YES!!!! YOU HEARD THAT RIGHT! i have greeeeat news about the phone- i got it to work!! here's how.

so, i seriously almost paid someone, like, $85 to ship a P900iV battery to me. i KNOW. i'm insane for that. but i didn't, because i snapped out of the trance once i saw all the shipping quotes lol. when that was over, i was still really sad that i couldn't get ahold of a battery, so i kept doing my research.

THEN.
i found out that the battery it uses is compatible with only one other phone- the P900i. this was my last hope-- so i went on Buyee, and lo and behold, P900is go for $10 USD and even the cheap ones often come with a battery!! i didn't waste any time buying one.
also, i need to mention that compared to Buyee, Neokyo SUCKS. i don't know why i wasted my time with them. Buyee shipped pretty much the SAME phone, with the SAME shipping method, and a HEAVIER WEIGHT. and STILL, i got it within two weeks, compared to Neokyo, which took a month. i completely suggest Buyee even if it's a bit more expensive- totally worth the price hike!

i got the second phone in the mail yesterday, took the battery out and swapped it, then charged the P900iV. i got it to work and charged it fully! (the battery barely holds a charge for more than 45 minutes, but i don't even mind, lol.) old Docomo phones do not come with a reset function, and the seller on Neokyo didn't seem to have a battery, so anything that was on the phone originally was still on it when i received it.
since there was no SIM or SD card i unfortunately couldn't find games to preserve, etc. a lot of stuff was locked behind a "no SIM inserted" notification. but i found photos from the previous owner, most taken in 2007. they were really sweet, all of them were photos and videos of a mother and her children i wish i knew who they were, so i could return the phone to them...

back to the SIM lock. i am working on getting a special custom cable so that i can plug the phone into my computer and bypass it! since the phone wasn't reset there is still data on it (for example, phone carrier-specific apps called "appli") that may contain video games or content that i can try to preserve. i can't get to it unless i hook it up to my computer, or find the original SIM card. not happening lol.

i'm really excited to see what this brings. THANK GOSH THIS STRUGGLE WAS WORTH IT!!!!!!

-mako

happy first V2 blog post! i'll tell all about my flip phone escapade as promised.

so, as you know, the P900iV is the cell phone of my dreams. i mean, if i could use it on a day-to-day basis, i SO would- hell, it's all over my website.
i posted on my Neocities profile a couple of weeks ago (i've been using it as a makeshift blog while i work on this) that i finally bought the phone!!! CONFETTI!

for some background, this phone was used in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. the phone itself came out around 2004, before the movie, from what i've seen- i have a feeling they just decided to market the phone as FF7 merch after the fact. it was sold in 3 colors: Cloud Black, Champagne Gold, and This One Hideous Orange Color. i purchased the Champagne Gold version of the phone on Neokyo last month for around $35 USD, if i remember correctly. shipping was $11, so in all i paid a little less than $50. a decent price.

this phone took FOREVER to get here; i just received it today. it's really pretty, and feels great to hold. the camcorder function, which you're looking at on your screen, is so dang sweet. unfortunately, i found that the phone came without a battery!! :(

this is a huge issue, because most countries including the US and Japan have a lot of laws regarding lithium ion batteries- i.e., they can't be shipped internationally without a device storing them (and i planned to buy one standalone). not to mention i wanted to use the phone to dig up anything that might've been on it, but it came completely empty- no SIM or SD either. why don't you put Nair in my face wash next?!

i haven't given up yet, mostly because i paid for a charger which cost another $30. if i gave up now i'd be in the hole almost a hundred bucks, & in hindsight, it probably would've been cheaper to just bite the bullet and get it off eBay for one of those jacked prices.

honestly, even with all these annoying setbacks i don't really regret it. i'm excited because i know there is still a chance to get it working again, and not all data is stored exclusively on an SD, so i might still be able to find some sweet stuff on it. here's hoping!

-mako