Some questions before I get an iphone, answers please?

[Hman]

Hey. I've been following the iphone hacking to some degree and now that it can be unlocked, I want to get one for use on t-mobile(faves is to great to give up). I just have a few questions before I purchase one:

1) Can you buy the phone from the apple phone straight out, no activation?
2) If I buy and unlock it, will I have to worry about new software updates hampering the phones functionality? Are updates forced or can I avoid them and keep the phone at 1.0.2?

Thanks for the help in advance

[ufmedrudy]

1. Yes
2. Yes but if you need to restore the phone, iTunes automatically checks for firmware updates, and will apply them.

[mjdaul]

but you could just keep the 1.0.2 firmware ipsw on your harddrive in case you did ever need to restore, you can do so using itunes by holding the alt/option key on mac and clicking restore. this will bring up a window asking you to choose the ipsw you would like to restore with.