Tag Archives: Carrier

[Pre] Palm Pre 2 Coming to France on October 22

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German Heise.de and american Precentral.net report today, that HP finished upgrading their smartphone flagship Palm Pre. Interestingly the Palm Pre 2 will be first released to the french market on october 22 on SFR‘s network. Sadly there is no reliable information about when it will hit other markets like the US, Germany or Canada.

The Palm Pre 2 will feature:

  • 1 GHz CPU
  • 5 megapixel camera
  • 3.1″ screen size with 320×480 HVGA display
  • Glass screen
  • 16 GB memory
  • Touchstone backcover included
  • HP webOS 2.0

It is rumored the price will be about 100€ on contract and about 450€ sans contract. HP rebranded Palm’s webOS to HP webOS. The Pre 2 will be shipped with webOS 2.0 preloaded.

Adobe Flash in webOS 2 (video is courtesy of Precentral.net)

Boot time and multitasking in webOS 2 (video is courtesy of Precentral.net)

webOS 2 vs. webOS 1.45 – incl. overclocked (video is courtesy of Precentral.net)

[iPhone] Untethered Jailbreak For Firmware 3.1.2, 3.1.3, and 3.2

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Team Spirit has just released a jailbreak for the latest firmwares for

  • iPhone
  • iPod Touch and
  • iPad (early beta)

As it seems it will only jailbreak an already activated device and it will not perform a carrier unlock. The jailbreak tool is available for Windows and Mac OS X and it installs the Cydia repository.

iPad users be cautious, many Cydia Apps have not been checked for compliance with the iPad and might screw up your new gadget.

Get more information and the jailbreak tool here…

Kudos to Comex and Team Spirit.

[Pre] Prices For German Pre Plus and Pixi Plus Revealed

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German carrier O2 just revealed the price tags of their latest Palm gadgets: the Palm Pre Plus and the Palm Pixi Plus. Distribution will start April 28th, 2010.

  • Pre Plus: 509€ (or 29€ as down payment and 24mth x 20€)
  • Pixi Plus: 389€ (or 29€ as down payment and 24mth x 15€)

Both devices come straight unlocked from the factory to your hands and can thus be used on any GMS/3G network anywhere on this planet. Buying phones at german O2 stores don’t require O2 subscriptions.

[misc] Web Empfang von MMS mit Alice / Hansenet

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Wir alle kennen die Situation. Ein Freund sendet uns eine MMS und wir erhalten eine SMS stattdessen, obgleich unser Telefon MMS fähig ist. Warum eigentlich?

Nun das ist sehr einfach: sofern man selbst keine MMS bislang versendet hat, geht der Provider davon aus, dass man kein MMS fähiges Mobiltelefon besitzt. Das ist einerseits ein guter Ansatz, andererseits jedoch auch eine nette Art, 60 Millionen deutschen Mobilfunkkunden zu zwingen, zumindest eine einzige MMS zu versenden – nämlich damit sie imstande sind, MMS zu empfangen.

60 Millionen MMS x 0,29€ pro MMS, bei jedem Wechsel des Mobiltelefons… Hmmm, nette Summe für die Portokasse der lieben Telefonkonzerne, aber lassen wir das lieber. Heute ist ja dritter Advent.

Blöd wird es nur, wenn einzelne Provider, die die Netze anderer verwenden, die SMS Benachrichtigungsoption für eingegangene MMS’ nur unzureichende implementieren. So isses beispielsweise bei dem deutschen Anbieter Alice / Hansenet. Hier erhält man folgende Nachricht:

Sie haben eine MMS von +491231234567 erhalten. Sie können diese im Web unter lesen. Ihr PIN lautet aB3D5F.

Tja. Äh wo soll ich die abrufen? Genau, nirgendwo. Der Link ist irgendwie nicht in der SMS enthalten. Einige Tests zeigen, dass in allen SMS Benachrichtigungen über eine vorliegende MMS, die von Alice derzeit versendet werden, die Webadresse fehlt. Macht ja nichts, wenn wenigstens Google etwas Hilfreiches zu Tage fördern würde … Hmm… Google hilft leider nicht… Also Gehirn anstrengen.

Alice ist im Mobilfunkbereich Reseller von O2 Produkten. Also mal bei o2 schauen, wo man die MMS online abrufen kann… Hmm… Google vermeldet (nicht ganz auf Anhieb): http://o2online.de/goto/o2mms

Und tadadada… Alles wunderbar. Meine MMS kann ich nun hervorragend bei O2 im Web abrufen. Oder sollte ich vielleicht doch mal die MMS senden, damit mein Provider merkt, dass ich MMS direkt auf dem Mobiltelefon empfangen kann?

[Pre] Rumors about SIM Unlock for EU GSM Version

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As of now the only factory unlocked Palm Pre’s are being sold here in Germany. German Palm Pre’s are of course being sold with a germany QWERTZ keyboard. Anyway some international customers prefer the international QWERTY keyboard.

Now rumors in spanish forums have surfaced that the spanish GSM based Palm Pre sold by and locked to the MoviStar carrier have been unlocked. As of now we have no confirmation, if that is true or a hoax.

[iPhone] HowTo Activate and Unlock using QuickPwn 2.1

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I. Abstract

This is a short HowTo since all of you by now know how to use QuickPwn, don’t you? in short: QuickPwn is an Après-Tool. Means: you let iTunes 8 do the update process and use QuickPwn afterwards to “open” your device. Note:

  • 2G iPhones can be jailbroken and unlocked
  • 3G iPhones can be jailbroken, but not unlocked
  • iPod Touch 1st generation can be jailbroken
  • iPod Touch 2nd generation can not be jailbroken

Our article will not cover the iPod Touch, but the iPhone.

II. Requirements

III. Warning

Jailbreaking and unlocking is illegal to be performed with iPhone devices that are part of a current agreement (mostly 12 or 24 months). You would violate your contract by jailbreaking and unlocking! Don’t do it.

  • If you’re updating: all your Cydia and Installer.app based applications will be lost and need to be installed again!
  • Make sure you make a backup of your data!

IV. Update iPhone firmware

  • connect your iPhone with your PC
  • start iTunes 8
  • choose your iPhone (under devices)
    itunes-01.jpg
  • hold the shift-key (on your keyboard) and do a mouse-click on the Update Button – a file-open window will pop up like this:
    itunes-02.jpg
  • locate the downloaded firmware 2.1 (named: iPhone1,1_2.1_5F136_Restore.ipsw) and open it
  • iTunes will begin to update your iPhone automatically
    itunes-03.jpg

    itunes-04.jpg

    itunes-05.jpg

    itunes-06.jpg

    itunes-07.jpg

    itunes-08.jpg
  • After having updated the iPhone will reboot. If you are using an already Pwned iPhone it will remain activated and unlocked, you only need to jailbreak.

IV. QuickPwning it :-)

  • Let your iPhone plugged to your computer
  • Close iTunes
  • Start QuickPwn 2.1-1
  • You will be greeted with the Device Detection screen, click the right-arrow to proceed:
    quickpwn-01.jpg
  • on the next window, click the Browse button to locate your iPhone1,1_2.1_5F136_Restore.ipsw firmware:
    quickpwn-02.jpg

    quickpwn-03.jpg
  • QuickPwn will check if the firmware matches the version currently running on your iPhone and will allow you to proceed (click the right-arrow):
    quickpwn-04.jpg
  • the next windows allows you to select, what you want to install. We recommend to install both Cydia and Installer.app. If your iPhone has not been unlocked until now, here you can also choose to simunlock it. As we are quite conservative: we never change the boot logos, but this seems to be a matter of taste. After having selected, click the right-arrow button to proceed.
    quickpwn-05.jpg
  • For safety reasons, QuickPwn will remind you to leave your iPhone plugged to your computer, click the right-arrow button to proceed
    quickpwn-06.jpg
  • Read and follow the instruction on this window very carefully! QuickPwn will help you counting!
    quickpwn-07.jpg
  • After that, QuickPwn will take control and perform the following actions automatically:
    quickpwn-08.jpg

    quickpwn-09.jpg

    quickpwn-10.jpg
  • When all the tasks have been completed, QuickPwn has finished.
    quickpwn-11.jpg
  • Your iPhone will perform some more actions for the next few minutes. It will show it is changing the NOR and so on and will reboot then.

After having rebooted your iPhone will be perfectly jailbroken and unlocked

V. Final words

Guys, we hope we could clarify some more things here than others did. We appreciate your comments on this. Kudos to all of you and remember to consider our sponsors, they really got the coolest offers ;-) Kudos fly out to the iPhone Dev Team! Live long and prosper, guys.

[iPhone] Factory Unlocked 3G List (“Locked to Carrier” List) (update)

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[Update] Sep, 26th: News from Hong Kong added (details here)
[Update] Aug, 25th: Apple’s list update included.

Almost unnoticed on july, 11th 2008 Apple also published a list of carriers offering the iPhone. The interesting thing with this list is, it also contains information about the status of the SIM lock in specific countries.

Apple’s official “Locked to Carrier” list

This is an extract from the official Apple list found here:

Country Carrier SIM Lock Available without Agreement
Italy Vodafone No Yes (499€/8GB, 569€/16GB)
Italy TIM No Yes (499€/8GB, 569€/16GB)
Hong Kong 3 No No (375€/8GB, n.a.€/16GB)
Hong Kong (Apple Store) No Yes (476€/8GB, 547€/16GB)
Greece Vodafone No No (Details here)
Czech Republic O2 No Yes (490€/8GB, 570€/16GB)
New Zealand Vodafone No Yes (470€/8GB, 535€/16GB)
Singapore SingTel No No (490€/8GB, 570€/16GB)
Slovakia Orange No No? (Details)
Macao 3 No No? (Details)

It is rumored, the unlocked iPhones need to be activated aswell, but in this case it can be done at home using iTunes. No matter how often you change your carrier, it seems you can always re-activate.

Forum reports

In addition to the offical Apple list, this is what people report in forums:

Country Carrier SIM Lock Available without Agreement
Belgium Mobistar No Yes (n.a.€/8GB, 615€/16GB)
France Orange Yes (100€ Unlock fee) Yes (509€/8GB, 609€/16GB)

This list may not be 100% accurate and refers to reports on forums, like hackint0sh. Feel free to add more details like pricing and how to obtain unlocked devices elsewhere as comments below. Thanks!

The cheapest iPhone 3G

For people living in Switzerland, Swisscom offers the iPhone 3G for beating prices between 519 CHF (=510 US$, =325€) for the 8GB version and 619 CHF (=610US$, =385€) for the 16GB version. This includes a prepaid tariff with no obligations. Disadvantages: 1. iPhone 3G is simlocked to Swisscom. You currently cannot unlock, since Proxy SIMs have heavy (legal) disadvantages (read here), 2. This offer is limited to people living in Switzerland. Your citizenship and rights of residence are checked in Swisscom stores. Tourists (=foreigners) not living in Switzerland cannot buy it.