I'm thoroughly confused...

[Cøbra]

Okay, I'm going to try and keep it extremely simple, for my sake and for the sake of others like me.

I'm not a technophobe, but I also haven't been keeping up with the developments on the iPhone.

I'm in the UK. I'm looking to buy an iPhone and unlock + jailbreak it.

Here are a few questions I have...


If I were to buy an iPhone today:
from Apple.com UK, do I have to commit to O2 ?
.
when I receive the iPhone, can I unpack it and "hack" it straightaway (out of the box -- OTB/OOB), or do I need to sign up to O2 or anything along those lines ?
.
what version would it be -- 1.1.3 ?
Also, what is 3.9 BL / 4.6 and how does it vary to 1.1.3 ?
.
does that mean I can fully "hack" it using ZiPhone (http://www.ziphone.org/) (via Unlock.no (http://iphone.unlock.no/)) i.e. the latest firmware release has been fully hacked ?
.
Anything else I should know about ?.
Many thanks for all your help guys. :)

[RotorRocky]

1. No
2. Yes
3. probably 1.1.3
4. yes
5. Don't know how to answer that !!!! If you mean re: unlocking - no nothing else you need to know. The ZiPhone thing is brilliant (I think all those involved deserve a few £ donation). I'm a relative newcomer but in the last 2 months I have tried a few unlock methods (even tempted to try the harware unlock - so glad I didn't !!!) - the Ziphone things is just great (I used the UNlock.no GUI).

[BlackWolf]

regarding 1) ... RotorRocky said that you don't have to buy a contract with the iphone ... but I guess it depends from country to country. here in germany when you go to the apple-store iphone page it redirects you to the store-page of the carrier (t-mobile) that sells the iphones here and you can buy an iphone together with a contract.
maybe its different in other countries I don't know ...

oh and btw ... I read that ziphone still causes problems for some people. I personally are going for a stealthSIM/turboSIM card to unlock my iphone, but there are also other methods than ziphone, maybe you want to check them out

[RotorRocky]

Can't speak for apple.com but Carphone Warehouse don't tie you into a contract. They include an O2 sim for you have to activate it online (I didn't).

All the other (current) software unlocks (including ZiPhone) are based on GeoHotz's work.

[BlackWolf]

Can't speak for apple.com but Carphone Warehouse don't tie you into a contract. They include an O2 sim for you have to activate it online (I didn't).

All the other (current) software unlocks (including ZiPhone) are based on GeoHotz's work.

well yeah, it's basically the same unlock, but if you do it manually its more work but seems to work better. I read from a lot of people that their iphone got stuck on the apple logo with ziphone, seems to be a bug in the current version. I'm just saying I personally would unlock it manually(like described here (http://iphone.unlock.no/OTB112unlock.htm)) and do some extra work and then be sure to have an unlocked iphone ... but I guess ziphone works for most people, so whatever.

[jason72780]

ive used both the command line and GUI and got stuck at the apple logo multiple times with each

[Cøbra]

Thanks for the reply RotorRocky.

I've ordered an iPhone. :D http://i26.tinypic.com/2rzylnp.gif :eek:

[RotorRocky]

Good luck - not that luck should have anything to do with it.

If I were you I would spend a good few hours (you may have already done this) browsing and Hackint0sh.org & iphone.unlock.no to get a feel for problems that others have encountered. It seems that for most (like me) it works a breeze especially those who have 1.1.2 OTB and 1.1.3 OTB.

[neilybealy]

reading other forums, if you buy from the apple shop then they activate it there and then and you're tied into an O2 contract whereas Carphone warehouse will just sell you the phone for you to activate via itunes

[grp318]

The last post is not true. I bought two diffrent iPhones from the apple store and they do not require you to activate it before leaveing the store.

[neilybealy]

The last post is not true. I bought two diffrent iPhones from the apple store and they do not require you to activate it before leaveing the store.

i stand corrected!

thanks for setting the record straight and apologies for giving out misleading info