Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Offically unlocked iPhone - What's the difference?

P

petemwah

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 10, 2009
228
0
When an iPhone is 'officially' unlocked, i.e sold legitimately unlocked, what IS the difference? Is it a software or hardware difference that causes it to remain unlocked, afterall even with jailbreaking it remains in its open state so does this mean the hardware is different??

cheers! pete x
 
petemwah said:
When an iPhone is 'officially' unlocked, i.e sold legitimately unlocked, what IS the difference? Is it a software or hardware difference that causes it to remain unlocked, afterall even with jailbreaking it remains in its open state so does this mean the hardware is different??

cheers! pete x
Click to expand...
No difference in the software or the physical hardware. The magic is all done in the Apple DB. If the IMEI of the iPhone is registered in the DB as unlocked it will remain unlocked through any software updates and even firmware updates. Some Carriers sell all iPhones as "Unlocked" and others allow you to have your iPhone unlocked for an addtional fee.

Here is the Apple link that provides details by Country / Carrier: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1937

Note: Even if the iPhone is "Factory" Unlocked (not really the case with the iPhone), the warranty is only valid in the country where it was designed to be sold. This is based on the Part Number.

Dave
 
fascinating, so almost a similar system that enables the running of beta software on an iPhone, i.e. it checks with the server.

thanks for your v.v.interesting reply!
 
dave006 said:
No difference in the software or the physical hardware. The magic is all done in the Apple DB. If the IMEI of the iPhone is registered in the DB as unlocked it will remain unlocked through any software updates and even firmware updates. Some Carriers sell all iPhones as "Unlocked" and others allow you to have your iPhone unlocked for an addtional fee.
Click to expand...

How does it know which carrier the phone is locked to? Does it pull this info from the DB too?
 
hippojay said:
How does it know which carrier the phone is locked to? Does it pull this info from the DB too?
Click to expand...

good question, i'd be interested to know the answer to this. i guess it's done by the same system as when you restore the iphone is unusable until it contacts the apple servers. i imagine apple would use the same system for carrier lock, makes it more efficient i guess...
 
How about a Jailbroken 4GB iPhone?

I have a buddy's 4GB iPhone (1st gen) that's still locked.

If I jailbreak it, can it be used as if it were an iTouch, e.g., access iTunes, browse through WiFi, etc.?
 
fireshot91 said:
I answered his question..did I not?;)
Click to expand...
Um, I'd say NOT.
...but I get your point. I wasn't looking carefully at the topic, and thought it was on the difference between an unlocked iPhone and an iTouch.
My apologies, and thanks for the hospitality.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back