Is the UK iPhone completely identical to the USA iPhone?

So, even when I offered to pay AT&T $700 for an unlocked iPhone that I could use here in Jordan while working, they told me that it was impossible. Now before you call me a brainless n00b, I thought that I had heard way back before either the EDGE or 3G iphones were released that the iPhone was available for purchase as unlocked, you just had to pay a much larger fee for them. Guess I was wrong though.

So, after they get bumped again, I figure that when I take a vacation in the UK in the summer, I'll check these out - http://www.o2.co.uk/iphone/paygo - for £399 or whatever their current price. The Jordanian Dinar and the Pound are right next to each other (at the moment) so it's not such a bad deal as it would be if I still had to deal with US currency.

I was hoping that it could be confirmed from you wise forum members that the UK O2 iphone can be used easily with any network, completely unlocked, can be used with the USA app store (where I have my credit card) and all that, etc etc. Better to be safe than sorry and ask!

Any advice you can give me would be appreciated.

drichards said:

T-Mobile in Germany will sell you an unlocked iPhone...

Click to expand...

Excellent; that sounds like a good plan. I have been hoping to visit Germany for quite awhile and it sounds like a good deal. Would the German phone need to be wiped to get it to specialize in English, or can I put it the way I like just by altering the settings? I don't speak more than 5 words of German

thanks everyone! You have given me hope...

Thanks for all the help so far chaps, it's been great. Yeah, Apple and their telecom succubi are always going to be treading a thin, dangerous line between us wanting to be good customers that follow "their rules" and then making it so stupid and difficult just to be an international traveler that I'll just get annoyed and jailbreak a phone from the USA (after canceling AT&T's contract, paying the $300 termination or whatever it is).

There's no rush on it right now; I am definitely waiting until the next version and maybe even the one after that before making a move. Right now, I am already on the border of "consumers/prosumers" and I may need a phone that is actually a professional smartphone, which the iPhone is still not, for business. We'll see how Apple does in that department.