Free TUAW iPhone app -- try it now!
AOL Tech

Engadget

FEATURES: Holiday Gift Guide Droid review Palm Pixi Review Bold 9700
  • Angelo
  • Member Since Feb 20th, 2006
Blog Activity
Blog# of Comments
Joystiq3 Comments
Engadget2 Comments
Joystiq Nintendo3 Comments
Engadget Mobile10 Comments
Fanhouse NBA Blog2 Comments

Recent Comments:

so VZ navigator has the same icon as Apple's Safari Browser? I find it hard to believe that Verizon would be using the blue compass as the VZ navigator logo for as long as VZ navigator has been out without any sort of legal action from Apple.

(see Safari logo at the bottom of this page)
http://www.apple.com/safari/
Is that a Safari browser logo??
Dranon,

I wouldn't recommend buying the iphone if you don't have data plan just because it's such a data intensive device. If you have constant wi-fi no matter where you go, I can see how the no data plan could be a mimimal problem, but you would have to be conscious of turning off any data services (push e-mail, exchange server, IM, maps, mobileMe, etc.) every time you left the range of a hot spot, otherwise the phone would automatically switch to 3g and you would wind up getting charged per kb. So if you do manage to score a non-contract iphone (right now, you can't buy one at either apple or at&t without signing up for a two year contract with a mandatory data plan) and just pop in your sim card, be wary of your wi-fi coverage.

That being said, if you are on AT&T and you put in a sim card from a different AT&T phone, I'm honestly not really sure whether or not you'd have to re-activate the phone in itunes or if it would just work as any other AT&T phone. I can tell you when I bought it, it came pre-installed with a SIM card and the minute the transaction went through, the AT&T sim card in my other phone deactivated and I was phone-less until I got home and activated the iphone on itunes. But I guess to answer your basic question, if just swapping in an AT&T sim card into an activated iphone works like any other AT&T phone, then no, you don't need a phone that's unlocked or jailbroken.

Hope that was clear. I'm a little scatterbrained right now. Take care.
Brent, all carriers track IMEIs, but they don't do anything about it unless the phone is reported stolen. If an iphone imei pops up on another carrier's network, there's not really anything they can do unless the IMEI was reported as stolen. Unless of course there's a clause in the user agreement that forbids the end user from selling a phone they legally own and paid for.
Yes, an unlocked phone allows you to use another carrier that's not ATT. Jailbreaking allows you to install third party apps outside of what is available on itunes. Among these kind of applications are things not yet available through the app store such as MMS and a Video Recorder.
I definitely had my mind made up on the white. I saw one of the early pics of the black one and noticed the fingerprints all over the place on the back. They just don't show up as easily on the white. Luckily everyone else in line sprung for the black because the black 16gigs had sold out by the time they got to me. And I got the third to last white 16 gig.
For old AT&T customers, I ejected the sim from my iphone 3g and put it in my pantech duo. Powered up the duo, got reception, turned it off and put the sim card back in the iphone 3g. Suddenly the iphone 3g was getting reception instead of the no reception sign. Plugged it into itunes and it synched just fine. Don't know if there's a correlation, but just letting you all know!
Hoodoo, it's not really snooping in the e-mails that's making news, on a bigger scale this whole lawsuit with Bennett could have implications across all major sports leagues nationwide. If Bennett wins out it basically validates that anyone with enough money can basically hold any pro sports team hostage if they local community doesn't agree to spend more tax dollars to help him make money. I really don't think that's a precedent most of nation wants to be set.

As far as the players go though, you're right, they make enough money where they really don't have the right to complain about where they're making it. That being said, as free agents they do have the right to choose. It's probably distasteful enough to play for an owner who is now on record as not giving a rat's a$$ about you, but it could probably be lived with in a larger market city with a lot to offer like L.A., Chicago, New York, Orlando, Seattle, Dallas, San Francisco, etc. Why do you think Memphis traded Gasol to the Lakers? They knew they couldn't try to build a franchise around someone they knew would leave the team in three years. Same thing's going to happen to the Sonics and players like Kevin Durant who's already stated he doesn't want to play in OKC.
"It may have been a legit reason. Or it might have been some BS reason such as OKC is too much of a 'redneck, podunk town for me to play in'."

I don't get it. What's so BS about that reason?
The DMCA offers protection of copyrighted intellectual property. Essentially designed as a new age set of counter-piracy measures to keep up with the digital age. No one's intellectual property is being stolen or even compromised here. What's happenening is consumers who paid 5 or 6 hundred dollars for a piece of hardware are now free to use it as they like. In fact, that would be considered "fair use" under the rights granted to someone for an item they obtained with legal considereation. Plus, though I don't know what the process is for actually buying an iPhone from Apple or at&t, I was under the impression you never signed the contract with at&t until you activated it at home. So theorhetically if you never actually activate it on at&t's network you never even signed a contract with them which gives them literally zero legal action they can take against you. People who buy the iPhone from a reseller are even more in the clear.

Basically this is no different from unlocking ANY phone. The biggest risk is probably updates bricking your hardware.
Let the hive mind of Engadget get that for you.
"I own an iPhone 3G and I'm looking for a decent speaker / alarm clock for it. I am going to listen music in a mid-sized room, so I want nice quality speakers with solid bass. I also want to use it as an alarm clock, so it would be great if there is such a feature. The price can be low-mid to mid-high range. I was looking at the Klipsch iGroove SXT; it's powerful, slick and the reviews are good, but it doesn't have an alarm clock feature. It's no deal breaker if I can set it up from the iPhone, but I'm not sure. Thanks!"

Boss of the Year Entry Form

Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.