iPhone unlock procedure posted
Video shows it working?
A utility claimed to be the world's first software tool for unlocking the Apple iPhone was launched yesterday, even as hardware hackers said they'd figured out how to get the same result by tweaking the gadget itself.
Website iPhone Sim Free said its application would go on sale next week. Had we not handed our iPhone back we might have been able to take the company up on its offer of a free trial.
It's keen to persuade iPhone punters that its app will indeed easily allow the Apple mobile to work with any SIM cards, not just AT&T's.
That said, the company's only going to allow three publications to have their iPhones unlocked gratis, so we'll have to wait a while to discover if this is the real deal.
Meanwhile, website Finding JTAG on the iPhone has posted a ten-step walkthrough to unlocking the iPhone that involves opening up the phone and soldering in a wire that, the site claims, tricks the chip into thinking part of the Flash memory has been erased. You then copy off the firmware, tweak the code and put it back.
The site provides links to the various software tools you need, but that's no help if you have a shaky soldering hand. Be warned, this is a tricky procedure and, as the website admits, you run the risk of killing your iPhone. You also need to pre-patch the iPhone to allow it to run non-Apple apps.
Does it work? It seems to. A YouTube video shows an iPhone connected via - blink and you'll miss it - T-Mobile and with the SIM card subsequently removed:
COMMENTS
Great phone, bad policy
So, one of my developers was in great need of a moral boost and was already the lone-wolf AT&T user in the building, so I decided to buy him an iPhone as a way to say thanks for all this hard work.
He gets the phone and spends most of a whole day playing with it and getting it set up and, lack of productivity not-withstanding, I was wholly impressed with the . It really works, and works well. I was really tickled that the UI worked just as advertised. I decided then and there I'd like to have one. Except,
I refuse to bow to the arrogance of any hardware provider who seeks to force me to use the service of their choosing. It's just bad policy and reinforces really bad ideas in already screwy corporate mentalities. Until I can buy an iPhone (that isn't hacked or fucked up by some 3rd party software) that works out of the box on any provider I refuse to buy one. Probably doesn't make much of a difference to Apple but I will do what I can to reinforce consumer rights.
My iPhone makes my life easier.
I have used probably fifteen mobiles for work. None, and I mean none, from the Pearl to some crappy old thing from LG have come close to what the iPhone does. With very little effort, I have a complete bash shell running in my iPhone. I no longer have to carry my laptop around to work on access points. I can simply get in proximity with my iphone and run whatever commands I need to to repair them on the fly. I can install software updates using FTP and manage all the settings from a device fits in the palm of my hand. Even though the things that I mention are not standard, they aren'y exactly hard to accomplish. I defy anyone to claim that their device does these things better than the iPhone.
Have you tried one?
Anyone who's technically inclined and has spent 10 minutes trying an
iPhone can't help but be impressed. I've tried one for phone, wifi browsing, youtube,and camera functions (skipped the iPod part) and was indeed impressed. Wifi beats any 3G internet connection speed. My Blackberry is just a plaything compared to the iPhone.
I suspect all but the last comment above are from folks who never actually had their hands on an iPhone. It is indeed a revolution in Cell phones that has Nokia, Sony-Eriksson, Qualcomm, Motorola and others buying iPhones to take apart to help design their future products.
iPhone is not like the iPod...
>Simply put the iPhone is a iPod with a cheap and nasty GSM radio in it.
>Think of it more of an iPod with a phone inside rather than a phone with an iPod inside
The fact that it actually runs a version of OS X with CoreGraphics and all that inside a handheld is worth nothing? The multi-touch display and UI? It's actually very unlike an iPod, in terms of hardware, functionality and design, and I'm sure you'd know that if you've ever even see one.
