As I wrote in my previous post, I am extremely happy with my iPhone. The screen is simply gorgeous and in general the experience has been amazing so far. However, this doesn’t seem to be the case for everyone.
Over the week-end I was helping a friend to unlock his brand new iPhone when we ran into a big problem. The wifi connection was extremely unstable. I could sometimes connect to my network, but just seconds later the connection would be lost and the phone wouldn’t display any available networks. It seems that either there is a hardware malfunction or that the internal antenna is disconnected. Either way, my friend is in serious trouble. Without wireless network access the phone cannot be unlocked. Even if I return his phone to original factory settings he cannot return the phone because it was never activated with AT&T. That makes it hard to claim that the wifi connectivity is not working, since there is no way to test that functionality until the phone is activated.
My friend is therefore stuck with a US$400 8GB iPod. He would have been much better off spending his money on a 16GB iPod touch. Of course, if this doesn’t happen very often, it is still worthwhile to take the risk, because the iPhone offers much more functionality than the iPod touch. The problem is that I have learned since that two other acquaintances have faced similar problems. One iPhone was dead on arrival (that is not a major problem, it can easily be returned) the other had a faulty battery which only offers a couple of hours of operation (that is tough if you discover the problem after unlocking the phone).
The iPhone is currently used all over the world. The temptation to buy one in the U.S. and bring it home is extremely strong. However, you shouldn’t minimize the risks involved. There is anecdotal evidence that Apple is facing production challenges that are resulting in a relatively large number of defective units. I strongly suggest that if you are planning on buying an iPhone in the U.S. with the intention to use it overseas, unlock it while in America. At least, if something goes wrong you will still have some options.