Wanted to check-can an unlocked iPhone 5 (i.e. one purchased unlocked from Apple.com) function as a high end iPod touch without ever activating service on it?
Wanted to check as my iPod's toast, and I really don't want to buy another iPod touch 4 when the hardware is so outdated compared with the iPhone 5 (since inexplicably we never got a touch 5 last year).
supposedly the iPod Touch will be at least just as big as the allegedly leaked new iPhone photos.
also I was always under the impression that the iPod Touch was just an iPhone minus the phone, like same processor and stuff. that said you could save money just getting the new iPod Touch...
Whether the phone is unlocked or not makes no difference as far as whether it can be used as an iPod. It needs to be activated either way. Unlocking is only meaningful if you want to use the phone portion with a carrier other than the one that originally sold it. If you don't want to use the phone portion, the lock/unlock status is completely irrelevant.
I am a little confused. My Verizon phone was able to roam on GSM because they used TDMA. Tell it was shutdown. The phone recognizes it as Analog. If PCS has TDMA, It could be technically be used on GSM.
Originally Posted by Tabla
Y'know, I'm used to hysterical 14-year-old ******** on the internet, but this is exceptional. Never before in human history have so many nerds hyperventilated so publicly over so little.
Whether the phone is unlocked or not makes no difference as far as whether it can be used as an iPod. It needs to be activated either way. Unlocking is only meaningful if you want to use the phone portion with a carrier other than the one that originally sold it. If you don't want to use the phone portion, the lock/unlock status is completely irrelevant.
Okay, so you DO have to activate it...what's involved with that? Does that just mean you have to stick a SIM card in it to make it work, or does it have to be a SIM card with some kind of service, or...?
Originally Posted by Sepurb
supposedly the iPod Touch will be at least just as big as the allegedly leaked new iPhone photos.
also I was always under the impression that the iPod Touch was just an iPhone minus the phone, like same processor and stuff. that said you could save money just getting the new iPod Touch...
Until last year the iPod touch was always just that-basically similar to that year's iPhone, but worse. Like the iPhone 4 switched to a IPS screen while the iPod 4 uses TN, the speaker is worse (and the iPod 1 didn't have a speaker or volume buttons), it didn't get a camera until the iPod 4, and it's lower quality cameras, etc. Significantly the iPod 4 has only 256MB, while the iPhone 4 was doubled to 512MB, but still, it wasn't too horrifically worse.
But last year the iPhone 5 hit with a huge upgrade, and...the iPods weren't updated at all. So for the past 8 months, we've had a massively improved iPhone 5 versus 2010's iPod 4.
It's maybe still hard to justify something like a $480 price premium, but by comparison, the iPhone 5 versus the iPod touch 4 has:
-more than 2x the CPU
-more than 2x the GPU
-2x the RAM
-(presumably) better/louder speaker
-presumably better battery life (at least when just using it as an iPod, one would assume!)
-IPS versus TN screen (honestly the iPod touch's screen has never been BAD IMO, but still)
The iPod touch 4 is pretty pokey, particularly switching between programs.
Okay, so you DO have to activate it...what's involved with that? Does that just mean you have to stick a SIM card in it to make it work, or does it have to be a SIM card with some kind of service, or...?
Until last year the iPod touch was always just that-basically similar to that year's iPhone, but worse. Like the iPhone 4 switched to a IPS screen while the iPod 4 uses TN, the speaker is worse (and the iPod 1 didn't have a speaker or volume buttons), it didn't get a camera until the iPod 4, and it's lower quality cameras, etc. Significantly the iPod 4 has only 256MB, while the iPhone 4 was doubled to 512MB, but still, it wasn't too horrifically worse.
But last year the iPhone 5 hit with a huge upgrade, and...the iPods weren't updated at all. So for the past 8 months, we've had a massively improved iPhone 5 versus 2010's iPod 4.
It's maybe still hard to justify something like a $480 price premium, but by comparison, the iPhone 5 versus the iPod touch 4 has:
-more than 2x the CPU
-more than 2x the GPU
-2x the RAM
-(presumably) better/louder speaker
-presumably better battery life (at least when just using it as an iPod, one would assume!)
-IPS versus TN screen (honestly the iPod touch's screen has never been BAD IMO, but still)
The iPod touch 4 is pretty pokey, particularly switching between programs.
The 5th gen iPhone is called the "4S", you're confusing everyone calling it "iPhone 5"..
What was huge about the 4S' upgrade? Siri? 8MP Camera? Bluetooth 4? A5 CPU? GPU? Cellular Radio? Whoa!?! That's HUGE!! NOT..it was considered a letdown by many complaining about, "too little change".
Siri is uh, Siri..there was a Siri before Siri, now it's limited to a single device..not a upgrade.
8MP Camera, can you tell the difference? Not really unless you record videos.. the front camera needs the upgrade.
Bluetooth 4.0, not much of anything takes advantage of it yet. saves battery usage..
The difference in the A4 vs A5 CPU is negligible.
The new GPU and dual GSM/CDMA radio/antennas are the only change in the 4S that could be considered an upgrade.
If they put everything the phone has in the iPod, many may pass on buying a iPhone or even an iPad. It is due for an upgrade though.
I would think a factory unlocked phone would not require a sim to activate and can be used just as an iPod. But, why pay $650+ for an iPod?
Now with the assumed name of the "iPhone 5" that is yet to be released, will be the 6th generation iPhone, yes.. but everyone has labeled it the iPhone 5 when referring to it. So you should refer to the "5th gen" as just that or as the "4S".
I think with iOS 5 you don't have to connect to iTunes to activate an iPhone but it still tries to activate. especially if it's NIB. even unlocked I'd imagine being stuck at the activation screen until you put a SIM card(additional $5-$15 LOL!) in it.
the iPhone will by default think its about to be a phone. I see what he is saying but I really don't think that it's a great plan either lol.
usually iOS apps run well if the OS is current. I personally don't think spending possibly $300 more to get buttery smooth Temple Run is worth it, but I guess if I was in their situation and could do it I would lol...
What was huge about the 4S' upgrade? Siri? 8MP Camera? Bluetooth 4? A5 CPU? GPU? Whoa!?! That's HUGE!! NOT..it was considered a letdown by many complaining about, "too little change".
The iPhone 4 to 5 is a MUCH bigger jump than the iPhone 3 to 4. So far, Apple seems to do their big updates on the "odd" releases. The iPhone 2 and 4 are refinements on the platform introduced the previous generation. The iPhone 1 (err, by default), 3, and 5 are the big leaps forward.
The difference in the A4 vs A5 CPU is negligible.
To the contrary, the difference between the iPhone 4 and 5's SOCs is the largest jump the platform's gotten since it was first released.
The new GPU is the only change in the 4S that is maybe 2x the performance.
It's over 2x the performance, MINIMUM. As much as 4x the performance. And the CPU is also over 2x better.
By comparison, the iPhone 4 was only 1/3 faster than the 3, at best.
If they put everything the phone has in the iPod, many may pass on buying a iPhone or even an iPad.
Yeah, but that's been true since they first released it. Every year the iPod has gotten an update to more or less give you the same base hardware as the iPhone (actually the iPod 2 was 25% faster than the iPhone 2!) Last year was the first time that the iPod was never updated to (more or less) match the iPhone.
At first I figured it was just a yield issue on the CPU/GPU, but now, I don't know.
I would think a factory unlocked phone would not require a sim to activate and can be used just as an iPod. But, why pay $650+ for an iPod?
Unfortunately from what others have said, it sounds like it DOES need a SIM to get it working...I'm still not very clear on that though.
Why pay more? Because it's much better hardware. It's kind of depressing to have to just replace an iPod 4 with...another iPod 4.
Although at this point with the Sprint/Virgin announcement, it has me thinking that may be the way to go! SUPER tempting.
You have to clean up your iPhone numbering to avoid confusion.
Original iPhone First Generation
iPhone 3G Second Generation
iPhone 3GS Third Generation
iPhone 4 Fourth Generation
iPhone 4S Fifth Generation
Apple did not help by switching the numbering to the air interface generation when going between the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G and 3GS. They switched back to iPhone generation numbering with the iPhone 4.
omg! get it right already...it's called the "iPhone 4S"
Think about it, when the first iPad was released... aanndd... when did the updates stop for the iPod?? That same year, hmm coincidence? I think not. Beginning to see why they haven't made any changes, in the iPod department, as in years past?
LOL, the CPU is NOT 2x performance..not til it has a quad core in there.
You first said the GPU was just 2x performance, now you say 4x...I think you're confused with "The New iPad" or 3rd gen with it's upgraded GPU.
I deactivated my carrier unlocked phone to test, and it does require the sim to activate. I have heard claims go both ways, guess all it takes is to find out for yourself heh.
Please drop the "iPhone 5" from your posts as there is no such phone (at least available to consumers currently). Maybe later this summer or in the fall, but not as of yet. As efparri pointed out, you are only creating confusion calling it as such.
If I'm annoyed and you're annoyed, does that make us a paranoid ??
Sarcasm is a fine art...
"Don't believe everything you think"
It's not a matter of if you win or lose, it's how you assign the blame
/facepalm
omg! get it right already...it's called the "iPhone 4S"
Yes, which is also the iPhone 5.
Think about it, when the first iPad was released... aanndd... when did the updates stop for the iPod?? That same year, hmm coincidence? I think not.
Hmm....interesting observation. I wonder if it's an attempt to push people to more expensive gear? Although I don't know what profit margins are.
I've sometimes thought they should have a high end iPod touch...though maybe they just figure that people will buy an iPhone and use it without service who want that.
LOL, the CPU is NOT 2x performance..not til it has a quad core in there.
LOL? It's more than 2x the performance. Where are you getting this? An A9 considerably faster than an A8 at the same clock speed, and there are two of them.
You first said the GPU was just 2x performance, now you say 4x...I think you're confused with "The New iPad" or 3rd gen with it's upgraded GPU.
I used 2x performance as short hand so I wouldn't have to bother looking up the exact specs. It's actually at LEAST 2x the performance, more typically 4x the performance. The iPad 3 has as much as 8x the performance, although that's mitigated somewhat by having a significantly higher resolution screen, and not having a corresponding memory bandwidth increase.
But the iPhone 4 to 5 has the exact same resolution screen, but with at LEAST 2x the performance.
I deactivated my carrier unlocked phone to test, and it does require the sim to activate. I have heard claims go both ways, guess all it takes is to find out for yourself heh.
Sorry, what do you mean by deactivated? And what do you mean by activate for that matter? I've never gone through an iPhone activation process so I'm not sure what that even means.
The iPod touch has to be "activated" initially with iTunes...or actually it DID, I think maybe it doesn't with iOS 5 preinstalled. But at any rate, there's of course no SIM card or cell phone service on that, so I'm not sure what it is I'd have to do to get this activated.
Kind of a moot point now as a Virgin iPhone sound promising, but still I wouldn't mind knowing.
Dual core doesn't always equal 2x performance over a single core @ the same speed. The software has to be written to take advantage of multiple threads, some things on the phone may or may not do this and most IOS apps do not do so either. It is certainly capable, but not realistically 2x performance in all aspects at this time.
There is a tool called Redsn0w, you may have heard of it... it has this "super" ability to deactivate an activated idevice so you can fix problems by activating again without restoring. If you jailbreak with certain tools on an iPhone, and you didn't have a sim at the time, the phone will get "hacktivated", where you have access to everything, but youtube, push, imessage/facebook do not work, and they require a true activation to fix usually. In that case you would deactivate the hacktivation, and properly sim activate to get things working correctly.
Last edited by overdrive31; 06-07-2012 at 02:15 PM.
Originally Posted by gpatrick900
SUPER tempting.
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