Tag Archives: iPhone UMTS

[iPhone] Geohot confirms 3G uses new Bootloader

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Although we didn’t get our hands on a new iPhone 3G yet, things are as expected: the iPhone 3G uses a new bootloader for its baseband modem as confirmed by Geohot.

Bootloader versions from the “old” iPhones

As far as we are aware the there are those 3 different bootloader versions known on old iPhones:

  • 3.8 (very rare)
  • 3.9 (iPhones before november 2007) and
  • 4.6 (iPhones after november 2007).

It is widely known, that exploits for these old bootloaders have been found, that allow to SIM unlock any of these old iPhones. No matter which software revision is running.

No Unlock for iPhone 3G, but for old iPhones

For the new iPhone 3G bootloader, there is no (public) exploit known yet. Although the iPhone Dev Team states they can unlock firmware 2.0 – the unlock is most likely meant to work on “old” iPhones only. The only exploit yet known (in both old and new iPhones) is an iBoot bug. The iPhone Dev Team provided a video showing Pwnage Tool neutering the baseband for firmware 2.0:

Video: Pwnage Tool Bootneuter on firmware 2.0 (on an old iPhone)

Bootneuter 2.0 from iphonedev on Vimeo.

A new jailbreak for iPhone 3G and old iPhones

The Pwnage Tool 2.0 (and Geohot’s yiPhone) will most likely feature an iBoot bug to jailbreak old and new iPhones. iBoot is needed by iTunes to talk to when restoring firmware. About a year ago, Geohot found out that iBoot provides a full interactive shell. The only problem was, iBoot only allowed signed code to run. The iPhone Dev Team now managed to break the chain of trust from the earliest boot stage. Thus allowing to run unsigned code and in the end jailbreaking old and new iPhones (see video):

Video: Talking to iBoot unsigned

Talking to iBoot? from iphonedev on Vimeo.

Both videos are provided by iPhone Dev Team. Kudos to you guys.

[iPhone] Honk Kong sold iPhones not SIM locked

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It has been confirmed by early buyers from Hong Kong that the iPhone 3G is not SIM locked over there. However you need to sign a 24 months agreement with the carrier Hutchison Telecommunications to get hold of the iPhone and you need to activate in store.

[iPhone] Debitel to Sell 3G iPhone in Germany

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The german resell provider Debitel will sell the new iPhone 3G. Contracts have been closed between T-Com and Debitel. Debitel is now allowed to distribute iPhone thru their own Dug stores and thru the Metro-Group’s electronic markets Media Markt and Saturn. Karstadt and Galeria-Kaufhof stores may follow soon. Though it is rumored that Debitel’s iPhones tariffs won’t differ from the original T-Mobile tariffs. Anyway we can now expect it to become a gadget really for everyone here in germany. Good buy then, snobbish avantgarde…

[iPhone] T-Mobile to sell iPhone 3G for 1Euro

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T-Mobile will subsidize the iPhone 3G. They just announced to sell the new UMTS 3G iPhone for just 1€, if bought with a two year lasting contract for 89€. With a contract for 29€/month the price for the iPhone will be 169€.

As a loyalty bonus to clients who bought the “old” iPhone, the new iPhone will be offered at a special discount. Exact prices are being worked on currently, said T-Mobile. Moreover the iPhone will be sold not only in T-Com shops or via T-Mobile’s online shop, but thru reseller channels aswell.

[iPhone] The new iPhone revealed II

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Ok here we go with the details about the new 3G iPhone. Steve Jobs revealed it about one hours ago on the Apple WWDC in San Francisco.

Technical details

  • 3G iPhone (means UMTS for us europeans)
  • 8GB modell with black backside or 16GB modell with white backside
  • case is completely in plastic now :-(
  • real GPS integrated
  • headphone jack won’t need adapters anymore
  • improved battery life:
  • up to 300 hours standby
  • up to 10 hours of 2G talking time, 5 hours of 3G talking time
  • up to 6 hours of internet browsing
  • up to 7 hours of watching video
  • up to 24 hours of listening audio
  • advanced Microsoft Exchange Support
  • Cisco VPN
  • Access to App Store (Apps will be DRM protected to prevent copying)
  • Viewing of Apple iWord documents, MS Word and MS Excel (no editing, though)

Introduction to the markets begin with July 11th and will be rolled out in more than 70 countries (see complete list here). The prices for the US market will be 199$ for the 8GB modell and 299$ for the 16GB modell. We suspect the low prices result from cheaper manufacturing costs for the plastic backside and from higher amounts of produced devices. The new iPhone 2.0 firmware will be available to customers of the old iPhone and iPod touch at the same time.

We will come back to this new iPhone once we got hold of one. Anyway, although in many countries the iPhone will be offered by more then just one carrier, we suspect it still to be SIM locked. So don’t buy it until we tell you how to SIM free and jailbreak ;-)

Update

It’s been reported, Apple’s plans to apply a new strategy against unlocking and jailbreaking. AT&T in the US and O2 in the UK will force consumers to sign the contract first before they get their hands on one of those new 3G iPhones. We expect this activation strategy to be implemented worldwide, although it has not been confirmed in other countries, yet. If this is true the grey market of iPhones would most likely be destroyed. But let’s see what really happens on july, 11th.