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I'm buying an iPhone 3Gs for Xmas and have some questions?

Roy_Drage

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Hello all, haven't been around for a while.

Anyway as some of you know I have an iPhone 4. My girlfriend wants an iPhone 3Gs for xmas as she says she prefers the way it feels to the IP4. Fair enough.

She's already on O2 but only on Pay As You Go, she doesn't want a contract. My options are as follows, either buy her a Pay and Go iPhone 3GS straight from O2. Gonna set me back £380 or try my luck on Ebay and bag a factory unlocked one. I've seen one's on there from 'official vendor's who supply factory unlocked iPhone 3Gs', some are a little more then the O2 price and some from normal punters like me are a bit less.

I've owned 2 iPhone's before, the original and the current iPhone 4. But i've never had one that has been locked so I've never done this activation thing? Buying it straight from O2 would be the simplest thing to do, but am I right in assuming that she can simply put her current O2 pay and go sim in the phone, hook it to Itunes and it should work?

Also we both use the same laptop, the itunes on the laptop at the mo I obviously use with my factory unlocked IP4. Is it fine to have another iPhone running off that iTunes as well??

Just want some pointers before I bite the bullet really. If the phone was for me I would happily search through ebay until I found the one that suited me, i've bought plenty of phones from there before without problem. It's just the fact it's a present that is making me think perhaps I should just buy it straight from O2.

Cheers!
 
Yes, you can use them both off the same iTunes just make sure they are on the same account or authorize both accounts on your PC. Just order the 3GS unlocked off the apple store.
 
I wouldn't buy a factory unlocked one off eBay. You might find they are not really factory unlocked. The unlocked ones from apple are £419 for an 8gb or £500 for a 16gb iPhone 4.

If your girlfriend is happy with o2 then I would just get a sim free one from them. Her pay as you go sim will work fine. As you probably know it's only the iPhone 4 that needs the micro sim...
 
I found one on eBay for £330. 3Gs 8GB Black. Factory unlocked/SIM free and still factory sealed! Pics provided, seller has a good reputation. Already had emails back and forth from the guy.

As mentioned before I've bought several phones from eBay so would like to think I know what i'm up to..... However I guess it only takes one bad auction to catch someone out. Anyway fingers crossed.

The £420 asking price from Apple just seemed to steep for me personally. And the £390 from O2 wasn't as low as I would of liked, plus it was locked.

So I've taken a chance, will see how it goes.
 
I thought you said £320 from o2. Lol. Must of misread. In that case I would of just spent the extra £30 for the factory unlocked one.

If your happy with eBay then great. I can't see how they get them so much cheaper than apple? Good luck anyway...
 
Nah if it were £320 from O2 then I would of just walked down the high street and got one there. It's £390 from O2, then I'm not sure if they make you pay another tenner for the SIM they throw in.

It's £420 from the apple shop.

£330 from eBay seems a good deal to me, obviously if it's legit. Bloody better be!

Any way guess I'll find out in a few days as I'll be opening the box up to check it out.
 
Another question?

Back when I had the original iPhone, I had to buy some adapter thing to plug into the audio socket so that I could use my own headphones rather then the dodgy Apple ones. They basically made the 3.5mm jack hole so small that only Apple head phones could fit! So you needed a connector to allow all other head phones to fit.

Is that the case with the 3Gs or can I use any headphones?
 
If you buy it from o2 sim free then you don't have to buy a sim. You can use any o2 sim you want.

The headphones on my 3G, 3GS and the 4G have always seemed to be the standard 3.5 jack. My wife used to use her headphones from her blackberry as she didnt like the apple ones and they worked fine on the 3GS.

Good luck with the eBay iPhone. As I said I just cant get my head round how they can supply one for £100 less than apple. Sounds to good to be true for my liking...
 
iPhone arrived a few hours ago. Was still sealed as promised, opened it up and tried a couple SIM's, clearly it's brand new and from Apple as everything works as it should. Just updating to 4.2 now then back in the box for Xmas :)

Bargin!
 
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