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iPhone Freed From AT&T, Twice
A very large number of readers sent in stories about one or the other of the two new claims to have unlocked the iPhone for use on other GSM carriers. A New Jersey teenager, George Hotz, posted instructions for unlocking the iPhone using a soldering gun and a lot of patience. This is from coverage in a local NJ paper: "If someone handed him an iPhone new out of the box, he could modify it in 'about an hour,' he said. A person following his directions might take 'a good 12 hours,' the teen estimated." Hotz has put up a YouTube video substantiating his claim, and is conducting an eBay auction for one of his two hacked phones. The other hack is by a commercial outfit called iPhoneSIMfree.com, whose claim Engadget has verified. The company will be selling licenses to the hack, minimum quantity 500, at a price not yet announced. These hacks are much bigger news for those outside America. Expect to see an industry spring up to meet European (and Asian?) demand for freed iPhones.
I smell Lawsuits.
Expect to see endless lawsuits spring up about this. But really, is there ground to stand on against this?
...and it should be known by now
AT&T might have a basis for a lawsuit, since it has a contract with Apple for exclusivity. For users with modified iPhones, I speculate the only negative externality will be a voided warranty.
When there are good projects like the Neo that are on their way?
Karma Whoring for Fun and Profit.
Tt's the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and phew, is it stinkin' up the place!
My blog
but what are you going to do now that you just bought a 2-year contract with AT&T that was required with the purchase of your iPhone?
Bah, It's not like he made it's battery replaceable.
It's time to realise that Abble's products are the biggest abomination these days. Just say NO to the dumb iAbble way!!
I'm not trying to belittle his achievement, but I think the fact that geohot autographed the phone with a marker pen can only detract from the value. After distributing instructions to do this yourself and acknowledging that similar auction lots are likely to appear before the end of his, he obviously believes that he's selling a part of iPhone of history. Odd.
Its great to know that they have figured out the JTag interface, but I question how useful any of this is. Meaning, even if you can make/take calls on all the networks, the visual voicemail and SMS would still be non functioning due to software needed on the AT&T network. The SMS probably can be easily fixed by using a different application, but the visual voicemail would definitely be more difficult to get around.
The DMCA currently has an explicit exemption surrounding cellular phones locked to a specific provider (at least until November 2009). For more, see Ars Technica or Freedom To Tinker.
There may be other legal avenues they can pursue, but DMCA appears to be out of the running.
Apple and AT&T have undoubtably already discussed what they would do if this happened, as it undoubtably would, Apple will probably have to pay a fine to AT&T as per contract, or attempt to fix the issue. Most likely though neither side will care much as the majority of users will simply switch to AT&T rather than trying to install an unlocking utility, as this is Apple's whole mantra and reason people buy Apple products, they would much rather pay for convienence and an easy to use device than having to hack, adjust, and tweak it.
I wonder how the functionality of the iPhone is affected - visual voicemail, uploading video, etc. Does anyone know if these are AT&T specific functions?
You still have to go through the activation process. There are tons of methods to bypass it though. Those thinking it's just to unlock the iPhone and get worry free should be aware. If you have a non-ATT iPhone, You'll still need to re-activate it after every software update from Apple. That's because iTunes checks your phone for consistency and hacked phones don't pass this test. iTunes will demand a full restoration of the hacked iPhone that creates the need for re-activation. It's not that difficult to crack the activation process, but if you are not tech savvy you may get into trouble. After every software update, Apple may change things in iPhone's OS which includes the activation process. So all activation hacks may stop working overnight. Of course the iPhone hack community will eventually modify the hacks so they adapt to the changes, but keeping track of all of that might be hard for the technological challenged.
You would think any company with a goal of making money by out competing it's competitors in the market would take this moment to jump in the air and yell, "Holy bat shit Bat Man, we have a hell of hit on our hands. We've hit a home run ! People are willing to spend 12 hours moding our gear to get it the way they want it. I bet they'll be willing to spend a ton of money on our stuff. This is fantastic. Lets give them what they want ! We are going to be rich !" I don't think that's what they are going to do though, I think they are going to sue some people. Sorta lets you know where they are coming from doesn't it ? They want to compete by locking you in. Sorta like some other large company I can't remember the name of just now.
While this is a cool hack, I'm certainly not ready to plunk down my hard earned cash on one just to unleash it from AT&T, which I am sure would void the warranty should anything bad happen.
Count me among those individuals not willing to shell out for an iPhone. I can't bring myself to lock in to AT&T for the next two years (at least), and I'm not willing to assume the risk of freeing it and subsequently breaking it (or worse, bricking it WHILE clumsily fumbling around the inside of it).
Besides, EDGE is so totally yuck!how the hell do you license a hack? That's like selling someone the way to snap their fingers.
I make these: http://beatseqr.com
iPhone is just another media blowed idead, created by milions pumped in commercials. OpenMoko is superior to it in many cases: -You freerly choose the operator (lower prices) -Open software and propetiary software without the need for some stupid licenses, resulting in much wider selection (Jobs has a big hunger for money and this stupid idead that you must need a special license to write soft for it is just another of his maniacal ideas) -It`s cheaper by about 100$, with probarly the same features(ofc in the iPhone the cost of AT&T monopoly is not included) -It runs on a open source, free OS with a modified Linux kernel (this should result in good OS maintance, patches, feature extensions, etc.) -It`s free (I mean Open Source, but that is more ideology, however it could result in better code maintance, patches, wider soft selection and security) -And some more
they'll never get away with selling it.
Personally, I don't even care about the iPhone until it has GPS. As much as I hate the unresponsive and convoluted interface interface, the clumsy buttons, and the general ugliness of my iPaq, having GPS-enabled google maps in my pocket is now an absolutely mandatory requirement for me to even consider another mobile device.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
This seems to be the phone equivalent of a modchipped game console, which eBay has explicitly banned from their site. Given the insane amount of attention this is getting and will continue to get, is it likely that they'll simply pull the auction, possibly after receiving a nastygram from AT&T and/or Apple?
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
They're selling *licenses* to the hack? And will they send the BSA after someone if they suspect they're under-licensed?
A post a day keeps productivity at bay.
This is actually explicitly legal. In an attempt to defend their lock-in business model the phone company previously tried to prohibit flashing their firmware under the DMCA. They later decided the only purpose to of this was to support a business model and hence they added it to the DMCA exception list.
DMCA on cell phones
but the Neo1973 has GPS. And removable storage. And replaceable battery. :-(
But No camera
It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
Didn't we read this the other day? China is busy cloning the I-phone? http://www.ipodobserver.com/story/32618/ It seems to me Meizu already makes a darn fine alternative to the ipod. I'd like to see this here.
Inane Comments are Generously Disregarded
This is national news now. CNBC is covering it and Apple's stock jumped $3.60 or so because of the news.
It will be very interesting to see how the players react. My prediction?
Apple: won't care. more customers = better
T-Mobile: won't care.
AT&T: Pissed!
It is very important to distribute the "how-to" as quickly and widely as possible. I hope he published them before they sue his ass and try to silence him. Because I think AT&T will do exactly that...
Remember folks, sometimes it doesn't matter if you win or lose -- only that you delay. And AT&T would love to delay people from doing this on a mass-scale.
That's a problem for you as an individual hacker. I suspect it'll be less of a problem for that corp. that did the software hack; they'll just make their own official certification for iPhones hacked with their software.
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney
(I have no time to confirm it)
that 3000 development units were requested, 1500 of them are already with the buyers, the second 1500-sized lot is coming out next week. I don't think Neo will be a geeks-only thing.
It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
They might step in but for one small problem: The iPhone isn't available in Europe right now.
:)
But other than that tiny detail, I agree with your post
Soldering on jumper wires is only for experimenting. If it really can't be done from software alone, what's needed is a a PC board test fixture. Once you have one of those set up for the job, connecting to the right spots is easy. With that, and a control PC programmed to do all the necessary downloads and updates, the whole operation can be done in a minute or two per phone.
Coming soon to the back room of an off-brand cell phone store near you.
I have lived 60 years and it is well documented that the only thing ATT does well and with consistency is to F people.
I think it is great the phone has been unlocked. I wish all phones were sold like that. But if I were to buy a iphone today there is no chance I would unlock it because I would lose carrier specific features, specifically Visual (Asynchronous) voice mail.
[NT]
I think a hand-held video player that behaves like the iPhone is a worthy thing to want or have. I think a hand-held multi-media device that does 802.11 wireless access is DEFINITELY a worthy entertainment device to want or have. And yes, I realize the iPhone is all of that "and more."
But as a phone, it sucks and simply isn't worth the effort or money based on the fact that the user/owner can't change his/her own batteries. I pray the iPhone die a quiet but memorable death.
-1 troll me if you like, but there are other devices that are better and cheaper and for whatever limited set of features you want, there is probably a better alternative device that does those things better and cheaper. And let's face it... using AT&T's internet, it's SLOW. And I have yet to hear about an unlocked iPhone being used on any other carrier.
The kid got an interview on CNBC. Not quite fifteen minutes of fame but at least a couple. He also managed to get in a plug for "information wants to be free" and to note that what he did is explicitly legal.
Cheers,
Dave
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
Ben
Bid History
Item title: World's Second Unlocked iPhone (revised)
Time left: 6 days, 4 hours 1 minute 44 seconds
Bidder Bid Amount Date of Bid
RealityDistortionField $3,050.00 Aug-24-07 13:23:11 PDT
Randall L. Stephenson $3,040.00 Aug-24-07 13:23:05 PDT
RealityDistortionField $2,850.00 Aug-24-07 13:20:00 PDT
RealityDistortionField $2,840.00 Aug-24-07 13:00:09 PDT
Chair-Chucker-1956 $1,430.00 Aug-24-07 12:40:01 PDT
RealityDistortionField $666.66 Aug-24-07 12:20:09 PDT
Chair-Chucker-1956 $530.00 Aug-24-07 12:10:21 PDT
It's worth nothing that the iphonesimfree.com hack is a full SIM hack that works entirely in software, no soldering required. Also, allegedly, the hack stays in place even after a software restore.
When did the future switch from being a promise to a threat? -C. Palahniuk
there is no way this company is going to be able to profit from this hack. there is no way to authenticate, validate or restrict the unlocking process.
as soon as this thing gets out in the open, there will be no stopping street-corner mobile phone stores from just downloading the hack rather than buying it in these "500 license" bundles.
Sooner or later, the iPhone will hit Belgium, where SIMlock is illegal. We'll see.
but what are you going to do now that you just bought a 2-year contract with AT&T that was required with the purchase of your iPhone?
Keep the contract here but use cheap country-local SIM's when traveling abroad?
Was that a trick question?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
A Free solution, that is hard for an average user to implement, vs. a locked down proprietary solution that is easy to use but will cost you to obtain. Sigh.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You don't buy an internet router from your ISP.
You don't buy cars from the Highway Department (or equivalent)
You don't buy your TV,dishwasher,microwave or other electrical appliances from the electricity company.
So why on earth do americans still meekly accept the logic of buying mobile phones from service providers?
The sooner unlocked phones proliferate, there won't be a need to jump through such hoops to unlock an iPhone, or any other phone.
"..One hosts to look them up, one DNS to find them, and in the darkness BIND them."
GPS is only good for one thing - telling you where you are.
Yet almost all the time, I know exactly where I am. What I want to know is where something else is, and how to get there. Thus for me of primary importance is the map browsing, and at that the iPhone excels since it's so easy to do local searches on an area you are viewing, have it generate directions you can follow a turn at a time, and browse nearby streets to be sure exactly how to get there once you are close. Panning and zooming in and out are far easier even than on a browser on my desktop!
Then there's the issue of how reliable your GPS even is - even with standalone units I have the signals go in and out, basically I don't trust them much. The thing I do like about standalone units, locally stored maps for when you have no network at all, does not apply to any other phone anyway (that I know of).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
What did YOU do with your last 500 hours of spare time?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
and who have aquarium tanks full of lawyers at the ready... as do ATT and Apple.
It doesn't matter how many piranha you have in the tank as long as the glass is think enough to keep them off your couch. Legally, the glass is quite thick - unlocked cell phones are explicitly legal.
You, like many Americans, have an irrational fear of lawyers without understanding of the context for when to be afraid.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Good point, but it's not even just international folks like you who are interested... Here in the US, people in Vermont and no doubt in other places, too, are having troubles getting iPhone service from AT&T. As annoyed as AT&T may be with Apple for not *protecting* their phones well enough, Apple has got to be annoyed with the limitations of AT&T, both foreign and domestic.
Given the interface is entirely virtual, I really question the ability to deliver a product even half as usable as the current iPhone much less the iPhone + updates that might come along from now until when that phone actually ships.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Open software and propetiary software without the need for some stupid licenses, resulting in much wider selection
I'm not quite sure what you mean here, since the application development aspect of the iPhone hacking community requires no licencese and is totally open. In fact I daresay there are a lot more iPhone applications right now than for OpenMoko...
I love the idea of OpenMoko and may get one myself. But if you think it's at the same level as the iPhone, that's just being delusional and check-list centric.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I agree that our world needs kids like this, and he shouldn't get into legal trouble. Someone with deep pockets should underwrite this kid's college education.
Don't know about the rest of Europe but brits buy phones that are "free" anyway.
The market for expensive phones without a contract is tiny.
If there's a two year contract attached, brits will expect the handset to be free, or nearly so.
Selling a phone for that much cash just won't fly here when we have a huge selection of phones available for nothing over contract price.
that the IPHONE is GSM as there are NO GSM carries in the US that do not SUCK.
The hardware OR'ing method that the kid used was very clever. We need kids like him who think outside of the box.
*pSig = NULL;
Tutorial: "Unlock" your iPhone with SuperSim If you don't mind not following the verbal instructions here's a guy using his iphone on an european network http://videos.sapo.pt/5VM3Fe1oZ8sKe1CP
I want to reiterate that this was not just one person doing the entire hack, but many many people from all over the world contributing to this project. This was not a one man show. Congrats to the kid for soldering a wire to the pcb trace, but seriously there are people who did more important things like reverse-engineer iPhone's Firmware. He wouldn't know what to change on the logic board if not for all that work. Those are the unsung heroes of this event.
Maybe I will buy one yet. This goes to show all those lies about "special modifications" to the AT&T network were total bullshit.
Bringing liberty to the masses. - http://freetalklive.com/
"The only loser it AT&T. And one can easily argue that if the provided a good connection product, at a competitive price and backed it up with quality service they'd have nothing to worry about."
Uh, huh. And how does that apply to countries other than the US?
"But, of course, the only reason for all service providers all over the globe to use lock-ins is because the last thing any phone company offers is any of the above."
Damn it's too easy to get an insightful around here. Tell me if you've ever heard this phrase? Subsidized product.
If I were an Apple marketdroid, and I had an inkling that other freed phones were coming out, like say, OpenMoko, I might think to myself...
1. yeah, we can do a hackable phone, or...
2. we'll sort of lock it up, but make it just hackable enough so that droves of hackers will toil away to open it up, then...
2a. step back while we get lots of free publicity as the media rush to report about every latest hack
2b. profit!
Now I'm no Apple marketdroid, but I'm just sayin'...
-John Mark
Hyperic Community Manager
And I for one say "Take these shackles off my iPhone!"
Let Freedom Ring!
Ring. Ring. Ring.
Yes?
Um, sure, the pizza will be there in 20 minutes.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
In Belgium sim-locking is illegal. It is expected for the end of 2007, so probably X-mas.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
You may have noticed an article from a New Jersey paper about his exploit in the /. summary. The Associated Press has picked it up from there. There's no hiding this now.
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney
No. When Engadget tested the corporate software hack, they switched their iPhone to T-Mobile using an already-on T-Mobile SIM. They got bars, and it appears that it worked fine.
Maybe Apple could consider issuing iPhone 2.0 to T-Mobile in two years. The thing is, T-Mobile exists in Europe, where phones are prohibited from being locked down absolutely, and there might be European outrage if they heard T-Mobile America had it and T-Mobile Europe couldn't. Contrariwise, at&t is all-American: if one wants to lock in an advanced GSM phone exclusively, at&t is the place to go.
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney
"We are going to be rich !" I don't think that's what they are going to do though, I think they are going to sue some people. Sorta lets you know where they are coming from doesn't it ? They want to compete by locking you in. Sorta like some other large company I can't remember the name of just now."
Make note audience, innocent until proven guilty when referring to individuals. Guilty until proven innocent when referring to "the establishment".
or you could just by the chinese i-clone for $160, and they will send it with a 1G mSD card... already unlocked, with a real sim card reader...
wow, how hard was that?
screw apple. they have always been the kings of overpriced, overhyped gadgets.
It's only a phone. If you don't like the provider there are plenty of other phones which work with other providers.
Deleted
I think this was either in an Ars Technica article or on TWiT, but VV actually isn't that hard: Working normally, the iPhone just downloads compressed audio files from AT&T's voicemail server as they come in and stores them locally to be played back.
With Jailbreak and a bit of hacking, it shouldn't be impossible to have the phone get the files from a different source, if necessary even scraping and parsing the usual voicemail audio prompts. Ok, so maybe that could be pretty hard to do... But still, in theory, it's straightforward.
Your mind is clear / The things that you fear / Will fade with how much you / Believe what you hear
Is a touch screen really worth all this trouble? couldnt i get one of those pda phones that does everything that the iphone does but with 3g for cheaper?
I am pretty sure DMC(P)A might be broad enough to make what he did illegal.
With this in mind, congrats to the kid. He'll be looking at doing hard time in some Federal pound-in-the-ass prison over this if ATT and Apple complain.
Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.
Apparently DMCPA excludes cellphones (though it still applies to game consoles). Should have finished reading TFA before posting the above, sorry.
Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.
The bid for his auctions has passed 25 million dollars. Some folks are probably messing around the auction. But bidders' profiles are not the scam type, some even have 100-499 positive qualifications and 5+ yeas inside ebay. Will the ebay record o 4,9 million dollars be surpassed or have scammers become more sophisticated?
You probably all know this by now.,. but have you seen it? http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&it em=230164884672
bidding is at $26,001,100.00
how long do you think it will take the guys over at http://iphonesimfree.com/ to earn that much?
i think i'm going to email geohot and ask him for the 2500 bucks i need to buy my motorcycle... he should have it soon. yes i know i'm a freeloader!
What amazes me isn't how many people want an iPhone, but how many people want one without AT&T. It's beyond weird that a company like Apple would team up with a company like AT&T. It's like Satan working out a deal to do a Broadway musical with Jesus. It's so crazy that it becomes almost surreal, but without the cool-yet-scary-factor of a Satan/Jesus Broadway musical.
I don't own an iPhone due to the fact that, absent hacking, I'd have to use AT&T. It seems a lot of people feel the same way and unless Apple changes partners faster than a 50 year old at a swingers conference, the iPhone won't reach its full potential. It's a really cool product tied to a company that someone as dense as a lifelong America Online customer could recognize as lousy hookup.
... a phone that's just a phone?
OK, throw in text messages, because I work with teenagers.
But that's it.Who will sell me that?
I don't think you can use some of the email features with other systems.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
That's the improved Jaguar, the one that's got the hints, that did that naughty grille. Parent was railing against Jaguar before Ford bought it, the one that built classy V-12 sports cars.
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney
How the fuck can you compare *that* with OpenMoko, a completely Free phone with a Free firmware, Free Operating System, Free applications, and community of Free Software guys prepared to spend $450 each just to debug the hardware for the benefit of humanity, so that for the first time ever, you can buy a phone that does whatever you want
Fuck, to fucking compare the fuck out of that fucking comparison, I fucking could fucking point out that for fucking fuck's sake, that fuck, it's like fucking OS X, sure fucks it's fucking less fucking free than fucking Linux, and fuck yes it's fucking more fuck bucks than fucking commodity fucked intel fucking hardware, but sweet freaky fucks if you're fucking aligned with the fucking basic goals of the fucking platform it fucking gets out of your fucking way and lets you fucking get your fucking work done.
The fuckers who keep fucking *whining* about how the fucking hardware they like to fuck with isn't fucking getting as many fucking marks on its fucking dance card as they'd like can't seem to fucking understand that there are fucking products out there that fucking may not align with *their* fucking particular fucking goals but still fucking-a align with other fucking people. The fucking iPhone fuckign does fucking exactly what some fucking people want it to, even if it doesn't fucking compile motherfucking gentoo.
Different fucking strokes for different fucking folks, mothafucka'. Can you handle it?
And BTW, the fucking folks who are fucking spending fuckloads amound of fucking time on this kind of fucking crazy platform fucking may fucking well be fucking smarter than their fucking open-source critics if the fucking iPhone does in fucking fact become a fucking popular mobile platform, like there's quake-fucking indications it fucking will. Maybe the OpenFuckingMoko will find a fucking place too, but fuck, there are very fucking few fucking consumer spaces where it's fucking best to bet on open fucking source.
Fuck with that, fuckers.
Libertarianism is rich wolves and poor sheep playing gambler's ruin for dinner.
This appears to be yet another comment from someone scared of corporate lawyers.
Fact: The idea that "Shrink-Wrap licensing" is a viable legal concept in this country, even these days, is a myth. It has never been tried in higher courts for software, and they have been thrown out in every case of which I am aware, when it comes to hardware.
When you walk into a store, and buy something off the shelf, it is YOURS, and you can do with it what you damned well please as long as you are not harming others (like hitting them with it). The only legal exception is if you have agreed otherwise, in advance of the purchase!
Even if such "shring-wrap" licensing, for such things as DRM, were otherwise legal, they would constitute "contracts of adhesion" which, in brief, are contracts that are not negotiable by the customer before purchase. ("Take it or leave it.") Courts are automatically biased against Contracts of Adhesion and routinely throw them out of court. The general idea is: if you can't negotiate it, it isn't a real contract.
So... yes, the corporate lawyers might try to step in and stop this, but if anybody has lawyers of their own that are worth the title, they will squash the oppressors without much trouble.
In short - iPhone's maps + GPS would "Just Work".
Well, that hasn't exactly been the expereince I've always had with any small GPS.
But the iPhone solves for that problem by presenting drving directions either whole or in segments - you can tell the iPhone you are off on your journey, and tell it when you complete a segment. Thus it keeps in sync with your position and offers a details local map for each segment you traverse.
The great thing is the iPhone Google map app works with URLS that include the customized path capability Google just recently added to maps, so if you click on them in an email or a web page you get instant directions to follow with no setup.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The iPhone was actually hacked first by some people in the Czech Republic who run the site bladox.com. It requires one of their "Tubo Sim" products to do but is much less complex than this hack which followed shortly after. You can check out the timeline of these events at iPhone-Hacks.com.
"And I have no idea whether this would hold up in Europe, where this hack is actually useful."
How dare you? American law is applicable globally! all other legal systems are in place merely to resolve local squabbles about missing donkeys, lost goldfish or similar. For all important matters, US law takes precedence. And we'll back up those claims with Awe, Shock, Might, Force and occasional invasion if these little peasant nations don't respect this God ordained fact!
No mention of Nokia N800 ? It has Skype, Google Talk with webcam, and pretty much do what a linux pc can do.
robin
In Denmark, the phone companies are obliged to unlock their phones after 6 month, and I believe similar regulation is in existence in other EU countries.
Who knows, maybe someday you'll be able to buy a cell phone in your local supermarket--a cell phone not marked "Tracfone." [grin]
http://direct.tesco.com/homepage/phones.aspx
online as well, wooo!
Local supermarket always has 20 or so models in stock from major phone companies.
Goodness knows how many mobile phone shops there are selling handsets and comparing deals for you. People like Carphone Warehouse.
I guess you do things differently in the USA, not as free and independent a system.
That's not a mobile phone, it's a tablet computer. Two indicators: A mobile phone can connect to a cellular phone network, and a mobile phone generally can be held to the side of your head for talking.
-- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
Does it really matter if it's connecting to a phone network or through Skype/Gizmo? As long as you are able to communicate. True that phone network is more ubiquitous, but depends on your needs and location. For me, I don't use the phone that much, but I use the computer heaps and would love something more portable than a laptop, and the N800 seems much more capable than the iPhone. It also has a touchscreen but not multitouch of course. Multitouch seems to be the only unique feature on the iPhone in comparison to the N800.
./
I'm surprised that there isn't much talk about N800 at all on
Anyway I may have read somewhere that the successor to the N800 will have 'real' phone capability.
robin
Touche.
Apple simply doesn't care much about the business market yet--think of the Mac vs. PC ads, where they try to depict PC as a serious business computer, unlike the Mac. If Apple wanted the business market, they would try harder to sell computers there.
They could've made ways to sync iPhones without iTunes. There is a program called iSync that works on Macs; that would be reasonable for syncing a business phone. But Apple hasn't ported it to Windows; instead, they create a security hole in iTunes by letting it attach to MS Outlook! [grrr]
If there were more Apples in businesses, then serious business iPhones--or maybe MacPhones--might be more practical.
One more point: Steve Jobs has announced that the iPhone is the next iPod, which would also explain the iPhone-iTunes connection sufficiently. Jobs was thinking in terms of "entertainment device that makes phone calls." This, again, may be a little like making phones that play Solitare, except there already are business phones that play Solitare.
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney
The problem is, unless you are rich, you likely do not have a lawyer of your own except on special occasions. Normal people can't afford to put them on retainer continually. And even when they do get a lawyer, lawyers worth the name can be hundreds of dollars an hour.
Shrinkwrap contracts tend to be applied to relatively inexpensive items. You really need to be devoted to your principles if you want to spend $10,000 to fight a $1000 shrinkwrap contract--and that would be expensive for shrinkwrap contracting.
In short--de jure, illegal, maybe; but de facto, the only way for most of us to fight it is to ignore it outright.
Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, worth the title or otherwise.
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney
This just in... women hacks her dishwasher. "I just wanted to get more energy savings by increasing the water pressure at the beginning of the cycle, I don't recommend putting your china in it as a result but average dishes stand up well to the pressure." Representatives from Dishwashers R Us gave no comment except: "We must consult our legal team to determine the specific terms of use she violated." The women's local congressman when pressed about it claimed: "The DMCA will apply I'm sure, we must protect industry from its customers who think they actually own what they paid money for." Back to you John... John: "In other news, an elderly man has hacked the speed protection throttle software on his wheelchair saying he just missed the feeling of wind in what little hair he has left..."
Right now the reason this works is that Apple had the bright idea of making everyone initiate their service plan from home using the iTunes software. The phone still requires a two year AT&T service plan. So great you say just buy your iPhone, do the hack and don't activate with iTunes. All this does is require Apple and AT&T activate your service plan at the store, something they're not set up for just yet. But when they do even if you hack it to work with another carrier you're still paying AT&T for 2 years until your contract is up. Of course Apple may not mind selling more iPhones in countries where they don't have an exclusive contract with AT&T as long as they're not selling the actual iphone at a loss just to get the service contract kickback.
While Copyright Law may be abused in the US to shut this hacking down, we haven't yet sunk that low in Australia. The thing that would make a hacked iPhone illegal here is the much more sensible (and enforcable) law that a modified telecommunications device is not allowed on the network without official approval.
:^0
You see, we make SENSIBLE laws in countries outside the USA. And yes, there ARE countries outside the USA, and I don't just mean Mexico and Canada!
"I hope you like Guinness, Sir. I find it a refreshing substitute for, er... food." Col. Jack O'Neil, SG-1
They're already skating on thin ice by only having an exclusive deal with each other, if they start attacking people for trying to use their product on another service, they can be put under anti-trust investigations. especially AT&T, for locking out their competition through forceful means. But this is all in the gray area thanks to the DMCA.
:P) and they told me all that.
Legally, after 2 years, you can request your carrier unlock your phone. Though they will fight it by trying to convince you they cant or they have to sell you a new cell phone. Same with how they are with unlocked phones. they try to tell you your phone cant possibly work with their system, even though that's an outright lie. I worked for one, when I brought that topic up, one sales rep got pissed and said I can never ask that question again or I'll lose my job. the other, didnt know, and finally one who had been working with us for a long time told me that scenario, because I wanted to be ready for the unknown etc (aka, I wanted to now how they think so I know what to avoid in the future
So if AT&T or apple start suing people for unlocking the phones they bought, I can smell an anti-trust lawsuit. it's one thing if you're cracking the phone to circumvent accounting so you get free minutes or hacking it to copy the OS, or to get around DRM. but this is to simply free it from a carrier. which isnt illegal.
...is actually just pulling one of the address lines high so reads are always from a writeable rather than read-only area. If it were true that this 17-year-old were a lone hacker, I'd certainly label him precocious (this is a compliment!), but he admits to having at least three other players, and the hardware technique itself is trivial to a seasoned EE.
;-).
What he has done immensely well is put various people's work together with their agreement, including some of his own, and explain the process, then give away the method as a vehicle to sell his skills. I congratulate his not trying to hoard the method as HK hackers have done (sorry, you weren't the first!), or the iphonesimfree site. He also has fine soldering skills.
Last weekend I managed to get full control of some other piece of ARM-based consumer electronics [which I own and was not connected to any third party service, thank you lawyers]: at some stage the zero page (interrupt vectors) and interrupt handlers were mapped to ROM, but the PMTs were in an unprotected page of RAM(!), so it was fundamentally a matter of remapping the zero page and changing the SWI vector to my own code, giving me Supervisor mode. This has almost whet my appetite for a real challenge, but Apple are insulting developers by denying official support via SDKs etc, so I can't bring myself to love the iPhone enough to try to give it freedom
I bet you anything you want that Apple will take no legal steps against the hacker. ATT on the other hand will be a different story. I gurantee that Jobs fully expected the phone to be hacked. They are now sitting pretty. ATT still has to honor it's deal with Apple since they did nothing wrong and now anyone can use the iphone. Sales will skyrocket. Brilliant SOB.
"This message was sent from an Apple
If you want to have a phone to hack and play with, why not use the linux based phone from Trolltech>
The software i currently in use on cellphones from Siemens and Samsung and others(?)
http://trolltech.com/products/qtopia/greenphone
don't cut it off www.mgmbill.org