UniquePhones closing in on successfully unlocking iPhone
By Darren Murph 
posted Jul 8th 2007 11:44PM
posted Jul 8th 2007 11:44PM
Alright, so it's not entirely impossible to unlock the iPhone, but we'd wager that the majority of folks looking to do so would enjoy keeping the whole "phone" functionality in tact. Enter UniquePhones, a Belfast-based firm that is reportedly on the verge of developing an application that will "allow customers to unlock their Apple iPhones so they can use SIM cards from carriers other than AT&T to activate the mobiles." The firm's founder has stated that a team of engineers are frantically working to "break the encryption process that protects the token sent through the iTunes activation process to an iPhone's firmware." Users can expect to pay around $49.99 for the software necessary to unlock the handset (if it indeed surfaces), but a number of analysts have unsurprisingly suggested that the loop would again be closed by Apple the very next time dubious users synced with iTunes.
Hence, 1 Infinite Loop.
I love how the iPhone buyers are being treated like convicted criminals by Apple.
You pay $600 for a device that you will never really own (unlock and use how you wish.)
The only downside to all this is that the sheep that are Apple fans will pass the blame onto AT&T for everything rather than blame their good buddy Steve who just raped every one of them.
(Full disclosure: I am an AT&T employee who owns 3 iPods, a new SR LED Macbook Pro, a Quad Mac Pro, a Vista media center, an XP laptop, a "Hackintosh" tablet PC, and an 8525/TyTn phone so I can't see myself as being labeled a particular "fanboy".)
I will agree with iPhone buyers being treated like convicted criminals once Apple starts filing lawsuits for attempting to open-up the firmware, break the encryption, etc. Until then, things seem to be just rolling along. The question is, when is Apple forced to interfere in order to protect its intellectual property rights?
Features I have found lacking on my iPhone:
* Click SMS, hit + to add recipient, only gives my contacts list, does not provide list of recent (unidentified) callers - I want that (yes, I know I can go around that by clicking the unidentified caller then selecting send a message to them).
* Mail filtering! Yes, I know I can set up IMAP filtering (and have done so for two accounts that I can directly manage). However, some accounts are limited to POP. I have advanced filter rules set up on my Mac laptop (that also runs Vista). I think it should simply give me an option to dupe the folders & rules that are on my laptop to my phone.
* Copy/Cut & Paste. Fairly simple to implement, just see the TouchStream keyboard from FingerWorks that Apple bought out about three years ago. Let me Tap-Tap+Drag or Two-Finger-Tap+Drag to select text, then pinch my fingers (or pinch 2 fingers+thumb) to copy or cut (could swap direction of selection to handle that) and then unpinch fingers to paste, across apps.
* Further gesture recognition (see abilities of TouchStream keyboard).
* Google Maps needs to show buses! Like the web based one does. It would be nice if it also added pedestrian paths/routes or gave pedestrian+bus mode! (Ok, the latter is something that needs added to Google Maps or a mashup in general).
* Google Maps needs hybrid maps - it has satellite & road map.. give me the overlay!
* WiFi needs a power-save mode that gives you a small handful of options. For example: a) only seek/use wifi network when unlocked, b) quick wifi on-off button (three clicks is a bit much), c) option to have wifi turn off when phone is locked.. d) detect if I am cycling available networks (aka driving/moving fast) and put wifi on pause/hold for a while.
Oh.. and bonus for those that want a physical keyboard on their iPhone.. Here is a quick & dirty how-to:
1) Buy our favorite iPhone case.
2) Pick up a rubberized keyboard mat (or make your own / pull it out of an old phone) that can be lined up with the iPhones on-screen keyboard.
3) Put hinges on the keyboard. Place small leather or conductive strips on the bottom of the keys. Have key press area be roughly finger-sized (slightly smaller, whatever the smallest ou find thaty our phone accepts as a touch area).
4) Attach keyboard, via hinge, to exterior case.
5) Attach case to iPhone.
6) Make sure when you hinge the keyboard it comes from hiding behind iphone as part of case to in front of iphone, laying just above the screen (snapping into case front)
7) type away, as long as the keyboard is available. If you use a clear keyboard or clearish keyboard it would work even better.
Oh & I officially announce that as prior, open-source, GPLv3 (er, however that would apply), open patent, whatever, free-for-all, you can sell it but you can't patent it (only I can, so there), prior-art/idea/publication for people to go ahead and use and sell and distribute for the iPhone.. Because I suck at manufacturing (set something up similar for the wifes, it sorta works *cough*).
-M
When the DOJ or whoever ruled that is is not copyright infringement to unlock a phone I knew someone would figure out a way to make sure it was illegal and then walks in Apple.
The process they have in place means the only way to truly free yourself from the carrier that they did business with, is to hack their firmware which IS copyright infringement even if you are doing it to follow with what the DOJ had said before that you can do.
I find it ironic that for once Apple is the one forcing customers to do what they want while there are WM phones for every carrier.
just go to www.dell.com and buy the hottest phone out today the Nokia e90 way better than the iphone.
www.nokiberry.com
With iTunes synching, it is very likely that Apple will lock up the phone again anyway. It seems almost paradoxical that the software used to update and expand your iPhone, can also serve to cripple it! www.iphailure.com
Well they got the sucker to play World of Warcraft.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFZA6gRK4qs
e90 doin that?
Actually, the whole WOW thing isn't totally true if you watch what he TRIES TO DO. He logs in, and chats, doesn't do anything else. I doubt he can do much more than chat just because the processor for the iPhone would lag too much to game. So no the iPhone canNOT play wOw =P
we have this cool law in california that requires carriers unlock your phone for international(aka any sim) use upon request of any customer with an account in good standing.
Eventually someone will realize that this lock imposed by att/apple is actually quite illegal these days and hopefully will get sued.
"Well they got the sucker to play World of Warcraft..... e90 doin that?"
Actually yes, and it's doing it better. There are multiple VNC clients for Symbian, and TightVNC is being ported to it. Can iPhone do these?
- SSH http://s2putty.sourceforge.net/ (Crappy iPhone AJAX-client doesn't count, only an idiot would control his server over HTTP, it's a glue)
- VNC http://sourceforge.net/projects/symvnc/
- Python support
- Full POSIX support http://www.nokia-openc.com/
POSIX support makes it possible to port just about every Linux/Unix application for the E90, for example X11 client. Only GUI has to be rewritten.
Conclusion: If you are a true geek(sysadmin/poweruser), you get the E90, which is 100 times more useful than the iPhone. If you only want flashy phone and don't care about the capabilities then you can get an iPhone. Nokia E90 = True Smartphone, iPhone = iPod with a phone.
The iPhone is rubbish and Apple Fanboys are too blind to notice it.
I am working in Kabul Afghanistan with the justice system here - assisting the Afghans build capacity. We have several mobile carriers here GSM sims. I just want to use the US-bought and US subscription iPhone while here the phone and maybe voicemail no web browsing service here -- as a basic phone. Any way, Brian? Can you cite the law you refer to on Jul 18? Best, Michael
Will any of these unlocked phones be able to use T-Mobile's Hotspot@Home service for making Wi-Fi phone calls???
iPhone may be the undooing of AT&T? They have to be one of the worst carriers out there. My friend just switched to them for their iPhone and it's one dropped call after another. Apple was stupid to go through AT&T Steve Jobs must be making all the decisions again? Apple would be king of the hill if it wasn't for his crappy decisions. Decisions that mirror this one! I would get an iPhone but there is no way I would switch to AT&T!