(keitai-l) Questions

Hi everyone,

I'm a relatively new lurker on this list, currently living in
Fukushima-ken.  I'm currently looking into getting an i-mode phone,
but I had some general questions I hope you can help me with before
I make a decision.

I'm considering getting either the N502it or the P209iS.  I was set
on getting the P209iS until I actually saw the 502it and saw
how large the screen is on that phone compared to the Panasonic.  But,
my question is, how bilingual are these phones?  The Docomo phone
catalog lists the 209iS as being bilingual while the 502it isn't.  What
does this really mean however?  Is there no English to be found
within the 502it's menus and such?

I've studied Japanese for a couple of years at University, so having
a phone be entirely in Japanese wouldn't be too much of an adjustment for
me, as long as there was some sort of information in English available
for it (like an English manual available for the 502it from a
Docomo shop or something.  Does one exist?)

The 502it's large screen is very tempting, but I'm a little leery of
jumping into it without some sort of an English-lifeline, so to speak. :)

Secondly, my friend across Japan has a non-i-mode phone (a 208 series) and
subsequently has to use shortmail to message back and forth.  To be able to
send her messages with my upcoming i-mode phone, I assume that I'll have
to subscribe to the shortmail service for the 100 yen per month too, right?
Sorry if that seems like a stupid question, but I really am very much a
newbie in keitai usage, and I want to make certain of everything before
I head on down to Denkodo to pick one up. :)

Thanks for any assistance!

Kevin Martin
Iino, JAPAN