iPhone purchasing tips sought

[sfphoto]

Hello all,

Am looking for my first iPhone. Wish to use for data only with an iPad sim (in an adapter).

Am thinking 3G or 3GS that can be (or is) unlocked.

Most sellers have no idea what boot rom version their phone has and some do not even know the OS. Finding the boot rom version does not appear to be a simple task, unlike "settings>general>about" for OS version.

1) Do I need to look for only phones with OS 3.1.2 or that are already unlocked? Or can I purchase any phone and restore to 3.1.2 with downloaded software (i.e. redmondpie.com)?

2) Any other tips or things to check like the vibrate switch etc.? Battery life?

Thanks in advance!

 

[PsstGreek]

Hello all,

Am looking for my first iPhone. Wish to use for data only with an iPad sim (in an adapter).

Am thinking 3G or 3GS that can be (or is) unlocked.

Most sellers have no idea what boot rom version their phone has and some do not even know the OS. Finding the boot rom version does not appear to be a simple task, unlike "settings>general>about" for OS version.

1) Do I need to look for only phones with OS 3.1.2 or that are already unlocked? Or can I purchase any phone and restore to 3.1.2 with downloaded software (i.e. redmondpie.com)?

2) Any other tips or things to check like the vibrate switch etc.? Battery life?

Thanks in advance!

All iPhone 3G and 3GS can be unlock now. So it doesn't matter what iOS you buy it on. But 4.0.2 or lower would be ideal for you. The new unlock method (4.2/4.2.1) is complicated for novice iPhone unlockers.

To restore an iPhone you need the shsh files saved. You can save these files either by jailbreaking your iPhone and using Cydia (equivalent to App Store) to save them or using TinyUmbrella.

Apple makes it tricky to restore iPhones. When a new iOS come out, they stop signing the older one, so you can't restore. For example 4.1 came out, if you wanted to restore your iPhone to 4.0.2 you'd get an error message unless you had the shsh files saved for 4.0.2.

Check everything when you buy an iPhone; scratches, dents, cracks, iOS, baseband.

 

[sfphoto]

tips

Thanks for the info on shsh and baseband.

From your comments I gather that

1) the baseband version is connected to the OS version (your get what you get)

2) saving shsh files: w/o these one can not use downloaded restore files (ipsw)

 

[PsstGreek]

Thanks for the info on shsh and baseband.

From your comments I gather that

1) the baseband version is connected to the OS version (your get what you get)

2) saving shsh files: w/o these one can not use downloaded restore files (ipsw)

1. Yep. For example 4.0 has 5.13.04 (unlockable). 4.1 has 5.14.02.

2. Exactly. The shsh files are needed to restore.

You can read up on jailbreaking/unlocking here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_jailbreaking

SHSH File read-up: http://theiphonewiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=SHSH

Baseband read-up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_version_history