Education Development

You probably think iPhone Dev team finally decides to release the jailbreak solution for iPhone 3GS.

But it’s not…

The first jailbreak solution for iPhone 3GS is released by GeoHot, who is the same guy that developed an unlock solution for the 1st generation iPhone dated back to 2007.

GeoHot named the jailbreak application as Purplera1n, which is now in Beta and available for Windows only (but no Windows 7 support). The developer also mentioned the Mac version will be released shortly.

Earlier, iPhone Dev Team posted a note that they have found a solution to jailbreak iPhone 3GS but considered to release the tool to general public until iPhone 3.1 debuts for certain reason. It seems like GeoHot doesn’t agree with the dev team as he mentioned in his blog:

Normally I don’t make tools for the general public, and rather wait for the dev team to do it. But guys, whats up with waiting until 3.1? That isn’t how the game is played. We release, Apple fixes, we find new holes. It isn’t worth waiting because you might have the “last” hole in the iPhone. What last hole…this isn’t golf. I’ll find a new one next week. Also your purplera1nyday files ensure that you can always get back to a jailbroken state, so if you have it it’s just a matter of tools.

To jailbreak iPhone 3GS, you can head to purplera1n.com and download the purplera1n.exe. Make sure you’re using iTunes 8.2 and run the program on Windows with iPhone 3GS connected via USB.

Please note the jailbreak program is still in beta and I do not have a chance to test it. If you’re adventurous and can’t wait for other jailbreak solution, you can go ahead to try it out. But remember to backup your iPhone via iTunes before you take any jailbreak action. And, do come back and leave us message about the jailbreak result.

Note: Purplera1n is designed for iPhone 3GS jailbreak. If you’re looking for jailbreak solution for iPhone 2G or 3G, please check out this jailbreak guide (Windows / Mac)

Source: Simon Ng

Other than those prominent features (e.g. video editing, voice control), iPhone 3GS has come with some minor but nice touches. One of them is the battery percentage switch in Settings that allows you to change the battery life indicator to percentage representation.

I’m sure not all of you are using iPhone 3GS or have any plan for the upgrade. But you probably want to use this precise battery meter to show the battery life on iPhone 2G/3G.

In this post, I’ll walk you through and show how you can change the battery indicator to percentage form. And, don’t worry. This guide is not just designed for iPhone 3GS and it applies to all iPhones (to be exact, jailbroken iPhone).

For iPhone 3GS

1. Go to “Settings”

2. Tap General -> Usage

3. You can easily change the battery indicator to percentage by turning ON the “Battery Percentage” option.

For other iPhone users

I’m not sure why Apple does not release this minor feature to older version of iPhone. But if you have jailbroken iPhone, you can also change to battery percentage with minor tweak.

Tip: If you haven’t jailbroken your iPhone, you can follow this jailbreak guide for iPhone 3.0 (Windows / Mac).

1. Launch Cydia

2. Search for SBSettings and install it

3. Once you complete the installation, you can launch SBSettings by swiping across the status bar.

4. Tap “More” button in SBSettings

5. Tap “Extras & Options” and turn ON “Numeric Battery”

6. Click Home button to go back to home screen and you’ll notice that the battery indicator changes to percentage.

As always, leave me comment and let me know if this works for you.

Source: Simon Ng

For those who are waiting for Backgrounder’s support for iPhone 3.0, this is a good news for you. Backgrounder has released a new version to support iPhone 3.0. You can now use this cydia app on jailbroken iPhone and put application to run in background.

However, don’t expect Backgrounder comes with all features as its predecessor. It’s a preliminary release and provides basic function. All the optional features (e.g. badges) are not available for this release. But hopefully, they will be available soon.

You can install the Backgrounder app via Cydia. To use Backgrounder app to run iPhone app (e.g. BeejiveIM) in background, simply press and hold the Home button for a while until you see the “Backgrounding Enabled” message.

To disable backgrounder, press and hold the Home button again until you see the “Backgrounding Disabled” message.

If you’re new to Backgrounder application, you can further refer to this post for details.

Source: Simon Ng

Facebook is one of my favourite iPhone application. Joe Hewitt, the core developer of Facebook’s iPhone application, has posted a note on Facebook that a new version of the app will soon be released.

As described by Joe, the upcoming Facebook release will add numerous features:

1. The “new” News Feed
2. Like
3. Events (including the ability to RSVP)
4. Notes
5. Pages
6. Create new photo albums
7. Upload photos to any album
8. Zoom into photos
9. Easier photo tagging
10. Profile Pictures albums
11. A new home screen for easy access to all your stuff, search, and notifications
12. Add your favorite profiles and pages to the home screen
13. Better Notifications (they link to the comments so you can reply)
14. Quickly call or text people right from the Friends page
15. Messages you are typing will be restored if you quit or are interrupted by a phone call

If you’re regular Facebook user, you’ll love the new version that allows you to accept event invitation, create new photo album, etc.

The developer does not give the exact release date but you can expect it to release shortly. Stay tuned.

Source: Simon Ng

Though Apple does not disclose any details about the iPhone 3.1 beta update, some iPhone developers have downloaded the beta firmware and found out the new features come with this update:

Here are the known features and possibly more to come soon:

For iPhone User:

1. (For iPhone 3GS only) Now Video Editing gives you the option to trim your clip then “Save as copy…” rather then replacing the original video clip.
2. (For iPhone 3GS only) Voice Control works over Bluetooth.
3. iPhone now vibrates when arranging icons.
4. Updated AT&T profile to 4.2
5. The baseband version is updated to 5.08.01. This will fix the holes used by ultrasn0w and makes ultrasn0w fail to unlock iPhone 3G. So, don’t upgrade to iPhone 3.1 beta if you need to unlock iPhone 3G

For developers:

1. OpenGL and Quartz got improved.
2. APIs to allow third party apps to access videos and edit them.

Stay tuned to keep update about iPhone 3.1 news.

Source: Simon Ng

Today, Apple releases iPhone OS 3.1 Beta to developers:

iPhone SDK 3.1 beta and iPhone OS 3.1 beta are now posted to the iPhone Dev Center. These versions are for development and testing only and should be installed on devices dedicated to iPhone OS 3.1 beta software development. Please read the iPhone OS Pre-Install Advisory and the iPhone SDK 3.1 beta release notes before downloading and installing.

Now, the iPhone 3.1 release is still in beta and only available to developers. Apple does not provide any details about the update. But it’s quite sure Apple will fix the exploit that is currently used by ultrasn0w.

So, if you have already unlocked your iPhone 3G with ultrasn0w, please stay away from upgrading to iPhone 3.1.

Source: Simon Ng

If you have read about the post “Which iPhone 3.0 features are for your iPhone?“, you should know that MMS is not available for iPhone 2G. I love Apple and iPhone but it’s ridiculous that a technologically advanced mobile phone does not come with this common feature that you can easily find on any mobiles from Nokia or Samsung.

Luckily, some iPhone enthusiasts have developed a hack to enable MMS on iPhone 3.0 for iPhone 2G. As always, this hack is only applicable to those with jailbroken iPhones.

Tip: If you haven’t jailbroken your iPhone 2G, you can follow this simple jailbreak guide (Windows / Mac) for the procedures.

So, how do you bring MMS ability to iPhone 2G?

Follow these Procedures to Enable MMS

Before you perform the below procedures, make sure you have already upgraded to iPhone 3.0 and jailbreak it. Let me emphasize again. This hack is only applicable to iPhone 3.0. If you’re using lower version, please don’t use this hack. Otherwise, it may harm your iPhone.

Note: Please ensure your carrier supports MMS. As far as I know, MMS will not be available for AT&T users until late summer. Also, you may be charged extra for sending MMS. Please further consult your carrier for information.

1. Launch Cydia

2. Search for ActiveMMS2G

3. Click “Install” and then tap “Confirm” to confirm the installation.

4. Be patient. Wait until the installation completes. Then tap on “Reboot Device” to restart your iPhone.

5. After restarted, go to Settings -> General -> Network -> Cellular Data Network. You should notice a new MMS setting appears. Fill in the values.

Note: For the MMS setting, please consult your carrier. Say, for T-mobile US user, you can check out the information here. You have to fill in values before you can enable MMS.

6. Tap “Network” to go back and then click Home button to go back to home screen

7. Power off your iPhone and switch it on again

8. Once booted up, launch Messages application and you should see a new “camera” icon appeared. Now, you can tap on the icon, select the photo to embed in the message and send it out.

Enjoy the MMS feature on your iPhone 2G! As always, feel free to leave me comment and share your experience on the feature.

Source: Simon Ng

I believe most of you have a Facebook account. Now, SimonBlog has integrated with Facebook via Facebook Connect that you can login this blog using your Facebook account and leave comment.

To leave comment, normally you need to fill in your name and email. Now, you’re provided with a new option – Sign in with your Facebook account. Simply click the “Connect with Facebook” button and login with your Facebook account.

And, you can leave comment with your Facebook profile photo displayed next to it.

Hope you’ll enjoy this new feature of this blog. Enjoy!

Source: Simon Ng

A couple days ago, I covered that iPhone Dev Team will soon release jailbreak & unlock tools for the new iPhone 3GS. Sorry, here is the bad news:

Today, iPhone Dev Team announces that they’ll postpone the release for iPhone 3GS jailbreak and unlock tool. The jailbreak for iPhone 3GS is confirmed. However, don’t expect it’ll be released soon. There is no timeline set and you’d expect the jailbreak tool for iPhone 3GS will only be available after the release of iPhone 3.0.1.

It’s really a bad news for those who already bought iPhone 3GS or those planning to upgrade to iPhone 3GS and expect a jailbreak.

But, as explained by the team, it does more good than harm. iPhone Dev Team has explained in its blog why they decided to delay the release:

We can jailbreak the 3GS right now. But making our jailbreak public at this point in time would benefit relatively few people. It would in fact be detrimental to many more people than it would help. So we feel it’s best to keep our version of the jailbreak out of Apple’s sights for the time being.

Unlike the older generation of iPhones, Apple has added a new layer of security to the iPhone 3GS known as the ECID (a unique chip ID). And, the jailbreak for iPhone 3GS depends on the exploit of firmware 3.0 and this ECID of your iPhone 3GS.

If the team considered to release the jailbreak tool now, it’s inevitable that Apple will check out the tools, look for the bugs and implement a fix for the holes. That means, the jailbreak tool won’t work for any future iPhone 3GS buyers. And, iPhone Dev team needs to re-develop the jailbreak tool again.

The team also expects iPhone OS 3.0.1, a bug fix version, will be out shortly. It’s better to see how iPhone OS 3.0.1 looks like before releasing an update of jailbreak tools for iPhone 3GS:

Apple is surely coming out with a 3.0.1 firmware release shortly. They need to fix ultrasn0w. They need to fix some UI issues. 3.0 is buggy and 3.0.1 is coming. We’re going to wait and see what 3.0.1 brings before figuring out the release date for our version of the jailbreak.

So, be patient. The iPhone Dev team won’t disappoint you. Though you’ll not see iPhone 3GS jailbreak release today, the tools will be out when iPhone 3.0.1 is available. Stay tuned.

To learn about the details of explanation about the delay, you can further check out iPhone Dev Team’s blog.

Source: Simon Ng

For US customer, Apple has developed an iPhone 3GS availability checker for you. Before you head to Apple Retail Store to purchase your new iPhone 3GS, remember to check its availability.

As mentioned by Apple, the Apple Retail Store likely has your iPhone 3GS in stock. Shipments of iPhone 3GS arrive most days and availability is updated hourly.

However, some of the Apple Retail Stores have already sold out all iPhone 3GS. Say, for New York as you can see from below figure. Those with red indicator means it’s not available.

To check the availability of iPhone 3GS, you can click this direct link.

Source: Simon Ng