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buying USED iphone

K

KhuntienNang

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 20, 2008
59
0
im going to buy an used iphone. i talked to him on the phone and he sounds friendly enough. according to him, it's only 3 months old, 8 gb, and NOT unlocked or jailbroken. im supposed to meet him tomorrow to pick it up.

now, i need advice on what are the things to check for on a used iphone? i personally use tmobile, so i definitely can't use my tmobile sim card on it. i could do the unlocking process myself when i get home, but it would be too late by that time, because i want to make sure it works perfectly fine first before i actually pay him.

what would you recommend me to do to 'check' the phone?
 
ask him if you can test the wifi, there's a possibility that he revirginized it from a broken wifi jailbroken phone.

play music from it to test the speakers work, and plug in headphones to check if hte jack works.

take a flashlight or something similar (or just look at it in light), peer down the headphone jack, if its got red inside it, don't accept the iphone.

make a call to check its not barred on a network

make sure there are no scratches etc (thats obvious though)

check it comes with the warranty card.
 
Personaly, I wouldn't do it and would wait for a refurb from AT&T for the $249 or from Apple for $349. At least then you get the warranty and assurance that all will work. You also don't know if it is stolen and he is trying to dump for some "whatever" money.

If you must and can't do it the safe way. I would make sure that he has music, video and a sim card loaded on the iPhone. This way you can test it out by playing the music and videos, make a call to someone you know to validate how it sounds and have them call you back. Then if you decide to buy, just give him his sim card and get you another from AT&T. I would also insure that you are in a wifi area (starbucks) to check that part of it out and make sure you have a strong edge signal so that you can check those areas out as well.

I still wouldn't do it but wish you the best of luck.
 
raikun: about red inside headphone jack, you mean just regular red color inside the hole? and what exactly does it mean anyway? that the iphone had been opened before?

sfc: i cant get refurbished one from att, called many att stores already and they dont have any, also said probably not going to get any anymore. their website doesnt have it either, nor apple's. i actually bought a brand new one from apple before, but it was stolen. that's why i dont feel like paying that kind of amount for the exact same thing again. but thanks though, will definitely check it like you said.
 
KhuntienNang said:
raikun: about red inside headphone jack, you mean just regular red color inside the hole? and what exactly does it mean anyway? that the iphone had been opened before?

sfc: i cant get refurbished one from att, called many att stores already and they dont have any, also said probably not going to get any anymore. their website doesnt have it either, nor apple's. i actually bought a brand new one from apple before, but it was stolen. that's why i dont feel like paying that kind of amount for the exact same thing again. but thanks though, will definitely check it like you said.
Click to expand...

Ouch...I understand your pain my friend. Just don't want you to have a bad experience this route as well. What about a refurb from Apple? Or wait a few more months and either get the 3G Version 2 or wait for a great influx of current 8 gigers. The Red that Raikun is talking about denotes that the phone has water damage. If you look in the headphone hole you should see white at the bottom, if it is pink or red...it has water damage.
 
lol. i know. i tried to wait for the next version, but i can't stand it! i just had mine for 6-7 weeks before it was stolen, and i havent played enough yet :p i tried looking on ebay, but it's ridiculously more expensive than a brand new one from apple.

so i thought, if i buy a used one, and if i ever want to sell it later and get the 2nd version, at least the price doesnt depreciate as much :D
 
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