USING AN ANDROID PHONE IN PARIS
 

. DOES ANY ONE HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH AN ANDROID IN PARIS.? I WILL BE TRAVELLING TO PARIS THIS SPRING AND A NEICE WILL MEET ME THERE FOR A WEEK. SHE IS THINKING OF BUYING AN ANDROID PHONE TO REPLACE HER CURRENT CELL.
ARE THERE ANY GOOD APPS WITH INFO ON PARIS THAT ARE AVAILABLE FOR AN ANDROID, SUCH AS CITY OR METRO MAPS, BUS ROUTES, INFO ON MUSEUMS ETC.
ALSO HAS ANY ONE USED AN ANDROID TO MAKE CALLS TO THE USA FROM PARIS AND IS THERE A SIMS TYPE CARD THAT SHE SHOULD BUY TO MAKE THES E CALLS.
ANY HELP GREATFULLY APPRECIATED.

The only Android that will work in Europe is the Android 2 Global. If she is eligible for an upgrade [maybe an early one] she can get one for $149 thru Verizon Global.

It is not cheap to use the phone there if you use Verizon plans and sim card. You can buy cheaper sim cards in Paris.

More info here. http://b2b.vzw.com/international/outside_us.html

{PS - please turn off your caps, it is equivalent of yelling. :) }

Thanks for the info. Really sorry about the caps, I should know better.

Oh, one more thing, if she is already a Verizon customer they do have a loaner program that will allow her to use a phone for up to 21 days. There is no cost for the phone, plan and minutes still apply.

http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Glo...vel/index.html

There is no reason why any GSM phone operating on either or both of the 900MHz or 1800MHz frequencies should not work in France regardless of the phones operating system, Android or otherwise.

My Android phone has many French applications including métro maps, restaurant guides, and dictionaries. Using any phone interactively can consume a great deal of bandwidth and cost a lot of money so you may want to disable these features (many who carry iPhones do just that).

As far as service providers, if your phone is not locked to a specific company, you may want to take a look at purchasing a Lebara SIM for 10€. These include some talk time and inbound calls are always free; calls to the US cost .09€ per minute with a .09€ connect fee.