First iPhone 3rd Party GUI App Compiles

CmputrAce writes "Well, it's here now. The #iphone-dev team has compiled the first third-party application for the iPhone. Of course, it is the standard "Hello, world." application, but it's native to the iPhone and uses the iPhone's GUI. This opens up the iPhone for development by anyone who can forge through the process of cracking the iPhone, installing the iPhone "Toolchain", writing an application, compiling, translating, and finally installing the application to the iPhone. With the pace of development at present, expect to see commercial "jailbreak" (mod-enabling) applications soon as well. You can already get high-quality applications (Mac) to theme the iPhone and add your own ring tones (Win) for the phone."

Comments

Battery Life

[barbam]

So has anyone compiled an application to make the battery last longer than 3/4 year and not cost $100 to replace?

why bother?

[howlingmadhowie]

i worry about this sort of thing. saying that it is possible to hack an iphone and install applications on it can be taken to be a counterargument to the people who reject the restrictions placed on the device. why don't we spend our time complaining about the necessity of this hacking? wouldn't the undeniable skill of these people be better put to use elsewhere? why don't we just chuck the iphone away as the bad apple it is?

Re:why bother?

[0xdeadbeef]

Wow, the parent has been knocked as both flamebait and troll. The Apple cultists (and their alt accounts) are out in force on this one.

The reason they don't is that Apple cultists are submissive people who worship fashion and crave social status (which is only perceived by themselves). The quality of the engineering is of minor importance, and generally only matters to the degree that it exceeds some Microsoft effort.

You won't find them clamoring for an open iPhone because it would diminish the importance of the brand in which they've invested so much of their identity. How can they feel important when all the technical interest in the iPhone shifts away from Apple and to those implementing software for the device?

They will be cheering when Apple renders these efforts moot by fixing the holes in the next update. Freedom, power, utility - these things matter not to them. They are artists and dreamers, socialites who continue the tradition of courtier and courtesan. No dirty hacker should have the right to tarnish their jewelry.

Re:Not dupe Re:Dupe

[ZoneGray]

Thew only dupes are the people who read these articles and believe the iPhone has been hacked.

When somebody successfully installs an application, then it's been hacked. Until that's achieved, all this stuff is like home runs during batting practice. An impressive display of skill, but it doesn't count.

So....

[adrianbaugh]

So maybe after a great deal of effort the iPhone will actually be a tenth as good as the HTC Touch seems to be.
The iPod was so successful because it actually was the best in its niche. The iPhone, on the other hand, is a shiny turd with a fraction of the capability of some other devices.

Re:So....

[Orestesx]

What you CAN NOT expect yet

* reliable means of making phone calls, esp. not from the UI
* reliable means of sending/receiving SMS, esp. not from the UI
* integrated GPRS data access
* bluetooth integration (basic bluez driver works)
* proper power management (i.e. no reasonable battery life yet)
* ringtone (or other) profile management
* network preferences (call deflection, manual operator selection, ...)
* a complete application framework where third party application developers can write apps that easily integrate with the OpenMoko world

Yeah, it sounds like a real winner!

Effort

[SuperKendall]

So maybe after a great deal of effort the iPhone will actually be a tenth as good as the HTC Touch seems to be.

It seems to me the level of effort being put forth to make this happen, indicates the HTC Touch is only a tenth the device the iPhone is.

Lots of phones have "seemed to be" pretty good - until you use them. The world has now moved past your spec-based admiration.

Re:Effort

[SuperKendall]

If I wanted an expensive high quality phone I'd get a Bang and Olufsen "Serene". Nice and simple, no unnecessary gadgets or overspecification, just an extremely well thought out user interface and well made phone. And you can change the battery...

As soon as someone complains about something you might have to do every four years or so, I can automatically dismiss the arguments they make as ill-informed and overly simplistic.

The iPhone is not really a "does everything" phone, it too takes a few tasks and focuses on doing them really well.

As for jewlery - I keep my phone in my pocket and actually rather prevent people from trying to see it, because they are always asking about it. I just want to use it, not live my life as a product demonstrator.

Anything else you are confused about?

Re:Big enough, and ignores future potential

[SuperKendall]

Hacking together a solution that kinda sorta works rather than trying to do the elegant thing is the domain of lesser companies. I'm not even saying that's Apple exclusive behavior, just that what you are describing is inherantly weak compared to the real thing.

Not to menton that so is nickle and diming you for little services that really should be fundamental features.