Not an iPhone owner yet....

[musiclover408]

I am about to purchase an iPhone and have some questions that hopefully you guys can help me with.

I am looking at buying a brand new, unopened, legally unlocked by Apple iPhone from a seller in Hong Kong. I will be using it with T-Mobile. Based on my research thus far, by buying a legally unlocked phone I do not have to worry about any updates affecting my phone and service. Is this correct? Also, am I able to jailbreak a legally unlocked phone? By doing that, does it affect the unlock done by Apple?

More questions:
** I am planning on trying to get the T-Zones $5.99 web plan added to my older Motorola Razr2 to use on this iPhone. I have read that there is a way to tether the phone to a laptop, does anyone know if that is possible on this T-Zones plan?

** Since I am buying a brand new phone, do I get the 1 year warranty from Apple?

** I use hotmail right now with my Blackberry and love the push feature to my phone. Besides paying for an ME account, what email programs are "pushable" to an iPhone.

These are really the most important questions I have right now and really would like to get the answers before I make the purchase. I thank everyone in advance for your help!!

[Daiskei]

I am assuming you will be buying a 3G iPhone. If this is the case, the phone must be an unlocked version of the 2.2 firmware for this to be true. I am not sure if the Hong Kong dealer is in ownership of these or not as I have come to know the 3G won't be unlocked till this New Years. However, if the device is under 2.2 and unlocked if you happen to upgrade to 2.2 it will becom unlocked by the baseband update in the firmware... IF it is under 2.2 and you EVER want to software unlock it you will have to WAIT for the devteam's software unlock (YellowSnow is the project name) that is coming tomorrow night I am assuming. If you update before then, for lack of a better word.. you're screwed. Lol. Anyways, hope I was of some help.

[musiclover408]

Sorry I didn't mention it but yes it is a 3G iPhone. But where I think you are misunderstanding is that it has been legally unlocked from Apple which means it can be used with any GSM carrier and a SIM card without any modifications needed. Apparently Apple unlocked phones to be used out of the country and based on the IMEI # the phone is unlocked by Apple. So this is not a phone that has been unlocked thru any software program or modification to the original phone whatsoever.

[jiggykilla]

there are fake iphone 3g's in hongkong so, be careful when parting with your doe.

[Daiskei]

I know what you meant musiclover. ^-^ I think what I said still stands though... If they are under 2.2 and the baseband gets upgraded it would undo even apple's unlock as it would replace the unlocked baseband with an updated one. I would imagine, however, that they would be giving you a fully updated phone. Hopefully. Also, do make sure they are real phones as Jiggy said and not fake ones, hong kong does produce a lot of fakes... As far as tethering with the iPhone... I am almost positive that it could be done over t-zones, I think I had done it back when I still had t-zones, I now have the unlimited web though otherwise I'd test it. Apps like iPhone modem, etc.

About the warranty, are you buying from apple themselves? I would imagine not since you are getting it pre-unlocked... Third party retailers usually (I am not sure if they do at all) do not offer apple's warranty.

[musiclover408]

there are fake iphone 3g's in hongkong so, be careful when parting with your doe.

Can you be more specific on this... please.

[myke55]

they make phones that look almost identical to the iphone. screen, icons, shape...everything.

[manny0]

I seriously would not advise in buying apple stuff from hongkong its like 98% knock off.

[musiclover408]

I seriously would not advise in buying apple stuff from hongkong its like 98% knock off.

Just an update:
I didn't end up getting the 3g phone I had thought I would. I asked around and since I am using the phone on t-mobile, I didn't really see the point in spending more money for a 3g model since I can't benefit from using 3g with t-mo. So, I ended up finding a local seller on Craigslist and bought a 2g, 16gb phone. And so far, I am loving it!!!

Couple questions...

I used to tether my blackberry to my laptop. Is that possible to do that with the iPhone? If so, is there step by step instructions somewhere on setup?

I was able to get the 5.99 t-zones plan on my account so I am definitely liking the fact that I can use edge unlimited for such a low price!

I asked before about hotmail. I looked and read a little about mboxmail, but that doesn't push the messages instantly, correct? I do like to know when a message comes in asap. Right now, I have my hotmail set up to send me a text when I receive a new email...so it's not that big of deal since I an still access hotmail through the iPhone.

Is there a way to get this thing to ring louder?? I have had numerous cell phones through the years and this has to be one of the lowest ringers I have ever experienced.

Obviously my phone is unlocked. It is also jailbroken with the latest 2.2. My question is, do I need to be careful when using iTunes? I have heard that it's possible to relock your phone if an update on iTunes is done. Is this correct?

Bear with me as I am very new to this phone and technology of unlocking, etc.

Thanks again for everyone's help!!