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

Year Production of the iPhone: http://guides.macrumors.com/iPhone
2007 > 2G iPhone
2008 > 3G iPhone
2009 > 3GS iPhone
2010 > iPhone 4

Before purchasing an 3G/3GS/4 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 iPhone 3G/3GS/4 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: 8526

iPhone 3GS  Locating_iPhone_3G_wireless_carriers.pdf ( 404.61k ) Number of downloads: 8706


iPhone 3GS Part/Model Number:-



iPhone 4 Part/Model Number:- [credit:raptar_eric]

----

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 & Warranty
Section E : Additional Tips To Keep In Mind
Section F : What Next?
Section G : US iPhone + Customs / SIRIM
Section H : 2nd Hand iPhone & Fake iPhone

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 davidgary73: Oct 7 2010, 05:49 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: https://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 are available in:

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

The new iPhone 4 are available in:

- 16GB (Black)
- 16GB (White) - not available yet
- 32GB (Black)
- 32GB (White) - not available yet


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/

What are the differences between the 3GS and the iPhone 4?
A: The biggest difference is in everything.
Refer to the comparison chart: http://www.apple.com/iphone/compare-iphones/

--

2) The Difference Between Unlocked Vs Locked Units

Official Lock iPhone

iPhones units from USA, UK or other countries offers iPhones which are locked to their telcos (AT&T etc) hence you will not be able to use it locally here with our simcards.

Any benefit of buying lock iPhones? There's NO benefit of buying a lock unit iPhone as you will not be able to claim warranty locally (no international warranty) . You need to go back to the country from where you purchased the iPhone.

Don't waste your money buying a LOCK unit. Trust us on this as we have seen many having to upgrade their firmware (without reading this thread or do a search before upgrading) and get their iPhone lock for good 3-6 months or so. That's pretty dumb and stupid.

For firmware upgrades, you need to wait for a hardware or software solution to enable you to upgrade the latest firmware and unlock the iPhone to use with our telcos (Maxis,DIGI, Celcom).

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 UltraSnow


3) The benefit of getting an Official Unlock iPhone
You're able to use various GSM simcard based carriers around the world and use the phone immediately. Meaning(for those who read and still don't understand), you can use your iPhone with any simcard around the world and is FULLY unlocked.

---

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: Sep 23 2010, 10:13 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


-----

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 3G/3GS/4 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/4 from these countries are to look for them locally. Sellers can be found right here in the LYN Forum's https://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 4




1) UK : https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1459135

2)Australia : https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1071575

3) Singapore : https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1504289

4) Maxis : https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1504708

5) DIGI : https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1479718

6) Celcom : Coming Soon



iPhone 3GS



1) Malaysia

Maxis: https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1091499

DiGi: https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1341257


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: https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1071575
[credit: nokia2003]


3) Singapore

https://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:



----

This post has been edited by davidgary73: Apr 19 2011, 02:33 PM

Section 'D' : Required Testing When Purchasing & Warranty:

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:


iPhone 4:


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: https://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/3GS/iPhone 4 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/3GS/4 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 a Restore to the default settings before sending back for warranty.

--


Important check points for iPhone 4 Buyers

Things to check before you sync with iTunes for the first time:

Outer Casing: Inspect for cracks in the glass, visible gaps, and loose joints. The phone should be solid, with no "give" anywhere -- a properly constructed iPhone 4 is pretty much a solid glass/steel slab. In particular, the front and rear glass should be flush against the stainless steel antenna band. Any gaps will not only allow dust inside the iPhone, they also act as a pivot point, reducing the structural integrity of the glass and making it more likely to break after an accidental drop. Such gaps are both incredibly rare (I'm probably the only guy "lucky" enough to get hit with this issue twice) and very difficult to see. Hold the iPhone sideways with a strong light source in the background. So long as you don't see anything like this, you're good to go:


Small gap, big problem

Home/Sleep Buttons: Yet another item you can test before syncing the iPhone, these buttons should perform their intended functions right away and should neither be excessively loose nor too sticky. A miniscule wiggle or a little "clickiness" in either button is nothing to worry about, but if your Sleep button is rattling around in the casing or needs Herculean pressure to get it to work, there's a problem.

Vibrate switch/motor: Flick this switch to put the iPhone in vibrate. The button should slide smoothly, and you should immediately feel the phone's vibrate motor kick in, indicating successful activation.

Things to check during the first sync with iTunes:

Dock connector: If there's anything wrong with the dock connector, you'll know right away; either your iPhone won't sync with your computer, or it won't charge.

Flash memory: It's not particularly common, but if the iPhone's flash memory chips are corrupted, this could show up as syncing errors in iTunes. One bad sync isn't enough to pin the problem on the iPhone itself -- iTunes is a fiddly beast at the best of times -- but if you're unable to get the iPhone to sync successfully despite numerous attempts and some basic iTunes troubleshooting, bad flash memory in the iPhone may be the culprit. The simplest way to test the memory is to use it; fill your iPhone with as much media as you can during that first sync. If you have a 32 GB iPhone 4, now's a good time to go do something else for an hour or two, because syncing that much data takes a while.

Things to check after syncing with iTunes:

Volume buttons: It'll be obvious right away if these don't work. Note that a little bit of side-to-side "play" in these buttons is normal and nothing to fret over.

Headphone jack: Plug in the headphones that came with the iPhone. There should be no wiggle in this jack at all. You should hear sound in both headphones while playing media; if you don't, plug in a different set of headphones to make sure it's not a headphone problem rather than a jack problem. Test the headphones' controls, too; play/pause, track forward/back, VoiceOver, and volume up/down should all function normally. VoiceOver should be able to pick up your voice from the headphone microphone.

Camera: Verify that the shutter opens and closes on both the front- and rear-facing cameras by taking still photos with both. Test the iPhone's "tap to focus" feature by aiming the camera at a scene with marked differences in distance/brightness -- a bright window in the background of a dark room, for example -- and make sure the camera adjusts focus/brightness according to where you tap the screen. Check the photos for obvious issues like discoloration, pixellation, banding, etc. -- you're not going to get museum-quality images from the iPhone 4's 5 megapixel sensor, but the photos should be free of glaring, obvious defects. Test that the LED flash fires when you take photos by tapping the upper left corner of the screen until the flash setting reads "on." Now test both cameras again by taking videos with each one. Video from both cameras should be free of stuttering, and, obviously, you should be able to hear sound when you play the video back.

Accelerometer: You can test the accelerometer's function at the same time as the camera; on-screen controls should change position as you tilt the iPhone from portrait to landscape mode. Next, open any app that accepts text input, type a few characters, and then shake the iPhone; a dialog should pop up immediately asking if you want to undo typing or cancel.

Antennae:

3G: If you're in an area with 3G service, the iPhone should pick up a signal without you having to do anything. Test your data connection with some basic browsing in Safari; speeds will vary depending on how good your signal/network is, but if you've got a 3G connection, you shouldn't have to wait several minutes for even complex pages to load. Try to avoid the temptation to test out the "Death Grip" phenomenon; not only does this vary from network to network, cell site to cell site, I've also found it varies from phone to phone. My first iPhone 4, purchased a little over two weeks ago, definitely exhibited signal loss in "Death Grip" mode, but my new iPhone 4 doesn't drop signal at all, no matter how I hold it.

EDGE/GPRS: Even if you have a 3G signal, there's an easy way to test if you can also pick up signal using a slower EDGE/GPRS connection if need be. Go into Settings > General > Network and set "Enable 3G" to Off. Your iPhone should fall back to EDGE/GPRS within a few seconds. Test your data connection again by browsing around in Safari, but be aware that the connection speed will be barely tolerable in EDGE and all but unusable in GPRS.

GPS: Open the Maps app and tap on the arrow icon in the lower left corner. Unless you're inside a structure with thick walls/ceilings, a blue dot should appear at or relatively near your current position almost right away. The iPhone 4's GPS antenna is both more accurate and more powerful than those in earlier iPhones -- my iPhone 3G was rarely able to find me at all unless I was outside -- so your position should show up in Maps quite quickly in most cases. If it doesn't, try again outside with a clear view to the sky; if your iPhone's GPS still can't get a fix on your location, it may be faulty.

Bluetooth: I don't have a Bluetooth headset, so the way I tested Bluetooth was by pairing it with my Mac for internet tethering. It took me many tries to get my iPhone 4 to pair with my Mac successfully, but I was finally able to do it by following this procedure:

1. On the iPhone, enable internet tethering by going to Settings > General > Network > Internet Tethering > On. You'll be asked if you want to activate Bluetooth; you do. (You can also enable Bluetooth by going to Settings > General > Bluetooth > On, but since there isn't much you can do with a Mac-iPhone pairing over Bluetooth other than internet tethering, you might as well save yourself the extra step.)

2. Open System Preferences on your Mac and open the Bluetooth preference pane. Turn your Mac's Bluetooth on, and click the checkbox next to "Discoverable" so your iPhone will be able to find your Mac. Click + to add a new Bluetooth device, and Bluetooth Assistant will open.

3. Once Bluetooth Assistant opens, your iPhone should show up in the list of devices right away. If it doesn't, this is your first indication there might be something wrong with your iPhone's Bluetooth. If the iPhone does show up, click on it and wait for Bluetooth Assistant to generate a passcode.

4. Here's the part where I got tripped up. Once Bluetooth Assistant generates a passcode for your iPhone, not only do you have to accept that passcode on the iPhone, after accepting the passcode you must immediately click "Continue" in Bluetooth Setup Assistant on your Mac, or else the pairing will fail. There's nothing in Bluetooth Setup Assistant that tells you to do this, which is very irritating -- I spent about 15 minutes cursing at my Mac until I figured this out.

5. Fortunately, once your iPhone successfully pairs with your Mac via Bluetooth, you shouldn't ever need to do it again. To use the iPhone's internet tethering over Bluetooth, click the Bluetooth icon on your Mac's menubar, select your iPhone, and then select "Connect to Network."

Wi-Fi: Fortunately, testing the iPhone's Wi-Fi is far simpler than Bluetooth. In fact, with the iPhone's default options enabled, you'll be prompted to connect to any nearby wireless networks. If the iPhone discovers a nearby network on its own, that's a good sign; if it then connects to a network successfully after you tell it to, the Wi-Fi antenna works just fine.

Touchscreen: There's two quick ways to make sure there's no dead spots on your iPhone's touchscreen. First, open any program that accepts text input (Notepad, Safari, etc.) and type "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" on the iPhone's keyboard with your iPhone in all three typing orientations: portrait, landscape with the home button on the left, and landscape with the home button on the right. This is a good test to ensure the touchscreen registers taps along most of its surface. To test swiping, open the Photo app, select any photo, zoom in on it, and swipe your finger over the whole screen; the photo should move around seamlessly with the motion of your finger.

LCD: Considering how pixel-dense the iPhone 4's Retina Display is, it's questionable if a dead pixel or two would be visible at all. You can test for dead pixels anyway using the free Flashlight app, which allows you to display many different solid and patterned colors on the screen. As for the LED backlight, it'll be obvious if it doesn't work at all, but you can test it further by going into Settings > Brightness and dragging the slider from one end of the scale to another.

Ambient Light Sensor: The simplest way to check this is by sitting in a darkened room and turning it on and off in Settings > Brightness. In a dark room and at the default brightness settings, the display should brighten with Auto-Brightness turned off, then darken slightly with Auto-Brightness on.

CPU/GPU: Playing any graphically-intense 3D game will give the iPhone 4's CPU and GPU a decent workout, particularly if the app is optimized for the Retina Display. The iPhone 4's processor and graphics hardware are surprisingly robust for a device its size, so you shouldn't see much graphical slowdown in any App Store game you fire up. Garbled or distorted graphics could indicate a fault in the GPU, while excessive heating or general slow performance could mean a faulty CPU. Playing a hi-res h.264 movie in the iPod app is a good check, too -- videos should play smoothly, with no stuttering or obvious artifacts like blocks, lines, pixellation, or distortion.

Magnetometer: Open the Compass app and tap the button in the lower right corner. Your iPhone should be able to switch between true north and magnetic north seamlessly. If your iPhone is unable to acquire a signal even after you do numerous "figure 8" movements to clear interference, the magnetometer may be faulty.

Gyroscope: The iPhone 4 doesn't come with any default apps that take advantage of its gyroscope. Fortunately, there's a free app called Gyroscope in the App Store that demonstrates the iPhone 4's ability to detect its orientation in 3D space. Once you download and open this app, it'll be obvious right away if your iPhone 4's gyroscope is faulty, because one or more of the values for pitch, roll, or yaw won't change when you move the device.

Things to test during a phone call:

Microphone: Test the microphone in both normal and speakerphone mode. The person on the other phone should be able to hear you clearly, with minimal distortion, if any. There's been a few reports of failed microphones in the iPhone 4, with people unable to hear speech from callers using an iPhone 4; whether this is a microphone fault or due to an overzealous noise-cancelling microphone is unclear.

Speakers: Both the earpiece speaker and the bottom speaker should be audible and free of static or distortion. Listen for interference from the noise-cancelling mic or an unshielded/poorly shielded earpiece speaker -- my first two iPhone 4 units made a very annoying "beatbox" sound during phone calls.

Proximity Sensor: The touchscreen should shut off when the iPhone is held up to your ear, then swiftly come back on when moved away. There have been reports of iPhone 4 proximity sensors randomly activating during phone calls and causing people to inadvertently hang up on calls with their cheeks (how's that for FaceTime), but this is likely a problem with the iOS software rather than a hardware issue. If the proximity sensor doesn't work at all, that's a hardware fault.

All of the above tests done together take about 15-20 minutes, not counting the time it takes to sync data onto the iPhone for the first time. Putting the iPhone 4 through its paces using the tests above should find any glaring defects with the iPhone 4 right away. The last bit of the iPhone 4's hardware that requires testing takes significantly longer to test:

Battery: I haven't done any specific tests of the iPhone 4's battery, but the life I've gotten out of it over the past 24 hours is consistent with Apple's estimates. There's any number of battery tests you can perform to test your battery's capacity, but one of the most popular is putting a video on repeat and letting it play until the battery runs dry. According to Apple's tests you should get around 10 hours of video playback out of one battery charge, but there's some leeway in those results. I'd say that anything less than 7 hours or so of video playback on a fully-charged, brand-new iPhone 4, at default brightness, that's done nothing but play video during that time, may indicate a battery fault.

courtesy of TUAW
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/08/13/hardware-test-your-iphone-4/
---

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

This post has been edited by davidgary73: Oct 7 2010, 04:24 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/

This post has been edited by davidgary73: Jan 9 2010, 12:22 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 [GUIDE] New to iPhone? Where to begin?  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 )


3) iPhone reviews by LYN Staff Baronic
iPhone-vs-windows-mobile-true-review


This post has been edited by davidgary73: Mar 8 2010, 12:17 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

Section H : 2nd Hand iPhone & Fake iPhone

2nd Hand iPhones

Please take note.

1) Please check if all items are in the box (cables, manual etc) : https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/871684/+4

2) If the seller have installed applications/games, what happens if i sync the iPhone with iTunes? https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1223378

All applications/games will be erase once you sync with your iTunes.

Reason? Your iPhone is not authorise with your iTunes. Plus, the applications/games are not solely purchased by you hence you don't have the authority to use it.

What should i do?

a) Authorise your iPhone with iTunes. iTunes will erase all applications/games in the iPhone and will reset it back to it's default state.

b) Repurchase the applications or games via iTunes.

3) How to authorise my iPhone with iTunes? Read: https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/868281


FAKE iPhone

https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=1358019&hl=

https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=1533494&hl=fake

https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=1236864&hl=fake

https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=1128048&hl=

https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=942450&hl=

This post has been edited by davidgary73: Aug 29 2010, 07:16 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?

Hardware Unlock for iPhone 3G, probably you will see thing like this (or similar) inside SIM Tray.

wat abt for 2G Iphone bro? btw,thnx for replying...

iPhone 2G already can be unlocked using Software Unlocking method.

hey ..
im thinking of getting an iphone from usa..
im not sure wheter it is an unlocked or locked version..
how to know?
thx

it's a locked set. For unlocked set usually u can get from Singapore, New Zealand and Australia.

Can an unlock 3G iPhone from...
Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Luxembourg, Macau, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey, Taiwan etc..

The Post copy from David 's thread.....
http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/790913

thanks to Davidgary73

Following the VERY recent announcement by the DevTeam, finally an unlock is going to be released for the iPhone 3G sometime around New Years, so I would recommend that anyone looking to buy an iPhone 3G to hold off all your purchases until then.

This unlock will mean that you will be able to purchase those cheaply priced locked units from the US and elsewhere at last! That's approximately RM1000 that you save by not having to pay for the officially unlocked units. What a way to start the New Year. Well done Dev Team!

Read the full update here: http://blog.iphone-dev.org/post/65126957/t...son-to-be-jolly

This post has been edited by Maverick Wil: Dec 18 2008, 04:55 PM

one of most informative topic ..thanks guys..

probably i'll just have to wait for it..thanks for the info

jeez! can somebody help me out here!
i'm new to this forum, god damnit i dunno how to begin.
anyhoo, i would like to purchase an iPhone 3g (16gb).
how can i find out more about it?
whats the market price at the mo?
i need answers! damn santa for not being able to give me an iPhone nor fitting into my chimney!

Search in LYN garagesale. There's a few selling.

Hi, got a question:

Would the impending s/w unlock of the 3G iPhone be affected by future firmware updates? meaning you can't update your phone?

thx!

Yes..most surely it will. Lock 3G iPhone will sure be a headache when comes to firmware upgrades la. Every firmware updates will render the phone lock if the baseband is altered/upgraded. So yes, you can't update your firmware even tho you want itso badly. You'll always be backwards..while those who have the official unlock units will enjoy the sweetness of the firmware upgrades leh.

Even with the upcoming unlock patch on the 31/12, only firmware 2.0.0 to 2.1 will have the opportunity to unlock. Imagine how long it takes to have a firmware 2.2 unlock..we never know. Then..think about the next firmware and the next..oh my..you're in for a bad ride.

Official unlock 3G iPhones can update firmware anytime when is available and trouble free.


This post has been edited by TripleH: Dec 23 2008, 05:14 PM

Cool

This post has been edited by jesseblue: Dec 25 2008, 04:42 AM

one question here...i read on how to get iphone from singtel...means we have to ask someone to subcribe... but my question is...after subscribe the plan from singtel...the phone is locked to Singtel simcard only?
or it's unlocked?

Dude, phones from S'pore are sold unlock. Why not you just buy for sellers in garagesale and make sure they provide you a receipt v the phone.

hi i would like to clear my mind with something.. if i would buy an i phone from a authorised seller in HONG KONG.. it can be used out of the box right? and the warranty provided by whom??

cheers

authorised seller in hk will be apple online store hk..... warranty will b provided by authorised 3rd party appointed by apple hk... see below...

Telecom Digital Services Limited
Room 2505, 25/F, Ginza Plaza, 2A-2H Sai Yeung Choi Street, Mongkok, Kowloon,
Hong Kong.
Business Hours: (Mon - Sat) 11:00am - 8:00pm.

which means any problem, u will have to sent it back to hk for repair....

the phone can be used out of the box.... juz slot in the sim card and activate thru itunes as it has not been activated yet...

so far, mine is ok (touchwood)

means any sim card like hotlink also can? what about the singapore set by singtel? can be used right out the box also right? but only there's a price difference..

yup, any simcard will do...... singapore set by singtel is also the same can b used outright from the box...

if not mistaken, tthe phone has been activated by singtel..... warranty by singtel.....

not sure bout the price diff.... its all bout the xchange rate...

Hi.. Actually i dont really understand with 'after new year' thing.

So..can anyone let me know whether i should get the 3g iphone in u.s now (i can only buy before new year because im going back on 30th december) and update it after new year when im back in Malaysia?

read this

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/880115

Us set is lock telco set.

Thanks for the info bro....keep it up.....

Very good info there. Sharing is caring.

Hi there. Just a quick question. Is there anyway I can tell where the set comes from? e.g. NZ or Singapore or Australia or USA or something? (Not the manufacturing country - This one I know - China, but the unit initially meant for which country.)

try this

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/871684

section D
number 2

Aw man... how could I miss that part. HA! Ha! Ha! Thanks much.

i bought an iphone 3G 16GB in canada and don't know how to unlock it.
How can i unlock it without effecting any of its cool function?
Where i should go and how much does it cost?
Tq..

check out this thread
http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/888017

apparently optus in Australia is selling the 16G iphone for 899AUD + 120 for unlocking fees (prepaid user only)

sound like a good deal ?

they are still going to take up to 10 days for the unlocking process right? anyone know if unlocking can be done if the phone is outside Australia?

bro, like i said before....

check out this thread
http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/888017

i plan to get an iphone 3g this weekend. i have some questions though.

1. do you think a new model will pop out soon? i don't want to buy and then next day 32gb version come out

2. any plans from local telco to bring it over? been hearing rumors for a year already

3. where is the best place to get a white 3g iphone singapore unlocked model? what is the price range?

4. the singapore unlocked model is the easiest to use right? just slot in my maxis simcard and it'd work without hacking the software?

hello there

1. not comfirm by apple yet... but if u have the paitent to wait.... (im sure im not!)

2. there are rumors about this but if u believe in rumors.... u can also wait (again waiting)

3. lots of survey have to be done.... or u can buy at the garage sale... most of them take stock frm singapore

4. yes...

tq!
for more information u can read through this forum... have fun!

This post has been edited by g3n0c|d3: Jan 7 2009, 10:33 AM

Thats 899AUD for 16gb + $80 unlocking fees. Unless you will be there for 6 months, after this duration you will get this unlocking for free!

is optus still selling the prepaids ones just like u mention mr. Torped91? i need to confirm...

anyone know where in kl/pj i can get a 3g singtel unlock set?

Its on the site, not sure if still can buy online.
The optus shops dont do it anymore, sales dude told me that the pre-paid thing ended after xmas. But i see there are ppl on Ebay Australia selling this Optus iphone packages. Luckily i bought mine when optus launched prepaid with iphone. Got it unlocked for free just last week!

This post has been edited by torped91: Jan 7 2009, 02:03 PM

My sis-in-law checked last weekend (after xmas), yes they still have the prepaid deal.

---

Added on January 7, 2009, 2:16 pmLatest update. She is in Perth, she just sms me, buying the iPhone 16GB (Black) on pre-paid plan as I type.

Hope this helps:)

This post has been edited by Beemer: Jan 7 2009, 02:16 PM

cool..thnks for the info... acctually one of the forumers said optus doesnt sell the prepaid iphone on oct. last year... Well, ure all lucky son of a gun.... got cheap unlock phone huh??? hahahahahahaha.... well i got myself an optus prepaid too.... (about 4 months ago...)

thnks for the info again.....



This post has been edited by g3n0c|d3: Jan 7 2009, 02:43 PM

only certain optus shop still sell the outright of the iphone

about the unlocking fees,that what the lady told me,120 AUD

certain shop huh...? well clearing some old stock i pressume... i guess wht the guys said are true....
its had finding the optus iphone prepaid in australia now....

i'm not sure about other part of Australia

but here at gold coast,so far i found one optus shop that still sell outright of iphone

was thinking to getting one when i come back in march,and 899AUD is not that expensive aslo

really not expensive.... honestly....

hello all! I am not sure whether I suppose to post the question to this thread. Anyway, just wanted to give it a shot. Yesterday I went to a phone shop at PJ. The sales lady told me that all Iphone 3G will not function for maxis / Digi / Celcom, so no point buying an Iphone 3G phone. Is this true? Instead she recommends me to buy the Iphone 2G.

There's no problem using the 3G iPhone with our local telcos. As long as you purchase the units that's recommended on the first post of this thread.

So I assume the 3G video calls will work as well?

eh bro ah bro
read the specs
got say anything about front camera or not?

the the sales lady correct lah... cannot use 3g video calls... hahahahaha its 3g alright my friend.... but its only for 3g data.... hope u're clear about this...

good thread!
now i want to promote mine here LOL

Most probably she wants to clear her iPhone 2G stock...

Works completely fine for me.

Picked up a fully unlocked 3g from a Czech Vodafone shop, as well as a bottle of absinthe too.
It was about 15,000 Czech Koruna, which is about RM2,700, but there's a instant cash VAT back at the airport of about 1,700 Koruna which makes the phone about RM2,400. No issues with the phone at all here.

i am wondering if anyone can help me. i will be in australia for a week in feb, and i heard that it will take up to 10 days for the telco to send the unlock code. I am wondering if i will still be able to receive the code, and hence unlock the phone if i am out of australia.

I know there is the yellowsnow thing out, but i prefer to have the telco unlock it for me. Thanks in advance.

eventhou it said 10 days to unlock.. actually its less than 10 days... but how arethey going to contact u? got friends frm aussie?

i am planning to get the prepaid one from Optus and another one by signing up for a plan as my sister is going to be studying there. For the one on prepaid, i think they are going to contact me using the prepaid number isnt it? I have to sort this one out before i go over, as if it takes up to 10 days, i might ask someone to get it for me first.

from my past experience... it is less than 10 days.... so dont worry about the day... its just a roughly figure....

wish u luck....

thanks man, i hope all will go well.

hi all...is it easy to unlock the US version of Iphone 3G..?plan to buy one for me..is it compulsory to sign a contract with AT&T in USA..?

wakao... now this is nice nice info....

considering an asking a close family at ausie to get an optus package for the phone...

converted at the current exchange rate... shud be around rm2.2k for 16gb 3g unit

Great guide mate.. I'm just one more step closer!

Does the Iphone 3G comes with mono or stereo built in speakers?

It would be mono.

Thanx 4 sharing da info...

Sorry, i am not really clear about this..

Em... What is the difference between originally unlocked vs software unlocked iphone? Technically, can i upgrade the software unlocked firmware? Which one are better choice?