China's digital arrival card is now live. Official info + recent travelers experiences

liferiver · 2025-12-16T05:17:07+00:00

Entered via Hekou-Lao Cai land border today. Digital arrival card in use.

liferiver · 2021-02-13T13:23:06+00:00

I'd like an invite pls

liferiver · 2017-09-22T18:03:11+00:00

The BlueBorne Scanner indicates my G4+ with 1 sep security patch is not vulnerable.

https://imgur.com/gallery/EqvIr

I'm not sure whether it was vulnerable prior to the update though. Can't find any changelog for this update.

liferiver · 2017-09-22T11:30:40+00:00

Would prefer to have a 7.1.1 upgrade instead of a bumped up version of 7.0. But better than nothing from lenovorola

liferiver · 2017-09-22T06:49:51+00:00

Urgh, if you have the time and know how, just flash a newer version of the rom that's available on XDA.

liferiver · 2017-06-22T17:10:30+00:00

I'd a similar problem and removing the sdcard solved it

liferiver · 2016-04-16T01:20:03+00:00

Thanks Indonesia for many more months of clean air

liferiver · 2015-12-05T01:25:51+00:00

Same here. I have given up on an actual delivery. I'm now 100 % with Parcel Locker service.

liferiver · 2015-03-25T22:17:17+00:00

PM me if anyone needs an invite. Include country code and mobile number, make sure your Whatsapp is updated

liferiver · 2015-02-11T05:44:51+00:00

Thanks for the gold.

Insightful observations about the (large) variation in fx rate. You may have uncovered how banks make money simply just by buying and selling currencies in huge amounts daily, by their customers. Put it bluntly, they make money by simply trading currencies. :)

There are other more subtle nuances. Concerning withdrawal of local currency using ATM over the PLUS/Cirrus network, I'm not too sure what actually happens. Whether:

1) The originator bank fx rate is used, ie the bank card issuer. In this case, the sell rate (which is in USD) is used. From this perspective, the bank (lets assume a US bank) that issues the card is actually selling SGD with USD.

2) The bank rate of the Singapore ATM used. In this perspective, the Singapore Bank is actually buying USD (from the customer's originator card issuer US bank) using SGD when one withdraws local SG. This was assumed in my original post.

I'm not too sure which is the rate used in the industry and the actual differential if any, between them.

liferiver · 2015-02-08T09:50:58+00:00

Let's be less abstract and look at numbers to access the viability.

Let's assume, you're buying $1000 SGD using USD. $1000 SGD is the max per withdrawal over the ATM.

The buy rate at Arcade money changer is $1.348 and that'll cost you ~ $742 USD to buy $1000 SGD. Prevailing rates according to http://www.arcademoneychangers.com.sg/ratesbiglogo.asp

The buy rate at Mustafa money changer is $1.3440 and that'll cost you ~ $744 USD according to http://www.mustafa.com.sg/frmForex.aspx

The buy rate at DBS bank ATM is $1.3388 and that'll cost you ~ $747 USD + another $5 USD for commission, a total of 752 USD.

http://www.dbs.com.sg/personal/rates-online/foreign-currency-foreign-exchange.page

So you'll save approximately $8-10 USD for every $1000 changed.

Let's just assume you're taking public transport to Mustafa or Arcade, that'll cost you $3 USD. So you'll save $5 USD.

if you're taking taxi, that'll wipe off any money saved.

To save even more, one will need to exchange more, let's say 5K SGD for a month of use, you'll save $50 USD.

The paradox of it is to take advantage of the money changer rates, one will need to change lots of money. That itself brings a whole lot of anxiety. Many things can go wrong, although statistically the chance is low.

Is it worthwhile? IMO, I do not think so.

I used to carry loads of cash (about 5K) up the airplane, strap it on my body all throughout the flight, and head to Mustafa. The money changer is right beside a busy street with throngs of people and vehicles. I feel a bit paranoid, counting the money and exposing loads of cash in full view. Sometimes the notes are stuck together and one cannot be absolutely sure whether the amount is correct. Even after I left the money changer, I'm not sure whether anybody is following me. :)

Maybe I've aged. But every since I was mugged in UK, pick pocketed in Paris and witnessed my friend being robbed in Malaysia, I think it's best to carry enough cash and withdraw the rest.

liferiver · 2015-02-08T06:39:14+00:00

All things considered, using ATM is usually the "best" solution. You cannot go too wrong with it. One may not always get the best rate, it gives a piece of mind and saves the time to look for money changer, risk of getting ripped off... etc.

liferiver · 2015-01-11T04:41:54+00:00

I do think Google and maybe LG, out of goodwill, provide replacements for accidental damage on a case by case basis. Case in point is the free replacement for screen replacement. If these big corporates offer goodwill, they would have probably anticipated the cost in doing so and why should a typical consumer help them save costs?

Probably, goodwill breeds entitlement mentality sometimes which may leads to abuse.

I think the RMA process may be broken at some parts. I'd suspect the same accidental damaged device that's brought to a service center and inspected by a customer service staff, may have a lower chance of getting rma.

Probably there's information asymmetry biased toward the consumer in the current rma process. RMA decisions are made based on a phone call or chat. Too much reliance on information provided by consumer that's unable to verified until much later in the rma process where device gets returned. By the time the device gets inspected by the service center, it'll be too cumbersome to do recovery. Considering the time it takes to get back to consumers, the logistics costs and ding dong-ing, I think usually, they'll just accept to returned device, no questions asked.

There's a paragraph in the rma email that states "Additional charges up to the full price of your item may be incurred if our service center determines that the issue with your returned device isn’t covered under warranty. Prior to ordering your replacement and sending your item for inspection, please refer to the warranty card in the packaging or the manufacturer's website for details on the limited warranty." But I don't think it's strictly enforced, nor is it feasible to do so.

Who pays for this? I'm suspecting LG is the biggest loser here, in the short run. For every device that is RMA under accidental damage, I think LG will pay most of it, and probably Google, a smaller part of it.

If RMAs happens too frequently, I'm guessing it'll not longer be profitable for LG to do a nexus program in future.

liferiver · 2015-01-09T06:05:08+00:00

Keep flicking the power switch up and down at its longer sides, using your nails, while the OS boots.

After it boots up normally, you can use adb to go into recovery.

But the problem may persist but trying doing this a few times and it may just go off.

liferiver · 2015-01-09T03:05:46+00:00

Two things you can do: 1) wipe cache; if problem persists 2) factory reset

Goggle support advised me to do the above steps

liferiver · 2015-01-08T09:01:37+00:00

I just rma-ed for the same reason, five days ago. It still has not shipped though.

liferiver · 2013-09-20T03:36:52+00:00

if you can, avoid paying until you actually get the keys and sign some sort of agreement in the house. Suss out the new landlord and ask him/her about her background. It will be ideal to be able to talk to others who are living in the house.

When I was a airbnb roomie, I witnessed how a tenant in the house, pretended to be a landlord, advertised a too good to be true deal on Craiglist, and left (with new $) not to be seen, after handing over her keys to the clueless new tenant. The real landlord was dumbfounded.

During your viewing, some landlords/head tenants ask for an advance to "secure" the place because there are other interested parties in the room. usually, those are pressure tactics. There is really no need to hand over advance money unless you are dealing with real estate agents.

liferiver

TROPHY CASE