The very first iPhone 3G unlock has happened and now you can unlock yours too. The iPhone Dev Team have been able to break in the baseband processor. If you’re like me and have no idea what a baseband processor is, the dev team fill in the details. It’s basically the core of the iPhone 3G and controls everything about the phone.
Nucleus is the operating system that runs on the PMB8878 baseband processor, we are using minicom running on the iPhone to talk to the baseband via AT commands, the AT command shown is a custom AT command that has been inserted into the PMB8878 that starts an application on the baseband, one of the things that this application does is to lists the tasks (processes) that are running within Nucleus.
QuicklyBored reader Pascal tipped me off to this iPhone unlocking service. Apparently he’s had it unlocked for the past 6 weeks and it’s working just fine. His comment was in response to my posting about Rebel Sim which also purports to unlock the iPhone 3G. Apparently that service doesn’t work so well and this is the good stuff. Let me know if anyone feels the same way.
I’ve had an iPhone 3G for a few months now and the battery life is starting to really get on my nerves. If I use it like a normal phone, I’ll probably get 2 days of life out of it. But who wants to do that? If I’m watching YouTube videos and using the iPod feature, I rarely get to 6pm. With Mophie’s Juice Pack, you get up to 350 additional hours of standby, up to 6 hours of 3G talk time (or 12 hours on 2G) and another 6 hours of web surfing. Now THAT is the type of iPhone usage I want.
[Via Engadget]
With the three major hands on reviews, I’m surprised no one took the time to snap a pic of the BlackBerry Storm next to the iPhone 3G!!! Never fear, our man Nan Palmero has stepped up, putting the dimensions of both into sizeasy.com to come up with a ‘from the hip’ size comparison. Hit the link below to play around with the images yourself:
BlackBerry Storm iPhone 3G size comparisons
If you’re one of those people who puts your iPhone in the same pocket as your keys, you’ll need some sort of shield to stop your screen from getting scratched to hell. InvisibleSHIELD works by applying a spray-on coating to the phone and then a cover. The spray-on makes for an easy application of the shield and provides a longer lifetime. InvisibleSHIELD by Zagg is available for $24.95 and comes with a lifetime warranty.
[Via JustAnotheriPhoneBlog]
“He was made bit by bit, piece by piece. The undying monster. The triumphant climax of Frankenstein’s genius.”
If you live in one of the seriously unfortunate countries with no iPhone 3G, you could think about unlocking it. If you do unlock it, you might want to try a solution that doesn’t involve Frankenstein style soldering. The above picture is from a Vietnamese site that claims it can unlock the phone with their brutal hack job. Is this phone even safe to put near your face?
[Via SlashPhone]
Now that we know what both Rogers and AT&T are offering in terms of pricing and plans for the iPhone, it’s time to compare. Rogers has released 4 new iPhone 3G-specific plans and they are the following:
$60/month - 150 anytime minutes, 75 outgoing SMS, and 400 MB data
$75/months - 300 anytime minutes, 100 outgoing SMS, and 750 MB data
$100/month - 600 anytime minutes, 200 outgoing SMS, and 1 GB data
$115/month - 800 anytime minutes, 300 outgoing SMS, and 2 GB data
Now lets compare these rates with that of AT&T:
$69.99 - 450 anytime minutes, (+$5) 200 outgoing SMS, and unlimited data
$89.99 - 900 anytime minutes, (+$5) 200 outgoing SMS, and unlimited data
$109.99 - 1350 anytime minutes, (+$15) 1500 outgoing SMS, and unlimited data
$129.99 - Unlimited anytime minutes, (+$20) unlimited outgoing SMS, and unlimited data
There is definitely something wrong with Canadian telco’s in that we don’t have the competition to gain access to unlimited data plans. We are all fully aware of the fact that Rogers, Bell and Telus are all sitting together in a conference room and shaking hands on not offering “all you can eat” data plans because it will make them tons of money. The Canadian courts seriously need to step in and break up these behemoths in the hopes of fostering more competition.
Want to get an iPhone 3G but don’t live in the U.S.? Don’t worry — as long as you’re on this list. Apple will be launching iPhone 3G in this select group of 22 nations on July 11th at USD $200 for the 8G model and USD$300 for the 16G model with a 2-year contract.
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US.
Not on the list? Check out a list of the 48 other ‘non-VIP’ countries set to get the iPhone 3G sometime later this year.
[via Engadget]
Click here to view the rest of the iPhone 3G countries
