Refurbished iPhone - Good or bad?

[Bani_Banan]

Hi guys!

Yeah, yet another iPhone thread - just about one year too late.
However, due to apple failing at releasing their products over seas, I've made up my mind on ordering an iPhone.

I went to the apple site and saw that they had refurbished phones for $349 + VAT-.
As a poor student, would it be better for me to purchase the refurbished phone or the "sealed"?

I mean, there isn't really a difference between the refurbished and brand new.


Advice plix

[tokenuser]

Apple refurbs are pretty good. Unfortunately you have no idea why it was returned, and there might be some slight cosmetic damage (scuffing - but Apple are generally good at buffing them out).

Apart from that, they are as good as new - if not better - because they are each tested to make sure that are functional rather than just being batch tested off a production line. Indeed, a refurb is often a model that failed the initial production batch test, and then was manually tested. There were a number of iPhones that went out without the firmware flashed, and those could not be sold (or if sold were returned), so it might be that those are the ones now being offered.

Just be careful on the 4GB models - they are old stock, and IMHO not worth the expense.

[kevincollateral]

apple refurbs are good.

like stated before refurbs are hand tested which is always plus

[iccanui]

Or you could be a smarty pants and just put that money you have to spend on the phone now aside and keep saving and buy a brand new iphone 2.0 when they release it later this year. Thats what i would do. 3g baby, i cant wait. edge is nice, but i need more for as much as im using it. AT&T is already building the infrastructure.

[Bani_Banan]

Or you could be a smarty pants and just put that money you have to spend on the phone now aside and keep saving and buy a brand new iphone 2.0 when they release it later this year. Thats what i would do. 3g baby, i cant wait. edge is nice, but i need more for as much as im using it. AT&T is already building the infrastructure.

True. However I do think that apple learned from their mistakes with the unlocking part.

Still, I'm not really in need of a 3G version of it. I'll probably check my mail a couple of times a day or surfing the web - without flash.

it's an 8GB refurbish btw.


Thanks for your advice.

[AriaStar]

Brand new is mostly machine-made, but refurbs have a lot of hand-work in them that enables problems to be spotted by an actual human and repaired. I'd go with a refurb, given the choice.

[rabidbadger]

yeah, I saved a few bucks with a refurb nano. flawless.

[Bani_Banan]

yeah, I saved a few bucks with a refurb nano. flawless.

How was it boxed? Any different than the "un-refirbished" one? C'mon, the unboxing experience is a part of the whole experience.

[tokenuser]

How was it boxed? Any different than the "un-refirbished" one? C'mon, the unboxing experience is a part of the whole experience.Is the shiny packaging reaaaallllyyyy wort the extra 15%?

Actually, being Swedish (?) I think that a 3G network will give you better coverage across Europe than the current Edge model. Wait six months (they are saying Sept/Oct) for the iPhone 2.0. By that time it will be 3G, come unlocked by deafult, and actaully have 3rd party apps developed for it.

[Bani_Banan]

Is the shiny packaging reaaaallllyyyy wort the extra 15%?

Actually, being Swedish (?) I think that a 3G network will give you better coverage across Europe than the current Edge model. Wait six months (they are saying Sept/Oct) for the iPhone 2.0. By that time it will be 3G, come unlocked by deafult, and actaully have 3rd party apps developed for it.

Nah. the extra 15% isn't worth $50. I don't masturbate to apples boxes.

Actually, EDGE (GPRS) would give me wider coverage. Hey, 3G wouldn't be bad.

The only thing that I'm worried about it the price and the unlocking.
I don't think relying on GEOHOT and the dev-team is healthy (In the beginning I used to constantly refresh the "Unlock notifier" because I wanted to know whether or not they were capable of unlocking such an "incredible device".

I will doubtfully buy the phone in Sweden (Due to the prices they tend to set on the phones).
I would much rather have a "pay as you go" card rather than paying a monthly fee.
After all, I'm a student.
My phone is totally fucked, my iPod's battery life is down to 5h, and it only has a 2GB memory (iPod nano 1st gen).

- If it all comes down to HSDPA vs EDGE, I don't give a fuck. Jailbreaking the phone will fulfil my needs. I don't think apple will allow the SDK to give the tools to provide as powerful apps as the JB did -

[rabidbadger]

nope. plain brown wrapper, basically.