IPhone 4 :: Identifying My Phone Factory Unlocked Or Not?
Sep 11, 2010
I want to buy an iPhone 4 tomorrow from a store near where I live (it's not an authorized dealer the iPhone costs $1000 there). Although there is an authorized dealer nearby, the iPhone from there would cost $400 more. However, I am really willing to buy a factory-unlocked iPhone 4 instead of a software-unlocked one, and I am going to check out the unauthorized dealer tomorrow. I am afraid that the salesman would trick me into buying a software-unlocked one without my knowledge. The reason for which I want a factory-unlocked iPhone is so that I wouldn't have to jailbreak it each time I update it and risk getting it locked by mistake in case that there is no available software yet to unlock it. Therefore, I would like to know what are some features that would help me identify a factory-unlocked from a software-unlocked iPhone.For example, what is the default iPhone software that Apple releases with all iPhone 4's (if there is a default software version)? Would the Cydia icon be visible on a software-unlocked iPhone (I'm afraid that it would be hidden in some way)? Also, I would PLEASE like to know some more ways to identify the factory-unlocked from the software-unlocked iPhone without having to restore it.
I am trying to sell my iPhone 2G 3.1.3 and I did all the restore/jailbreak/unlocked on the same using redsn0w.I insert my sim (AT&T) in it, Sim gets identified immediately and works flawlessly. But when I insert other Sim (AT&T) of one of my buyer, it did not identify the sim kept saying "No Sim" on the left and "No SIM card installed" on the lock screen.This other Sim (AT&T) works flawlessly on other phones, including the iPhone 3gs and an old Nokia 6085, so the Sim doesn't really seem to have any issues.Feels like my iPhone 2g has been "Married" to my AT&T Sim and is not ready to divorce it.I spent many hours, doing all the "Settings Resets", restored/rejailbreaked/unlocked many times but situation remains the same.How do I fix this problem so that I could sell my 2g to someone? Please help, I really appreciate all the comments.
I bought an Iphone 3G on Craigslist last night to use on T-mobile. When I got the phone it was restored to factory settings so I took it home, plugged it into Itunes, and set it up. Upon connecting it to Itunes it said your phone is unlocked. Now, the guy who sold it to me said he originally bought it on Ebay from Australia. Does that mean its 'factory unlocked'? Everything has worked fine since I put my T-Mobile SIM card into it except MMS. Looking online for solutions I've found that people recommend downloading 'Legacy' through Cydia but my Iphone isn't Jailbroken. So I have no Cydia app. I don't necessarily want to Jailbreak but if I did could I do it from firmware 3.1.3?
I'm about to get another iPhone and it will be on T-Mobile USA.What's the advantage of getting a Factory Unlocked 3GS? will it be like the new bootrom if jailbreaked?(need tethered reboot)?anyone with Factory Unlocked iPhone here?
So, I just bought a JB'en iphone 3g tonight.Went ahead and unlocked it using ultrasn0w.Connected it to my mac/itunes, and it asks "an iphone has been previously synced with this computer. setup as a new iphone -or- restore the backup of ***"So, since I had purchased apps using my *** phone (actually was an ipod touch that i got rid of), I'm thinking that I should restore the backup so that I can get my paid apps back for free.
Questions: -will restoring this backup to the new unlocked phone restore it to its original locked state (i.e. will i have to re-jailbreak/unlock)? or will it simply restore preferences, etc...? -otherwise, if i call this phone a new name, is there a way to transfer my purchased apps to the new phone's account?
I just bought a (supposedly) factory unlocked iphone from ebay. However, when I switched it on, I can see an app called blackra1n on the 2nd page. Does this mean that it is actually just jailbroken?As I understand - blackra1n is used to jailbreak iphones but not to unlock them, so is it possible that the phone is factory unlocked and jailbroken with blackra1n at the same time? Is there any way I can check if its actually factory unlocked? There aren't any other apps like Cydia on there, just black ra1n.
I bought yesterday a used iPhone 3GS. The iPhone works with any SIM card great, and it doesn't have CYDIA nor INSTALLER nor BlackRa1n app installed. If I turn it off and then on again, it keeps working just fine with my SIM. It has currently iPhone OS 3.1.2.Is there a way to check if this iPhone is Factory Unlocked?
It's been a while since I've logged into the forums. Since I've only been lurking for advice for ages, I figure it's time I actually gave something back. Below, a few notes on my journey into factory unlocked iPhone land.So about a year ago, I bought a 'new' iPhone 2G off eBay to replace one I had stolen a couple months earlier. Unlike my original 2G, this one got knocked around quite a bit, including several drops on concrete and tile. The screen was, mercifully, okay, but the home button was hard to press, the vibrate function was off-and-on, and the phone was getting bogged down by OS 3.1 besides. Once I heard about OS 4, and how I wouldn't be able to get it on my old phone, I decided it was time for a new one. WHY UNLOCK? So why even bother unlocking? Well, for one, I've been buying and software-unlocking my phones because I loathe AT&T's coverage, and am enjoying a T-Mobile plan at about 30% off the equivalent AT&T price. Considering 3G is spotty wherever I am, and I have wi-fi in most places I hang out anyway, I'm willing to live with EDGE.
The jailbreak feature is really handy, too, because I'm a stats nut who loves scrobbling to last.fm. There is (and for the foreseeable future, will be) no background scrobbler to send my recent tracks to last.fm without a Cydia app. But I digress…
I finally got fed up with the cat-and-mouse game, constantly worrying about bricking my phone, and enduring the performance issues I have been since 3.1+unlock. Note the difference: a software unlocked phone means you can buy a (cheaper) locked phone, but you have to wait for the most excellent iPhone Dev Team to deliver a version of Pwnage before you can upgrade. Plus, I noticed a lot of performance issues with my older iPhone. A factory unlocked phone was never locked by a carrier, and really does mean any SIM, any time, anywhere--NO QUESTIONS. But where to get one?
BUYING This is the tricky part. You basically have three choices to get a "legally" (factory) unlocked phone:Buy one for $850+ on a reputable site like Buy.com, TigerDirect, or a host of US and UK sites. Give a friend going to one of a number of unlocked-iPhone countries a bunch of money to buy an unlocked phone for you. Buy one for $600+ on eBay.I opted for option 1. How do US/UK companies get these phones, when there are no unlocked carriers in either country? Essentially, they're surplus phones being bought up by wholesalers and then sold to big computer parts companies like TigerDirect. My phone actually carries a Hong Kong part number, but there were no other markings (print, instructions, etc.) for me to tell the difference.** EDIT: Jersey in the UK's Channel Islands also sell the phones unlocked. Probably a spendy trip for US customers, though. phones are definitely expensive: $700 for an 8GB iPhone 3G all the way to as much as $1300 for a 32GB iPhone 3GS. I got mine for a little over $800 thanks to a Buy.com error (which they and Tiger Direct honored, much to my surprise!).Option 2 is cool, if you have a trustworthy friend.Option 3 can be dangerous. A lot of sellers will try to blur the line between software unlocked phones (using the very awesome iPhone Dev Team's unlocking software) and factory unlocked phones (which were never locked in the first place). BE AWARE OF WHAT YOU'RE BUYING. Ask for the part number. Google it, and if it's legit, you should see multiple search results online linking the part # of the iPhone you want to buy with a country with unlocked iPhones. If not, don't fall for the scam. It might be a software unlocked phone, which is definitely not worth the $600+ you'll be paying. Or it could be an iKnockoff, which is just a jerk move all around. UNLOCKING hen I was doing research, I read some conflicting info on this one. But rest assured: IF YOUR PHONE IS LEGIT FACTORY UNLOCKED, YOU DON'T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT ANY EXTRA PRECAUTIONS. PERIOD. Just insert a SIM card, plug it into iTunes, and it'll register and activate the phone just as if you had a normal AT&T account (or whatever your national iPhone carrier is). That's it. It doesn't matter what country you're in when you unlock, nor does it matter which country's iTunes Store you're registered with, nor does it matter what country your part # is associated with. Just plug in your phone and go. If you're having problems, it might be a phone issue, or you might not actually have a clean, factory unlocked phone. HOWEVER, if you jailbreak after that, it's just as if you'd jailbroken a normal, clean iPhone, and all the normal precautions apply.
CONCLUSION So that's my primer on factory unlocked iPhones. We iPhone users are now conditioned to fear any unlock, but the factory unlocked phones appear to be a lot less scary than they're made out to be. The biggest concern you should have is that you're getting a legit phone from a legit seller—if you're paying several car payments' worth to buy a phone, be careful! Any questions? PS--I'm getting ready to sell the old 2G. I'd like to leave it unlocked, but still wipe all my data off of it. Anyone know the best way to do that? PM me with answers.
I am having issues with sending MMS msgs on my factory unlocked iphone 3g running 3.1.3 on AT&T. I have unlimited data plan and msging on the account but when i send it out i get the dreaded exclamation mark. anyone know a fix?
I have a 3GS Factory Unlocked running on iOS 4.1.I went for 5.1 update for the device but it stopped with the following error message: "The iPhone could not be updated. An unknown error occured (11)." On clicking more information tab in the error message was directed to the following page: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1275 I had updated my iTunes to 10.6 prior to connecting the device. In DFU Mode, got the following message on connecting to iTunes; "iTunes has detected an iPhone in recovery mode. You must restore this iPhone before it can be used with iTunes." Got out of DFU Mode & the device rebooted to normal. On again updating the device got the same error message.
I got my phone as a present and i want to find out whether its a factory unlock or not..is there any way to determine or a code or something to indicate that its a factory unlock phone?
I am looking for a way to determine if a used Iphone came from the factory carrier unlocked. I want to be able to check before I buy it and before I get ripped off. There are too many charlotans out there passing off their jail broken phones as "factory unlocked". .Calls to apple are not helpful. Apple does not want to be helpful in this even though they have a distain for jailbroken phones.
Info: iPhone 4, iOS 5.0.1, Any phone any software.
i just bought a brand new iphone 4s factory unlocked online from an authorized apple reseller. Got the SIM from my preferred carrier but now i cannot activate my phone.i tunes says that there is no sim card installed in the iphone you are attempting to activate.phone says no sim card installed.i tried to remove and reinsert many times but nothing worked....i can't even tell which ios it is coz i cannot see the details of my phone....so i can't even jailbreak it?
i would like to enquire on how we can chek whether the Iphone is factory unlock or not. I recently got an Iphone-3GS sent from US to use in Nepal. the I-Phone was purchased via online through E-bay. Now I am trying to use it putting sim of Nepal but i am unable to open. i even tried to activate it via Itunes but it says insert a valid sim. So i am unaware on this. please tell me how can use it and know whethr it is factory unlock or not. Model no. of my Iphone is A1303.
Hai Purchased a New Nokia E72. But I am not sure whether it is original or fake. The Made written is " Manufactured in China" - Made by Nokia. The dealer guaranteed (by saying only) that it is original. But can you let us know how it can be confimed. Giving the details as given in the back side sticker
Type:RM-530 Model E72-1 CODE: 0587122 FCC ID: PYARM-530X IC: 66IV-RM530 WLAN: 20D607BE5197 CE 0434 (!) Battery BP-4lL
I know this may have been asked several times already but I would like to solicit your patience again in answering my question. I hope somebody could clearly explain to me what should I do.I have a factory unlocked 3.1.2 3GS (HongKong purchased unit) with the new bootrom that I wish to jailbreak. What are my current options? What should I do? I saved my SHSH files to Saurik's server last week using Umbrella. I would greatly appreciate anyone's enlightenment.
i'm helping a friend upgrade her 3.1.2 3GS phone to iOS4 and i'm just trying to find out as much info as possible before i begin. she's currently running on T-mobile so her phone is def. unlocked but i don't see cydia installed. i'm wondering if her phone was factory unlocked, she received it in taiwan as a gift. if it is factory unlocked, does doing a straight upgrade to ios4 end up locking her phone, or should i use the same pwnage custom build i used for my att 3GS to upgrade to ios4?
Just wondering have anyone try purchasing the new unlocked 3GS from Apple directly and use it in the states with AT&T? I send one down to US and my friend is saying he got a "Sim card inserted in this phone does not appear to be supported" message.
I was hoping someone could help me out here. I purchased an iPhone 4 32 GB factory unlocked at the Apple Store today. I'd like to sell it and a potential buyer asked for its serial and IMEI numbers so he could verify it is factory unlocked. I was uncomfortable giving those numbers because I'm guessing he could somehow lock the phone or something I have no idea. Can someone with those numbers do something like that?
Anyway, this brings me to the main point of this message. How can I satisfy a potential buyer of the phone that it is indeed factory unlocked, short of opening up the package and popping in their SIM card? I'd like to keep it sealed to retain value.
Now an Apple Store employee told me all iPhone 4's are factory unlocked, and it is only when Apple activates it to a carrier that they become locked. But how can I satisfy a buyer of this so they will know I am legit?
