I-phone 4 dilemna.

Z

zrey911

Disciple
Hey..As the title mentions its about buying an I-phone 4.The issue is that currently my sister in U.S is using an I-phone 4,which is under an AT&T contract,so when the I-phone 5 releases in september,if she upgrades to it then will she able to retain her old phone(I-phone4)? Will her old phone be unlocked? If so then she will be sending her I-phone 4 to me. N also will i be able to jailbreak it and use it with my GSM connection(vodafone) here?
Secondly even if the above mentioned idea doesn't work,then how long after the release of I-phone 5 will it take for the price of I-phone 4 to fall in U.S? and any approximation by how much? :)
Please everybody share your knowledge and help me out.
I have been waiting for a very long time to get my hands on an I-phone 4 so getting very eager and impatient now.Even considering of going to a local I-Store rite away and picking it up for 33K!
Please help me with your suggestions.
Thanks :)
 
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ATT will not unlock iPhone.You can use it with gevey sim provided the firmware is not updated to the latest. No one knows the release date of iPhone 5.

My suggestion is if you have the money get it locally than going through a PITA process of unlocking.
 
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^^ I-phone 5 will most probably release within a month.. So even if i dont take the phone from my sister,is it worth to wait for the price drop on i-phone 4? Any clue how on much it might differ?
 
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iPhone 5 might be released UNLOCKED !!
iPhone 5 will be released on tmobile and att and other carriers all over the world. Even now, the ATT contract phones are also sold UNLOCKED as an option, the buyer has to shell out only 50 USD extra(fair enuff imo).
I strongly suggest you wait for iPhone 5 and ask ur sis to get it for u, when she visits India or if you cant wait, ask ur sis to buy the unlocked iPhone from US apple store and ship it over to you. Dont forget to write "Refurbished Phone" on the package and declare its price around 70~80 USD or else, u will be paying a duty of arnd 2.5K rs. The shipping will be around 2.5k rs
And in 33K rs, u will get the 32 Gb iphone frm US instead of 16gb in same price frm India !!
 
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^^The unlocked verson of iphone 4(16gb) is 649$~30k.I would prefer paying another 3k in india for the warranty.But i am guessing once iphone 5 releases in a month r so,prices of iphone 4 in U.S will go down drastically.Then i guess its worth getting it from U.S.Wat do you think? And thanks for the shipping info.My sister is coming down in october,so she will be getting it herself..
 
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Expected i5 release is in october too. If it gets released Unlocked, u will be in luck. Or else, by that time i4 prices will be coming down, so ur sis could go for the cheaper i4 in Oct.

Its not the price, if ur sis gets u the 32 Gb i4 for 750USD/33382 INR whereas the same i4 is 41KINR in India !! a diff of 8K INR !! we dont count the shipping costs as ur sis will hand deliver it to u. And prices of i4 will go down in US and not in India. In India, we need to wait for atleast 6 months for i5 to enter Indian market, I think i4 took more than 10 months to reach Indian shores.

And, I highly recommend ur sis hand delivering it in Oct. whether i5 or unlocked i4. i4 is such a wonderful device that it should be good for atleast 1 yr, unless you get greedy for the new features of i5. I would prefer more battery life or wireless charging before i jump from i4 to any new iPhone model.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

16Gb is less with games as big as 500mb, u will max out ur space very quickly.

Alternate Option - May be ur sis will go for i5 and u could have her i4 !! If she is under contract, she can cite reasons for going abroad and get her present i4 unlocked !! <-- best option as it saves money and everyones happy, u get ur i4 and ur sis gets for i5. :)
 
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Just get the iPhone 4 at a iStore here. The most important reason for this being you get warranty!

The iPhone 5 will probably release close to Christmas, but by the time it releases here the iPhone 6 may come out :-D
 
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imho, warranty should not be a criteria for i4. I used i2G,3G for two years without a problem. For such high end devices, price should be a factor. iPhones generally dont have problems by default. well, there was antenna - gate :p , but could be solved with a skin-tight rubber cover, which most users put when they buy devices.

But, if u dont feel good and are a little paranoid ab getting one cheaper, better invest more in warranty.

iPhone 5 dates are lined up for October, although not officially released, these leak dates were fairly accurate for the previous apple devices.
 
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Thanks..I guess i was not clear earlier.I have no intentions of buying Iphone 5 in U.S or in india. Its only about i-phone 4. The reason i mentioned i-phone 5 is because the prices of iphone 4 will reduce in u.s and also my sister will be able to send her old phone(i-phone 4) once she upgrades to the new one(iphone 5).Please tell me the issues then? cos then i dont have to spend anything :)

And also about the warranty,i dont care if there's a lot of price difference. But currently since i'm looking at the 16gb version,the difference is very minimal(3k).Thats the reason at the current situation i prefer buying the 16gb rite here.
 
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distro said:
iPhone 5 might be released UNLOCKED !!

iPhone 5 will be released on tmobile and att and other carriers all over the world. Even now, the ATT contract phones are also sold UNLOCKED as an option, the buyer has to shell out only 50 USD extra(fair enuff imo).

I strongly suggest you wait for iPhone 5 and ask ur sis to get it for u, when she visits India or if you cant wait, ask ur sis to buy the unlocked iPhone from US apple store and ship it over to you. Dont forget to write "Refurbished Phone" on the package and declare its price around 70~80 USD or else, u will be paying a duty of arnd 2.5K rs. The shipping will be around 2.5k rs

And in 33K rs, u will get the 32 Gb iphone frm US instead of 16gb in same price frm India !!
Click to expand...

Mobiles have duty of 1.xx % duty

so how come 2.4k duty ?
 
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kuduku said:
Mobiles have duty of 1.xx % duty

so how come 2.4k duty ?
Click to expand...
the customs duty is 36% for excess (above 25K) as it was for personal use (10 days back, i paid the 36%). If the object is for commercial use, the duty is 42% on Indian market price. for a device of 33k rs, the duty works out to arnd 2.5k rs !!
 
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@distro: That was the first time I am hearing about extra 50 dollars to get unlocked phone when you sign a contract. Being an ATT/Cingular customer for 11 years I did not know about this. Maybe I will ask them if it is true. BUT ATT WILL NEVER UNLOCK IPHONE 4 REGARDLESS OF HOW MUCH YOU PAY because of Apple/ATT agreement.

Iphone 5 will come with unlocked is rumor as of now IMHO. Just wait till September 07th when Apple has Iphone event which will answer all the questions. Also I do not know if IP5 will release in India this year. Iphone 4 released here in April 2011 when I was using Iphone 4 last year during August 2010. Maybe Apple will not overlook Indian market this time with IP5 and release it earlier. Else I can always use my Free upgrade I have with ATT to get one.
 
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^^I have no plans of buying iphone 5.Tat too waiting for it to release in india is a no-brainer! It'll take atleast 6 months if we are lucky.

Since you are an AT&T customer,can u please help me out in knowing what will happen to the fate of my sister's old phone(iphone 4) once she upgrades to iphone 5 in a month or so.? Will i be able to use it here in india? If not how complicated will it be to unlock it?

And thanks everyone for the shipping info,but i will be getting the phone personally from my sister or her friends by september end.
 
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If you sister upgrades to IP5, she gets to keep the Iphone 4 and do not have to give it back. But unfortunately, ATT will not unlock Iphones when we upgrade or cancel our contract. ATT unlocked my Android phones like Captivate and Dell Streak. But not the Iphone 3gs or 4 due to agreement.

That Iphone 4 can be used in India if unlocked. And No, it is not complicated as there is always a way to unlock these things. You just have to shell out some money to get it unlocked but it is worth it since you are getting IP4 for free. So go ahead and get it :)
 
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aradhakr84 said:
@distro: That was the first time I am hearing about extra 50 dollars to get unlocked phone when you sign a contract. Being an ATT/Cingular customer for 11 years I did not know about this. Maybe I will ask them if it is true. BUT ATT WILL NEVER UNLOCK IPHONE 4 REGARDLESS OF HOW MUCH YOU PAY because of Apple/ATT agreement.

Iphone 5 will come with unlocked is rumor as of now IMHO. Just wait till September 07th when Apple has Iphone event which will answer all the questions. Also I do not know if IP5 will release in India this year. Iphone 4 released here in April 2011 when I was using Iphone 4 last year during August 2010. Maybe Apple will not overlook Indian market this time with IP5 and release it earlier. Else I can always use my Free upgrade I have with ATT to get one.
Click to expand...
NO, only if u buy a new iphone only then u have the option. And i think it has to be out of contract. Anyways, try ur luck with new iphone. You cannot unlock the present i4 unless , u prove to them that u are going out of country. AFAIk, a simple call is enuff to get it unlocked.
aradhakr84 said:
If you sister upgrades to IP5, she gets to keep the Iphone 4 and do not have to give it back. But unfortunately, ATT will not unlock Iphones when we upgrade or cancel our contract. ATT unlocked my Android phones like Captivate and Dell Streak. But not the Iphone 3gs or 4 due to agreement.

That Iphone 4 can be used in India if unlocked. And No, it is not complicated as there is always a way to unlock these things. You just have to shell out some money to get it unlocked but it is worth it since you are getting IP4 for free. So go ahead and get it :)
Click to expand...
No and Yes. If the i4 Baseband is lower than 02.10.04, only then it can be perma-unlocked using Software if not then u have to use Gevey sim and the associated hassles - sometimes gevey doesnt starts off on restart, blah blah.. so, I would not recommend you gevey unless, we have no options. I have personally used gevey and i will not recommend it.

@TS , If u r happy with 16Gb, go for ur sis's phone and as aradhakar84 mentioned, she doesnt have to return her phone, whereas i thought, she might have to return it. Otherwise, buy it here and show it off in "Showoff Thread"
 
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I am still confused. Are you saying that if I step into ATT store and ask to buy an Iphone 4 (ATT locked) and pay extra 50 dollars that they would unlock it for me? Because it is not possible or ATT will ever unlock the Iphone 4 or even Iphone 3g/3gs. I am not questioning you, but please let me know if you heard it from someone or is it your personal experience.

You cannot unlock the Iphone 4 even if you say you are moving out the country. They might waive the ETF fees if you show the required paperwork. They will unlock any other phones but not Apple due to Agreement. I have a friend who had to move back to India due to expired visa, called ATT support and talked with upper level tech support managers and still could not get it unlocked. We even tried going to stores and they sent us back telling us to call the 1-800 number. So I do not know about this.
 
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Not from ATT but buy it frm apple store !! - 750 USD for unlocked i4 32Gb !!

as for the unlocked i4, there are various forums that show success with unlocking i4 , u need some criteria like "to unlock u need to be a customer in good standing and etc.. etc. "

I dont see a reason, y should they not unlock ur i4 if u are att customer and u r going out and u want to use it with other sim cards !!
 
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I am sorry but you cannot unlock it if you buy from Apple store period. Because in US, IPhone 4 is either locked to Verizon or ATT even if you buy it from Apple store. Maybe if you buy from Canada, fine. But never in USA.

I went and bought one personally for 499 last year October and at the time of purchase, they activate my ATT number. You have two options when you buy the phone from Apple store:

1) Either start a new contract

2) Upgrade your existing contract

Also each phones come with ATT sim in the phone. So I am sure of it. As I have purchased both 3gs and 4 from Apple store. You can only unlock it by yourself as ATT will never unlock and I am sure about that.

I am a good customer with 11 years and continuing. I was with them back when they were "Cingular" and that was when I was in High School (16 years old) While they are prepared to offer me discounts and free upgrades. They never said that they would unlock due to agreements with Apple that ATT has. Other phones yes, they would in a heartbeat. But not the iphones.
 
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