I bought the Nokia 6108 a little over 3 years ago, and it’s lasted really well. As someone who is learning Chinese, I’ve found the stylus input and Hanzi-English dictionary to be really, really useful. When I first went to Beijing in 2004 to study Mandarin, it was still a new enough model to be totally unfamiliar to all the other Westerners on my course and, after I’d shown it to them, a lot went straight out and bought one. When I went back to Beijing on my MBA exchange last summer, I found it was still the default model for a lot of waiguoren students of Chinese even though, by now, it was definitely showing its age. However, that stylus and dictionary combination is pretty rare, and it’s a lifesaver for the learner on the move.
The replacement model is the Nokia 6708, which came out in Beijing at the beginning of this year (although, it was confusingly branded the Nokia 6780; it’s the same phone, though). I was tempted to buy one then, but basically, at the tail end of my MBA, I was too broke. When I came back to Singapore in April, I found it wasn’t on the market here. When it was finally released a few weeks ago, I was tempted to buy one because my old 6108 has finally started to look really knocked about, and it’s a little embarrassing to use it in a meeting. Still, the 6708 is priced a little above what I really wanted to pay.
Well, I was coming back from Dharma class tonight and, by chance, saw one on display in a small shop in the HDB blocks near my apartment. The price was really, really good, substantially discounted from what the networks are charging (exactly the same thing happened with the 6108 – I bought it from a little shop in Raffles City, now sadly no longer there, 20% below what M1 etc were charging). The 6708 is getting very mixed reviews, and it’s a rebranded BenQ model rather than a pure Nokia design as the 6108 was, but it has all the features I need, so I’ll go for it. I was only able to put down a deposit to secure it (it was the last they had, andthe owner said a few people were interested in it; I believe him), but I’ll probably go back and pick it up later this week. Cool.
Hello!
Do you have any idea how I can buy that phone 6108, without going to Asia? I am from Europe (Croatia) and I am learning Chinese, so I would like to have it. I tried to find online shops, but no success. On eBay nobody offers that phone.
If somebody can help me, please, contact me on hbasic@eihp.hr
Hi Hubert,
Unfortunately, the 6108 is obsolete now; it’s not really sold anymore in Singapore or anywhere else outside of China. As I mentioned, I know you can still buy it in China, but I’m not there myself, so I have no idea how to get it. I think because it is so useful, people tend to use them until they break. I do occasionally see them in second-hand phone stores here in Singapore, but there’s no guarantees with them, if you know what I mean.
On the other hand, I see that the 6708, the one that I’ve just bought and which also has stylus input and Chinese character recognition /is/ available on ebay. You get better results if you search ebay.com.sg – at the time of writing, at least one person from China is selling a 6708, as well as someone in Singapore.
Best of luck!
[...] Following my previous posts, I just thought I’d give a followup on how I’m getting on with my new 6708 (since people seem to be searching for information on this model). [...]
[...] for a new phone 3 10 2007 A year ago, I bought a Nokia 6708, largely for the stylus input and Chinese dictionary. I was pretty happy with it at [...]
[...] year ago, I bought a Nokia 6708, largely for the stylus input and Chinese dictionary. I was pretty happy with it at [...]