Factory Unlocked iPhone 3GS, March 10, 2011

Well, I actually bought this phone from FGS Trading, I’m very very happy because it arrived in less time that I expected.
This phone is for my son he loves apple products and i saw it and touched it and I’m very glad with this seller cause it really is a factory unlocked iPhone there was no problem with the other companies and the box was with the factory plastic wrap.
I would really buy again with this seller I’m very happy.
PS: The best phone I’ve ever seen.
Congrats FGS Trading.

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iPhone 3GS – Buying and using, May 20, 2012

If you have an iPhone you will need to download and install iTunes (no charge) on your PC in order to be able to add music, photos, videos, etc. to your iPhone. The vast majority of iPhones produced by Apple were locked to a single carrier (AT&T, Sprint & Verizon) in the US and you will not be able to use an iPhone locked to one of these carriers on the network of another carrier. For instance, in order to use an iPhone 3GS produced for AT&T on T-Mobile you will first need to have the iPhone unlcoked. AT&T implemented a new policy on 3/8/12 under which they will unlock an iPhone under certain conditions (google AT&T iPhone unlock). This type of unlock is frequently referred to as a “Factory unlock”. The other method of unlocking an iPhone is a software hack (3 steps which are jailbreak, unlock and hactivate). Be very careful of buying a jailbroken iPhone unless you know exactly what you are doing/getting. The later software versions (referred to as the IOS or iPhone Operating System)installed on iPhones have severe limitations at this time in terms of jailbreaking. Most/all of the current jailbreaks are tethered (you can only reboot the iPhone when connected to a PC which has the jailbreak software on the PC and you need to know how to load and use the jailbreak software) or involve loading the iPad baseband (radio receiver/transmitter) on the iPhone. Many of the iPhones with the iPad baseband have severe problems which can NOT be fixed (you can send the phone to China to have the baseband ships replaced) including non-operational Wi-Fi, non-operational Bluetooth, constant rebooting, non-operational GPS and fast battery drain. You will see some purchasers of iPhones claim that they turned on the unit and it was stuck in recovery mode (most likely thay purchased a phone with a tethered jail break which is looking for the jailbreak software on a connected PC) or that the Wi-FI, Bluetooth or GPS doesn’t work (almost certainly due to the installation of the iPad baseband.

iPhones produced for AT&T use GSM radio technology while iPhones produced for Sprint & Verizon use CDMA technology. At least for the Verizon iPhones, they also have a slot for GSM SIM cards which requires that the phone be unlocked in order to use it. Verizon will only unlock the phone under certain conditions and requires the use of a SIM card from an overseas carrier. Think of GSM and CDMA as the difference between AM and FM radio. An FM radio can not receive an AM radio program. GSM is used in the US and almost all of Europe and South America while CDMA is generally being phased out and is still primarily used in a few countries in Asia. So, if you want to use your iPhone while in Europe using a SIM card from a European carrier then make sure that you buy an unlocked GSM iPhone.

When buying a used iPhone, you need to make sure that it was never reported as being lost or stolen in which case the phone is almost certainly black listed and can not be activated in the US. This can be a problem when buying an iPhone through Craig’s List where you meet a guy in a parking lot to make the transaction.

If you are handy, buying a used phone with certain types of damage is not a problem. For the iPhone 3G, 3GS, replacing the glass, LCD or battery is of moderate difficulty ($10 for the glass, $30 for the glass/LCD assembly, $10 for the battery). Changing the back cover or battery on a 4 or 4S is very easy ($10 for the battery, $15 for the back cover) but changing the glass requires an almost complete disassembly of the phone. The are many local repair facilites that can fix the damage but they are of course much more expensive than DIY. If buying a damaged unit then make sure you know what the repair costs will be before the purchase.

Now a few words about the iPhone 3GS versus an Android phone. Note that there are many variations of Android phones and my Android experience is limited to the Samsung Exhibit II 4G and a couple of other units.

The iPhone is generally of higher quality overall and in terms of individual features. Some Android phones will have a higher resolution (480 * 800) but pixel density (number of dots per square inch usually referred to as PPI) is more important to image quality and Apple generall has better. A similar issue exists for the cameras. Although some Androids have better resolution say 5 MP, Apple’s camera due to the density of pixels and software frequently produce a better pic. The Androids that I have used have better built in speaker quality than the iPhone 3GS but if using ear buds or an external speaker this isn’t an issue. The iPhone 3GS and later models have 1 button voice dialing which was essential for me. You only need to pull the phone from your pcoket and hold the home button for 3 seconds and then speak the name/number to call. With the Android, you need to press the power button, swipe the home screen, enter an unlock code (if you use this) and then…

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