Sébastien Page

Sebastien is the Founder and Editor in Chief of iDB. Once a BlackBerry user, Sebastien instantly fell in love with the iPhone when it was first announced in 2007. Shortly after, he decided to start sharing his knowledge of the iPhone and its nascent ecosystem, which led to the creation of this blog. Sebastien currently owns 14 iPhones, 4 iPads, a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, a MacBook Air, 2 Apple Watches, 3 Apple TVs, countless HomePods and AirTags as well as a few pairs of AirPods.

Unboxing My iPhone 4

Sébastien Page ∙ June 23, 2010

I just received my iPhone 4. The FedEx guy was quite funny and said he had been delivering a lot of those iPhone 4 today. After frenetically running around the house like a crazy mofo for 2 minutes, I finally sat down and put Tina behind the camera for the long-awaited iPhone 4 unboxing.

I felt like a complete uber iDork asking my fiancee to record the whole scene of me opening a box. She laughed too and probably called me a dork as well. That's all fair.

As you can see on this video, I'm not that good at commenting live events. But who cares? I didn't want to post this but a few of you asked me to show you the video, so here it is.

The video is of a very poor quality but YouTube tells me it will get better over time. Since it was just uploaded, I guess they're still working on converting it.

I haven't played with the iPhone 4 yet. I booted it and plugged it in iTunes to start the activation process, which took about 1 minute. Painless!

I am now syncing all my music which should take a good hour.

What can I tell right off the bat? It's an absolutely beautiful device. I feel bad just thinking I'm gonna have to put it in my pocket and take the risk of scratching it. I am really now considering getting the Invisible Shiled for iPhone 4. We'll see.

If you have received your iPhone 4 today, please share your first impressions in the comments.

Ultradurable Glass of the iPhone 4 Not So Scratch Resistant After All

Sébastien Page ∙ June 23, 2010

Apple has been praising the aerospace-grade glass of the new iPhone 4 since it was introduced. According to Cupertino, the new iPhone screen is "chemically strengthened to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic".

Gdgt editor Ryan Block just posted this picture to his Twitter account. Seems that "30 times harder than plastic" is not scratch-resistant enough though. It looks like this Invisible Shield for iPhone 4 might be a good solution after all...

How to Make Sure You Are Ready for the iPhone 4

Sébastien Page ∙ June 23, 2010

The official launch day for the iPhone 4 is tomorrow. However, according to Apple, some of us will start receiving our iPhone 4 today. If you haven't pre-ordered, you're going to have to get the line at your local AT&T or Apple Store. No matter when and how you get your new iPhone 4, you have to make sure you are ready for it.

Here are a few things you can do to make sure you are prepared for the iPhone 4.

Update to iTunes 9.2

In order to get your iPhone 4 going, you have to update iTunes to the latest version, which is iTunes 9.2. Downloading the update and installing can take a few minutes. You should do it now so you don't have to do it later.

Sync and backup your iPhone

If you already have an iPhone, make sure you sync it with iTunes to backup all the settings and data. When your new iPhone 4 comes in, plug it in iTunes and sync your old backup. All your settings should be imported to your iPhone 4.

Learn about the new iOS 4

The iPhone 4 will come with the new iOS 4 pre-installed. Make sure you read about this latest firmware now so you know how to use it when your iPhone 4 arrives. Check out the ultimate guides to iOS 4 and make sure you're up to speed on your iPhone 4 operating system and what it can do.

Get help in the forum

Something you're not sure about? Ask in our iPhone forum. It's full of great iPhone lovers that are ready to help.

Check back here often

iPhone Download Blog is always up to date with the latest iPhone news. Check back here often for current information about everything iPhone. Even better, you can subscribe to the RSS feed, become a fan on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.

Anything else I am missing? If you have tips and tricks about being prepared for the iPhone 4, please feel free to leave a comment.

Dev Team Updates PwnageTool 4.01 Jailbreak for iOS 4

Sébastien Page ∙ June 23, 2010

The Dev Team just updated PwnageTool to version 4.01. With the release of PwnageTool yesterday, many people encountered issues with iBooks. This latest update of the PwnageTool jailbreak for iOS 4 fixes these issues with iBooks.

The instructions to jailbreak your iPhone with PwnageTool are still the same. You can download the latest update of PwnageTool in our downloads section.

Tutorial: How to Jailbreak iPhone iOS 4 With PwnageTool

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated August 31, 2010

The Dev Team just released the latest version of PwnageTool to jailbreak iOS 4. There are many requirements that your iPhone must fulfill in order to be jailbreakable with PwnageTool and you should make sure to read this before going ahead with the jailbreak process.

Let me make this clear, READ THIS before going any further in the jailbreak process. Your iPhone might not be eligible for a jailbreak.

Now that we have the "warning" out of the way, jailbreaking your iPhone iOS 4 with PwnageTool is fairly easy and straightforward. PwnageTool is a Mac only tool that is used to jailbreak while preserving the baseband to make sure you can unlock if necessary at a further date.

This step by step guide and tutorial will show you how to jailbreak your iPhone iOS 4 using PwnageTool.

Step 1: Download the latest version of PwnageTool from our iPhone downloads section. You will need a torrent downloader (ie. uTorrent) to download the file.

Step 2: Make sure iTunes is up to date (currently version 9.2). If not, update iTunes and reboot your computer.

Step 3: Sync and backup your iPhone in iTunes.

Step 4: Download the latest iOS 4 firmware from here for your specific device.

Step 5: Launch PwnageTool and select your iPhone.

Step 6: PwnageTool will automatically detect your firmware. Click on the blue arrow to continue.

Step 7: PwnageTool will now ask if you have an iPhone contract that you would normally activate with iTunes. Choose YES if you have a contract with an official carrier (ie. AT&T in the US) and you don't care about unlocking your device. Click NO if you don't have a contract with an official carrier and want to unlock your iPhone.

Step 8: PwnageTool will now create the custom IPSW.

Step 9: When done, you will see the "iHaz success" message.

Step 10: Now that you have your custom cooked firmware, you need to install this firmware on your iPhone. To do so, plug your iPhone in iTunes. Once iTunes has recognized your iPhone, hold the “Alt/Option” key and click “Restore” at the same time. DO NOT click “Restore” without holding the “Alt/Option” key! A dialog box will pop up and you’ll be able to choose the custom IPSW file you created.

Step 11: PwnageTool will now install your cooked iOS 4 firmware on your iPhone. This process might take a few minutes so be patient. When done, your iPhone will reboot.

You're done!

Additionally, make sure to check out these instructions if you need to unlock your iPhone.

UPDATE: This post is slightly outdated. Check out this page for the latest jailbreak information.

PwnageTool Jailbreak for iOS 4 Now Available

Sébastien Page ∙ June 22, 2010

The Dev Team just updated PwnageTool to be compatible with iOS 4. PwnageTool is a Mac only solution for jailbreaking your iPhone while preserving your baseband, making the unlock process possible, or at least easier.

Now there are a lot of information to digest. PwnageTool will not work with all firmwares for every device. There are many restriction.

I invite you to carefully read this information provided by the Dev Team. Read it over and over again and see if PwnageTool will work for you or not.

Each supported device has few different scenarios that users need to consider when performing the upgrades, you need to check below and perform the upgrade in the particular way that matches your current device state.

NB: With PwnageTool 4.0 certain devices are not supported this is because they are not supported in iOS 4.0 or they are not supported by our software. We’re working on ways to get past these restrictions.

iPhone 2G - not supported iPod Touch - not supported iPod Touch 3G - not supported

iPhone 3GS

Summary: Currently, PwnageTool only works on previously jailbroken 3GS devices with the old bootrom.

If you have a Jailbroken iPhone 3GS with the OLD BOOTROM and you DID NOT use Spirit to jailbreak then you can create the ipsw with PwnageTool 4.0 and restore with your jailbroken recovery mode. If you have an iPhone 3GS with the NEW BOOTROM this is NOT supported by PwnageTool 4.0

iPhone 3G

If you have a Jailbroken iPhone 3G at 3.1.2 (but not jailbroken with Spirit) then you should create the ipsw with PwnageTool 4.0 and restore from recovery mode or DFU mode. If you have an out of the box iPhone 3G you should restore using a PwnageTool 4.0 ipsw using DFU mode. If you have a Jailbroken 3.1.3 iPhone 3G it is very possible that this can fail from recovery mode, if this failure happens you will need to restore using DFU mode. As an alternative to PwnageTool, you can use redsn0w on iPhone 3G (on both Windows and Mac) as mentioned in our last post.

IMPORTANT! Whenever you need to enter DFU mode, you will need to do so using PwnageTool.

iPod touch 2G

If you have an iPod touch 2G (non-MC model) that is jailbroken (but not with Spirit) then you can restore using recovery mode. As an alternative to PwnageTool, you can use redsn0w on non-MC iPod Touch 2G (on both Windows and Mac) as mentioned in our last post.

Baseband Unlock

iPhone 3G and 3GS baseband unlockers (those who rely on ultrasn0w to make phone calls) should always be very wary to update their firmware, however our Ultrasn0w application will unlock all recent (including the current) 3GS and 3G baseband firmware versions. Once you are jailbroken using PwnageTool 4.0, install ultrasn0w from Cydia and you’ll be unlocked. Remember! This baseband unlock situation is rare, should you upgrade your iPhone blindly at the next iOS release please don’t expect an unlock - but for now you are OK (whatever state your baseband is in).

Let me remind you that if you have an iPhone 3G, you can jailbreak using RedSn0w.

If you have any question, please feel free to leave a comment.

[via Dev Team blog]

AT&T Sends Text Messages to iPhone 4 Owners With Activation Details

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated June 13, 2016

After emailing customers to let them know their orders had shipped, AT&T is now texting new iPhone 4 owners to give them more details about their new device's activation.

The text message contains a link to AT&T's website which provides more information about the activation process, being yet another indication that some orders might indeed ship a day ahead of schedule.

Under the overload of activation requests the last couple years, some users had reported not being able to activate their new iPhone for up to 48 hours. Maybe Apple decided to ship these iPhone 4 earlier to some of us in order to ease the load on AT&T's servers on Thursday, when the iPhone 4 is officially hitting the shelves.

I haven't received such a text message myself but I'm curious to see who among you got one. Let us know by leaving a comment below.

[via RWW]

iOS 4 Users Report Various Problems After Updating

Sébastien Page ∙ June 22, 2010

Since the release of iOS 4 yesterday, many people who updated to the latest firmware are reporting various issues, including:

no cellular data (3G or Edge) contacts disappearing no push notification MMS not working photos turning out blurry

I have myself encountered my share of issues while setting up Google Sync for iPhone. The setup itself was fine but it took forever to sync my contacts and calendars. Later on, it came to my attention that it could have been Google's issue and not iOS 4's.

So what can you do if you encounter the kind of issues mentioned above?

A reboot is always the first thing to do but I doubt it's going to fix anything. The second thing to do it to go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings. This usually fixes cellular data issues.

Now if you're still experiencing issues, you might have to go for a more drastic fix: restoring your iPhone to a fresh state as opposed to a backup. This is your best bet. Sure you will have to start from scratch but your iPhone operating system will be as clean as if it just got off the box.

Did you encounter any problem after updating to iOS 4? What were they? How did you fix them?

Poll: Did You Update Your iPhone to iOS 4?

Sébastien Page ∙ June 22, 2010

So, did you update your iPhone to the latest iOS 4? I have and you know what? I already miss my jailbreak!

Please take a few seconds to take this poll and make sure to share your thoughts in the comments.

Did You Update Your iPhone to iOS 4?online surveys

The Ultimate Guides to iOS 4

Sébastien Page ∙ June 22, 2010

iOS 4 was released yesterday and comes with over 100 new features. If you haven't updated your iPhone yet, you may want to consider it so you can take advantage of all these new features.

I started writing a guide of all these new features, shortcuts and settings but I quickly realized that many other blogs before me had already created such comprehensive guides. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, I figured it'd be easier to direct you to these guides.

So I found two good guides that I want to recommend you to check out:

Gizmodo's complete guide to using iOS 4 LifeHacker's new iOS 4 shortcuts, features and settings your need to know

These 2 websites will show you the most exciting features of iOS 4.

iPhone 4 to Be Delivered One Day Early?

Sébastien Page ∙ June 22, 2010

If you pre-ordered your iPhone 4 with Apple and opted for the delivery, you probably received an email alerting you that your iPhone will deliver on June 23rd, which is a day ahead of schedule.

The email reads:

Subject: Apple Store - Your iPhone will deliver on June 23rd From: donotreply@apple.com Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:11:30 -0500

Dear Apple Store Customer,

You recently received a Shipment Notification email from Apple advising you that your iPhone has shipped.

This email is to confirm that your delivery will occur on June 23rd. Although Apple and FedEx tracking information may currently indicate a later date, you can check the FedEx website the morning of the June 23rd to track your package to your doorstep.

In the event that you will not be available to accept delivery on June 23rd, it may be more convenient to use our pre-sign delivery option by visiting our Order Status website at http://www.apple.com/orderstatus.

Sincerely,

The Apple Store Team

So, will our iPhone really arrive on the 23rd? I doubt it. I think this is just a big mistake from Apple, and someone in Cupertino might have gotten fired for this.

Last year, my UPS tracking showed my 3GS was going to arrive a day early too but the phone eventually got held for an additional day and was finally delivered on the scheduled date.

Did you get one of these emails? Do you think your iPhone will arrive on the 23rd?

AT&T Starts Shipping iPhone 4

Sébastien Page ∙ June 22, 2010

Apple has reportedly started shipping iPhone 4 orders for a few days. Most people who ordered via Apple probably received emails letting them know their iPhone is on the way.

Now AT&T has been emailing people who ordered via the carrier to notify them their iPhone is coming.

My Word With Friends buddy Rahmoore sent me a screenshot of the email he received from AT&T. If you ordered with AT&T as well, check out your email inbox!