Time to buy an iPhone?
February 11, 2008 - By Guest Reviewer
Geohot, the teenager who hacked the very first iPhone, has done it again by releasing a software unlock for all iPhones with the 1.1.2 and 1.1.3 software versions on it.
This makes me look like an idiot as I detailed on Thursday why I wouldn’t buy an iPhone but I’m quite happy to rescind as this is a major development for all wannabe iPhone users.
If you did read this post you’ll know that I’ve been using a SIM card hack to make calls on my iPhone so I figured I had better test to see if Geohot’s solution would truly work - it did.
For those of you with an iPhone bought after 30 November 2007 with bootloader 4.6 on it these are steps to follow to get your iPhone working in South Africa.
iPhone version 1.1.2 Out The Box (OTB)
- Jailbreak your iPhone following this tutorial - Windows or Mac.
- Unlock your 1.1.2 OTB iPhone - here.
Optional: Once the iPhone has been unlocked you can also upgrade to version 1.1.3.
- Free up your disk space with this tutorial. You need about 170MB to upgrade and this step has to be followed to avoid issues.
- Open Installer on iPhone and Uninstall all of your applications.
- Open Installer on iPhone again, click on System and install Official 1.1.3 Upgrader. This is going to take a long time as it first needs to download a 170MB file onto the phone and then it takes about 20-30 minutes from when this is done. Make sure you have Wi-Fi access and that it doesn’t drop the connection.
- Run this patch to fix issues with contact numbers appearing instead of names - Windows or Mac.
All of the above steps I followed to the letter and I’m now running 1.1.3. on my 1.1.2 OTB iPhone. If you do the same you’ll have no issues but your mileage may vary.
iPhone version 1.1.3 Out The Box (OTB)
- Jailbreak your iPhone following this tutorial - Windows or Mac.
- Unlock your 1.1.3 OTB iPhone - here.
I wish I had a 1.1.3. phone OTB because in two simple steps you’re done. What this does mean is that any new iPhone bought from this point onwards will be simple to unlock.
If you’re like me and have a SIM hack I’d recommend keeping it for version 1.1.4. when it is officially launched. There is no guarantee that it will work with this unreleased version but it also might be the only solution to upgrade immediately.
Picture credits: Thumbnail pic.
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Filed Under Apple, Gadget News, Mobile, Smartphones
It sounds great, but considering how much you need to download and the time spent doing it (not to mention the cost if you don’t have a data bundle) - I have to wonder if its really worth it.
Nate true is not geohot, geohot is a 17 year old guy called George hotz
Vincent you are 100% correct - I apologise for the error here… I’ve been following the news on Nate being kicked off the Dev Team that even I’m now confused about who’s who in the zoo
Jasmine you won’t be able to do this via your cellphone network. This has to be done via a Wi-Fi connection.
Another really weird thing I didn’t notice until a couple hours ago is that my calculator on my iPhone has disappeared. Not sure where it went or how to get it back but it’s gone…
That would provide me with a good reason to sit in my favourite coffee shop for a while - but in the end I think I’ll just stick with what I have at the moment - my trusty Nokia
Jasmine it’s not for the faint-hearted this process and I guess you have to really want it to go to these lengths - the alternative is to just wait for the official version which works straight out the box
Justin: What about if you have a 1.1.1 iPhone that’s already unlocked? Which instructions should I follow and is there anything extra that should be done?
Saul, you’d need to follow the “Optional: Once the iPhone has been unlocked you can also upgrade to version 1.1.3.” step as detailed in the 1.1.2 unlock. Basically you just do this through Installer.app as I’ve detailed above.
There is also another way of doing and more info on this can be found here:
http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=611
Either option will work for you as both download the firmware to the phone and upgrade that way. At this stage you can’t upgrade to 1.1.3 with the default iTunes upgrade which is why both methods have been formulated.
Saul - just to clarify (because I’m an idiot) you will need to upgrade your 1.1.1 phone to 1.1.2 first before you can do the 1.1.3 upgrade. I upgraded a 1.1.1 phone last night and realised that that you have to do the full hog…
My iPhone is on its way…
Any advice for me? Does this http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=746 do the full unlocking for me without any hassles?
What is the difference between Jailbreaking, Unlocking and downgrading the Bootloader?
I presume that once it’s hacked I can still plug into my PC and use iTunes to synch everything? (Just don’t do any upgrades)
There are lots of software options for unlocking the iPhone, and one of the best is a Italian called Zibri and can be found at http://www.ziphone.org/.
On his site he includes links to you tube that show exactly what must be done, he latest version unlocks version 1.1.4 and he has a beta version available for version 2. He also claims that the next release will also unlock the new 3G phones, and BEST of all it is free. The software has been downloaded more than 3 million times.
Thanks Gareth, I used ZiPhone successfully back in March when I got the phone.