Here is my long promised detailed iphone review. Since i want to tell you so many things i will split the review into three parts.
1. Buying and all the other stuff related to that
2. The actual Review of iphone in India
3. The other cool stuff iphone can do
1. Buying and all the other stuff related to that
The actual price when i bought the iphone from bangalore Burma bazaar was 27500 Rs. Another seller said he could give it to me for 24500 Rs but he said that none of the features will work so i went to the guy who knew about this stuff and paid a little extra and bought it for 27500 Rs.
Some of the things to know before you buy.
Iphone will work on all the gsm networks in India. If you have a mobile connection with Sim card it will work
All the feature of the iphone will work in India only the visual voicemail will not work
You have to unlock the iphone to use in India, which the seller would have already done for you. Sometimes they will tell a lesser price than I mentioned above and once you buy ask 2500 Rs or so for unlocking so ask first about unlocking.
Iphone you buy at present in India come without any warranty, no one gives warranty
So check all the features and the screen etc before you buy
Itunes will not automatically update your firmware only if you click update or restore on the iphone or itunes will the firmware be updated or restored so don’t worry. Try and avoid these at all costs unless you know what you are doing.
There are Chinese knock off that look like the iphone so be aware, there is nothing wrong in buying them but don’t pay this kind of money for a fake one.
Also see if you are getting the 8gb one or the 4gb one because 4gb ones cost less around 23500 Rs etc
The seller will claim that iphone has 5 mega pixel camera, its not its just 2 megapixel and there is only one iphone model so far.
These are things you need to know.
Check the unit well and see if it has any scratches etc because it could be a old piece that would have been returned by other customers because of issues. So ask for fresh piece and check all the features like charging and touch screen feedback etc.
Once you buy the iphone don’t restore it because it will lock itself. And also try not to update the firmware from itunes. Both these will lock the iphone, don’t worry someone will always crack the new firmware. Once its locked take it back to the seller and for a small fee he will unlock it for you. Also don’t try to disconnect the iphone between updating the firmware if you have done it by mistake let the update finish other wise you could brick (damage) your iphone.
When you buy, these are the things you will get in a small box. The box will have an iphone, cradle, power plug, one set of headphone, 1 USB cable and a cloth to wipe the screen which you will be doing quite a bit.
Also when you buy the iphone try and get a rubber cover for the iphone which will help protect your iphone from slipping which it can easily do. Since everybody will be asking for your iphone to have look its a good idea to put a rubber cover at least for a week or so. Once you get comfortable with the iphone you can remove the cover. And use it in all its glory.
Try not to put too much personal stuff for the first week or so because people will want to have a look at your iphone quite a bit. so wait at least a week or so before putting your girl friend’s picture on the iphone. Unless you are comfortable with other touching and flicking at your girl friend pictures 
. I put sreya’s picture for the first week, i guess she is use to this kind of attention.
to be continued…
Related posts:
- The actual Review of iphone in India
- Amazon Kindle app for iphone Review
- Get unlimited data usage on your iphone in India
- Iphone PC suite the best way to interact with iphone
- India gets iphone app’s store, iphone 3g is coming
- Iphone 3G will cost 31000 Rs in India
- First Iphone 3G advertisement shows up in India
- Cool stuff you can do with your iphone
- 10 Reason why you should get an iphone in India
- Funny iphone review by David Pogue on NYT
Pingback: Iphone: Apple Iphone Reviews, Accessories & Gadgets » iphone review from india after using it in…
Hi,I stay in bangalore, i asked my frind to get an iphone from US which he is getting on dec end. I am very much excited abt this phone but scared abt the unlock of the phone as i dont want to screw it up by giving it onto the wrong hands, i dont know anyone who can unlock. Can someone help me throgh the right process after i get the phone.Reply from Prasanth Has your friend already bought it in usa, if not tell him not to buy it.You can get it here in India for a bit more but it will remove all yourproblems of unlocking etc.Unless you know what your are doing don’t try to do it yourself youcould brick your phone.If you buy in india they are already unloacked and can be used withany carrier.Also keep in mind that they need to unlocked and jail breaked.unloacking will make it work on any phone network and jail breaking willallows you to install programs on it.So if you don’t want to go through all this hassles get the iphone in india.As you will read in my coming review its one heck of phone to buy if you havethe money.you can get it unlocked for 2500 Rs or so but i have no idea how reliable it is.
Hi PrasanthHe has already purchased it and is comming to hyderabad on 27th and i am leaving to hyderabad on 28th. Its too late now its already purchased i am a bit scared with the process of unlocking not sure how it will work out since i am getting it from US. Can you please help with it since u already had a good study about the phone as i dont want to feel sad later.Reply from Prasanthi don’t want to scare you. There are place where you can get it unlocked but i have no idea where they are. And you will be paying for it at least 2500 Rs.mine was unlocked already so i have no idea of how to unlock it. mine is 1.0.2 firmware check what’s yours is and let me know.
Hi Prasanth,mine is the same 1.0.2 . If anyone has purchased it from US and has unlocked it in india (preferably at hyd or bang.) please let me know since i dont want to take a chance by giving the phone in wrong hands as i already took a chance of purchasing it from US… I would be very thankful if someone can help me though this my yahoo id is : k_sandy25@yahoo.com.Reply from Prasanth There is another thing you should see.Check for the modem firmware it will be in the same place whereyou saw the firmware at the end of that page.mine is 03.14.08_Gi heard that you also need to change the modem firmware onlythen will you be able to use the iphone on other carriers.So if you have the same modem firmware go here to learn howto unlock your iphone.http://iphone.unlock.no/
Hi Prashanth,I would like to know if have any feed back on 1.1.3 jailbroke phones, regarding SMS and EDGE settings on various networks. I am currently in US I want get my iphone to India and also few extra ones to give as gifts.Thank you for the blogReply from Prasanth Girish who upgraded to 1.1.3 is now trying to downgrade because he had problems with edge and wifi problems.I am using 1.0.2 and it works perfectly. So you can bring them in from usa and they should work fine.If you have not bought the iphones yet wait till february when they will annonce the sdk and iphone app support. I think there will be a price drop too. So hold on for another month, there could also be a firmware update then. So its better to wait till then. Or get iphone with older firmware than 1.1.3.thank youprasanthhttp://www.prasanthtechblog.com
Hi Sandeep,I can help you to unlock the phone , you dont have to go to the market, it is very easy, I promise on that, all you need is to have wifi(unsecured) and and dowload some stuff I suggest which is safe. I can guide if you Windows PC. I am not good at handling MACs. I will mail you. If it is ok.
Vinodh & Prasanth..over this weekend, i am again planning to upgrade my 1.1.2 (just upgraded it from 1.1.1 yday..working fine..no issues) iphone to 1.1.3 version.I have found the issue which caused my WIFI&EDGE problems. There is fix for 1.1.3 with name as ASprefFIX ( regional language fix for German ppl) which i installed after my previous 1.1.3 upgrade and it broke wifi & edge…i will chk it out this time and let u know guys…seeing all forum (hackintosh/modmyifone/everythingicafe/iphoneatlas).. i am confident taht 1.1.3 upgrade will be without any issues… except only one thing… official jailbreak (by DEV team, not from NateTrue) downloads 169MB file from Apple server which takes lots of time…. for me ..last time it took 6hrs
… but u can bypass it if u have already downloaded one…we will get in details further.. first i will do it..works fine..then post it back…till then njoy..I heard people are having problem with the 1.1.3 even without any jail break or unlocking. I heard there are some sms problems and i even heard Leo the twit guy say his iphone automatically switches back on when its in airplane mode.So i really think its not a good idea.Another reason is, this month Steve jobs will announce the sdk so expect another firmware update this month. So why waste time updating to this firmware if you have to do it all over again with in a few days.Good luckthank youprasanthhttp://www.prasanthtechblog.com
Girish,I works without any problem, yes, there are two ways u can do it if you think Wi-fi data problem, u can use win SCP method, the EDGE issue all u need to do is reset the network settings do not use any fixes for this and after updating in some phones the sound volume is automatically is decreased to zero do not panic if ur phone is not ringing just go to sounds in setting and increase the volume it should work. So far I unlocked 50 phones no issues.But regarding google locate me it is working in some and doesnot in some if the upgrade happens in 30 mins then u r lucky the google locate me feature works but i am sure this not that important in India. You can use Navizon to fix it. by the what are ur phone specs.Let me know if any issues still
Hi Prasanth,I got new iphone and i used iliberty and also ziphone version 3, with both i was able to unlock my phone but my airtel sim is not recognized. I can perform all the other features on the phone but not making calls and sms
Firmware is 1.1.4 and when i used both the above mentioned software i had unchecked “downgrade bootloader” option. Can this be a issue???RegardsIphone user 
Reply from PrasanthSince i have no idea how much you know about unlocking.So i will explain.Unlocking iphone if you unlock the iphone you will get to the stage where you are now. Ability to use the iphone as ipod and everything else works except the phone part.Activate then you will be able to use it with any sim card. And the phone works.Jail breaking is what you do to get apps and games on your iphone.To put it simple in the ziphone select all the three options of unlocking, activating and jailbreaking. And let ziphone software do the rest. If after this it didn’t work you might have done something wrong. Just start the whole procedure again. If you don’t have that technical knowledge i suggest you go to the black market where they are selling them and they will do it for you for a price.If you mess with the baseband you could brick your iphone. So be careful.thank youprasanthwww.prasanthtechblog.com
I have got iPhone just 15 days back. I have Airtel connection. I have activated GPRS in my airtel sim, but i need help how to setup in iphone.Could somebody please help me for setting the GPRSThank YouSaleemReply from PrasanthThe only settings you need is APNwhich is Airtelgprs.com and leave the rest blank and it should work.To know where you should put these settings please check the blog and read a few comments.thank youprasanthhttp://www.prasanthtechblog.com
Hi Prashanth,I would be byuing an iPhone in india very soon (16gb firm ver. 1.1.4 for Rs. 30k) unlocked & jail-breaked. Would like to bother you a little. Here are my questions/understanding:- Did you get ur iPhone within an iPhone box and packed? Or since it was unlocked and jail-breaked, u received it unpacked (i.e. no box)?- I know from ur answers, how to activate GPRS in iPhone. I use vodafone conn.- How to install free games- How to transfer my current sim contacts from my nokia nGage phone(an old one
)- How to create custom ring tones of my song- Do u have any appl installed which searches the contacts by name (by default iPhone does not seem to provide this feature)?- what about battery replacement procedure for these unlocked iPhones? do the dealers support this?- would I be able to upgrade to iPhone 2.0 software (with the help of the dealer only ofcourse, and he says he wud charge for any firmware upgrade)Thanks & RegardsArpanReply from PrasanthHere are the answers for your questions.You will get it in the pack. But before you pay he opens it and puts your sim and you can make calls and if the guy who is selling is good he will also give you the gprs settings. the box comes with iphone, adapter, a stand, a usb cable and headphone and some papers and few apple stickers.To install the games you need to jail break the iphone which will usually be done by the guys who sell it you. If you have icon called installer you can install apps. Just go into that app and download games etc through gprs. Make sure you have unlimited before going downloading. Or use my method of installing apps without using gprs instead using computer and its internet connection.Transferring contacts from a phone will be problem. try and get the contacts into outlook and iphone will sync with it. I don’t know how to get your ngage contacts into outlook. Do a little search online.There are plenty of programs that let you create ringtones for iphone just do a search. It also depeneds on what firmware you have. If you have anything less than 1.1.2 you can use the program calld ibrickr. Or use the iphone pc suite which i have also blogged about.There is an app called search that lets you search contacts and another apps that let you do it. But that also will depend on what firmware you have on iphone.I don’t know much about battery replacement, i guess they will do it for a price.If you want iphone 2.0 it will be released in a month or so. So why not wait for a few days and then buy the iphone with the iphone 2.0 firmware.This is not a good time to buy an iphone, if you really want to buy go ahead. Otherwise hold on because in a months time apple will release the next version of the iphone. So why would you want to buy a iphone that will be old within a month.Hope i have answered all your questions.thank youprasanthhttp://www.prasanthtechblog.com
Hi Prasanth / readersI got an iPhone 2G from US and I have 2.1 firmware in it . I got it unlocked using Winpwn . I enabled the data connection in my Vodafone sim but I am not seeing a way to set the GPRS settings . I went to Settings–>General–>Network , here I am seeing “Data Roaming” “VPN” “WiFi” but I am not seeing “EDGE” . How can I see the EDGE in it?Reply from PrasanthSince vodafone and Airtel are the official partners of apple in India.Once you put their sims into the iPhone it will detect and put the settings automatically. So you don’t need any settings. So your vodafone sim doesn’t need any settings, if still your phone is not working then restart and give it a try.I am using the Airtel sim and edge works perfectly without any settings.Also try and remove the sim and put it back again.If you put any other sim you will see the settings menu.I am using iPhone 1st generation or 2g with 2.1 firmware.Good luckThank you