unlocked

Heretofore only available via carrier (namely Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon), Palm has just made its consumer-level Palm Centro completely carrier-independent by offering an unlocked version. It'll have quad-band GSM support (850/900/1800/900 Mhz) but no 3G (up to EDGE only). It has pretty much the same specs as the AT&T model, but will be slightly more pricey at $299 and sports a gray number pad instead of the green.

Other news coming from Palm is that all Centros (including this unlocked one) will be able to get the new version of Google Maps … Read more

AT&T plans to sell the 3G iPhone for $199 when it arrives in AT&T's stores in June, according to a report, in a sign that Apple may have given up on locked iPhones.

Fortune is reporting that you'll be able to buy a $199 iPhone in AT&T's stores, and only in AT&T's stores, when the new model arrives around the one-year anniversary of the iPhone launch. The report says Apple will sell 8GB and 16GB versions of the new iPhone for $399 and $499 in its own retail … Read more

As many as 400,000 unlocked iPhones were running on China Mobile's cellular network at the end of last year, according to market research firm In-Stat.

Apple sold 3.7 million iPhones in 2007, and more than 10 percent of them are in China, In-Stat said, attributing that information to China Mobile. That helps explain part of the "iPhone gap" created by the difference between Apple's shipping totals for 2007 and the activations reported by its carrier partners in the U.S. and Europe.

Despite Apple's attempts to keep iPhone unlocking under wraps with new … Read more

There's no doubt that Apple has taken iPhone unlocking very seriously in the first six months of its life on the planet. Even so, it appears despite significant roadblocks, the unlockers are winning.

Each of the three times Apple and AT&T have reported their iPhone numbers since July, there has been a gap between the number of iPhones sold by Apple and the number of iPhones activated for AT&T's network. During the first weekend of iPhone sales, the gap was 124,000 units. At the end of the third quarter of the calendar year, … Read more

The iPhone is already in China: I saw one for sale today, and a friend really should call me more often from one. But Marbridge Daily is onto a story in the Southern Metropolitan News reporting that the iPhone will be on sale in China by the second quarter of 2008.

I'm not able to find the original article right now, but Marbridge's blurb says the source is Lin Ronghui, vice president of iTell. Lin apparently said the phone will be selling for about RMB 4,000, considerably less than the unlocked street prices I've seen, and … Read more

Neuros is a device manufacturer with a simple focus: it creates devices that let you record video from almost any source into a digital format (MPEG-4) that can then be played on almost any device. The trick: its devices connect to your video output sources (VCR, DVD player, etc.) using standard analog RCA cables, avoiding digital copy-protection technologies like HDCP or CSS. I'm not a lawyer, but it seems like this method skirts the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions: the devices don't bypass these digital copy protection schemes, they simply take the signal after the device has decoded it, … Read more

Before plunking down 650 euros (about US$965) for an "unlocked" French iPhone, take note: the device retains a country lock meaning that it will only allow use of SIM cards for carriers that operate in France according to our friends at iPhone Atlas. In other words, you can't take your France-bought iPhone to Spain, the United States, or anywhere else, pop in a foreign SIM card, and make calls on a local carrier; you're still stuck paying international roaming fees to a French company.

Attempting to use a foreign SIM card with one of these … Read more

Would you pay more money just so you could have an unlocked iPhone?

T-Mobile is going to charge the equivalent of $1,478 for an unlocked iPhone in Germany, after deciding Wednesday to comply with a preliminary injunction issued by a court at the request of Vodafone, a rival carrier. The carrier will continue to challenge the court's decision, but it seems that locking phones to a specific carrier is against German law.

According to T-Mobile's Web site, "numerous functions remain exclusively available to T-Mobile customers with a Complete rate plan." The only feature that the … Read more

Apple set the blogosphere on fire Monday when word leaked of the company's latest effort to limit iPhone unlocking. Recent media reports reveal that that the company has instituted a two-device-per-visit limit for iPhone purchases and has banned the use of cash for such transactions. However, the latest news indicates that Apple is now also banning the use of Apple Gift Cards for iPhone sales. Wired News confirmed the rumor on Monday afternoon. A representative from the Burlingame, Calif., Apple store told Wired News that "official" policy is now that gift cards will not be accepted for … Read more