Thanks, that is the plan. I'm sure they'll have a go, but I spent hours with it connected to iTunes trying to update then factory restore it etc, and always ended up with an update failed message, so I'm not sure they'll be able to fix it.
That's always been the case in the past, but this time it wasn't letting her use the phone at all, it said she had to update. Googling it suggests it is, as you say, optional. Maybe, by sheer coincidence, her phone had died just after the update became available. I don't know, but it's somewhat dead now.
In what way does Windows lock you in? It's never been a problem for me.
No, there was no error code. Firstly the mobile network wasn't working, and it said that the software had to be upgraded. I power reset the phone, but when it came back on it was the same. So we selected to upgrade, but that wouldn't work as there was no internet connection (it wouldn't connect to our wifi). So I plugged it into the PC, loaded iTunes (updated iTunes) and tried to do a software update like that. It all seemed to be working, but when it eventually finished it said it failed, and we could upgrade or restore. We tried both options a few times, but it always ended up with a message along the lines of 'The update failed' and an option to Update or Restore.
