I'm 15 and I'm getting a new phone for Christmas (preferably the PPC 6700). I'm looking to buy one on Ebay so I can add it to my dad's plan on Alltel. Do I need an unlocked phone if the phone is already for the Alltel network (the Ebay items say "PPC 6700 for Alltel")? And what does unlocked mean in the first place?
I had some additional questions about the phone if anybody can answer them: 1. Is there any way to put some of my mp3's from iTunes on there? And does the phone have speakers to play it aloud? And if I can, do I have the option of setting these as ring tones/alarms? 2. Can I record voice memos and set them as ring tones? 3. How do I dial numbers without pulling out the keyboard? (Okay, I admit I'm new to this!) 4. Is wi-fi free? And how exactly does it work? 5. Is video messaging possible with this phone? 6. Can I set pictures as the background?
Unlocked refers to GSM phones (T-Mobile and AT&T in the US and many Euro countries). It doesn't apply to CDMA phones for Verizon, Sprint and Alltel. So just make sure you get one that states it's for Alltel.
The 6700 has speakers and you can play iTunes music-- but not tunes you purchased from Apple's iTunes stores. Just those you ripped from CDs yourself and/or non-copy protected songs.
It has a speaker and a stereo headphone jack.
You can dial by pressing number buttons on-screen, like the iPhone.
You can set pictures as your background image.
Read our review of the PPC-6700 (the Sprint version of the phone). They're pretty much identical.
-------------------- Lisa Gade Editor in Chief, MobileTechReview
The iTunes Store does have a small number of tracks in "iTunes Plus" format, which is DRM free. These could be played on a Windows Mobile device, although you would have to either transcode them (which isn't hard) or get a program like CorePlayer.
WiFi is a local-area form of networking. This means that, to be able to access WiFi, you'll need to be within about 50 feet of a router that broadcasts a wireless signal and is connected to the Internet through a method like DSL or a cable modem. You could set up a router in your house using your own Internet connection, or access one at a place like Starbucks or Panera Bread - but whoever owns the router (and provides the Internet connection) can set up any pricing scheme they want.
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