iPhone 4 – Jailbreaking vs. unlocking
People are sometimes confused by the terminology used for setting their iPhones free. The terms “jailbreaking” and “unlocking” are often used interchangeably, but they are different. Here’s what the two terms mean.
As they come from the factory (or the Apple Store) iPhones are set to communicate only with iTunes and the iTunes store to get apps and for sync and backups. In addition, in the U.S., all iPhones are pre-set to do business with AT&T, most coming with a mandatory two-year wireless service commitment. Of course, that service agreement is designed to let AT&T charge you over time for the about $400 of the $600 cost of a 16GB iPhone 4, which they give to Apple, allowing you what amounts to a $400 instant rebate on your handset.
If you wish to download and install apps that are not available at the App Store, you need to perform a “jailbreak” of your phone. That means that you need to temporarily give access to the guts of your phone to someone else so that they can alter the way your phone works. When they are through changing the firmware in your handset, you will be able to get all that app software that Steve Jobs does not want you to have. For reasons to jailbreak your iPhone, see “Top 10 reasons to Jailbreak your iPhone 4.” For the reasons against jailbreaking, see “Top 10 reasons NOT to Jailbreak your iPhone 4.”
Unlocking deals with the other part of the Apple monopoly, the AT&T part. Should you be able to buy an iPhone for the full price, or if your two year agreement with AT&T is completed, or if you can run fast enough, you can use your phone on the network of another cell phone service provider. To do so, you need to “unlock” your phone. You can only unlock it after you have jailbroken it. You can find the the pertinent details, as well as the dos and don’ts, of unlocking in this column: “Should I unlock my iPhone.”
Whether you decide you want to jailbreak or unlock your iPhone is totally up to you. I have decided to leave mine as it came from the factory, with the addition of a lot of apps, but I know plenty of people who think it was worth it to do one or the other, or both. Whatever you decide, best of luck to you. It is hard to really go too far wrong with an iPhone.
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