iPhone dilemma...

[Mr JT]

My wife bought an iPhone 3 in the UK last year, way before we knew we were coming to HK. Unfortunately meant she was tied to a UK contract. We quickly realised when we arrived in Jan that the phone was also locked, which required a visit to Mongkok, before she was able to sign up on a contract with Smartone. Recently the phone died. A quick trip to an Apple retailer determined that the software had failed and iPhone 4 software was installed. Trouble is that this means that the phone is locked again, and worse she's paying on 2 contracts with no phone. As I understand it there is no jailbreak for iPhone 4 software, I don't think it's possible to re-install iPhone 3 software, so as I see it there's no way to unlock it - any ideas? Cheers

[BenderBends]

there IS a jailbreak and unlock for iphone 4.
which OS is currently installed?

[Mr JT]

Interesting. It's an iPhone 3G with OS 4.1 currently installed

[sxc]

Have you tried calling the carrier in the UK to ask them to unlock the phone? In Australia, the carriers are selling the iphones locked, but will unlock them for free on demand...I don't know whether you need to wait until the end of the contract to unlock the phone in the UK.

Unlocking the iPhone occurs through iTunes. The carrier will tell Apple to allow the phone to be unlocked, it somehow goes through Apple's servers and within 48 hours when you connect the phone to iTunes it will unlock.

The unlock is based on the phones IMEI number so you can do it while you're in HK - don't have to physically go back to the UK.

[BenderBends]

Are you positive it is 3G and not 3GS?
I can give you links to full instructions and photo tutorial for jailbreak and unlock...but i need to know:

What version iphone?
What version computer OS? (i.e. Mac or Windows?)

[imparanoic]

my colleague has a 3gs 4.1 from his friend in the us, tried many times to unlock, first got a jail break, now i believe the firmware/modem firmware is stopping him getting completely unlocked, gather apple likes to impose many barriers especially with their market share of the smartphone market

[fth]

The dev-team blog advised not to upgrade your phone OS to 4.1 from 4.0.1 two months ago, but seem to have upgraded their software to take firmware 4.1 on more recently. Look at the link below.

Dev-Team Blog

Whatever you do do not automatically upgrade your iphone's operating system.

[pin]

If you have an iphone 3, just install Android on it.

[BenderBends]

If you have an iphone 3, just install Android on it.

all reports ive ready is that its extremely buggy, terrible battery life (like only a few hours), and just a terrible experience. Although they are working to smooth things out for a real solution in future. Have you tried it yet?

[BenderBends]

gather apple likes to impose many barriers especially with their market share of the smartphone market

its the same for all devices...Android needs to be "rooted" to do anything usefull beyond their walled garden, and it voids warranty. WinMobile7 is exactly same...requiring root exploit and void warranty to do anything beyond what they provide.