iPhone 4 switcheroo

[thph2006]

Hi everybody. Hopefully this forum is an ok place for this question. I need to get off my WinMo PDA and it looks like iPhone is the only real option now for Pleco but I don't need or want a fancy AT&T voice or data plan. So here's what I'm trying to figure out. My father has a two year old iPhone on contract with AT&T. Does anyone know whether I could have him upgrade to the iPhone 4 through AT&T at the subsidized price and then give it to me to use as a PDA/GPS/Pleco device WITHOUT the phone function and have my father continue using his old iPhone on his new contract? Anyone know if this will work? Would I be able to download Pleco from iTunes if the phone isn't SIM'd? Will it even work as a PDA without a SIM?

I know it's a roundabout way to get an iPhone for Pleco but given the iPod Touch doesn't support the new OCR feature or several of the features I'd need to replace on my WinMo device I don't see another way to do this.

 

[Entropy]

The iPhone 4 uses a smaller SIM card than the 3GS. I believe you can get an adapter that will let him use the new SIM in his old phone, and AFAIK the new phone will run without a SIM. But the Apple store will have the complete answer on this. Make an appointment to talk to a Genius.

 

[mikelove]

My father has a two year old iPhone on contract with AT&T. Does anyone know whether I could have him upgrade to the iPhone 4 through AT&T at the subsidized price and then give it to me to use as a PDA/GPS/Pleco device WITHOUT the phone function and have my father continue using his old iPhone on his new contract? Anyone know if this will work? Would I be able to download Pleco from iTunes if the phone isn't SIM'd? Will it even work as a PDA without a SIM?

That's going to be a little dicey, I'm afraid - iPhone 4s need to be reactivated on Apple's server every time you update their operating system (among other things), and just the process of activating it the first time would probably require that his cell number automatically be moved over to the new SIM. You could certainly talk to Apple about this, though.

But if you can live without OCR you might as well just get a new iPod Touch - they're pretty similar specs-wise to the iPhone 4 in other respects and they're a lot cheaper / easier to obtain.

 

[numble]

I've used an iPhone as a PDA without a SIM before, just put it in Airplane mode. I don't know about the details about new firmware, but it might even just be okay if it's just an AT&T sim card stuck in there for a second when you are updating. There's also all those jailbreak solutions that I don't know much about.

 

[jiacheng]

As far as using a locked iphone as a PDA, I have heard that if you put a phonebook sim in them, that you can use it normally except for cell service without jailbreaking/unlocking.

But if you're gonna go the route of getting an iphone, the truth is, the "subsidized" price is not really that subsidized. It's mostly just a payment plan since you're paying way too much for your service over the 2 year contract. You might be better off just getting an unlocked version from HK or Canada if you can manage to do it without jumping through too many hoops. You can get service from t-mobile or other providers and it could save you a lot of money on a similar data plan. If you don't really care about 3g access and could say just use a t-mobile pay as you go plan, then you can really save big since you're not paying for service that you didn't really want to begin with. Another thing to consider is that the resale value of an unlocked phone is going to be higher. If you sell your AT&T phone for $100 less after you're done, then that's $100 more that you paid by going with AT&T. Even though the cell providers in the US do their best to avoid market competition, a lot could change on the cell service front in 2 years. The flexibility of no contract could be worth a lot. So be very very careful and consider other options before signing your soul away for 2 years just to get your new toy.