Retailers guide to the iPhone

Nick_oliveri

Hewwo! I have decided to write this up as there are a lot of newbies to the subject asking the same questions and making the same mistakes. If you wish to suggest modifications to a section or even a section of your own, please do so. I will edit this later to include the jailbreaking stuff. Your opinions, please.

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The Retailers guide to the iPhone.
Section 1: The questions...

When you are thinking about buying a powerful piece of hardware like the iPhone, there are versions and perks to consider. You need to ask yourself some questions R.E price vs functionality.

What do you want from the iPhone?
The iPhone comes in three versions. Theres the standard iPhone(2G), the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS. Each version has a significant price difference due to the capabilities of each handset or revision versus the older handset. The first iPhone revolutionized the mobile phone industry and was as lucrative for Apple as the iPod was back in the day . Since then there have been improvements on the revolution.

The iPhone 3G has all the features of the 2G iPhone with the addition of GPS technology and better connectivity for mobile Internet services.

The iPhone 3GS has a 3 megapixel camera compared to the 2 megapixel camera of the previous handsets. It can record and edit video also, a feature that was most welcome for the amateur cameraperson. It also has a compass and purports to be 2x faster than previous models.

Now, to make this less confusing, here is a comparison from Apple. Note how they do not factor in the old first model (2G) handset. Note the price on that website, this is not the price you will be paying.


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Section 2.
But Nick, I can buy the iPhone for 99dollars!!111eleventy!
Or, the retail guide and what scams and lingo to look out for

My real names not Nick, and no you cannot buy the iPhone for this price.
The iPhone's main drawback has to be the fact that it is locked to a carrier.
What this means is that Apple let AT&T sell and use the iPhone as a phone exclusively in the US, and Apple let 02 and Vodafone sell and use the iPhone as a phone in the UK and Ireland. When you buy an iPhone off O2, it is locked to the O2 network, you are on a contract and you cannot use another networks SIM card in the phone (Meteor, 3). If you buy an iPhone in the US, you are contract bound to AT&T.

O2 and Vodafone are the only retailers in Ireland authorised to sell the iPhone. You can see their offers (contract) here and soon for Vodafone. These phones are locked to the O2 or Vodafone network.

"But I sees loadsa iPhones on eBay!"
Yes, you do see the iPhone listed on eBay. But watch out. These phones could be clone phones, meaning that they are cheap knockoffs of Apples product or they might be Jailbroken and software unlocked to use any SIM card or network with the device.

"Whats the difference between software unlocked and hardware/factory unlock?"
The difference, my generic emotionless friend, is the method and the long term efficiency of either "unlock". The software unlock is accomplished by Jailbreaking and patching the phone with unofficial software and the hardware unlock means that the phone came unlocked, will stay unlocked and can probably never be locked. I'll come to Jailbreaking later.

With the software unlock, upon updating the Firmware or the main system of the iPhone from Itunes, the software unlock is rendered useless, and must be redone with a new exploit that users create or find. And sometimes that takes AGES, or might not happen at all. This is very important, always be mindful of this if you have bought a software unlocked phone from eBay. Don't update the phone through iTunes until you know you can re-apply the unlock. Or the phone becomes an iPod Touch for an undetermined amount of time!! At the moment and for the forseeable future, all locked iPhones bought from O2 or the US or wherever with the intention of software unlocking, will suffer. There is no DIY software unlock on the currently shipped firmware.

The genuine eBayer's selling the hardware or Factory unlocked iPhones have observed and used a loophole in EU law to there advantage. Basically some EU countries have laws prohibiting locked handsets being sold in that country. I'm not sure how genuine this claim is, but there are Factory unlocked handsets floating around out there and they are generally way more expensive than software unlocked or even locked handsets.

Always check the sellers description and feedback score. Know the difference between factory unlocked and software unlocked! And remember, if the price is a bargain/really low, its more than likely either a scam or a clone.

Example scam contained in this thread. Feedback, rating and services like paypal are essential. If you "get" your phone off a cheap scam site, even paying with Paypal, there might be no refund. The "seller" or scam artist could be well gone with your monehs and has probably started up a new site and Paypal account by the time it really sinks in.

Know your Internet's!! The Internet is full of guys, Nigerian or not, looking to make monehs off you, while providing no service. eBay is not protected from these people, anyone can make an eBay account, so check the feedback and rating of the seller.

(other section on JB incoming)

ApplefyMe

Pretty good post.Let me know if you need a hand with the jailbreaking section

vinnycoyne

kremie wrote: »

*SNIP* I know it's a bit unethical lol but Iphones are damn costly!! Overpriced too!

It's illegal and against boards.ie rules to discuss here.

Tom Dunne

kremie wrote: »

Iphones are damn costly!! Overpriced too!

If that is the way you think, then perhaps this isn't the forum for you.

SolarNexus

Tom Dunne wrote: »

If that is the way you think, then perhaps this isn't the forum for you.

That sort of attitude is not necessary, I love my iPhone and my iPad and will soon be buying an iPhone4 yet I too think the pricing leaves much to be desired.

That said, I cant read the original post, the language hurts my brain. write it in English and I might read it.

Nick_oliveri

SolarNexus wrote: »

That said, I cant read the original post, the language hurts my brain. write it in English and I might read it.

Maybe you could translate it for me then? From weird/skewed English to proper English. The job wont pay, but at least you get the satisfaction of accomplishment at the end. I'm not sure why you would need to read the retailers guide seeing as you already have an Iphone/Ipad as noted in the post above... and it is dated before we even knew about Iphone4.

To add, I did not and will not add a section on Jailbreaking as there are different methods of achieving this over time. The method and results of certain jailbreaks differ from what I've seen. Even my OP seems somewhat outdated now.