You’re the proud owner of an Original or iPhone 3G, but you just can’t help but ogle your mates 3GS ever since he got it. With it’s fancy new compass, voice recognition and video recording, your Original/3G is starting to look a bit tired. Problem is, you’ve got at least another couple of months on your contract left and the networks are charging extortionate amounts for early upgrade. You could try buying a PAYG iPhone 3GS and sell your old and busted iPhone taking the hit on the difference, but that’s probably just as much as the early termination/upgrade fee O2/AT&T wants from you. So for the time being you’re stuck with an iPhone 3G.

OK, it’s not like that’s the end of the world, it’s still an incredibly capable device, plays some great games and can use almost all the apps that the 3GS can. But what about those features that set the 3GS apart? Well with a few apps and tweaks you too can get your 3G to do almost all of the new tricks the 3GS has and give your old trusty an extra burst of life. (more…)

The iPhone Dev-Team have just unleashed their latest update to the custom firmware creation tool for Pwnage Tool 3.1.4. It’s now compatible with iPhone 3.1.2 and supports iPhone 2G/3G/3Gs as well as iPod touch 1G/2G but unfortunately not 3G for all you lucky enough to have the newest touch in your claws. Pwnage Tool is however Mac only and that’s the way it’s going to stay according to the Dev Team, but for all those on Windows boxes there’s always Blackra1n or a mate to help you out.

From the team:

SUMMARY:

The iPhone 3GS is now supported out of the box in PwnageTool 3.1.4 (or if you have upgraded to 3.1.x in iTunes)

The iPod 2G is still supported in PwnageTool 3.1.4 but you must already be jailbroken (we’ll update this if there’s a big demand from non-jailbroken ipt2G owners)

The iPod touch 3G is NOT supported

DETAILS:

GOLDEN RULE: If you are using a iPhone 3G or iPhone 3G(S) with ultrasn0w and rely on ultrasn0w to obtain cellular service then you should only update your device with an .ipsw that is made with the new PwnageTool. There are no second chances with this. You need to remember that PwnageTool will provide an upgrade path to newer versions of the iPhone software in the future.

Please read all parts of this post before downloading and using these tools.

Read items 1, 2 and 3 again and again.

At the bottom of this post are the bittorrent files for the 3.1.4 capable version of PwnageTool.

PwnageTool will work for the iPhone 3GS

PwnageTool will work for the iPod touch 2G

PwnageTool WILL work for Original iPhone (1st Generation), the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G(S) and the iPod touch (1st Generation and 2nd Generation) but NOT the iPod touch 3rd generation.

For 3G and 3G(S) users who are Pwned, PwnageTool is your key to updating in the future, just remember to never install an update directly from Apple, always use an .ipsw that has been created with PwnageTool.

There is no Windows version of PwnageTool it is a Mac OS X tool only, we are not developing a Windows version of PwnageTool.

So what are you waiting for? Head on over to the iPhone Dev-Team and go get your jailbreak/updating on.

Block the Haxor!

The patch to solve the SMS vulnerability of the iPhone firmware up to 3.0 is live and available in iTunes. So get on and download the patch (some 280Mb!) before some joker hijacks your phone. Currently Redsn0w is not able to jailbreak it but it seems like just a verification error. Hopefully we’ll get an update for that soon, till now, update to protect yourself or run the risk (although pretty minor) that someone might hi-jack your phone.

According to Mobile Today, Orange and T-mobile are in the running for sales of the iPhone 3G in the UK as early as September. Apple originally signed a two year exclusivity deal with O2 which will run out in September this year, it’s important to note that this is just the iPhone 3G and not the 3GS, however O2 has been criticised for relatively high pricing on it’s iPhone plans which could be undercut by other network operators.

O2 was described as ‘furious’ about the news and it may well be, with Ofcom threatening (but not having the teeth to) remove O2’s 3G licence due to it’s poor coverage of the UK, news that both T-mobile and Orange could soon stock the 3G will could really hurt O2’s share price. T-Mobile’s call centres are reported to have already started telling customers it may stock the iPhone. Of course Orange and T-mobile both sell the iPhone in different countries and have the potential to really undercut O2 with ‘budget’ iPhone pricing. From a consumer’s point of view this is great news in the UK (enviable if it turns out to be true for other countries, sorry US) and could mark the beginning of the end for exclusivity of the iPhone in the UK and elsewhere as well as putting sever price pressure on O2. From O2’s point of view this could turn out a disaster for sales with many people still  buying the iPhone 3G due to the lower price and perceived little difference from the 3GS.

The iPhone 3GS will soon be broken in just like it’s older siblings. Less than a week after the 3GS launched the 24Kpwn exploit that was originally used to get access to the iPod touch 2G was confirmed to still be useable. This to the uninitiated means that the current technique built into the redsn0w tool will be adaptable for the 3GS. According to the Dev-team blog, Apple finalised the Bootrom in the 3GS in about August last year meaning that it wasn’t touched till release. Lucky for us, not so fortunate for Apple.

Another piece of good news for unlockers is that ultrasn0w will work just fine on the 3GS without any modification. So for all those AT&T haters, there’s not long to wait! Of note however is that although the exploit is still there, Apple has made inroads to make it more difficult to get to showing Apple hasn’t given up on the cat and mouse game of jailbreak.

Personally I’m most excited by the prospect of the new 3GS hardware powering some decent emulators. By recent developements I think that’s a really promising area compared to the 3G. Now will someone knockup a N64 emulator so I can get my Mario Kart on whilst on the go?

Hit the jump for some PSX emu action. (more…)

So WWDC is in full swing, fancy new developer stuff sprouting from left, right and center. The keynote that kicked it all off is probably the most talked about event at WWDC and it delivered on many fronts debunking rumours and confirming suspicions. As with all Apple announcements the air of secrecy that Apple manages to protect makes forcasting what’s coming like playing bingo.

Hit the read link to see how we did this year.

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