iPhone News You Missed This Week

by Sebastien on Feb 28, 2010

Here is a summary of the articles that were published on the site this past week. If you like any of them, please feel free to share them on Facebook, Twitter, etc…

 

Is Steve Jobs Using A Jailbroken iPhone ?

by Sebastien on Feb 27, 2010

9 to 5 Mac has an article today about a Mac user who emailed Steve Jobs and received an answer back from him, showing that Steve-o was still using an iPhone running OS 3.1.2.

Why would Steve Jobs use an iPhone with 3.1.2? Well, my guess is that he simply has a jailbroken iPhone and he doesn’t want to update to 3.1.3 because he knows it brings nothing more than 3.1.2, except the few usual “bug fixes”.

Additionally, I believe Steve doesn’t want to lose the ability to unlock his iPhone so he can use it with T-Mobile.

Any other reason why you think Steve Jobs would still be using an iPhone on 3.1.2?

 

Traveling With An iPhone: My Experience in Thailand

by Sebastien on Feb 27, 2010

If you follow this blog on a regular basis, you probably know that I’m traveling for a few months and that I am sharing my experience getting pay-as-you-go plans for my iPhone in every country I visit. So far, I’ve documented my experiences in Australia, New Zealand, Bali, and it is now time to tell you about Thailand.

Before even going to Thailand, I had done a little research on the web about possible options. Turns out that there are only 2 mobile carriers in Thailand. Additionally, I learned that there is no 3G in Thailand as the communication infrastructures to support 3G haven’t been put in place yet.

As soon as we went through the customs at Bangkok airport, I turned on my iPhone, which was still under my Balinese carrier. I received a text message telling me to switch to the Balinese partner in Thailand called DTAC. So I did just this, hoping that I’d be able to get on Edge to at least check my emails. No luck for me. While I was able to make calls, I couldn’t get on the Internet.

Easily enough, there was a DTAC store right inside the airport. I went to the counter and inquired about prices. The guy was super friendly and spoke a better English than I do, which is always nice.

So he told me that for $3 I could buy a SIM card, and that they had various plans for talk time and data. Since I’m more interested in data than talk time, I asked him if it was possible to have unlimited Internet for a month.

He gave me a pricing sheet that showed me the various options. For unlimited Internet for 30 days, the price was about $30. So I chose this plan and added $10 worth of talk time so we can call hotels and stuff.

In about 5 minutes from the time I walked in to the time I walked out, I had a brand new Thai phone number with unlimited Internet and about 2 hours of talk time. That was without a doubt the most painless experience ever!

Edge is not very fast but I’m used to it now. And to be honest, it feels like Edge in Thailand is as fast as 3G in Bali or Australia.

The coverage is amazing too! We’ve been traveling to remote little islands and I’ve always been able to get coverage. Heck, even on ferries while island hopping, I was still able to tweet and email.

Next stop for us is Cambodia. Hopefully my experience getting a plan for my iPhone there will be as pleasant and easy as it was here in Thailand. To be continued…

 

Who Said the iPhone Camera Sucks?

by Sebastien on Feb 26, 2010

I said the iPhone camera sucks so many times that I can’t even count. Lately though, I have rediscovered the CameraBag app and I have been playing with it. I say “rediscover” because I had completely forgotten about this app and stumbled on it again by accident.

If you don’t know CameraBag, basically it’s an app that allows you to apply some cool filters to your pictures.

Here are a few images I tweaked with Camerabag (pix from my Australia and Thailand trip)

While CameraBag can’t improve the quality of the images, I think it does a great job at getting the most out of them.

CameraBag is available from the App Store for $1.99. I know there are other apps in the Store that pretty much do the same job but I’m too lazy to look for them. If you know any, please let us know by leaving a comment.

 

Pocket Blu: A Blu-Ray Remote For Your iPhone

by Cody on Feb 25, 2010

Any iPhone totin’ PS3 users out there? You might want to turn your bluetooths up, the folks over at Deluxe Digital Studios have a killer app for your 2 favorite gadgets. It’s called Pocket Blu, a lovely little client application that talks to any internet capable Blu-ray player (PS3) that happens to be playing a BLU capable DVD.

Awesome thing is, it turns your iPhone into a Blu-ray remote for your PS3. Not so awesome thing is that it doesn’t work on all Blu-rays, just ones that are BLU capable, which judging by their library isn’t too many.

The app also has some special features for the movies like lost scenes, interviews with the actors, even live reviews from other Pocket Blu users, of the movie you’re watching. Debbie Downer told me that it requires a wifi connection to the PS3, but I have a feeling that’s not a huge problem for most of our readers.

Overall its a pretty sweet little app, easily worth the free download. If you’re a frequent Blu-ray watcher with a PS3, you’ll find some space on your springboard for this guy. Imagine you’re getting ready to watch a movie, you got your snacks, and your drink. You’ve forgotten what you wanted in the kitchen twice already and can’t wait to finally sit down and start the show. You sit in your favorite chair, and just as you go to recline back and start the movie, you realize, you don’t have the PS3 remote. As your left eye starts to twitch, you’ll remember you read this article and you’ll say to yourself “Thank you Cody” and pull out your iPhone.

Hey, your welcome, and here’s hoping we see many more movies become “BLU” capable.

UPDATE: Interestingly enough, there is an extremely similar application is BD Touch Remote by BD Touch LLC. Exact same premise except with “BD Touch” capable blu ray discs. I call this, 2 apps, 1 review.

Any question or comment, please feel free to write us a comment below!

 

Hey Apple, Ban This!

by Sebastien on Feb 24, 2010

You may have heard that Apple removed over 4,000 sexy apps from the App Store. Apple SVP of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller explained in the NY Times the reason behind the ban:

It came to the point where we were getting customer complaints from women who found the content getting too degrading and objectionable, as well as parents who were upset with what their kids were able to see.

I think it’s very hypocritical from Apple to do that, especially because they still allow apps such as Sports Illustrated Swimsuit or Play Boy. Why keep those apps then?

When asked about the Sports Illustrated app, Mr. Schiller said Apple took the source and intent of an app into consideration. “The difference is this is a well-known company with previously published material available broadly in a well-accepted format,” he said.

So I guess parents won’t be as upset at what their kids can see on those 2 apps because they come from well-known companies. I fail to understand the reasoning behind this…

Next step for Apple might be to ban Google or even Safari from the iPhone because a simple search on Google Images brings up the following results.

I could have gone much more graphical with the image but you get my point.

I understand the App Store is Apple’s own playground and that they can do whatever they want there. What’s bugging me though is the dictatorship they have put in place. Not allowing sexy apps in the first place would have been one thing, but removing thousands of sexy apps that were perfectly ok a few days ago is just a Hitler-like move.

Whether you like it or not, it’s just the way it is. Personally, I really don’t care about these sexy apps but I think it is scary how Apple can change the rules at will. But what are we going to do? Meh, we’ll just write a blog post about it, and let it go, because that’s all we can do. Once again, I feel like Apple has stabbed iPhone users and developers in the back.

What do you think?

 

What Is Unlocking?

by Cody on Feb 23, 2010

Unlocking is an extremely easy concept to explain, sort of . Unless stated otherwise, cell phones purchased from carrier retail stores are “locked” to that specific carrier. For instance, a Blackberry storm from Verizon won’t work on an AT&T calling plan. The Sprint Palm Pre won’t work on T-mobile. Even your iPhone from AT&T is “locked” to that infamous blue-mapped carrier.

So what do you do if you want to purchase a phone you like but use it with a different carrier, perhaps one that costs less or gets better reception in your area? For most folks I’d say ” eh fa-gettaboutit ! ” (in a pretty sweet Brooklyn/Italian accent might I add). But for those of you lucky enough to have apples on the back of your phones, there are ways to relieve your beloved iPhone from AT&T’s struggling network.

Hardware Unlock Vs. Software Unlock

Technically, there are 2 ways to go about unlocking your iPhone. There is a hardware unlock, which is invasive (you have to open the phone), that I don’t recommend that anyone tries unless they’ve got a pretty extensive background in some kind of electrical engineering.

The 2nd, much easier way, the software unlock, could be done on your lunch break by your 6th grader. Just like jailbreaking, this can be as easy as hooking your iPhone up to the computer and clicking ‘start’. However the requirements for unlocking and the rules you must follow are very different.

Things to Consider Before Unlocking

There are guidelines to follow when thinking about unlocking your iPhone.

First off you need to make sure that the carrier you are wishing to go to supports the iPhones technology. I’ll save everyone here stateside some time and just let the cat out of the bag. If you unlock, really your best option is T-Mobile, the other major wireless GSM carrier. Other, smaller CDMA carriers (any centennial wireless users out here??) have had users confirm the unlock to work, but chances are if your reading an article on unlocking, they are referring to T-Mobile (at least here in the states).

Secondly, you need to know your firmware version and modem firmware version (or baseband as its often referred to). This is easily discovered by popping into your iPhone settings and opening the ‘about’ window. Now if you can’t seem to find it, I’m scared for you, but I’m here for you, I’ve provided some pictures below to help you out.

These 2 things are important to know, as they determine whether you can unlock your iPhone or not. If you are even thinking of jailbreaking or unlocking, best practice is to stay away from updating your iTunes or iPhone software, as the war between the Dev Team and Apple rages on, each new update could disable or prevent future unlocks.

I always check http://blog.iphone-dev.org/ to see the latest unlock available. As you can see right now, they have one working for firmware version 3.1.3 and baseband 05.11, but if you have updated your iPhone recently and have the 05.12 baseband, you’re out of luck for the time being. An unlock is in the works but the ETA field is empty so, don’t hold your breath.

Finally if you meet the above requirements and are ready to unlock, you must first jailbreak. Now as you can see from all the hyperlinks in this article, I wrote an article on jailbreaking, and I know Sebastien’s got great tutorials in the blog’s ‘tutorials‘ section, so if you haven’t done that, check that stuff out, meet me back here in 5.

Who Comes Up With Unlocks?

The last part of our segment today on unlocking is software, pioneered by the great Dev Team and the prodigy kid from New Jersey GeoHot. GeoHot, who recently announced hacking the PS3, actually received media attention for his iPhone unlock and was given a new Nissan 350z by the co founder of Certicell, not bad eh.

But the backbone of the jailbreak/unlock community, the Dev Team, have been the steady frontrunners ever since. Their software QuickPwn, RedSn0w, and PwnageTool have been staples in the iPhone hacking community for years.

Generally when you’re using these programs to jailbreak they ask you if you’d like to unlock in one of the steps it takes you through. Here lately though, 1 task programs like UltraSnow have been relevant, also done by the Dev Team, also available in our downloads section.

Conclusion

Well that’s unlocking in 10 minutes or less, the key really is what version your firmware/modem firmware you’re running, and understanding there’s no unlock for 3.1.3 firmware if you have 05.12 modem firmware (baseband).

The model of your iPhone matters as well, whether it is the iPhone 3G , 3GS, or original version. Model compatibility for any unlock software is generally noted in the description of the download. And if I haven’t completely crushed your dreams yet, there’s no way to downgrade your baseband (let us know if you get Fuzzyband to work, we hear the bootloader’s to high). What am I talking about bootloaders, basebands, you guys should probably get out of here before things get really crazy.

Make sure to hit us up with any questions or comments.

 

F0recast Tells if You Can Jailbreak, Unlock, Untether, Downgrade Your iPhone

by Sebastien on Feb 22, 2010

F0recast is a new tool by iH8Sn0w (the developer of sn0wbreeze) that I think is going to be of tremendous help to many jailbreakers and unlockers out there.

It’s become quite complicated to follow up with the jailbreaking and downgrading requirements lately and many people just can’t figure out whether they can jailbreak, unlock, downgrade or not. That’s where F0recast comes in.

f0recast is a tool for Windows® that will check your iPods and iPhones to determine whether it is tethered, or unlockable (iPhone Only).

It is just a real simple app for users who are confused about their device being tethered or able to unlock.

It even tells iPhone user’s their Boot loader, so if you are an iPhone 3G user with the 5.8 Bootloader, it will notify you that you can downgrade your baseband if you wish to unlock.

So basically, F0recast will tell you:

  • if you can have an untethered jailbreak or not
  • if you can unlock or not and what tool you can use to unlock
  • if you can downgrade or not

You can download F0recast for free from here.

 

Is Geohot Working on Unlocking Baseband 05.12.01 for iPhone 3.1.3?

by Sebastien on Feb 21, 2010

Did Geohot change his mind? A few weeks ago he said that he would not work on OS 3.1.3 but what he tweeted yesterday suggests otherwise.

Apparently Musclenerd and Geohot are talking to each other to figure out whether his exploit is the same as the one discovered by Sherriff a few days ago.

This unlock would sure be a life saver to the many iPhone owners who “accidentally” updated their device to 3.1.3.

 

iPhone News You Missed This Week

by Sebastien on Feb 21, 2010

Sunday is recap day! If you missed any of this week’s articles, here is a summary of everything that was posted on the blog.

 
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