Oh for christ's sake... these joyless nerds really need to get a life. If someone made a product that donated to charity every time you used it, they'd dedicate their worthless lives to cracking it and giving it some retarded, non-word title like "pwncharity" or something equally vapid, sad and pathetic. It's a phone. Get over it. There's a big world out there with lots of interesting things in it but you wastes of oxygen spend it twatting around trying to crack a phone? For fuck's sake...

Grow up you feeble, laughable little twits, and one day you may even get to talk to a real human girl.

Good diatribe, all except for that. It doesn't read well. I prefer 'oxygen thieves'.

oh. wait - no I didn't - all the iPhones sold in South Africa are *already* unlocked.

tee-hee.

(save up and buy one when you come to that 2010 soccer thingumy that's causing road and building mayhem everywhere.)

(PS - El Reg: where is the Smug Bastard/Useless Dweeb icon?)

Guess who's position at the 2010 Macworld expo got cancelled due to iphone crackers. :)

I think those putting down the authors of this software really need to understand what they've done. This is no script kiddie attack or lame hex edit. The iPhone 3G is locked up so tight it's insane, it's by far the most protected mobile device ever released. Everything is signed. Firmware, kernel, filesystem, everything. Nothing will run without a signature check, so modify any software component, the chain breaks and the phone won't work.

The dev-team have had to start at the bootrom level and modify every single component in order to be able to inject and execute their code. The yellowsn0w application is not a hack or a patch, it actually rewrites the firmware when it's in RAM, changing its decision login on-the-fly (eg. If the question was, if this SIM card allowed? yellowsn0w changes the firmware's "no" to a "yes" and passes it back to the embedded NucleusOS which runs the radio chipset).

There is some staggering talent amongst these guys, and it's well worth watching their recent presentation, "Hacking the iPhone": http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=713763707060529304

If you can't depend on non-blessed software working on the iPhone as whenever update time comes around you run the risk of it not working, and most other manufacturers have caught up with the iPhone's user interface, why not just buy a more open system if you want to have freedom to run whatever software you want on it?

Just a phone.

You make calls.

You receive calls.

You can get a working device to do this for $5 or less.

Oh, but you don't get the eye candy and the 'apps' like Fart-o-Tron 2.12

you don't happen to be the O2 iPhone product manager do you?

The reason why someone might want to unlock it is not because of the phone, it's because they would like to choose which network operator they are with. And seeing as O2 are a bunch of self congratulatory ego wanks (I should know, I used to work for them) I would expect that anyone might want to switch networks, particularly if they want to roam and not pay the extortionate data roaming fees that can be clocked up by using many of the super dooper i-phone apps.

Engage brain before commenting next time.

cock.

I have to ask.. I did crack my first Iphone before 3G for access to the apps.. but these days the app store has come a long way and the apps have gone through a process that at least ensures a modicum of operation in most cases. So let me ask.. am I missing something or has apple actually done a fairly good job of cutting this cracking hacking of the iPhone at the pass?

Why exactly would I now want to crack this device? to change icons? to load it with apps I couldnt find equivalent replacements for in the app store? will it wipe my bottom after a trip to the loo?

I think the whole premise of trying to hack my phone for the saving perhaps of what a few quid I would easily spend in one drinking session is a ridiculous argument, the only valid reason is simply to change network but lets face it.. you can go to Ebay and buy a n already unlocked NEW 3G from sellers now where the unit is sourced from countries that dont allow Network locking to specific manufacturers...

The whole premise is thus a geekish one..enjoyable perhaps but for me I value my time better and I dont want the hassle of having to constantly reboot and /or return the device back to factory settings ... its like watching paint dry. make your calls, play your games and get location based service and surf.... PS all this effort and yet no one has written an app to allow CUT N PASTE on the device.. now that would be time well spent

Can you buy a Blackberry Storm on O2?? Or perhaps Orange?? Eh no, so why is it that O2 are evil for locking an exclusive phone?

If you want to slam O2 for anything then fine, perhaps slam their hopeless 3G coverage but don't start on the exclusive phone locking nonsense as EVERY network does it.

again... don't like O2, don't buy an O2 phone which the iPhone is.... its a phone folks, you can live without it, honest!!

Basically, that. Kudos to the jailbreaking teams, but really, by buying an iPhone you are already *rewarding* Apple for its stupid lockdown policies. A touchscreen phone isn't a basic necessity, FFS! If you don't like the iPhone restrictiveness, you can always buy an HTC. Or that weird LG variant. Or the BB Storm.

Me? I'll stick with my Curve, and I might go for the BB Bold when my contract ends, if only for the 3G coverage.

I have a similar stance with game consoles: My PS3 allows me to install Linux (or any other compatible OS) without any restrictions (ok, the RSX hardware isn't available. So what?) and requires no hacking. As for games, they are no longer region-locked! Compare to the XBox360, which is basically a PC with a nice graphics card and TV output instead of DVI output.