Hi all,
I'm coming over soon. Rogers

wireless in Canada has a Roam like home plan @ $10/ day maxing out at $100/mo which I

am prepared to pay. Essentially means no unlocking, changing SIM card etc.

I just use the phone according to my plan here in Canada.

I want to be sure if I go this option that while travelling in China I'll be able to use GOOG's

tools, search, maps, gmail etc. Can anyone tell me? shie shie.

You'll need a VPN to access Goog, Facebook, etc...

If you have a China phone, data package, I believe the roaming charges have been ended (for voice at least). Perhaps someone else can confirm.
You will need a VPN to access google. I can confirm that the Apple app map is free and it works.

Thanks. What you are telling me is that a North American arrives with phone still connected to the Canadian carrier and in China no Google access.

As a visitor touring around I need mapping etc. I'll try loading Apple maps onto my Samsung phone.

You could try loading Baidu maps, or ditu.cn.

Google will work with a vpn, but I am not sure your north American carrier will be recognised. Have you asked your carrier if they can offer a service in China? You then just need to install a VPN on your phone.

If not and you have a Chinese contact person here, ask if they will open a phone account for you.

Google maps works in China without VPN as long as you use the CN version (In English) in a brouwser:
www.google.cn/maps/@25.0251195,102.7620247,11z
This will give you Kunming but you can go anywhere you like. The app does not work here but the Apple Maps app does.
You can use as well QQ.map:
map.qq.com/[...]
(This will give you Salvadors coffee shop but again you can go anywhere and this gives you the QQ version of Streetview)
For an offline version you can use:
www.openstreetmap.org/#map=9/25.0134/102.7441
For the real freaks there is ofcourse Google Earth. Works both on line, and if you preload offline both on the net and as an app. (Streetview however does not work in China nor can you view pictures)

Am I missing something?

Why would you expect a Canadian smartphone, with SIM for a Canadian wireless provider, work with either China wireless providers, in China?

At a minimum, I always had to buy a SIM card.

Last summer , 2016, i was using my china mobile sim card/account in canada.

it was way cheaper than buying a plan in canada...

@Geezer. A Canadian phone and sim can work in China. With a roaming agreement, the phone will just magically switch to the carrier or carriers Rogers has as roaming partners in China.

@Westcoaster I'm not sure Apple Maps exists for Android phones.