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Hacked iPhones Confirmed As Bricking With Latest Update
mhollis writes "Field experience has confirmed that if you have a hacked iPhone, it will become an iBrick if you use Software Update to install the latest update on your iPhone. The BBC reports: '[Apple's] warning has now proved correct as many owners are reporting their phones no longer work following installation of the update. Apple requires iPhone owners to take out a lengthy contract with AT&T in the United States but there are a number of programs on the net that unlock the device for use with other networks.' The only 'solution' is to unhack your iPhone."
iDidn't buy one so iDon't care about iT.
I've read that it's also happening to non-hacked phones too.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
If you updated the second it was available and had an unlocked iPhone your just asking for it.
Any person with any sort of common sense would know now to run the update until someone else does.
Simple put....Don't update until you read the latest news.
The greatest revenge in life is massive success.
It won't be hard to prove this was deliberate destruction of private property.
It reminds me very much of the hacks that went on with the PSP a while back, whereby you could "brick" your shiny new console if you didn't know what you were doing with firmware updates. That one was finally solves by a hack involving accessing the service mode via a modified battery of all things!
As much as I hate AT&T, Apple chose to partner with them to distribute and provide cellular service for the iPhone. Given all the nefarious and legally questionable stuff AT&T has done over the years, are we really that surprised that they/Apple are taking active measure to prevent people from taking their iPhone to other providers?
I like a lot of Apple's products, but won't buy an iPhone until they are available through other providers. ATT& is pure, unadulterated evil.
Message contains 1 attachment: spam.gif
it's iCan't ;)
I suggest attaching a nasty note and lobbing them through Apple's iWindows.
These stories are free but worth money.
This is reminiscent of DirecTV's Black Sunday - if I remember right, they put out an update on Superbowl Sunday that killed hacked receivers, and a good portion of unhacked receivers in the process.
A bricked iPhone can be returned for a full switch... Correct me if I am wrong, but its not like they can tell the phone has been "unlocked", as I have not opened this phone in any way, and as such have not voided any warrenty on the hardware.
In fact I think I will install this update, I have a small scratch on my iPhone driving me insane, which is not enough to warrent an exchange. A bricked iPhone on the other hand from a corrupt firmware, would...
I will have to explain to my family that they should *not* update the firmware if they want to keep using t-moble, at least until someone else figures out how to unlock the phone. Or I will simply install my backup copy of the current firmware, no harm done and all.
I mean, being able to play a few games while in airplane mode, having free personal ringtones ripped from our own media, using t-mobile, an ebay tracker, an application that uses cellphone triangulation to calculate your location on the map, an AIM client, a digital recorder for lectures and meetings, a quickbooks app, an ebook reader, and a NES emulator; are all worth more to us then having an itunes store on the phone that lets us know what songs are playing in our local starbucks... I mean with the tmobile 'total internet' package (for $19.95 a month), I can use the tmobile hotspot in my local starbucks, for speeds faster then EDGE.... A greater convinence in my mind.
3 degrees of separation from Vladimir Putin
I've used a third-party firmware on a number of devices at home and at work. Each time, I was fully aware that I could brick the device, and that subsequent firmware updates (for another part of the device) could 'brick' the device.
I would never expect the original manufacturer to support my hardware if it's running a third party firmware; although some savvy vendors will do this.
If some of these iPhone owners didn't understand this, they will soon. Consider it a learning experience.
I'm sick and tired of all the Apple bashing that hasn't yet taken place.
Look, Bricking hacked iPhones is the ONLY way to protect the AT&T network from collapsing under the weight of millions of replicating parasites and virii introduced into the carefully nurtured and fragile telecommunication ecosystem.
Also, if Apple does NOT brick the hacked iPhones, it will go bankrupt and we will all be condemned to using old 386 pcs with DOS 5.0 for our computing needs.
Also, the police might follow their example and stop investigation child abuse allegations too. WON'T YOU THINK OF THE ABUSED CHILDREN?
Thank you and death to hackers.
If there are now enough iBricks to build a iHouse?... Apple seem to be doing the "bad" thing more and more these days... Particulary when it comes the the iPhone.
This is yet another example of The Man and his corporate fascists trying to keep the kids down. How long will we put up with this bullshit. I call for fucking in the streets. Right now. Preferably interracial, but whatever floats your boat.
I want to see a thorough defense of restricting user choice on the net by this time tomorrow. Your essay must have no less than 1,000 words, at least three Zune references, and at least one reference to Ballmer throwing chairs. Bonus points if you make a reference to the Borg.
Also, don't forget the graphs and sound bites.
Could someone point me to when the US or world law changed to disallow the ownership of personal electronics?
How does anyone -- be it Apple Inc. or Script Kiddie Inc. -- think they have the right to hack into and disable any piece of electronic equipment which I own? Even if I should open the door for this through "software updates"? Would I have to explicitly sign away this right if I should choose to purchase an iPhone?
-dave
6th Street Radio @ddombrowsky
"citation needed"
Sell it and buy a different phone. Like a Palm Centro or Neo1973?
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
..Apple should have started up their own cell phone company. ;-) Or at least bought some tower space (?) on an existing network. Then again, we don't know how much of this is Apple's doing and how is AT&T's.
Ha ha!
Not a problem. There will be a new hack out within a month that turns your iBrick back into an iPhone. Just because you put a hole in a wall and someone patches it doesn't mean you can't put another hole in the wall.
Or are the owners shipping them in for replacement or hanging on for a fix?
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Apple fanboys get a taste of what MS fanboys have dealt with for years. Viva la GNU\Linux!
You forgot the words 'Class Action' in your subject title. I'm sure plenty of these hacked iPhone owners can get together and bitchslap Apple.
09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0
+2 Troll is Slashdot's way of saying groupthink is confused
Well, I've read that pink unicorns are real. That doesn't make it true.
Please provide a link to backup your statement. Otherwise you're just spreading rumors.
This isn't Digg-- please try to backup your assertions.
I've read that it's also happening to non-hacked phones too.
Yes, that was covered in the linked article. From TFA:
1) There are also reports of the update causing issues with unaltered iPhones.
2) Some owners are reporting on technology blogs and Apple's own forums that the update is deleting contacts information, as well as photos and music, on iPhones that have not been modified in any way.
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
Theyh're not hacking into phones and disabling them.
They're offering a new firmware update, and that new firmware reestablishes the AT&T SimLock (and has new security features to make it more difficult to unlock it). Some of the phones, locked and unlocked are being bricked by the firmware update, which is always a risk with just about any firmware update.
Let's say I have an iPhone. I've hacked it so it now is using t-mobiles network. How is the update being applied then if it is no longer on the AT&T network? Is it because a person gets it from iTunes or something?
- I'm an i-phone - And I'm a cellular phone - I cost a lot and run on only one cellular network - I'm cheap and work with pretty much any service - I run lots of cool i-apps and have a big touchscreen. Steve jobs likes to present me on big projection screens. - I do what a cellular phone is supposed to do. i fit in a pocket and let people make and receive calls. - I turn into a brick when people hack me and unbrick when I'm unhacked. - You should audition for the next Transformers movie. Now excuse me, I have some important calls to make.
They warned you it would happen!
Karma Schmarma
A firmware update is a mystical experience that cleanses and purifies the soul of the machine, setting it on the path to higher functionality and bringing it closer to perfection. A few machines MUST be consumed by the holy fire, if there is no risk, there can be no reward. It's all in the book of mormon. Keep the firmware fire alive! Thank you.
You bought that overpriced POS and now you whine it doesn't continue to work after you hacked it and Apple responded in kind with an 'update' to fix your hack? I feel so sorry for you, not!
IANAL.
Please people, let's quit talking like newbies.
If you drop your iPhone in the toilet, or if you microwave it, it will become bricked.
If you simply fudge it up, to the point where it needs to be restored, it is not bricked. Especially if all the other functions on it function.
I know that there are a lot of Apple haters out here, but we don't need to be confusing tech terms.
We all know what a brick is, and what a recoverable system is.
That being said, why the fuck would they apply an update to a hacked and unlocked phone? Hmm, maybe I'll remove my catalyc converter and ask my certified mechanic to keep working on it. You think he'd agree to that? (just to use a car analogy.)
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
Remember when the first generation of Windows-ready iPod's came out, which came with MusicMatch Jukebox? Steve extolled it's virtues ... only to release iTunes for Windows a year or so later. My guess is that Apple will eventually become a carrier, but just weren't ready to dive into that business Quite Yet. Just give it time, they'll stab AT&T in the back.
"He who would learn astronomy, and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere. " -- John Calvin, commenting on Genesis 1
I hate to ask a stupid question, but I've had many cell phones and cannot remember ever updating the software on them. Even my blackberry hasn't ever updated. Why the iPhone? Are they trying to add right-click functionality?
The Kai's Semi-Updated Website Thingy
1) Apple won concessions from AT&T that were unprecedented. Some of these were really good for users, like a cheap plan with unlimited internet access.
) Do do this, they had to make a deal with AT&T that included AT&T being the sole US service provider for 2 years. Unless AT&T has no lawyers (ha ha), you can be assured that the contract includes an obligation by Apple to shut down any hackers and keep them from opening the phone. Thus, Apple has not choice and will be forced to continue to stop hackers on the iPhone, even though insider's comments suggest people there may even personally like the activity.
3)The new firmware does not "brick" the phone. The use of this term reflects the large number of newbies who don't know what that means. It returns the phone to an unhacked state from which one cannot escape (so far). If you were not using a normal AT&Y iPhone plan, you can't use your phone until you sign up. This applies to phones that have been hacked even a little bit.
4) The new firmware may not be so easy to open up. My guess is that it will also be cracked, but I would not be surprised if it is more difficult than before since there are several things Apple can do fairly easily, and now they have an awareness of what they need to do. (Wherewas before it was very uncertain what hackers might emerge.)
Is Apple deliberately bricking the phones, deliberately disabling the hacks, or are they just updating their own product the way they best see fit, which coincidentally mucks up phones that have been hacked? I've seen a lot of rhetoric assuming Apple is doing this on purpose for nefarious business reasons, but not much evidence to support it (would love to see some if anyone can provide it).
Does Apple have an obligation to keep your phone working after you've hacked it and violated your warranty? Should they make sure their updates don't affect any third party hacks? Is that even possible?
I'm not trying to defend Apple's increasingly annoying tactics here, but am curious as to how much effort people think Apple should put into preserving third party hacks?
Doesn't one reference cover both?
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
...and.. of course it's completely coincidental and not a single directive was given Apple's programmers to ensure the new software bricks hacked iPhones, right?
once you hack your phone and can do pretty much whatever you want... what's the point of getting updates from Apple? Hope that they're going to give you something great that the OpenSource community can't? Why not just disable updates to prevent accidental iBricking and then call it a day?
The whole issue is a flagrant abuse of the free market system. Having exclusivity with a carrier is ok; forcing the exclusivity on the customer after they paid for the hardware is wrong. It's my phone, I should be able to use it anywhere after paying hundreds of dollars for it. Locking me into a carrier via hardware is contractually-sanctioned and obligated extortion.
The Mac guy is moonlighting as a stone mason.
I am not old enough to remember when phones themselves were first introduced. However, I am sure the exclusivity was limited to simply I have a phone and you do not sort of thing. I wonder if lan line phones also suffered from using X phone on a Y circuit, and not having it work where you had to buy an X phone for an X circuit? If it was that way in the beginning or early ages of the telephone how long was it before the service and device separated?
I mean anyone can go to best buy, circuit city, or radio shack buy a phone and it works whether you have Qwest or Cox (All i have for options in my area). You certainly are not restricted by cordless phones either and though they are a bit different then cell phones in terms of towers, signals and what not. The phone still works on whomever your provider so if you have a 5$ wired handset from wal-mart or 150$ 3ghz wireless handset family pack. So it is any wonder that the cell phone providers continue to get away which such tripe is beyond me.
This certainly is not the case today, and I really gotta hand it to phone companies woo-ing the general public into thinking a cell-phone along with the provider is like some country club. However we don't see much of 'you are t-mobile we don't serve your kind here' mentality yet, but who knows with starbucks and iphone which implies ATT relationship, who knows?
Come on, the company builds a few phones and now it could be a carrier? You really(!) underestimate the infrastructure of a cellular network service. Do you even know what is inside a cellular switch, ok so maybe you don't know whats inside a switch. Ok, how about outside the towers, you have backbone lines to the the actual network, nameless easements, government regulations, FCC bands, billing, claims center, call centers, network centers, support centers.
UGH, donut spew that kind of nonsense. There's few companies that have the pockets to startup their own cellular network and those companies are already doing it or know that it is better someone else does it.
I sure as hell wouldn't voluntarily install a trojan horse "update" from any hostile party, and in this case, were I a (modified) iPhone owner, that would include Apple.
I don't need large brains to have a good time.
http://xkcd.com/285/
There are two types of people in the world: those who divide people into two types and those who don't.
Yeah. Let's be clear on what is happening exactly. A software update would obviously affect Hacks, since the executables would be overwritten and placed in the un-hacked state. But it would probably not brick the phone.
An Unlock involves changing information on phones that would not be overwritten by a software update. This is more likely to be capable of bricking a phone since there is information involved that would persist across a software update.
Another misleading sensationalist headline?
Over the past several years, Apple has done this with the iPod, iTunes, and now the iPhone. Their best interest is to keep their products under their control. Whenever there is a method to utilize iTunes through wine they include updates in order to interfere with installation and operation. It used to be that you could download previous versions of their binaries from their website that would work in wine but once there was a capable way of installing them through wine they were altered to impair such activity. I'm talking about 7.0 and up. I haven't tested 6.x and below. This is how they run their business and it's up to them on how they wish to run it. While I don't like it I respect their business decision. Apple makes a good product but it makes sense to use their product only when using their products.
For the best interest of the consumer, stop using their restricted products. If you do, just don't update the software. I hate saying don't update but it's their policy to break any alteration in their products. Also don't trust downloads of their binaries from other sources. While some can be reliable, it is best to get them from the source. My suggestion is to use Amazon.com with their DRM free music downloads, or use the Real.com subscription to listen to streamed media using Helix or the RealPlayer. There are other online music sites but right now Amazon.com has the model that stands out more than any other for commercial music.
First off I'm not a lawyer ... but ... A long time ago I worked in E-911, and if I recall it is not legal to utterly render a wireless phone useless all calls, as it will violate the 'emergency use only' clause that the FCC requires. Does anyone have an iBrick that can test this out?
-b
Incorecct. The upgraded phone fails to recognize even valid AT&T SIM cards. In other words, for many people, if you previously unlocked your phone (and in some cases DIDN'T unlock your phone), it refuses to activate.
I think the article makes a poor distinction between actually bricking as in breaking the iphone, to returning the unlocked iphone to out of the box settings.
It seems to me there are two significant end results from updating your unlocked iPhone to firmware v. 1.1.1.
1. Your phone is dead, non function, inactive, incapacitated and irreparable damage has been done that cannot be undone.
Or
2. Your phone has been returned to the "requires activation screen" when synchronized with iTunes, thereby returning the phone to it's 'out of the box' settings.
From all the posts that I've read on HowardForums, Engadget, and Gizmodo, I find that #2 for the most part, has been the only outcome. Option number two then basically means, your phone is no longer unlocked, but if you follow through with the activation via iTunes and enter into a two year contract with AT&T, you have yourself a fully functional iPhone.
I hate all sigs, even this one.
This may just be a guess, but I don't think Apple needs their own cellular infrastructure to become a 'carrier'. To the best of my knowledge, Virgin Mobile doesn't have it's own infrastructure (they're using T-Mobile's network), yet their phones seem to work just fine. I don't believe there's any reason why Apple couldn't do the same thing Virgin Mobile is doing.
I could be wrong though.
Aero
Please stop hurting America -- Jon Stewart
Dudes ... you've been iPwned
Virgin Mobile uses the Sprint/Nextel network like many Mobile Virtual Network Operators.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Mobile_USA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprint_Nextel#Sprint_Nextel_today
My Sysadmin Blog
So, Apple does some things I think are lame (like this and DRM on iTunes). But you're saying I shouldn't hold it against them, because they don't *want* to do lame things, they're just forced to.
Poor Apple, these big mean companies keep holding guns to their head and making them sign contracts that say they have to do lame things. But their products are happy and shiny, so you know they're really the good guys.
It seems apple has updated the iPhone to use the same interface used by iPod Touch. Basically, there's no means to jailbreak (enable direct right access) the phone yet. This is because iTunes requests now need to be authenticated through a PKI scheme. In order to bypass iTunes activation, you either patch the lockdownd bunary (that is responsible for checking activation status) or replace Apple's Public Key in the phone (so you can sign your activation with a custom private key). Since there's no right access to change these files, only ATT can activate iPhones with this firmware (1.1.1) for now. Aparently, the 1.1.1 update has an intermediate "preparation" update before the main thing goes on. It is believed that this first change is responsible for the introduction of the iPOD touch protections. Some folks believe if this first update can be bypassed, there won't be any problems. Also, there is a change to the firmware image. The image is encrypted, and the decryption process happens inside the phone. That's true for all versions. The iPhone loads a ramdisk image into its RAM. This ramdisk contains all the info needed to decrypt the image files. The difference between 1.0.2 and 1.1.1 is that in 1.0.2 this ramdisk wasn't encrypted at all, and now, in 1.1.1, it is encrypted with AES256 and signed with DSA1024. So, before it was ease to decrypt the image file. One only needs to mount the ramdisk and extract the keys. Now the ramdisk needs to be decrypted first. Of course, the key for decrypting the ramdisk is somewhere, and some folks believe this key can be found in the first "preparation" update that comes with 1.1.1 DISCLAIMER: Everything here might be a misinterpretation, disregard any accuracies, please, after all, this is not intended to be a guide of any sort.
I believe that translates into: Bricked(so far)
They could set up as a MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator), which would mean that they piggy back onto someone else's infrastructure. They just run the billing department and buy bandwidth in bulk from the physical carrier. There are several MVNO operators in the UK and according to the linked wikipedia article they also exist in the US.
Maybe with Google as their partner?
Just throwing that out there. I don't really see it since Apple would need to create low end phones. iPhone Nano? iPhone Shuffle?
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Thats so funny...
Apple won concessions from AT&T that were unprecedented. Some of these were really good for users, like a cheap plan with unlimited internet access.
I am willing to bet it's an even better deal for AT&T.
Apple's actions fly into the face of the reasoning that has brought the world such enormous progress in the past decade or so - namely interoperability, openness, and empowerment of the end user. Enjoy your iPhones. I for one am CERTAIN now that I will never buy one.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
With such obvious intentional corporate sabotage. What this means, is that real estate agents who carry WM, Palm, and Blackberry phones around right now will just continue to do so...if they buy the iPhone, it's only purpose will be for personal use (if that).
Because of that, this firmly places the iPhone in the realm of "toy phone". I've been developing mobile enterprise applications for years, and the prerequisites for such are a productive development environment to create extensive custom applications, ability to work directly with the phone's hardware (in certain cases, such as being able to automate turning the phone on/off to automatically synchronize data with their remote user accounts), acceptable battery life, etc. Just because the phone is a hot phone on the market, doesn't mean it's acceptable to use for work...I've worked for companies that took a pass on the Motorola Q, the Motorola RAZR, and other phones that were popular at the time mainly because they just couldn't do as much as the aforementioned smartphones. Some companies won't even touch Blackberries or Palms because they barely make the cut.
The iPhone had a lot of promise for the enterprise market...but Apple is doing a tremendous job of killing it. The sad thing is that most people issued WM phones would gladly opt for just being able to carry an iPhone. These people are frequently mobile sales people, and they will always take an opportunity to brag about their phones to their contacts. The potential to take a lot of market space is right there, but Apple has decided to drop the ball.
Technically superior doesn't mean anything if it can't get REAL market penetration, and it's not going to make it past the early adopter phase and really hold on strong without strong enterprise and development support. Palm extended their original OS's lifetime considerably by investing in their developers...they are still selling Palm OS phones to this day to people who have certain apps they really like and cannot do without (and don't want to deal with a WM version).
Why exactly did they want to be a cell phone provider? So far the iPhone has generated more negative press for Apple than anything since the Newton. I sincerely doubt that they'll decide it was a bad idea and just bail out, but given Apple's history I am surprised that they're in it in the first place.
I do not care if a firmware update kills unlocked phones; I don't believe Apple ever said that they would support unlocking the iPhone, and they did warn against applying the update to an unlocked phone. I'm just amazed that Apple would want to be involved in the phone business at all.
It is now totally legal to unlock your phone. Legal, as in, perfectly all right according to the federal government. You can make your phone work with any other carrier. Period. No arguments. This is raw verifiable data. If apple pushed software out to remove your rights in that manner, in an attempt to circumvent this consumer right, the folks affected could have a potential case against them. Just because apple and at and t (two companies so now maybe RICO applies as well) choose to ignore the law in the first place and claim they can get away with it by publishing some bullshit doesn't make it either legal or ethical. Corporations try this stunt all the time,(MS is infamous for it) they regularly get beat back down. You can't sign away your rights, nor agree to a contract that says you don't have some rights. You can attempt it, but it isn't legal. You can have stacks of papers that look official that might say something along those lines-but it still isn't legal. Apple can push all the updates they want, but if it results in someone's rights being violated, as in having their customized and legal phones go back to being less functional or non functional, they are most likely breaking several laws. We won't know until the source code gets subpoenaed and audited by independent third parties though, but my hunch is it was deliberate software sabotage designed to try and stifle normal consumer rights by "punishing" those who took advantage of said rights. I hope they lose a billion dollar case and some of the execs go to jail with the RICO charges if this plays out like I think it should.
Want a car analogy, everyone's favorite? You buy an acme motors car, according to them and some "end user driver agreement", it is designed to run on "roads", burning "gasoline". Acme claims they can restrict you to only using such and such a brand of gas, and only drive on such and such a toll road owned by their friends someplace else. There is a factory recall-update fix, you take in your car, they "fix" it, now if you try to use the "wrong" brand of gas or drive on the "wrong" road the vehicle doesn't function. Think they should be sued, think any laws might have been broken?
They spent $600 + $1440 (contract) on a product, and then had to get someone to specially reverse engineer code to get it how they wanted the product. If this isn't blind, dumb fanboi behaviour, i don't know what is. Have your phone bricked/relocked whatever, and next time learn to buy a good product based on it's feauters not "ooh shiny apple!". Because for the next 2 years you are going to be fighting a battle for ownership of your own phone.
Mod me down if you will, but it was perfectly clear this was going to happen from the day apple and ATT's love child was conceived.
Yes, to all the apple fanboys - when would you stop drinking apple juice? Can't you see Apple has turned itself into a bigger closed vendor than Microsoft! In fact, after just ONE successful product line in ipoops, they have really shown their true colors. I am just glad they never enjoyed similar success with their computers - or else they would have been worse then micrsoft.
.. er .. ibricks.
The worst is when people fucking defend apple no matter what. They go and sleep with the worst service provider in the country, they completely lockdown the device with no hope for the third party softwares on the brick, they rip off their own loyal fans (and other cool people) who gave them the early momentum in the iBrick business, and then they just go and fuck all the people in the ass who wanted to have a bit of freedom for the brick they paid from their ass. And what we get from the fucking fanboys? One lame defense after another.
Personally, I am glad I have not bought any apple device. I, for one, do not enjoy having to pay for a giant penis to fuck me in my own ass. Compare this to two friends of mine who are thinking what to do with their bricked
Get off the kool aid now, fuckers.
Apple should have started up their own cell phone company. ;-) Or at least bought some tower space (?) on an existing network.
Starting up a new cell phone company is extraordinarily cost prohibitive, even if you can get the spectrum in the first place. Ditto for co-locating on anyone else's towers. A much more viable option would've been for Apple to become an MVNO like Helio .
iTunes will download the update and ask if you wan tto install it, but you do not have to agree to do so - simply wait a few days for some new iPhone app loader to come out, then update and reload at that point.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You have it exactly right, in that people can simply not take on Apple updates if they do not want to.
What people are unhappy about is that they want the features the new update provides (like the WiFi msuic store) along with custom apps. They refuse to choose between the two worlds.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Even in an unactivated state the iPhone allows 911 calls out.
Ad it's not Apple that's rendering the device inoperable; they are not responsible for what is done with hacked firmware which the user install. Why should they be? Just as a company wouldn't be liable for FCC fines for a product that had broadcasting power boosted by a user.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Not to defend Apple too much, but what would you have done in Apple's place? Told the cell phone companies to f*ck off and built your own cell network from scratch? Doing that would have made every iPhone an iBrick, since nobody would be able to use them as, you know, cell phones.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
they'll stab AT&T in the back
or they will buy them out.
All of this talk of being "required" to sign a contract is bogus. You can activate an iPhone without signing up for a 2-year contract.
I have a co-worker who did exactly this; he was told how to do it by a sales associate at the store he purchased it from. This is not illegal in any way; AT&T lets you do month-to-month on all of their plans in this manner, if you buy the phone first. Given that the iPhone price is not subsidized by the contract in any way, shape or form, why tie yourself into a contract?
When you activate the iPhone in iTunes, enter all 9's for your Social Security number. You'll fail the credit check (duh!) and you will be told you can either go to an AT&T store to talk to a representative or you can go month-to-month.
Given how much whining people have done about being "forced" to sign a with AT&T contract in order to use an iPhone, you would think that month-to-month thing would be being shouted from the rooftops. Are iPhone-bashers just ignoring inconvenient facts?
A bricked iPhone can be returned for a full switch... Correct me if I am wrong, but its not like they can tell the phone has been "unlocked", as I have not opened this phone in any way, and as such have not voided any warrenty on the hardware.
If you check the comments here, you see one particular comment of interest:
You see, they can tell,
Which means: You're iScrewed if you update... and I TOLD YOU SO. A month ago, long before any announcement by Apple... Steve said no unlocking. Even though he's wrong this time, he's stubbornly sticking to his guns like always. Maybe you'd like to buy a real smartphone when you get that bad taste out of your mouth. For God's sake, whatever you do, don't say, "Thank you sir may I have another."Yes, that's exactly what Apple needs to do, set up an MVNO network like Disney Mobile. Why look at the success Disney Mobile has experienced with Steve Jobs on Disney's Board of Directors. Oh that's right, Disney Mobile is scheduled to fold at the end of this year.
Maybe this has all been a part of Steve's grand plan, to eliminate internal competition under his share holding umbrella because Apple intends to buy out a smaller national carrier like T-Mobile USA or a large regional carrier like Alltel rather than creating their own MVNO which may follow suit like all the others and fail(excluding Helio for this brief moment).
Which leads me to wonder why Virgin Mobile USA has met such success as an MVNO on the Sprint Network. Helio is on Sprint as well, right? I bet Sprint/Nextel's relinquishing the IDEN network to the government has a lot to do with their success.
Wowee! Wild speculation and conspiracy thoeries abound in this post! I hope I don't take a hit in Karma on this one.
I hate all sigs, even this one.
I expect a huge iLawsuit to be filed soon.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Here's a hint: it's 100% Apple's doing. AT&T didn't release the firmware update. My guess is that Steve Jobs hasn't made peace with the fact that Apple isn't a monopoly and will never be a monopoly, so he is just trying to piss off third party developers until Apple becomes an entirely separate market, with a separate Internet, separate power grid, and separate civilization. Really, why else would Apple deliberately thwart so many other 3rd party developments, like open source DAAP access (yes, I know, Apple didn't deliberately brick these phones, this update just consequentially bricks them).
Palm trees and 8
With all the rumors floating around, I'm surprised this story's made it this far. Apparently, a day after the dreaded update, and no one's sure what's going on.
Fact or Fiction
Video
Gizomodo's take on this
Pick your poison?
For those too lazy to read the links, the reports have gone as such. If you're in the majority, a hacked iPhone reverts to a clean slate after the update. If you're unlucky, it refuses to accept sim cards, legit or otherwise. If you're super unlucky, you start with an un-hacked, perfectly legit phone that still turns into iBrick. 3rd party software is no longer in the menus but is probably still hiding somewhere in the phone itself.
What a mess!
"When did I realize I was God? Well, I was praying and I suddenly realized I was talking to myself." ~ Jack Gurney
Apple released a product, making it painfully clear it was to remain on the AT&T network, if you don't like at&t, you aren't forced to buy the product if you choose to "hack" it, and make it work on other networks, props to you, but you really can't expect apple to continue to support it... new updates ARE NOT mandatory, only if you choose in itunes. i have an iphone (its not hacked) but if i were to hack it, i would do so with full understanding that apple would not support it
How is this phone any different than any other phone? AT&T can and will unlock other phones. Unlocking it does nothing to get you out of your contract with AT&T. Apple and AT&T are still getting their money.
The only reasons that I can see Apple and AT&T doing this are:
1. Force international users to pay insane roaming rates. (That's why I unlock GSM phones - I use an Orange SIM when I go to the UK.)
2. Prevent users from taking their legally purchased hardware to another carrier after the (unlikely) expiration of the contract.
Sorry, but both of those seem just plain evil.
"Where quality is like a dead stinking rat - you just can't miss it."
To be clear, in Apples place I would probably have done exactly what Apple did in both the cases I mention, as it was probably the best thing for Apple. Which is not the same as being the best thing for customers or the world at large, but that's to be expected.
I think the business decisions I reference are "lame" from my point of view, but not necessarily "incorrect" from Apples.
What I object to is not so much Apples decision, but putting all the blame for those decisions on their business partners. Apple worked a deal with AT&T and/or the record labels; the fruits of those deals are Apples responsibility as much as the other party.
It's frankly a pretty trivial peeve of mine, but the need of some people to put companies such as Apple into an exclusively "good guy" or "bad guy" role strikes me as one aspect of a failure to see nuance. Other symptoms of this failure have more serious consequences.
1) Link please.
2) You are totally making this shit up. Link please!
3) The new firmware does not brick "hacked" phones. It does, however, brick "unlocked" phones. If you can't figure out the difference, then please turn in your nerd badge.
4) Tell us something we don't know.
...and this will make things better how? Sadly, Apple is demonstrating a desire to be more and more restrictive. They aren't TELCO BAD yet, but getting closer with more and more products.
This is iPhone genuine advantage in action! It is a good thing for customers!
Copyright infringement is "piracy" in the same way DRM is "consumer rape"
You are right, Virgin Mobile uses Sprint in the US and Canada. And they use T-Mobile in the UK.
aero
Please stop hurting America -- Jon Stewart
One of my clients today purchased a brand spanking new iPhone at the Pioneer Square Store (downtown Portland, OR). Brought it to the office. Activated it through iTunes, ran the firmware and it insta-bricked it. There's just something wonky with this firmware update. Apparently Q&A didn't thoroughly test it enough I'm guessing...
So a bunch of spoiled rich brats got their new status symbol toy bricked?
I only got one thing to say to that:
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!
Oh, one more word:
PWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWNNNNNNNNNNNNNED!!!
If you're running hacked software, don't be surprised if an update breaks it. That the shop won't help you fix it doesn't surprise me either. Apple may have marketed themselves as the "cool" option, but if you ever want a taste of what having a Macintosh in every home could be like, look no further than this.
And people call Microsoft the Borg...
PS: I'm aware the Apple Mac is a fine machine. I'm aware it works in various ways that Windows doesn't. I'm aware people are very happy with their iMacs and get very defensive about them. However I'm also aware that the amount of lock-in that Apple have on the Mac makes Microsoft look like the Last Bastion of Freedom in comparison.
09F9 1102 9D74 E35B D841 56C5 6356 88C0
I've never heard of a month-to-month option for iPhone. I almost certainly would have chosen such a plan if I'd know it existed. Oh well. Caveat Emptor, as the saving goes,
Apple partners with Virgin. Red & Pink iPhones rule the world.
Link please? Making it up? Do a little work of your own: this deal has been in the news, and not just because of the phone itself, for a long time. If you can't be bothered to determine the background story, why are you cluttering things up with a posting?
I'm keeping my nerd badge and asking for yours. Upgrading an unlocked phone puts it into a state with a strange IMEI number (in many cases), but I would definitely NOT call it bricked, in the normal sense that word is used by certified nerds.
As far as people can tell, the 1.1.1 firmware also re-flashes the baseband (radio modem) firmware in a way that makes it incompatible with hacked firmware. There are rumors that that you can still call 911 on such phones, you can definitely query the IMEI and there is a good chance you will eventually be able to do a restore (but not yet). This doesn''t qualify as bricked.
Will they? Before the recent merger, Cingular refused to unlock our phones, despite numerous calls to managers. Once the contract expired, we jumped to T-Mobile, had a third party unlock the Cingular phones, and have been very happy since. T-Mobile does happily unlock subsidized phones after three months.
Has Cingular changed their tune since changing their name?
(I still will not buy an iPhone until I can use it with T-Mobile without paying AT&T. Locking an unsubsidized phone does seem pure evil.)
Bill Gates extolled it's virtues...only to release Windows a year or so later....
.... but if it results in someone's rights being violated,.....
/. readers excluded :-) ) having a hacked phone, reading such a warning might hesitate to install the upgrade. Apple never prevents anyone from doing anything the buyer may wish. You can run the device over with your car or throw it in boiling oil; that's your right, just don't ask Apple to fix it after that.
So exactly how are your rights being violated by Apple not wanting to support yours and a thousand other hacker variations of their product? This update was NOT a fix for something that was broken or on recall, as per your car analogy, but upgrades and enhancements. As such it is entirely optional. Furthermore Apple warns that this particular update may cause phones modified in an unknown way become non-functional. Any normal person (
In physical products, improvements are often made in later production runs or models. A car maker might increase the horsepower slightly and/or gear ratios a month or two after a car comes on the market. This doesn't mean that they are obligated to retrofit the already sold cars with these improvements unless these represent clear safety issues. Because software isn't limited to such physical constraints, it doesn't cost much extra to offer such upgrades not only to the new production, but also for products already in the hands of customers. Just because this process is something we have come to expect in software, does this suddenly make it an obligation of the manufacturer to offer upgrades to products already sold?
All theory is gray
the kid who got the car may want to use it to drive a very long distance
Help Me! I'm trapped in the tubes! Oh noes! Here comes a internet!
Apple encrypted their firmware to make hacking it harder.
Here's a better analogy:
You buy a brand new Chevy. You decide the chevy engine blows, so you put in a Ford engine. A few weeks later you take it by the Chevy dealer because they say there's a glitch in your stereo. You turn it in, and when you come to pick it up, they give you a bag of shit.
It should have been obvious to anybody with half a brain that Apple would wipe any code that doesn't suit them with the first firmware update. And they are, as you say, legitimately entitled to do so.
The real idiocy here is where so many people have been sucked in by the marketroids into paying big bucks for a bloody phone with all its caveats. I too have an antique iPod (just a Mini) which is a squeeze for storage space but still works far too well to justify replacing it, and probably will for years to come. Same goes for my current phone. And I get to choose my own mobile service provider, without having to resort to stupid hacks.
Jumping on the bandwagon of the New Big Thing is wasteful and doomed to eternal disappointment as soon as the Next Big Thing appears on the horizon.
I don't know about anybody else, but when I bought my hardware I didn't or agree to anything other than payment for the hardware. I only agreed to the terms and conditions of a contract while activating my phone with Apple while signing up for AT&T service.
That being said, you can't expect software updates to suit your needs if your needs are not in alignment with the plans of the device you bought. If I was planning on using my iPhone as a copy machine I can't very well hold it against Apple for not upgrading their iPhone camera with extra features like Efax and OCR. You assume you know the expected behaviors of the device and you have faith that Apple will extend those behaviors. *nix tools, NES ROMs and accelerometer based games are not part of that goal, I guess.
I guess in this case, we can't even expect that they'll allow us to fool around with our little projects to use their screwdriver as a multi-tool. Screwdriver it is.
How is the ATT plan a "concession" when the data rate is so slow and the actual price so high?
For Comparison, my $30/month Sprint plan gets me 1.5 Mbps download and around half that for upload. It can tether to PC or router and is unlimited (last month I downloaded several GB of torrents using the phone). I also get unlimited texts and 500 minutes (plus the usual weekend/night buffet). I actually tend not to use so many telco minutes because the Windows phone runs Skype.
Anyway, I looked at ATT's plans and they are all 2x-3x similar plans with other crriers with faster data rates.
Da Blog
You are perfectly entitled to CLICK NO ON THE WINDOW asking if you want to install the firmware and warning you of the consequences , Mr. False Simile Man.
Sprint is not a cellular carrier in Canada.
Virgin uses Bell Mobility in Ontario, and almost certainly the Bell-allies in the non-Bell provinces.
Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility are the two "national" CDMA carriers, and ALL of the little guys run CDMA. Bell and Telus allow roaming on each other's networks.
Rogers is the only GSM carrier, they bought their competition, Microcell/Fido two years ago.
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
...that they fix this little problem before they sell iPhone in the EU.
Lock-in is only legal for the first 6 months and it is fully legal to remove the lock.
If Apple don't know that they will get a major problem, and so will the phone company they choose to cooperate with.
I wrote an open letter to Steve Jobs, imploring him to open up the iPhone to third-party applications: http://imacpr0n.com/blog/070929.html
"You've given us a glorious new platform on which to make magic. Don't break our wands."
Some terms and how your provider interprets them become only apparent only after you have signed a contract.
Also some terms may be illegal but you will not contact a lawyer to check all documents you agree to (if an agreement includes the right to marry your first daughter let me tell you that would be illegal, but I can guarantee you that if put in place many people would agree to it, that does not make it legally binding. This is an extreme, stupid example if you want, but I think it makes the point clearly enough).
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
My iPhone was heavily modded with pretty much every third party app I could find. Updated using the normal mechanism through iTunes, and I have a perfectly functional, and perfectly stock, iPhone running firmware version 1.1.1 now. I'll probably go back to 1.0.2 until the unlocking apps work with 1.1.1, but, despite the FUD, it hasn't bricked the phone, and everything works just fine.
Basically, a firmware upgrade is a "load from cold" of the OS on the box - you're telling it to go fetch a new boot image, load it, and run it. If you're only making software changes, and replace the software with the new version - of course those changes will be gone.
It's just a matter of days until the unjailing software works again. Unlocking relied on a buffer overflow which has been patched, so I suppose people who want to do that will have to find another buffer overflow to exploit. Which will be patched and worked around, lather-rinse-repeat.
You buy a phone that can only be used with one carrier, and you use some third-party instructions and software on how to modify the phone's modem to allow the use of sim cards from any carrier. The phone's manufacturer advises that they can't guarantee the phone will still work after updates. After applying an update, hacked phones only work with the official carrier and there are unconfirmed rumours of some phones not working at all.
Oh, and you used a car to drive to the store to buy the phone in the first place. Unless you used public transit, or a bike, or simply walked, in which case good for you. You're getting exercise and helping to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.
How's that for car analogy?
Don't break our wands
Symbian, Palm and Windows phones have literally hundreds of varieties of wands. I am sure you could find one there that would suit you.
Da Blog
...are inexcusably hypocritical. Many of you whine and complain about DRM, evil M$ practices, unjust software patents, etc. But when Apple, Inc. does something so unfair that no reasonable person could possibly justify it, even if Jesus Christ himself came down from the heavens and blessed it, you guys convince yourself it's AOK and try, pointlessly, to convince others. The bottom line is this: They went out of their way to render Joe Citizen's phone, that he owns and legally purchased, inoperable. That is downright dirty and they don't deserve your justifications. This is not anything like satellite providers issuing ECMs to keep people from viewing TV without a sub. They're not trying to stop someone from stealing content. They are trying to keep YOU from doing what YOU want with YOUR property. There is a route for suppression of what people can and can not do with their own property, it's called legislation. You can whine that "legislation has been passed, and they're legally obligated to do this...", but you'd be wrong. They fulfilled their contract obligations with AT&T when they locked the phone down before they sent it out. You can argue that "you don't have to install the update..." and you'd be right. Apple's actions are still inexcusable due to the fact that you'd be walking around with a very hackable, very broken phone. Regardless of license, those updates are warranty repairs. Apple went beyond repairing your phone, they went the extra mile to harm it. Your justifications do not mask Apple's greed and I have to ask: What do you get out of trying to help them with their unfair business practices?
I'm sorry to interrupt your Ayn Rand fantasy that you are in control of your world, but the problem is that businesses shamelessly copy each others tactics, and occasionally outright collude. Let me make this clear -- you don't get to "vote with your wallet."
When companies first began drug-testing employees, a radically unpopular proposal, the public was assured this was only for "sensitive" positions like public safety workers. "You don't like it, work for somebody else," was the reply. "Public safety" was expanded to include truck drivers. Then waiters. Now, you cannot find legal employment in America without submitting to a drug test.
Searching customers at the door. This was first done at large "warehouse" stores where the store layout meant you could conceivably bypass the cash registers. "You don't like it, shop somewhere else." Now, my local Wal-Mart, Target, and grocery stores have begun to search. When every store does it, you can't "vote with your wallet."
Wal-Mart used to trumpet "Made in America." When China began selling goods in America, a huge number of people asked why we're doing business with those murderous thugs after Tienanmen Square. "You don't like it, buy from other manufacturers." As a story on Slashdot pointed out a couple days ago, there's no longer any way to boycott Chinese goods. They're so pervasive that even if you wanted to, even a conscientious person can no longer ensure that a large chunk of their business does not go to China.
Insurance companies used to swear "We would never come between you and your doctor. We wouldn't want to." Once deregulation came along, they all fell in lock-step, and now doctors have to call and ask some minimum wage clerk if they're allowed to treat their patients. It doesn't matter which insurance you carry.
Companies do not get to pull nearly as much crap in Europe and Japan as they do here, because in those two places government regulation almost works. I know because I've lived there. No one in America gets to "vote with their wallet" any more because there's no longer any meaningful competition. Through our own stupidity, we've not only returned to the "Bad Old Days" of 1890-1930, we've done them several steps better.
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
Link please? Making it up? Do a little work of your own
That isn't how it works. I don't prove your unsubstantiated BS for you. You obviously don't have any links to back up what you are saying, so it remains unsubstantiated BS. I'll tell you why Apple is bricking unlockers: Apple makes a cut of each AT&T contract.
It's usable, but not that great. Screen size is the main limitation. You can either put it into "desktop" mode, which requires a lot of scrolling around, or "single column/fit to screen", which does a good job of only requiring vertical scrolling. The former is great in that it looks just like the desktop, but is a pain to use. The latter screws up formatting so much that a lot of websites are difficult to use.
Add to the mix slow processor speeds and (lack of) responsiveness, and you end up with a browser that's usable if you absolutely need it, but it'll usually take you longer to do anything useful than just finding a desktop computer and using that.
The browser (and larger screen) on the iPhone is the most appealing part to me.
I live in Europe, so in addition to that, I have a bunch more issues with the iPhone. For example, it doesn't do MMS, which sucks. They are really pervasive over here, everyone sends them, and pretty much all cell phones sold in the last three to five years can receive them. The iPhone can't. Additionally, no 3G. Where I live, 3G coverage is really good, and most modern phones support it, but the iPhone doesn't. The keyboard doesn't recognize my native words, and it doesn't support Umlaut or accented characters. Finally, you can't use the damn thing publicly over here. Almost every time I take it out to read an SMS or check the time, people start whispering and stare or point at me, or even come over and ask whether they can see it, where I got it, and so on. It's a bit embarassing.
Yet I still got somebody to buy an iPhone for me. I hacked and unlocked it, and I'm really, really happy with it.
During the last decade, I've used a lot of cell phones, among them Nokia 6210, a P800, a Treo 650, and most recently, a P990i. They were usually high-end phones when I bought them, as I use my phone constantly. I use my phone to take notes, read books, communicate. I use the calendar. I write and receive up to 100 text messages a day. And the iPhone is the first phone that really excels at these tasks. Every phone I've used before the iPhone had major issues. The Symbian phones are slow and unusable (entering an appointment takes about 14 taps on the P990i; the UI is sluggish, and has actually become worse since the P800 as they've introduced more animation; it crashes regularly with the insulting message that "the phone has restarted to improve performance"; it sometimes decides to eat through a full battery charge within hours; from time to time, it stops receiving messages until I turn it off and back on; and so on). I like the Palm phones better, but they don't multitask. If I'm reading a web page, get an sms, reply, and go back to the browser, the browser has forgotten its state.
In other words, these cell phones suck.
The iPhone doesn't. It's a pleasure to use. All the stuff I need is easily accessible. It's fast. I will gladly put up with not having 3G, with not being able to send and receive MMS, and with all the other issues I'm having as an Euro user of the iPhone for the simple fact that, unlike all other phones I've owned, it quite simply doesn't suck at the most basic tasks a phone is supposed to do.
Something else: I knew from the day I told my friend to get me the iPhone that I would hack it, and that I would not install any updates from Apple. It's just common sense. Apple can't be happy about SIM unlocks, and they won't do anything to prevent issues with hacked phones, so I never expected to be able to update my unsupported phone. The people who SIM-unlocked their phones, and then installed updates, despite Apple's telling them to not install them, are just dumb.
On the iPhone, you can install Navizon using AppTapp. It's really quite astonishing. You start it, it triangulates you, and then opens the Google Maps app and puts a marker where it thinks you are. Where I live (in Europe), my iPhone always triangulates me within 200 metres of where I'm standing (as in: "oh, it's over there), which is good enough most of the time.