iPhone 3G – Not going to plan…
I’ve been having great fun with my new iPhone 3G :)
I have been watching the blog for the iPhone Dev Team who are working on a new version of their software to jailbreak and unlock the iPhone and have been waiting for new on when they will release the software to Unlock the iPhone 3G. There are two terms used around the iPhone. One is Jailbreak and the other is unlock.
Jailbreak is the term used to open the iPhone up so that 3rd party applications can be loaded onto the iPhone without going through the AppStore (currently).
Unlocking is the term used to describe the baseband unlocking of the iPhone which will allow it to operate using a different SIM card. e.g. in the UK the iPhone contract is with O2. I have a Vodafone SIM card issues by my company and I want to use that instead. I need to unlock the iPhone for this to work.
I was all hopeful and excited about getting the unlock in the next few days, until I read the latest entry in the iPhone Dev blog.
Safe code….
So we’ve been working hard on getting the release ready and during this process we’ve been fixing some final bugs, the actual base of PwnageTool application is working fine and working with all devices that we support. We’ve been restoring our devices to various firmware revisions so that we can try to reproduce the conditions that most users will have. We are able to fully install any applications on any part of the current devices running 2.0 (and b103) and these versions are the iPhone 114, iPhone 2.0, iPhone 3G.
Apple released an update (b103) just before we were about to release and that support had to be added to the current version, it is pointless to release something that doesn’t work on devices out of the box (we’ve been told new 3Gs will have this firmware), we don’t want drama, and we want to do as little support as possible, so we want to make it right the first time.
It was lucky that we delayed slightly as we discovered a bug that causes unexpected behavior when using AppStore and third party applications on the same device. We are working on fixing that bug now, we don’t anticipate it is a big one, it has some really odd side effects, causing WiFi dropouts and the loss of stored passwords for WiFi networks. Of course this is only a minor software issue, nothing like the horrible static MAC address that another “elite byte adjuster†forced upon their users.
So, currently (when released) PwnageTool 2.0 will support:-
iPhone (1st Gen) with 2.0 – Activated, Unlocked & Jailbroken, (with support for third party applications).
iPod Touch with 2.0 – Activated & Jailbroken, (with support for third party applications).
iPhone (3G) with 2.0 – Activated, Jailbroken (with support for third party applications).
We’ve made some progress on the baseband unlock of the 3G device, but at this point PwnageTool will not support 3G unlocking or BootNeuter on the 3G device. It is, of course supported on the first generation device with 2.0. We’ll push out an update with 3G support if and when it is completed.
As soon as we fix this up and test a bit more we’ll be ready for release, we’ll get back to you with a release schedule soon.
Please loosen that seatbelt slightly while our cabin crew serve you complimentary drinks.
This basically means that when the first version of the software comes out, it will activate and jailbreak the iPhone 3G, but it will not unlock it. I will have to wait for that and hope that they CAN break it and I can use my SIM. Until then I have an iPod Touch basically as that is all the functionality I can use.
I’ve already ported my Wifes number to the new SIM which she is now using, so I have no ability to use the phone or 3G aspects of the iPhone until I get it unlocked.
This was always a risk :( but I’m still pissed…
All that said, the guys at iPhone Dev are gods with this stuff. If anyway can break it they can and given they are doing all this for free they should get huge amounts of credit…keep up the great work guys.
Mike
