5 Things You Might Not Know About an Unactivated iPhone

Are you one of the lucky lads or lasses who already managed to swoop up an iPhone? If so, you may be waiting around waiting for it to start working. Thanks to (TUAW), there are a couple of things you can do with your unactivated phone to keep from going insane with eagerness to play with your new $500 puppy.

1. The SIM number is listed on the box. You'll find both the SIM number (the subscriber identity module or ICCID) and the associated IMEI (the international mobile equipment identity) on the bottom of your iPhone box. They are the bottom-most two barcodes, left and right. The IMEI consists of 15 numbers that uniquely identifies your mobile phone. The SIM number is a 20-digit identity that allows you to access the AT&T network.

2. You can display your SIM and IMEI numbers on the un-activated iPhone. Press the little "i" button on the main screen.

3. Attaching peripherals to the unactivated iPhone's dock connector may produce odd effects. I attached speakers and it offered to put my iPhone in Airplane mode (not a good idea, by the way). TUAW reader Tim O. connected a Kensington Pico FM Transmitter and was able to access the iPod application.

4. You can turn the iPhone off and on--but you probably don't want to. The press the sleep/wake and menu button trick works in terms of turning your iPhone off but it may have unpredictable results. Doing this (under instructions from the AT&T tech) apparently (but not provably) wiped my first SIM card.

5. Tapping the screen keeps it awake before you can adjust those activation-required settings. This is particularly helpful when you're trying to read the ICCID and IMEI numbers off your screen to the AT&T tech.