Alas… a working iPhone in Dubai! Confirmed—all the iPhone functions play nicely with Etisalat’s GSM network (with the exception of visual voicemail, of course). This means if you actually get your hands on an unlocked iPhone in Dubai, you can rest assured the “phone” part will work like a charm.
More photos after the jump…
Super news! You can officially buy the iPhone now. A company called PureMobile is selling them unlocked for a whopping $2,899.00. They ship within 24 hours, but the warranty is pretty much void on it. Check it out!
UPDATE: PureMobile have dropped the price of the unlocked iPhone by more than half to a much more reasonable $1,399.00
UPDATE 2: Another company, iPhone Anywhere, is selling the unlocked iPhone for as little as $700.00 for the 4GB version and $800.00 for the 8GB version.
UPDATE 3: PureMobile dropped their price again, now to $1,079.00 for the 8GB. Still cheaper from iPhone Anywhere.
A lot of people have been craving Apple’s sexy new iPhone since the day it came out. Unfortunately, the iPhone comes SIM locked to one provider (AT&T) in the United States. Many of you are thinking “that’s great, but when do I get my hands on one?” Well in short, you can’t — for the time being. The iPhone must first be unlocked before it can work on any other provider, such as Etisalat. While there have been a few successful methods for unlocking the phone, none are yet available that allow a novice user to follow instructions and unlock his/her iPhone.
What does all this mean? If you want to get an iPhone in Dubai, you’re going to have to wait. Once the iPhone has been commercially unlocked, you’ll be able to order it online through a reseller such as eXpansys. We will be closely following the turn of events of mission: unlock iPhone, and you’ll be the first to know of any advancements on this front.
UPDATE: The iPhone is now available to buy, with a nice price tag too.
Finally, after many years, Dubai’s roads and points of interest have been mapped out on Google Maps. What does this mean? You can give a real map of your house to your friends instead of the usual “2nd left, first right, 3 right…” nonsense. It also means that you can find alternate routes to get from point A to point B and try to avoid the new Salik donations. If you happen to be a newcomer or tourist in Dubai, you can also look up “Mall of the Emirates” or “Emirates Golf Club” and Google Maps will point out the location.
Much like RTA’s parking fines inquiry system, Dubai Police have a system on their website to check your traffic fines (such as speeding fines). The easiest way to do this is to browse to their site. Once there, select the button next to ‘Plate No.’ and enter the number portion your plate number in the white box that becomes active. Next, select your plate source (i.e. Dubai), plate category (i.e. Private), and plate code (the letter portions of your plate number). Hit ‘Search’ and it will bring up all your unpaid traffic fines. Note: the Dubai Police website is unstable sometimes and may not work.