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Free the iPhone from AT&T
Acererak was one of several readers who noted that DVD Jon has released information on unbricking an iPhone. You sacrifice all cel phone functionality of course, but you have an iPDA that will work on your WiFi. Currently the hack is windows only but it doesn't look very complicated.
If I understand the idea correctly this allows you to use it without activating it and having a mandatory contract. This does not remove the SIM lock though. If a hack comes out to unlock the SIM lock these two will make a total unlock possible. Anything else aside, this allows you to use the iPhone for something without registering for 2 years contract while you are waiting for the second hack.
The latter is only a matter of time, after all you do not expect a device with a general purpose OS where everything runs as root to last long, do you?
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
http://www.sigsegv.cx/
It doesnt? http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=30
Exemptions are allowed for 1) the educational library of a university's media studies department, in order to watch film clips in class; 2) using computer software that requires the original disks or hardware in order to run; 3) dongle-protected computer programs, if the the dongle no longer functions and a replacement cannot be found; 4) protected e-books, in order to use screen-reader software; 5) cell phone firmware that ties a phone to a specific wireless network; and 6) DRM software included on audio CDs, but only when such software creates security vulnerabilities on personal computers. You are allowed to unlock your cell phone no matter what Apple or AT&T think about it. They can't sue DVD Jon for breaking their bullshit attempts to control hardware that they have sold. The purchaser can do what they want with their own phone.
Whole article is at: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061124-828
Tapwave Zodiac :)
:D
:)
Cool factor > Still looks cool to this day!
User interface > Yup its pretty nice touch screen interface
Wifi > With an SDIO card yeah
Almost full featured browser > yup got that too
Full screen > tis a pretty big screen
Video player > hardware mpeg4 decoder built in
plus it plays emulators and has tonnes of over features
f*ck the iphone get a Zodiac off ebay now!
1. Buy the phone 2. activate it through Apple 3. Cancel the plan within 2 days
Like anyone can even know that
You can't use it for anything at all without activating it... ...without this hack.
Who's taking a loss? Apparently the mark-up on the 8 GB version is 55%.
Nokia N700 or the new N800 does all of that.
No it does not play DRM locked iTunes music but it does everything else including play doom.
Oh and it's been out for far longer than the iPhone.
does it have the yuppie metrosexual iconic look? No but in a way kinda, every time I use mine with my phone (BT data) or for other reasons (far bigger screen than the iphone so movies rock and makes websurfing very tolerable) I get tons of questions about it.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Pretty much all phones in the UK are sim-locked. It's legal to get it unlocked by a slightly dodgy bloke on a market stall for a tenner though.
This hack doesn't do anything about the phone part of the iPhone. All he did was patch around the activation step and fool the rest of the iPhone into thinking it has already been activated. But I'm pretty sure that someone will take the software apart and figure out how to use it as a standard quad-band GSM phone via the SIM card. The question is if it will have web access via the carrier's data network...and if it would be any faster than AT&Ts EDGE system. The real tragedy would be losing the very cool "Visual Voice-mail". I wonder if Asterisk could be made to serve a Web 2.0 emulation of it?
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
I admit, from toying with one that a friend picked up, the N700/800 tablets look quite nicely usable. They do not, however, look like something I can slip into my purse, or the pocket of my jacket, for easy transport as a phone. (Especially as they need a Bluetooth phone to use for GPRS connectivity, and don't do normal GSM calling.)
I haven't taken the plunge and enslaved myself to AT&T for an iPhone, but I know that my desire for it is a tradeoff of several things. Windows Mobile just plain feels like I'm fighting with my PDA most of the times (I will spare you my rant on the astonishingly poor UI design of the Connection management screen in WM5), and most of the more-usable PDA-type devices are, like the N700, just too darn BIG to carry around conveniently for me, especially if I also have to carry a phone with me.
So all flashy 'woo' factor aside, the iPhone seems to have a very usable interface, do most of what I actually want from my PDA-phone (with, alas, the exception of IM... what were you THINKING, Apple?) and would fit in my jacket pocket much more conveniently. It's just that (ugh) AT&T requirement that's kept me from taking the plunge; T-Mobile's been fairly good to me.
--Rachel
Wouldn't it be a lot simpler to just use 999-99-9999 as the SS# when signing up for AT&T, which allows you to buy a prepaid phone plan? Then you pay $30, get access to the iPhone, have no AT&T contract, and can even use it to make phone calls if the mood ever strikes you. You also don't miss out on the software updates and new features Apple has already said are coming, and someday when someone offer unlocking for $50 you can get that done as well.
Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.