Where's best to buy desire sim free

Zapp Brannigan

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Those phones are locked - they are sold out and having shortages problems.

No way CPW are selling them unlocked for 399 when Google sold the Nexus One for 430 euro unlocked and the Desire is a better Nexus One.

The Desire is actually a cheaper N1. It has more RAM than the N! I believe, but the N1's dual noise cancelling micrphones make it dearer to produce.

conor.hogan.2

But the desire is a better phone, it is at least the same price.

So these phones are locked - you can of course unlock them, but they dont come unlocked.

Zapp Brannigan

I'd like to hear your reasons for it being a better phone. As, apart from the differences I pointed out, they're the exact same phone.

conor.hogan.2

Sense.

Desire is still being supported and sold, nexus one is not.

Looks better.

Zapp Brannigan

Well you can easily get Sense on the Nexus.

Fair enough about the Desire selling more, but thats Googles fault for not subsidising it with networks. Blame them, not the actual phone.

aesthetics do not a good phone make. And I actually prefer the Nexus to the Desire, looks-wise.

Anyways, enough OT talk

Krusty_Clown

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

You can unlocked them , they do not come unlocked tho.

Mine most certainly did. Used my O2 sim, then used my OH's Meteor sim which worked fine. And it was a branded O2 phone, so they had applied their software customizations. So to re-iterate, I bought an O2 branded pre-pay phone and it was unlocked.

conor.hogan.2

The 02 shop in swords didnt have any.

Said they were getting them soon.

I specificly asked was it gonna be locked to 02 - and he said yes, and I said ''really, properly actually locked'' and he said yes unless you unlock it yourself.

Krusty_Clown

As has been suggested a number of times on this forum, they may not be the authority on the products they sell. You would imagine that if they were going to go to the trouble of branding the phone (startup and shutdown graphics) they would also use the opportunity to sim-lock the phone also. But the proof is in the testing. Perhaps they made a mistake and didn't sim-lock a batch of phones. Perhaps O2 would prefer not to have it known that the phones they sell are not sim-locked.

conor.hogan.2

Maybe - but the two people i talked to were not managers.

They would have nothing to gain in lying. I spose they could be in the dark bout it.

Mad_Mike

To anybody getting quoted more than €399 in CPW, tell them it's €399 in their own June brochure on O2!



Oh and by the way, if anybody is saying that the prepay one is not the one being discussed here, all the initial Desires that CPW received were unbranded and unlocked, and I notice that some of the recent purchases in this thread have stated that there is O2 branding, so thats the actual phone they are selling

conor.hogan.2

some may be unlocked - some are not tho.

the majority are not i wud guess.

godskitchen

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

some may be unlocked - some are not tho.

the majority are not i wud guess.

Source?

conor.hogan.2

source - every carrier, years of past examples and common sense.

killbillvol2

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

source - every carrier, years of past examples and common sense.

You're spouting a lot of ****e on this thread - evryone who's actually got one of the phones says they're unlocked. That's from Meteor, O2 and Vodafone.

You (correct me if I'm wrong here) don't have one but you're telling the rest of us how much we paid for them, where we did or didn't get them and that our unlocked phones are locked.

Do us all a favour and get off the thread until you have some actual facts.

godskitchen

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

source - every carrier, years of past examples and common sense.

That same logic would suggest the Hero I have from Meteor is locked.

I better take it back to them as faulty as my Three sim is working just fine in it.

Edwordo

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

source - every carrier, years of past examples and common sense.

your posts are entirely speculative and incorrect.
O2 still selling sim free HTC Desire. I bought one yesterday and meteor SIM works fine straight off - calls and internet. :cool:

conor.hogan.2

1 - go to the android market
2 - search for dictionary
3 - after downloaded and installed check the word ''many''

4 - that is all.

Wats_in_a_name

I have brought Desires from Vodafone online, O2 Shops & Carphone warehouse. All are unlocked. The one from the 02 shop was branded however, but still works fine with a three sim & my brother meteor.

Nekro Man

Wats_in_a_name wrote: »

I have brought Desires from Vodafone online, O2 Shops & Carphone warehouse. All are unlocked. The one from the 02 shop was branded however, but still works fine with a three sim & my brother meteor.

how bad is the branding?

Edwordo wrote: »

your posts are entirely speculative and incorrect.
O2 still selling sim free HTC Desire. I bought one yesterday and meteor SIM works fine straight off - calls and internet. :cool:

where did you get it? where in the country like?

Pyro Boy

Can't seem to find htc desire on vodafone's website or CPW ... is it just me or am I going blind :rolleyes:

BTW for a trade in does the phone need to be working?

maki

Nekro Man wrote: »

how bad is the branding?

The o2 branding is just an o2 logo and animation when you turn it on. Other than that there's not a trace of anything else.

Nekro Man

maki wrote: »

The o2 branding is just an o2 logo and animation when you turn it on. Other than that there's not a trace of anything else.

i can flash a rom and get rid of that pretty easy... where did you get it? an o2 shop?

maki

Nekro Man wrote: »

i can flash a rom and get rid of that pretty easy... where did you get it? an o2 shop?

I got mine in CPW. The guys in the o2 shop were less than helpful when I asked if they were unlocked (which they are).

fidget76

abroad at the moment in spain, have to get one of these when i get back at the end of the month (june 28th).
So does anyone know if there is loads in stock in Galway? and i have a nokia n95 8gb to trade so happy days
If its branded, hopefully it wont affect performance. Its a shame their website has none advertised. have to go in person.

Yelnahs

I just spoke to CPW in Greystones and he said the desire isn't available on prepay... Is it just come branches or what?

Keano

Yelnahs wrote: »

I just spoke to CPW in Greystones and he said the desire isn't available on prepay... Is it just come branches or what?

Ring back and ask to speak to the manager. Seriously, Is that what the said? I bought mine on prepay in CPW in Limerick and a few weeks before that I was in Kilkenny and they had them for sale on prepay as well.

seeing_ie

Just got one yesterday on O2 prepay €399 in CPW.

Make sure the box is sealed and it's brand new if you get one.

Tripp

Was just in CPW in The Square and they said that the Desire (o2) was locked :-(

Any1 know of any shops that sell the unlocked Desire in dublin?

Thanks

Tripp

Bought 1 anyway from CPW in The Square Tallaght, Was told its locked but i just put in a Meteor sim and all is working :-)

soc

Just curious...

To the people who spent the money to get an unlocked Desire - what was your reason for spending that much money on the phone versus buying it under a contract with a phone provider?

* Did you buy it for the flexibility of being able to jump between phone providers to avail of new offers? (e.g. sim-free users are usually only tied into contract for 30 days versus 12mth under bill pay).

* Or did you get the phone simply because your existing phone provider doesn't sell the phone?

* Or are you just a PAYG customer, and this was a pretty good offer for PAYG?

I'm currently a sim-only customer, on bill pay... and am two-minds on whether to buy this phone 'unlocked' and pick & choose a network plan that suits me & phone (as a sim-only customer)...or just sign into a contract with a network provider and get phone at a subsidised cost...

I know it's a personal decision... but I"m just curious people's reasoning behind their purchase

EPM

I bought my desire in cpw in the UK and was told all phones that they sell are unlocked, then they just supply the sim.

@soc - I swap between irish and UK sims so guaranteed unlocked was way to go

breeno

Hi guys, I'm tempted to sell my iphone and get the Desire in CPW and have been told they have them in stock but will not let me check if my Vodafone sim will work before buying. I'm a bit nervous forking out €399 only to find out it's not going to work!

Anybody know of any branches who let them try their sim card first? Any horror stories of the Desire now being locked or should I go for it??

Idleater

breeno wrote: »

Anybody know of any branches who let them try their sim card first? Any horror stories of the Desire now being locked or should I go for it??

I wanted to know the same but having read here that they always tell you that "yes they are locked" and "no we can't test it", I can confirm that the one I bought, though 02 branded, is not locked - confirmed with a meteor sim + phone call.

I'm on o2 so it wasn't too much of a big issue for me, so I took the risk, but it worked out.

breeno

Thanks appreciate it.

Anybody know how big a job it would be to get the phone unlocked if the worst was to happen when I bought it?

MiCr0

i bought one in the cpw shop in dun laoghaire - o2 branded as describe above, but sim-unlocked - working happily with my vodafone sim

breeno

Just to update.

I bought a Desire in CPW Grafton St on o2 prepay and slipped my Vodafone sim card and it works perfectly.

Delighted with my new phone, sold my iPhone 3gs to come back to Android

kin9pin

breeno wrote: »

Just to update.

I bought a Desire in CPW Grafton St on o2 prepay and slipped my Vodafone sim card and it works perfectly.

Delighted with my new phone, sold my iPhone 3gs to come back to Android

Did you buy that today? My iphone has died and I want to switch to the Desire. I'm on Vodafone Simply with data plan, but I'm trying to work out if it's worth chancing a prepay and hoping that it's not locked. I have to stay on Vodafone as I travel to UK and Spain quite a bit and their apn allows me to use the internet abroad as part of my data add-on.
Has anyone actually bought a locked prepay in CPW yet?

kin9pin

Just wondering if someone can let me know how confident I can be of picking up an O2 prepay from CW Grafton St that is unlocked. My heart is telling me to get one on the way home from work tonight, but my stupid head keeps telling me it might be locked!

Celestial Deity

kin9pin wrote: »

Just wondering if someone can let me know how confident I can be of picking up an O2 prepay from CW Grafton St that is unlocked. My heart is telling me to get one on the way home from work tonight, but my stupid head keeps telling me it might be locked!

Isn't there a return policy?

kin9pin

Celestial Deity wrote: »

Isn't there a return policy?

Not sure. I went in anyway to buy one on Grafton St. and they said they don't have any O2 prepay left. The guy checked the system and told me CW sold out of O2 prepay in all stores!
I checked with O2 in Dundrum tonight and , although they didn't have any, there are some left in other stores. I don't know if these will be locked though, but I presume I could use one of the unlocking sites for it (do these even work?)?
Mad ain't it, the more trouble you have getting something the more you want it!

Krusty_Clown

I haven't seen or read of any instances where someone bought an O2 prepay Desire, and found it to be sim-locked. As far as I can see (including my own experience) they have largely been branded, but not sim-locked.

jd83

Anyone know a walk in store in dublin where you can buy a desire besides vodafone o2 and meteor.

5500

carphonewarehouse, My mate bought one yesterday on o2 from there for 399, its simfree and the only branding is the 02 bubbles on startup, theres no other o2 junk installed on the phone so its as good as simfree.

breeno

As far as I know most people on this thread got their's from cpw as opposed to o2 retail shops. Not sure if there would be a difference. As posted above, my phone(bought cpw grafton st 01/07/10) has a quick o2 bubble at startup and thats it. No bloatware on it at all.

kin9pin

I bought one in cpw today, the one next to Clerys. Popped my VF sim card in and..........................it's sim-locked
Can anyone recommend one of the websites that provide unlock codes? Absolutely gutted atm.

Celestial Deity

kin9pin wrote: »

I bought one in cpw today, the one next to Clerys. Popped my VF sim card in and..........................it's sim-locked
Can anyone recommend one of the websites that provide unlock codes? Absolutely gutted atm.

Uh-oh. Second batch must be locked. ****.

Have you tried returning it?

breeno

Simi sim on aungier st are very good for unlocking phones in my experience.

tylerdurden94

Quick question does anybody know if there is a cooling off period when you sign up to bill pay contract with a mobile provider?

Idleater

tylerdurden94 wrote: »

Quick question does anybody know if there is a cooling off period when you sign up to bill pay contract with a mobile provider?

yes, 7 days. IIRC.

jd83

The ones in CPW are now all sim locked also.