Will be bringing iphone and iPad 2 from US
Question on adapters and charging
Also, I use face talk with my deaf sister as we can use ASL (sign language)
do you think I will be able to use face talk in beijing, Xian and Guilin? Staying at marriot , Westin and sheratons

Thanks!

All Apple plugs support the international voltage specs 110-240. You'll need buy an adaptor. I have this one, works nearly eveywhere I've been:

http://www.amazon.com/Samsonite-Lugg...tional+adapter

Usb chargers cost less than one dollar in China.

Sorry, illiterate in electrical! Is there a difference between Adapters and chargers re the2 previous posts . Or will I need both?

No problem using your apple chargers. I stay at the Marriot in China quite often and you can ask house keeping for an adaptor as your US plug will not fit into theirs. But, Marriot usually has one plug in the room that fits fine.

As for FaceTime, as long as you have a wireless connection, which Marriot and all major Hotels do, for a fee if your not Gold. I just talked to my wife this morning from the US to China using an IPad and had no issues.

Adaptor?

China has adopted NEMA 1-15 north american standard
top right

Your PLUG must be able to use the proper voltage. All apple adaptors do. If you look on the apple plug, there is small writing that says 100-240 volts.

An adaptor is simply so your plug can fit into the wall socket See post above.

Apple's OEM iPhone & iPad charger are dual voltage, auto-sensing (110-220/240 volt) but come with No.America style plug. If you travel frequently, invest in a set of plug adapters - sold @Amazon (similar ones at Walmart & Target - usually in the luggage/accessory sections) - http://www.amazon.com/Polarized-Adap...0+volt+adapter

Macy's luggage & American Tourister outlet stores (in Secaucus) have them too - a bit pricer, perhaps. If you have a Dollar Store or 99 cents store (as in NYC,) check the electrical/electronic gadgets section, they have inexpensive adapters that fit over your iOS chargers.

For upscale hotels in PEK, PVG & CAN, etc. - as others said, they usually have at least 1 outlet marked for US plugs, not necessary 110 volts but the iOS charger-adapter together will work. Mini/micro-usb & iOS/30 pins cables are inexpensive and sold in CN at a tiny fraction of US prices. You can also shop eBay as oversea sellers ship free or inexpensively and delivered in usually under 2 weeks with best prices.

Many of the bigger malls in China selling mobile devices, computers & accessories generally will stock these adapters - dirt cheap and worked.

To travel with fewer gadgets & adapters - pick up something like this that provide 2 or 3 USB charger port (1 hi-power @ 2Amp and 1 for regular .5Amp or .7Amp for digital cameras or cellular devices)
http://www.amazon.com/PowerGen-Charg...p_p_img_2_VJG4
Very handy for domestic travel use - combined with plug adapter above, fit for worldwide travel. Without calling down to housekeeping late night or waiting for them to bring one/trip to the front desk, etc.

Facetime usually works from within China as long as you get a quality connection & decent speed, otherwise video could drop - I do recommend pre-installing Skype on the iPad and test it at home first, as WiFi calling is free and it works across different platforms (iOS, Android & PC/desktop, etc.) Backup apps as extra "insurance" just in case FT isn't working for whatever reasons.

Thank you to all!!

Voltage is no problem with Apple plugs. The only issue might be if you have the three-prong US plug. Major hotels will have an outlet to accept three-prong US plugs, but otherwise you might want either a "cheat" adapter that accepts the three-prong and has a two-prong (flat or round) plug for the Chinese outlet, or else get an adapter that accepts your three-prong and plugs into the left illustration from anacapamalibu. Both adapters should be easily available in China, but would save time to get before you travel.

And beware that I have once run into what I assume was some sort of safety design where there was some sort of shield that kept anything from being inserted. I saw people using them with three-prong plugs, though--I assume the neutral had to go in to move the shield aside.

Unfortunately, I had no such plug, I could use either of the two pairs of hot pins but I wasn't carrying anything three pin.

Easy workaround. Break off the ground.

NEMA 5-15 3 prong plug.

You can actually just get a cheap three prong to two prong adapter. Something like this: http://www.smarthome.com/44084GY/AVB...er-Gray/p.aspx

But unless your iPhone adapter is different, it's already a two prong one. Universal voltage as well. You shouldn't need any adapters in China.

BTW, you can use FaceTime on wireless networks. It does not seem to be blocked. Of course, network speeds in China can be fairly slow, so the video quality may be low and the latency high.

We're trying to do FT last week and video was fine both ways but due to hardware audio issues on our end, we switched to Skype on the laptop - and we could hear & see them just them, but the party in the mainland could only hear us and video was "loading ..." and the images never appeared.

This happened on both a hotel connection and home-based one - equally slow with high latency ... inconclusive as to whether filtering played a part or not.