if i buy an iphone, but dont activate?

[Fooj]

Hello,

Im thinkin about buying an i phone, but my contract with orange dont run out till may, i am in the UK, so would have to be on 02.

But what happens if i buy an iphone and just dont activate it? dont you basically just have an ipod touch?

and what about hacking? i have seen somethin which is just an application you download in safari, and then that allows use on any network.

Does the iphone use a SIM card?

A few questions there.

Thanks in advance

 

[silbeej]

All features are turned off until activated. Yes it uses a SIM card. I'm in the states, but as far as i know, all iPhones are the same.

 

[Consultant]

All GSM phones uses sim cards. There are total of 4 different transmission frequencies which may differ for carriers. However, iPhone is capable of receiving all 4 type of GSM signals, as iPhone is a quad-band.

If you don't know whether iPhone uses a SIM card, then you probably are not technically versed enough to hack the phone. I suggest find someone local on craigslist.org who can help you with it for a small fee.

Tech specs of iPhone
http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html


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Here are the possibilities:

Out of box, before Activation.
- You can only dial emergency numbers. No access to other functions. You cannot use it as iPod touch.

You can
- Activate through iTunes (contract required unless you fail credit check)
- Activate through hacks

In addition, jailbreak the phone (can be done on all phones)
- Intalls "Installer", allows installation of additional apps. (typically done when activating through hacks).

After Activation,
- You can use it with default carrier SIM card

Carrier-unlock:
US iPhone
- Ones with firmware 1.1.1 or earlier out of the box, can be software unlocked. These fetch a premium price. These can be updated to 1.1.2 and retain carrior-unlock (with additional hacks)
- Ones generally referred as 1.1.2 out of box (OOB, OTB, OOTB) iPhones, cannot be software unlocked at this time. Similar to European iPhones described below.

European iPhones cannot be software unlocked at this time. There is a hardware chip that goes on top of sim card, but are hard to find, can be pricy, and may require additional programming of the chip.

Note: Apple do sell unlocked iPhone in France, for a higher price.