New experience Hong Kong

Hi,

I came back from Hong Kong recently and I followed a suggestion of my colleague there. I never heard about this thing before, but I am really impressed and happy about my choice so I thought I will share it with you :-)
I rented "Ask Ting Ting" which is basically a rental smartphone which combines: a travel guide, navigation system, internet and local/international calls, everything included. If you want to have recommendations about food or sightseeing or all what you want to do in Hong Kong you can find it with pictures and many videos where a Chinese lady is explaining and showing you the highlights in English, which I preferred instead of reading too much. When I decided what I want to see, I pressed my favourite button "Take Me There" and it was showing me the best way to get there even with MTR or Taxi (calculated Taxi fee was shown too). In this way I never got lost. I used it as phone too, because you have every day one hour of free international calls and unlimited local calls. Internet is included too, but I have to say it is the same problem as with my iPhone, it is really annoying to write long messages on touchscreen, but luckily you could send virtual postcards, which didn´t need that much text. But if you want to write more, I suggest to connect the phone with your laptop and use the internet. About getting it: I booked it online on their website and they brought it to my hotel.
So for me this thing was really something new and helpful and I didn´t suffer from roaming fees, like I usually do. But I didn´t hear about it before, so it seems to be quiet new, does anybody know "Ask Ting Ting" too?

[ Edit: Edited on 28-Mar-2011, at 21:43 by Kassandra2010 ]

I haven't heard of it before, but it sounds useful. Could have certainly used this when I was there a few months ago How much did it cost per day? Do you pay for usage as well, on top of the rental cost?

Quoting Sam I Am

I haven't heard of it before, but it sounds useful. Could have certainly used this when I was there a few months ago How much did it cost per day? Do you pay for usage as well, on top of the rental cost?

I payed 25 Euros per day and there is everything included: free calls, free internet and everything else. I really made sure before renting that there are no traps to cause additional costs, but there were no hidden fees or anything. So after paying the rental costs I could relax and have fun with it. You can always call local and u have this daily limit of one hour free international call, it counts the minutes backwards and then you have to wait till the next day and you can call again one hour for free. I liked this simple way and no additional bills were waiting for me at the end :-D And I felt save, because an insurance of the phone is included too :-) Btw. I forgot to tell there are discounts in the cooperating locations, which also payed me back my costs. So it was really fair, simple and from my point of view worth it.

Where one can buy this "askTing Ting?" in Hongkong? in shopping malls or some specific stores?

Hi Citybell,

no you can´t buy it, you rent it. I just booked it on their webpage, there I could choose the hotel I am staying at. Then they delivered it to me at the time I had chosen. Someone of the company was waiting for me in the lobby and explained everything to me. Same with pick up service. This service was included too, I asked before, but no additional service fees or anything.

I hope you'll have a nice stay in Hong Kong!

Hey Angela this sounds really cool. Am heading up to Hong Kong in October in time for the Halloween Street Festival so might just use it then!

Thanks for sharing!

Hi Angela.,

Thank you for your message. What is their webpage where i can rent it?

Thanks in advance.

25 euros a day!! No way, what a silly idea. HK is a very easy city to navigate.