While 1900
will buy you reception in the US, 850 is accounting for an ever-increasing percentage of coverage. We're glad to see a store like Escape accomodating the needs of cash-flush technophiles, but we'd like to see them make it a little clearer in the future when certain phones might not give the best experience -- particularly for 850-heavy Cingular customers.
posted Sep 28th 2006 2:42PM
You make it sound like phones without 850 are unusable. Us T-Mobile customers use a network that is exclusively 1900 and thus have no need for 850.
too bad... the company is getting spoiled by money... (
mroach: what the poster was trying to say is that this phone won't work on Cingular OR Tmobile because it uses CDMA instead of GSM. It's be like trying to play a Beta tape in VHS vcr, it's just not going to work (is that analogy too old?). This is not an issue of having the 850 or 900 band, this is a completely different standard.
dan: You've got it wrong. The article says that while they are selling the GSM chocolate, their picture is of Verizon's CDMA chocolate.
Both of you aren't really correct. First of all, it is a GSM handset and it's tri-band. 900/1800/1900. (Obviously 900/1800 are Euro/Asia bands) T-Mobile's original network was indeed only 1900 until early 2005. Now it's 850/1900 as T-Mobile bought quite a few towers from Cingular when they(Cingular) merged with AT&T. Also, T-Mobile customers can roam on certain other networks' GSM 850 towers free of charge.
Both of you aren't really correct. First of all, it is a GSM handset and it's tri-band 900/1800/1900. (Obviously 900/1800 are Euro/Asia bands) T-Mobile's original network was indeed only 1900 until early 2005. Now it's 850/1900 as T-Mobile bought quite a few towers from Cingular when they(Cingular) merged with AT&T. Also, T-Mobile customers can roam on certain other networks' GSM 850 towers free of charge.
I wanted to add some clarity to the post to limit the apparent confusion on what we are selling here at Escape. While the KG800 we sell is GSM, it does come with reception. Even though this phone does not carry the 850 band, it will work perfectly for T-Mobile customers, most of whom purchased the phones we had available for the promotion. If you are a Cingular customer it will still work, just not as well in spots that require the 850 band. Escape has continued to deliver "bleeding edge" phones to customers with a positive response not only in product but with our service. I hope this helps.
-Joe Obucina
General Manager
Escape
why is this news? the GSM variant of the chocolate has been out and can be bought on ebay for $300 according to average prices last time i checked (5-6 months ago)
I haven't heard of Tmobile having any 850Mhz licenses. They are buying the old Cingular network in California, but that network (310-017) is pure 1900Mhz. Cingular (Pacific Bell) only had 1900Mhz licenses while the old AT&T had the 850 stuff. So the new GSM Cingular network (310-380 for now) has 850 and 1900 towers, (310-017 T-Mobile for now, I guess) only has 1900.
Is this different in other parts of the country?
T-Mobile's site says 850Mhz is only used for roaming partners -- not for native coverage.
So in other words, T-Mobile users: if you only go places with good T-Mobile coverage, you can get a Chocalate and have no proeblms. (Plus any of the other non 850Mhz phones out there.)
850Mhz is great for coverage indoors (on Cingular now) but it sucks how we have to get phones with that band or suffer crappy reception... So many nice phones that still lack quadband.
By the way, the KG800 is available at wirelessimports.com for only $340. I see they also have the KG810 (the flip version) for $5 less.
A note about Escape... While I love gadgets, the prices Escape slaps on most of the stuff are outrageous. During the Halsted Street Market Days in Chicago (where I live) I stopped by Escape's booth. I noticed Black Nokia N-80 for sale. I asked the guy how much it was. He quoted a price of $700.00 I rolled my eyes and just commented that Nokia store on Michigan sells them for $650 (that's 599.00 plus about $50 tax). He replied with a smart-ass remark as if he was Mr. Geek Squad Guru Know it All "No they don't". I said Yes they do... He said It's Locked and they (escape) sells them unlocked. Again I said phones from Nokia are unlocked. He started bickering back and forth and again said that the phones ar locked. That pissed me off so I whipped out my Nokia N-80 bought fromthat store and showed it to him. He turned red and I'm sure If he was not on duty, I'd get my face punched. It seems that every time I go to Escape (or Best Buy or even Circuit City for that matter) the "technical" employees think and make customer feel like they know everything the best and customer is stupid. That's not the kind of approach that should be promoted. I do give credit though to escape...it's always nice to be able to play with the gadgets even though the employees are snotty.....So that's my 5cents worth..
Matt
I'm a T-Mobile subscriber from the US, and I bought a KG800 Chocolate phone from Carphone Warehouse when I was on vacation in London. Buying a £10 prepaid minutes card from Orange knocked the price down from £250 to £150. I knew ahead of time that the phone did not have the 850 band, from all the reviews and the published specs. All of my research on T-Mobile's network showed that they were strictly 1900mhz. My Chocolate phone has great reception everywhere I go (I live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago), except in obvious places like the basement of a department store.
European triband isn't for everyone, though. I let a friend who uses Cingular try my phone, and he couldn't get any reception on Cingular at all (except for roaming). These phones are applicable to a specific niche market, T-Mobile users only.
(please note: while I happen to live near Chicago, I have nothing to do with Escape. In fact, I had never even heard of them until reading this article.)
Actually, I have been a t-mobile customer in many years here in Atlanta, GA & I find more often than not that the 850 band is INDEED necessary for reception to occur in many places. I don't buy cheap phones & I too am disappointed that this Chocolate does not come with the 850 band. T-mobile customers: if you set up your phone so that it showed everytime you were roaming on a different network I am sure in some areas of the country how suprised you'd be that you are on a cingular network instead of a t-mobile network. The reciprocity agreement between the 2 carriers is in place for a reason. In many parts of the country (especially here in the south) Cingular dominates when it comes to towers & bandwidth. I don't buy phones without the 850 band anymore because I was in another area of the state that is a cingular heavy area & could not get t-mobile reception!And I was there for 3 days! Frustrating but it does happen. I still don't understand what carrier put out medium to high end phones WITHOUT the 850 band. Is there a reason this particular band is so difficult to include? Seriously anyone who has any knowledge in this area explain it to me please cause I just don't get it.
Hey everyone, check newegg.com for cell phones including the GSM Chocolate! They got some alright prices, all unlocked.
I have had this phone in NYC area for about 3 months now. My wife has Cingular (RAZR) and I was going to get that phone as well, but then saw this one available and figured I would get it for the looks, and Cingular said they support the phone so I thought all would be good. After using it for 3 months, I lose service in A LOT of areas around here, and my wife's phone works fine. I guess it is b/c of all this 1900, 850, 900 band issues you are all talking about. If I knew about this problem before purchasing the phone with a 2 year contract, I would definitely have gotten a different model instead. Also, I just went on a trip up to northern Vermont, and my wife's phone never dropped a call or lost service, and I had no service for the whole trip, which was very frustrating trying to do business from the road. I was thinking of getting the battery signal increaser metal strip, but after reading these posts, I do not think they will help any?? If anyone has any suggestions for me to get a better signal, I would appreciate it, as I have paid a lot for this phone that loses a lot of calls daily.
I would like to add a comment on the KG800 phone and Cingular service. I paid alot of money for this phone because Cingular was suppose to work with this phone. After going to Cingular they told me this was a European phone and it would not wok in the U.S. But, after telling them I was told the phone did work with Cingular the sales person said that they had just acquired licensing for the 1900 band. But, he did say the 850 band was their primary band that was responsible for their best reception. The next thing I tell you will make a person wonder about Cingular and how much they appreciate our business. The phone worked inside the store and for about 5 minutes. The sales person had given me an updated sim card and I asked if I could keep the old card. Another customer asked me where I bought my cool Pink phone and I told him Ebay. The sales guy said something to the effect of that's why you phone doesn't work. My phone has never received a signal since I got in my car and drove off. I went to another Cingular store and the sales person told me 1900 band should work fine, although 850 was their best reception band. He keyed in my phone number after I told him the phone had not worked since I left the other store. It seemed everything he just said was not correct. I have a feeling they don't like customers who buy unlocked phones from places other than their store. Am I just being paranoid?. (pardon my spelling)
So, regardless, I spent this money on a phone I can't use. Why does this phone not wok with Verizon since it is considered to be a Chocolate phone?
Sory this post is so long. Please help me to solve this problem. I would be glad to sell this phone for a really good price. It takes great pictures and has so many good features, not to mention that it is Pink.