| Hacker Unlocks IPhone 3GS From “Carrier Prison”
|
The unlock and jailbreak work with 3.1.2 and the 05.11.07 baseband. Previously, users had to be sure they used an older baseband version if they wanted to unlock their iPhone. You can find the baseband, or modem firmware version, under Settings, General, About, scroll down, on your iPhone. Geohot, AKA George Hotz, was also the first person to unlock the original iPhone (the EDGE version). That required some degree of hardware modification, however, and this does not. His jailbreaking tool is called blackra1n, and his unlocking tool is blacksn0w. Both can be found at his site, here. To be clear, though, iPhone 3GS models which are being released now have a different bootrom. If you are saddled with that bootrom, you will be forced to tether your iPhone 3GS when you reboot it, or the jailbreak and unlock will be undone. Hotz notes on his blog that “jailbreaking and unlocking have never been easier.” He did also note the following: This may be the best iPhone users ever have it. Be sure, if you have a 3GS or iPod Touch 3, to use Cydia’s “On File” or Firmware Umbrella in order to be able to restore to 3.1.2 in the future. And as always, the baseband cannot be downgraded, so be *super* careful with updates if you need the unlock. Apple has long been against jailbreaking, which allows installation of unapproved apps onto an iPhone, and unlocking. In terms of unlocking, it’s obvious why, but jailbreaking offers users a wealth of apps otherwise unavailable because of Apple’s tight control on the device. However, jailbreaking and unlocking rely on security holes in the iPhone OS. Apple isn’t standing still, and is looking for and iPhone OS Platform Security Manager to shut the close on these hacks. Still, it’s hard to imagine flawless software, and the odds are that even if Apple does strengthen its security on the platform, someone, Geohot or no, will crack it. |
...
