Apple iphone | ExpatWoman.com
 

Apple iphone

171
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 January 2012 - 19:16

My husband has decided he wants one....seem to be expensive here...anyone had any luck buying and shipping in an unlocked one from somewhere else? He is travelling to Bangkok next month and thinking he could get one there....any suggestions?

514
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EW GURU
Latest post on 07 January 2012 - 15:56
I bought mine from either Virgin or Carrefour here and it has facetime.
171
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 07 January 2012 - 14:49
Thanks for all the input....had looked also in Dubai.....but found out no facetime....need this for talking to people back home....so did not buy. Checked it out in Vodaphone today and your right, the difference is not that much so if we dont go home in the next month we will just buy here. Did not think to ask if vodaphone had facetime....but will check when back in.
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EW GURU
Latest post on 07 January 2012 - 13:41
If you buy it directly from Apple in the UK or US you have the option of choosing a carrier locked or unlocked. I know someone who bought the 4s online in December and had it shipped via aramax and so did his brother with no problems. Even if it is locked in the UK, the carrier has to unlock it as in I bought one on 02 when I lived there in 2009 but when I moved to here in 2010 they unlocked it. It was only the original iPhone that the carriers were not allowed to unlock due to some licensing agreements with Apple. For the convenience , I don't think that they are that much more expensive here, as lulu said, just some of the apps preloaded might be different and I am not sure if you can just download them or not. What Jill is saying is that the iPhone 4s that she has can be used on both GSM and CDMA networks (CDMA being used on some carriers in the US still, GSM is in the US and the rest of the world) I am not sure if all iPhone 4s phones are dual carrier.
309
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 07 January 2012 - 10:58
I bought FOUR iPhones from an Apple store in the UK last year, and had no problem with using them here. Seems if you buy from an Apple store you should be ok. Having said that, I bought my own one from Carrefour (I think they're actually Vodaphone ones) and it was relatively cheap BUT it doesn't have Facetime for some reason, so maybe that's why it was QR1,000 cheaper than Qtel.
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 07 January 2012 - 10:46
Now that the AT&T-only deal has expired with Apple- you can buy a factory unlocked iphone from Apple stores in the US -- but if you just buy a phone from some other source in the us- it may be questionable. Also- we bought an iphone in Dubai Duty Free that has both Sim technology and that annoying technology that most of the carriers use in the US (Verizon, sprint, etc) - so now you're not limited to AT&T, T-mobile, or Cingular when you're n the states with your iphone.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 January 2012 - 22:28
I got my iphone at apple store in NYC before I came here. It's factory unlocked. You can buy it from apple online store as well. :)
171
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 January 2012 - 21:39
Thanks guys for that enlightening info.....had not considered US phone as thought they were all linked to carriers. Will be back in Uk at some point so could have bought there. Makes sense to suck up the price here then as the updates for apple products come fast and thick so would rather have easy access to them.
1326
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EW OLDHAND
Latest post on 06 January 2012 - 20:50
A friend of mine bought an unlocked on in the UK and got it here to find it wasn't actually unlocked - had to be activated via a UK carrier, and he ended up returning that one and getting one here. We got our iPhone 4's here last year - the first time I actually have a factory unlocked iphone. It's worth having a factory unlocked one (rather than one locked to a carrier that has to be unlocked via software) because with the factory unlocked you can update the software via itunes (or actually now do it directly from the phone via wifi), but the ones that are unofficially unlocked can't do software updates without then locking up again (and having to be unlocked again, usually for a fee).
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EW GURU
Latest post on 06 January 2012 - 19:54
My DH recently bought me one in NYC and the vendor said yes yes yes it's unlocked. Guess what? It's not. DH then had to go out and buy me a new one here after a whole big rigmarole (for yours truly! he was working of course!) for 2 days. Don't want to say it's NOT possible and I know very little about the technology, however when one of the guys I asked to unlock it said "why you not buy here madam?" I had to agree! Anyway there might be better stories out there for you, and certainly the one I had, the technology will be available in the next month or so to unlock it here (apparently) but because I had cancelled my large sim (for a micro sim) I wasn't prepared to be phoneless (with school age kids) for any length of time. Hope that makes sense, good luck!