Credits to 'nokia2003' for his original how to purchase thread on which this guide is based on.

Before purchasing a 3G iPhone from any stores, please download the pdf file below "iPhone_Part_Model_Number.pdf" and refer to it as to where the origin of the iPhone is from. Some forumers here have been tricked by iPhone sellers stating that they sell unlock units (Singtel) but in return, they sold a LOCK 3G iPhone units (US, UK etc) to them. Highly recommended that you print the pdf or kindly save it in your phone for reference.

iPhone 3G  iPhone_Part_Model_Number.pdf ( 369.29k ) Number of downloads: 2611

iPhone 3GS  Locating_iPhone_3G_wireless_carriers.pdf ( 404.61k ) Number of downloads: 2024


iPhone 3GS Part/Model Number:-

Offically Unlock iPhone 3GS:


Offically Lock iPhone 3GS:

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Thread Updated: July 10th, 2009 (davidgary73)



Thinking of getting yourself an iPhone but don't know where to start? Well you've come to right place. This guide has been written for Malaysian buyers in mind. Here, you will be shown a step-by-step process on how to purchase your own iPhone using the ways available today. The breakdown of this guide is as follows:

Section A : iPhone Basics & The Difference Between Unlocked Vs Locked Units
Section B : Identifying An Unlocked & Locked Unit
Section C : Where & How To Purchase
Section D : Required Testing When Purchasing
Section E : Additional Tips To Keep In Mind
Section F : What Next?
Section G : US iPhone + Customs / SIRIM

This guide will be updated to reflect new ways to purchase but as guides go, there will inevitably be some shortcomings where certain questions need further clarification. If you find yourself stuck and wanting to find out just that little bit more of information, you can discuss it here in this thread. However, you are reminded that this is NOT the place for trading. The LYN Forums already has a section where you can do that in the 'Trade Zone. Please keep discussions as relevant as possible.

Your co-operation in making the iPhone forums a better place is highly appreciated.

Cheers!

This post has been edited by tinkerbel: Nov 9 2009, 09:43 PM

Section 'A' : iPhone Basics & The Difference Between Unlocked Vs Locked Units:


1) iPhone Basics

Apple has to date launched two generations of the iPhone which is the iPhone aka iPhone 2G (2007) and the iPhone 3G (2008):

iPhone generation model starts with: [by nokia2003]

MAxxx are 2G iPhones
MBxxx are 3G iPhones
MCxxx are 3GS iPhones

The iPhone 2G is no longer offered by Apple but can still be purchased in the open market. Available in:
*All 2G iPhones comes LOCKED as it was made for US only which tied to telco contract. To enable 2G iPhone usage to work with any telco, Jailbreak and Unlock is needed with software. Refer to this thread: http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1013541

- 4GB (Silver) - no longer in production
- 8GB (Silver) - no longer in production
- 16GB (Silver) - no longer in production

The iPhone 3G is still being offered by Apple and is available in:

- 8GB (Black)
- 16GB (Black) - no longer in production
- 16GB (White) -- no longer in production

The new iPhone 3GS is available in:

- 16GB (Black)
- 16GB (White)
- 32GB (Black)
- 32GB (White)


What are the differences between the 2G and the 3G asides from the price?
In a nutshell, the iPhone 3G remains largely the same phone as the iPhone 2G but has a number of new main features which are:


What are the differences between the 3G and the 3GS?
A: The biggest difference is in the speed.
Refer to the comparison chart: http://www.apple.com/iphone/compare-iphones/

2) The Difference Between Unlocked Vs Locked Units
The first thing you must know is that there are ways to unlock all the iPhones. HOWEVER, different methods of unlocking produce different results. Now take this seriously as the method of unlocking used will determine the quality of the iPhone you will purchase. There are basically 3 categories of unlocking:

Hardware Unlocking


Software Unlocking


Unofficial Unlocking with yellowSnow


3) The benefit of getting an Official Unlock iPhone


---

You should now have gotten the gist that the ONLY type of iPhone that you should even consider buying is either an iPhone 2G or an officially unlocked iPhone 3G. Absolutely no exceptions unless you want to freely waste your money and have a lot of headaches to boot.

This post has been edited by davidgary73: Oct 20 2009, 06:07 PM

Section 'B' : Identifying An Unlocked & Locked Unit:


1. How To Determine Which is Which?

Identifying an iPhone 2G is simple. Just spot the unique silver+black design of the back casing from the following photo:

Determining an officially unlocked iPhone 3G requires a bit more work but is no rocket science. You just have to figure out which country the iPhone is from. Refer to iPhone Part Number.
The iPhones which do not have a tick under 'Locked to carrier' are the ones you are looking for. You will be shown how to cross reference and verify the part numbers in Section 4 of this guide.

For your reference, the list of officially unlocked 3G iPhones are available from the following countries:


For your reference, the list of officially unlocked iPhone 3GS are available from the following countries:


2. Quick Trivia - Why US iPhones are $199/299?

Quick trivia for you. Being the typical Malaysian, you must have already done some quick calculations. US$199/299 ONLY?!

Well hang on a minute. US$199 sounds like a sweet deal but it doesn't factor in the carrier costs. One main reason why the iPhone 3G/3GS is locked in the first place is because it is meant to be bound to a (usually 2 year minimum) network carrier contract. If you add up all the costs of the contract, the iPhone itself as well as the transportation, processing and markup charges, you will end up with the average prices found in the market for an unofficially unlocked iPhone 3G/3GS. I'll leave it to you to do the math.

3. FAQ on justifying your iPhone purchase: http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1001995


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This post has been edited by davidgary73: Jul 3 2009, 05:21 PM

Section 'C' : Where & How To Purchase:

As mentioned earlier in Section B, officially unlocked 3G iPhones can be purchased from the following countries:


*Does a Singtel, NZ, Maxis Malaysia or an official unlock 3G iPhones work with our local telco Maxis, Celcom, DiGi and UMobile? Yes, just insert your current simcard.

The list of officially unlocked iPhone 3GS are available from the following countries:


*Official unlock iPhone 3GS work with our local telco Maxis, Celcom, DiGi and UMobile? Yes, just insert your current simcard.

The easiest way to purchase an officially unlocked iPhone 3G/3GS from these countries are to look for them locally. Sellers can be found right here in the LYN Forum's http://forum.lowyat.net/MobilePhonesandRelatedAccessories section. There is of course a markup to the prices of these iPhones for the service of ease provided to you but it is no doubt the safest and quickest way to go about it. The markup prices are in most cases quite reasonable. It might also be useful for you to know that local sellers commonly get their stock from Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia.
----

iPhone 3GS



1) Malaysia

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1091499


2) Australia

Apple Store Australia now sells iPhone 3G S outright without any form of contract and unlocked directly from the box! This means that you can use any form of supported foreign SIM cards (for example our local Maxis, Celcom, DiGi et cetera with these iPhone 3G S, without the need of software and hardware unlocking.

For more info, please refer to this link: http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1071575
[credit: nokia2003]


3) Singapore

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1087010


4) US - Buy.com

http://www.buy.com/merch/q/loc/12435/store...20unlocked.html


--------

iPhone 3G



If you're feeling a bit on the adventurous side or you happen to have relatives scattered all over the world, read on. Not all countries will be covered (because we don't really know how in some places) but you should be able to connect the dots by reading the following:



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This post has been edited by davidgary73: Aug 5 2009, 09:03 PM

Section 'D' : Required Testing When Purchasing:

If you're going to shell out a few thousand ringgit for a phone, it is sincerely hoped that you have the sensibility to conduct a COD transaction.
The steps outlined here is to help you ensure that you are not being scammed over by your seller. You should run through the following before making payment:


1) Physically inspect the phone and its package
It doesn't really matter whether the box your iPhone comes in is still in plastic shrink wrap or not as it is normal for the package to be opened for inspection/activation by the telco carriers when your seller collects it from them. Your package should consist of the following items:

iPhone 2G:

iPhone 3G:


iPhone 3GS:


Make sure you check the phone itself to see whether there are any physical deformities.


2) Cross reference the 3G iPhone part number
You need to figure out where your phone is from first from your seller. Once you identify that, take down the 'iPhone 3G Part Numbers'. Cross reference the number you've taken down with the part number on the box as well as the phone itself. This step (and actually all the following steps) is not necessary for the iPhone 2G as it doesn't really matter where your phone is from since it can be unlocked with DevTeam tools regardless.

On the box:


On the iPhone: (via Settings> General> About> Model)



3) Verify that your iPhone is genuinely unlocked
To check if your iPhone 3G is legit and is not a fake factory unlock look up on the iPhone under (Settings). The items list you should have there is Airplane Mode, WiFi, Carrier and Fetch New Data. As for the fake unlock iPhone 3G units, the 'Carrier' item is missing. If it is missing, you have been conned and if for some reason you already paid for it and there is no turning back, do not proceed to upgrade your iPhone firmware to FW2.2 as it will render your phone useless. A bit more info on this here: http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/959711/+820


4) Make sure it is a new unit
If you are indeed paying for a new unit, you can get a rough idea whether if it really is new by looking it up on the iPhone (Settings> General> Usage). Note that the statistics shown there can be reset though.


5) Test your iPhone
Test the phone out! Give it a run through making sure the touchscreen and buttons are working, the software is in order, earphones can be used, etc. You will also want to pop in your SIM and do a test call. Take note that it may for some reason take a few minutes for the SIM to register with the network. There have been cases where it has even taken up to 10 minutes for the phone to start connecting to a network but that is quite rare.


6) Warranty
Claim warranty from the country that you bought the 3G iPhone from if there's defect or hardware related issues.

Online Service Assistance Warranty Check: https://selfsolve.apple.com/GetWarranty.do

If you bought your iPhone 3G from non Maxis dealers: To claim warranty you need the person who bought the iPhone which is under his name to be present. Most probably the person you bought the iPhone from purchased the iphone from a non-maxis dealer.

*For those who have jailbreak your iPhone, warranty will be void. Do an Erase All Content and Settings and restore to the default settings before sending back for warranty.


---

Now pay up and go feel joyful for you are now an iPhone Owner! Congrats!

This post has been edited by davidgary73: Jul 10 2009, 02:20 PM

Section 'E' : Additional Tips To Keep In Mind:

1. Firmware Upgrades

- 2G iPhones can only upgrade it's firmware when DevTeam release a tool to unlock and jailbreak the iPhone.

- Officially unlock 3G iPhones wil be able to upgrade regardless of the firmware version when it's available on the day Apple seeds the firmware.

- Lock 3G iPhones will not be able to upgrade it's firmware till Devteam releases a tool to unlock the iPhone or available hardware unlocker (GeveySim, TurboSim). This goes for every firmware upgrades. A never ending cycle of cat and mouse game.

2. AppleCare For iPhone

There's not AppleCare For iPhone according to Apple Malaysia. AppleCare for iPhone only applies to certain countries.

http://www.apple.com/legal/applecare/appforiphone.html

http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/service/faq/

http://www.apple.com/asia/support/products/ (All Macs and iPod Only)

This post has been edited by davidgary73: May 8 2009, 07:48 PM

Section 'F' : What Next?:


1) Explore your iPhone...

... and realise its full potential. There is sooo much to discover about your iPhone. Step on over to the Malaysian iPhone User Guide (MiPUG) to get started.


2) Accessorise baby!

You just paid a lot of cash for your new iPhone. What better way to celebrate than to spend more! At the very least, get a screen protector, a decent casing and pimp it up with lots of apps/games.

iPhone 2G Case Discussion Thread: ( http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/660063 )
iPhone 3G Case Discussion Thread: ( http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/660063/+460#entry18902993 )
2G/3G iPhone Case Discussion Thread v2: ( http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/915863 )

Recommended iTunes AppStore Applications: http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1013541
Recommended iTunes AppStore Games: http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1013537
LYN User Review on Downloaded Apps: ( http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/803666 )

Lots of sellers selling iPhone Accessories in the LYN Garage Sales: ( http://forum.lowyat.net/GarageSales )

This post has been edited by davidgary73: May 3 2009, 11:43 AM

Section G : US iPhone + Customs / SIRIM



Post taken from http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/635333

US iPhone: http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/829566

This post has been edited by davidgary73: Apr 9 2009, 11:13 PM

good job bro

great job sir Maverick Wil. this will help most them out there wanted an iphone

i have already PM-ed Baronic to replace mine with this =)

You summoned me? lolz. done as requested

YES dream come true!!!

Thanks alot bro AWSOME guide!!

Without it, I dont even know half the things you stated!!

Thx!

gud job maverick..
nice...

very useful information man..great job...fully support...

Thanks for the info...

Good effort

Oh...1 more pinned thread that can refer by us ..hehe thanks

Thnx for all the comments guys.

Btw to @twinkles and any other iPhone sellers as well as those who have purchased iPhones before by themselves (without dealer), if you have anything to share for Section 'C' : Where & How To Purchase please PM me. Any addition to the other parts of the guide are also welcome. Cheers.

Sori,wanna ask,how to differenciate between a hardware and a software unlocked iphone?