So tell me why I have to pay more? "Retail" pricing in America is so often inflated by the carrier too. While on GSM I have the option of going to Japan and buying a phone with appropriate "bang for the buck" this is prevented from happening on CDMA (AKA Verizon/Sprint).

Then stop forcing everyone to go through hoops just to bring over their own unsubsidized devices.

They will if they want China Mobile's coverage. Me? Screw TD, I'm going with Unicom where my Sharp 903 works just fine.

@ChillyCat- I beg to differ on the iPhone and NTT docomo/au/Softbank would beg to differ about your "best lineup of any carrier... PERIOD" claim.
@10minutehobo^2- but iWant non-smartphones that aren't farking crippled. Exilim phone was a 2.8-inch widescreen in Japan but it's shrunken to 2.3 inches and regular-sized on Verizon. Music management is also worse than the Japanese model. So's the camera. Same thing is happening to the next GZ'one phone; features in the Japanese model are being cut out or crappified for Verizon. And the UI.

@Mike- real buttons are always nice.

And thank goodness I didn't buy one last time I was in Osaka; looks like I have something I want to get on my winter trip to Japan.

It's like fighting with a pig, responding to a spammer like this, but here goes- It's JAPAN. They have nicer-looking and more efficient solar chargers than that thing if you're planning to buy one. Rakuten International (or Strapya) is your friend.

VZ definitely needs Apple more. Remember, Apple sells iPhones all over the world. If Verizon tried to set up shop anywhere else they'd be out of cash by the end of the year (Vodafone is NOT a direct comparison, especially due to the endemic phone crippling on Verizon that you just about never see on Vodafone).

Why does America keep getting ugly G'Zones? Casio seems to not have a problem providing nice-looking ones to Japan.

Probably because of international routes. Virgin America would kick the stuffing out of the legacies if they were allowed full integration with Virgin Atlantic. Southwest will be taking more short-range int'l traffic with their new codeshares and JetBlue... I wish they still flew to Nashville.

So which was it supposed to be? Euro or US? I completely fail to see the point in selling anything with Euro-plugs only to the US so either they planned on selling it to Europe or someone at the factory got a bunch of the wrong kind of plug.