SIM-free phones in Osaka? Or fixing current phone

After about six years my phone has finally become entirely unresponsive when I try to power it on or plug it in. Rest in peace, dear Galaxy S7.

I haven’t decided whether I want to try to fix it/get a new battery (if that’s even possible for how old the S7 is) or pick up an entirely new SIM-free device. Is the former case possible? If yes, where? In the latter case, is there a place that sells these in Osaka? I’d like to try to sort something out today or tomorrow, Wednesday latest. If buying online is better, from which websites have you had success buying a SIM-free phone? I don’t actually need to put a SIM in it; just need it to do internet things. I have searched around here and seen that expansys is a popular option and Mercari would perhaps do too.

Thank you!

11 comments
  1. You may also want to try asking in /r/Osaka.

    *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/japanlife) if you have any questions or concerns.*

  2. You can buy sim-free phones from amazon.jp just make sure its prime/shipped by amazon. Mercari/yahoo for used stuff works as well.

    Expansys isn’t in japan, so the shipping will take at least week.

    Doubt many repair places would look at S7, and if they do, it’ll probably take a some time to get the replacement battery if they don’t have it on hand.

  3. >about six years

    Really?

    Apple store, yodocam, and every electronic store out there sell sim-free phones.

  4. au, docomo have norikae plan to buy an unlock iphone for dirt cheap prices as low as 1 yen

  5. I bought my oneplus from expansys and just like another comment said, it took about a week for delivery, plus the duty fee. The product is genuine and their processes were efficient as far as I can tell.

    But you need to pay attention to the supported network(bands) of the imported phone, mobile operators run their networks with different spectrum, and imported phone may not support the network of a specific operator in Japan. But product page on Expansys usually has this information listed, so it should not be a big issue.

    But the shutter sound is not a problem for you, why not just buy from brand’s stores in Japan. You can receive warranty without considering something like shipping the phone back and forth.

  6. Be careful when buying from Mercari and yahoo many times in Japan the sellers confuse sim free and sim unlocked and use these words interchangeably. Most phones (especially galaxy and Xperia) in Japan are sold via the carriers and are sim unlocked. These still might have monthly payment left on them (if the price is too good to be true look up the IMEI) and have all the carrier bloatware installed.

    Truly sim free phones are hard to come by and are mainly sold directly from apple, Sony or imported from expansys. I don’t think I’ve seen Samsung sell a sim free model directly to consumers in japan that is compliant with all the Japan bands and felica etc.

  7. You can also buy sim free phone from Google. You can put an e-sim instead of a physical sim.

  8. You can buy used phones from Geo and maybe Tsutaya. Just check it’s network compatible

Leave a Reply
You May Also Like