Some iPhone questions

[seraph830]

I read the FAQ and still had some questions. I havent jumped in yet but I want to.

#1 Is the 2 year contract the only way to own one of these things? To be honest the draw of the iPhone to me is everything but the phone. I would get an iPod Touch, but alot of the iPhones appeal is the internet and email capabilities (which I dont mind paying for).

Problem is I dont talk on my cell much so being tied to a $50 a month plan for 2 years isnt very inviting. If a long contract is the only way, is there anything cheaper than the $50 one?

#2 Is it possible to use an iPhone without signing up for a phone plan? In other words could I use all the Music/Movie/Wi-fi capabilities and just have the phone features disabled. That way I could still enjoy all the features of the phone, and then buy a plan when I'm ready and can afford it.

#3 Whats the word on custom ringtones? Can I create my own ringtones from the music I own without having to go through iTunes's pay-to-make service?

#4 My main email is a hotmail address, is there anyway to have it pushed out to an iPhone? Maybe something like having a Yahoo address and have Hotmail automaticly forward mail to it.

[BlackWolf]

#1 first of all: the touch has internet as well, though it's "only" wifi and not edge or gprs (logically). you can get an iphone without the contract and then unlock it so it works with every simcard and just put a prepaid simcard in it or something. that's what I did. on the other hand, if your main goal is the internet that won't help you much, because using edge/gprs without an iphone contract is very very expensive. so you won't use edge/gprs a lot on the iphone and because of that you can just get a touch.

#2 yes. I think you have to activate it, but there are tools (ziphone.org) that do that for you, just like you could unlock it to use it with your current simcard

#3 yes. there are some programs out there that do this for you, or you can do it by just creating an AAC file in itunes (maximum length 30 seconds), renaming it from .m4a to .m4r and re-import it into itunes. this will make it a ringtone.

#4 guess the forwarding-thing would work. I personally would advise you to just get yourself a gmail account, but if you just forward the hotmail mails to a gmail or yahoo adress it should work with the iphone. I never tried it, so no guarantees on this.

regards

[deftdrummer1]

blackwolf you should seriously stop quoting when you are the first person reponding. its getting really annoying

[BlackWolf]

blackwolf you should seriously stop quoting when you are the first person reponding. its getting really annoying

erased it ;-) still don't know what bothers you so much about it, but whatever :D

[seraph830]

Thanks for the help BlackWolf
you can get an iphone without the contract and then unlock it so it works with every simcard and just put a prepaid simcard in it or something. that's what I did. on the other hand, if your main goal is the internet that won't help you much, because using edge/gprs without an iphone contract is very very expensive.
What if I got the cheapest unlimited data plan I could possibly get?

Unlocking it scares me. To be honest I havent really followed the unlocking scene but I hear alot of horror stories of bricks. How easy is it to do? How big of a risk is involved? What worries me the most about unlocking is I thought it makes you unable to update your iPhone anymore. Could you let me know more about it or at least point me in the right direction?I personally would advise you to just get yourself a gmail account, but if you just forward the hotmail mails to a gmail or yahoo adress it should work with the iphone. I never tried it, so no guarantees on this.well I just found out that Hotmail wont let me forward it anyways. I really dont want to switch emails, I've had this hotmail one for so long :(

[deftdrummer1]

well to tell you the truth I think it bothers me because I'm on the forums with my iPhone most of the time, and it takes like four extra swipes to get through the quotes. It wouldn't be so bad if it were necessary to show what you are talking about, but when you are the first and only person posting after the initial post people will know what you are talking about. Sorry if I came off rude, but I think that many people use their iPhones on the forums.

[BlackWolf]

well to tell you the truth I think it bothers me because I'm on the forums with my iPhone most of the time, and it takes like four extra swipes to get through the quotes. It wouldn't be so bad, but when people are obviously going to know you are referring to the poster if you are the first and only person responding to the post. Sorry if I came off rude, but I think that many people use iPhones on the forums.

yeah, alright, I understand that ;-) I try not to do it, I just don't really pay attention to it when I answer a question :D

Thanks for the help BlackWolf

What if I got the cheapest unlimited data plan I could possibly get?

Unlocking it scares me. To be honest I havent really followed the unlocking scene but I hear alot of horror stories of bricks. How easy is it to do? How big of a risk is involved? What worries me the most about unlocking is I thought it makes you unable to update your iPhone anymore. Could you let me know more about it or at least point me in the right direction?well I just found out that Hotmail wont let me forward it anyways. I really dont want to switch emails, I've had this hotmail one for so long :(
all iphone data plans in every country have unlimited edge/gprs usage as far as I know, so you should be fine even with the cheapest data plan available.

well, unlocking only really bricked iphones at the very beginning. I never heard of an iphone that got bricked with newer unlocking-ways. I don't say it always goes smoothly, but your iphone won't be BRICKED afterwards. I unlocked my iphone and it was done in one click, 2 minutes, no problems. I used ziphone from ziphone.org. you just connect your iphone, click one button and the program activates, unlocks and jailbreaks your iphone in less then 5 minutes. I was really impressed by it.

the annoying thing about this is updating. you can't update to new firmwares right away since you have to wait since the new firmware is unlockable. but it does not mean that you can't update anymore. but since the unlock gets erased with every update you just have to wait until the new firmware is unlockable.

well, if hotmail don't let you forward mails I guess you're stuck. As far as I know you can use hotmail with the iphone when you get some kind of hotmail upgrade which you have to pay for. but I guess there is no other way around this.

[seraph830]

I actually was talking about buying the cheapest Unlimited Data plan AT&T had period, not just for iPhones, and then using that to use the internet as much as I want. I went to research it and it turns out the $60 cheapest iPhone plan is about as cheap as AT&T will go as far as unlimited data is concerned. I thought I was going to find some magical "Unlimited data, 50 minutes, $20" plan. So much for that idea.

What your saying unlocking wise is techincally if I wanted to I could unlock an iPhone and just use it like an iPodTouch untill I wanted to add a phone plan to it? That would be really ideal for me. I'm really looking forward to some of the new stuff on iPhone (like Super Monkey Ball) so chances are the unlocker for that latest firmware is going to be a ways off right?

Whats to stop apple for pushing out firmware that bricks unlocked iPhones?