Jailbreaking the iPhone 3.0 OS

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In pre-announcing the iPhone 3.0 OS and providing preview software builds, Apple intended to give developers a leg up in producing/updating apps. Fortunately, it also gave the unsanctioned “iPhone Dev Team” enough time to get some of their jailbreak and unlocking apps ready fairly close to the official launch. And early this past weekend, we saw the release of PwnageTool and redsn0w.

I went with redsn0w Saturday to jailbreak and unlock my first gen iPhone. There were early reports of issues with Cydia, the defacto illicit app “store”, but it may have been due to server load rather than the jailbreak process. I also had a scare that involved losing all cellular connectivity, which was due to bad bootloaders. Rerunning redsn0w with the proper files took care of it.

The process is fairly simple, assuming you’re OK with the the risk of an inoperable phone and voiding your warranty:

Why jailbreak? If you enjoy tinkering, want to shoot (crappy) video without an iPhone 3G[S], prefer organizing your apps in folders, enjoy streaming a Slingbox over a 3G connection, prefer customizing your phones appearance, etc you’re a perfect candidate. And, of course, you still receive all the features of the polished 3.0 OS update and official App Store. The benefits of unlocking should be obvious – as you can see in the pic above, my iPhone now operates on any GSM network. Which will work out well should I defect from AT&T. But we’ll save my current phone lineup and future handset machinations for another post.

Click to enlarge:

10 thoughts on “Jailbreaking the iPhone 3.0 OS”

  2. I’m contemplathing jailbreaking the 3G I have. Looks like there’s some pretty neat features.

  3. I did that to my 3G (before 3.0 came out). While the various apps were cool and all that, the biggest thing for me was putting my GoPhone SIM in and using that plan. Also, I found a nifty app that will disable Edge as well, so you don’t have to deal with the annoying popups about not finding a data network. (I’m around WiFi about 98% of my day, so who cares..)

    Downside to GoPhone – CONSTANT FREAKING SMS NAGS FOR EVERY MESSAGE YOU SEND/RECEIVE. No. My Caps Lock was not stuck.

  5. from the looks of your screenshots, it looks like you already have defected to T-Mobile. Have fun with your new 3G (S) running on thier EDGE network. Or maybe there is a jailbreak app that will enable 1700 Mhz UMTS. :)

  6. @Todd – Ghetto all the way. But I -rarely- need to make calls, and I have WiFi at home and work. Plus my hatred of AT&T.

    Ironically, I did the same for my wife’s 1st gen iPhone, and between the two of us, we burn through about the same cash as a full-blown AT&T iPhone plan. While I’d love to get my 3G data back for when I’m away from WiFi, locking in to the devil for 2 more years turns my stomach…..

  7. Kermie, You must have only looked at one of my three screengrabs, otherwise you’d have seen I’m still AT&T “Premiere” – though I can’t say I’m feeling extra special given the way my contract has been bungled and no one has the power or interest to correct what seems to be a computer error. The T-Mobile SIM is Melissa’s, borrowed from her beloved Blackberry Curve 8900.

  8. @Frank Furter

    We, the great pre-paying unwashed, have a data plan, its actually a better deal than the iPhone’s too.

    Dial 611 and say “features”, then say “100 megabytes”.

    That’s it. It’s 19 bucks and unused data rolls over to the next month. Compare to iPhones $69.99 a month data plan that does not roll over and accrue.

  9. I have an AT&T Tilt phone that does everything but the slingbox client and I pay 30$ a month for unlimited data.

    I found skyfire browser app for smartphones that lets me play flash based video over my phone so I have Hulu over 3G to make up for no slingplayer.

  10. when im jailbreaking my phone.
    which simcard should i use?
    i bought my iphone from o2.
    should i use the o2 sim when jailbreaking?

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