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brento1138
Joined: 17 Nov 2004
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 Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 11:51 pm Post subject: Will Korean-bought iphone 4 work in North America? |
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I don't plan on living in Korea forever (well... we'll see) but I do plan on buying a nice new shiny iphone 4.
Anyways, I was wondering if anyone knows if a Korean-purchased iphone 4 can work in Canada. When / if I move to Canada, I would like to continue using the same phone.
Possible? |
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dazzed
Joined: 26 May 2007
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| Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2010 3:38 am Post subject: |
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| No it won't. Korea uses CDMA and iphones in states are GSM. You could always sell your iphone when you leave |
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brento1138
Joined: 17 Nov 2004
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| Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2010 5:14 am Post subject: |
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| dazzed wrote: |
| No it won't. Korea uses CDMA and iphones in states are GSM. You could always sell your iphone when you leave |
Oh interesting. I had no idea that Korean iphones would use an entirely different technology. I wonder how much that costs apple?
Silly Korean phones... |
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blackjack
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: anyang
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| Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2010 7:07 am Post subject: |
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| dazzed wrote: |
| No it won't. Korea uses CDMA and iphones in states are GSM. You could always sell your iphone when you leave |
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AsiaESLbound
Joined: 07 Jan 2010
Location: Truck Stop Missouri
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| Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2010 8:21 am Post subject: |
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This incompatibility is good to know if you are considering spending like 450,000 won on a Iphone unit. My SKY phone is a nice free phone on 1 year contract that can do video, TV, video phone calls, and internet should I want all that over basic talking ability. It simply doesn't have the huge touch screen feature expensive phones might have. Really, why do you need such a pricey phone gadget as a teacher in a foreign land far from home? Iphones and Blackberries are for business professionals and rich folks lapping up luxury, period. Seriously consider saving your money and get a standard 3G cell phone for your handpone need should you be a teacher of modest means. I consider an expensive device like an Iphone to be an investment like a laptop is that should last about 3 years and helps me make money or at least makes life easier in my business world to get me ahead of the game to win it such as getting a job with it. I wouldn't lay my money down in Korea other than for the basic living expense needs for my stay; not luxuries like big TV's, fancy phones, high end computer, silly frilly bars, and such.
But if you wanna enjoy the good life feeling rich, becuase you got some hot phone money burning in your pocket, go ahead and spend so many over priced won on something that will be junk when you fly away. Sell it? That's a gamble you take. So you take a financial loss to temporarily enjoy the feeling of keeping up with the Jones such a device gives you. LOL |
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oskinny1
Joined: 10 Nov 2006
Location: Right behind you!
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| Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2010 1:20 am Post subject: |
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| AsiaESLbound wrote: |
This incompatibility is good to know if you are considering spending like 450,000 won on a Iphone unit. My SKY phone is a nice free phone on 1 year contract that can do video, TV, video phone calls, and internet should I want all that over basic talking ability. It simply doesn't have the huge touch screen feature expensive phones might have. Really, why do you need such a pricey phone gadget as a teacher in a foreign land far from home? Iphones and Blackberries are for business professionals and rich folks lapping up luxury, period. Seriously consider saving your money and get a standard 3G cell phone for your handpone need should you be a teacher of modest means. I consider an expensive device like an Iphone to be an investment like a laptop is that should last about 3 years and helps me make money or at least makes life easier in my business world to get me ahead of the game to win it such as getting a job with it. I wouldn't lay my money down in Korea other than for the basic living expense needs for my stay; not luxuries like big TV's, fancy phones, high end computer, silly frilly bars, and such.
But if you wanna enjoy the good life feeling rich, becuase you got some hot phone money burning in your pocket, go ahead and spend so many over priced won on something that will be junk when you fly away. Sell it? That's a gamble you take. So you take a financial loss to temporarily enjoy the feeling of keeping up with the Jones such a device gives you. LOL |
I agree. It is much better to live in a tiny apartment with a tiny tv, a bed to sleep on, a bed to eat on and a bed to do everything else on. No need to make your experience in Korea comfortable or buy something that you may not need but may want anyway.
Sometimes the tape in my Walkman gets twisted and I just pull out my trust box cutter/pencil sharpener from my ziplock bag (no reason to waste money on a pencil case!) and wind it back up again. Other people may be able to watch movies, play games, search the internet, talk to friends all over the world, have 500+ albums and a camera on their phone, but me, I am happy with my mixed tape and a couple baek won for the payphone.
All you Bill Gates and Roman Abramovichs need to shut it! |
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aphase
Joined: 27 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2010 6:18 am Post subject: |
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| dazzed wrote: |
| No it won't. Korea uses CDMA and iphones in states are GSM. You could always sell your iphone when you leave |
This is actually wrong. In the US there are also CDMA carriers such as sprint. Also, the iPhone (in korea and the U.S.) doesn't use CDMA. It supports a variety of networks such as GSM/UMTS/Etc.
The iPhone 4 COULD work in your home country if you eventually jailbreak and unlock it. But that's only if a jailbreak/unlock becomes available for the iPhone 4, there aren't any guarantees. |
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wishfullthinkng
Joined: 05 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 11:45 pm Post subject: |
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| dazzed wrote: |
| No it won't. Korea uses CDMA and iphones in states are GSM. You could always sell your iphone when you leave |
This is wrong. ALL iPhones are the same hardware-wise EVERYWHERE in the world. Korea does not use CDMA for their iPhones, they use a evolution of CDMA called UMTS. While the US iPhone does run on GSM for non-3G use, they also use UMTS for their 3G services.
You can refer to my post explaining in depth on iPhones in Korea here:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=183071&highlight=
If Korean iPhones are hardware and software unlocked which I am unsure if they are or not, you could theoretically pop in any Micro-SIM and use it anywhere.
EDIT: Sorry didn't see the post above that basically says what my post says. +1 to redundancy. |
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bianca_dee
Joined: 14 Jun 2010
Location: United Kingdom
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| Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 1:23 am Post subject: |
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| I agree. The only way you could possibly do it is to either jailbreak/unlock (I believe they will be releasing an unlock for it soon) it or just buy a new one there to where you will be residing. |
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jonpurdy
Joined: 08 Jan 2009
Location: Ulsan
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| Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 5:40 am Post subject: |
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| dazzed wrote: |
| No it won't. Korea uses CDMA and iphones in states are GSM. You could always sell your iphone when you leave |
This was accurate about four years ago. No longer so. 3G is actually based on CDMA technology so the rest of the world is actually moving away from GSM. GSM is essentially still there for compatibility purposes. iPhone 3G will work here. The original iPhone (2G GSM) does not work here.
AsiaESLBound: Congratulations on saving your money and not buying things you don't need. But for those of us who want to enjoy our lives and have nice gadgets, please try not to pass judgement, especially in the tech forum where you will find lots of people who don't care. |
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