MMS for iPhone 2G and tethering on OS 3.1.2 explained, not for the faint of heart

Let's be clear upfront that this isn't for the casual iPhone jailbreaker, but if you feeling like living on the edge, you can give your original model an added boost of MMS capability, or any device with OS 3.1.2 the power to tether. Highlighted in a series of tweets today by iPhone dev team lead MuscleNerd, whiterat (for MMS) and two-bit (for tethering) will get the job done, but both require tinkering with the baseband, which is exponentially more advanced and brick-inducing than, say, installing Cydia. Venture forth with the instructions beyond the read links below.

[Via 9 to 5 Mac]

Read - iPhone 2G MMS
Read - OS 3.1.2 tethering

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2009 11:57PM]

Yeah... This is cool, only don't do it if you don't have 3.1.2! I attempted it with 3.1 and totally bricked my phone.

So, I'm an idiot, but please head the warning. I've not upgraded to 3.1.2 and am jailbreaking and restoring all the data now... we'll see if I wanna try the hack again after that. Oh how I love tethering...

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 20th 2009 1:39AM]

Well obviously, that would be silly 3.1.2 already has native mms. and it's really easy to use.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 20th 2009 1:28AM]

See my comment below, and choose your words carefully to avoid spreading FUD.

What you did was not "bricking" your phone. You simply replaced a file of the wrong version, which prevented the device from booting normally (apple logo loop). You then restored the device, which is most certainly impossible on a device that has been bricked.

People, Engadget:
Bricking a device is an event that renders the device permanently inoperable. I would say that a device can also be considered "bricked" when it requires hardware "hacks" to get it functioning again (a "bricked" router comes to mind - could only restore the WRT54G by shorting 2 specific pins on the board)

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 20th 2009 1:23AM]

I'll admit, I wouldn't tell my little brother to do this himself. But it really isn't that difficult, or that dangerous. Also, the patch (CommCenter) is NOT a patch to the baseband, but a patch to a daemon that CONTROLS the baseband. This is an important distinction.

I'm NOT going to say that this patch (which is really not a patch, but a replacement) can't brick your iPhone, but I also cannot see how it possibly could "brick" it. DFU mode is always just a game of finger-twister with the hardware buttons away.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 25th 2009 7:10PM]

a friend on a 2g (3.1.2) tried to install mms from cydia...upon reboot the phone is stuck on the apple logo. Unable to reboot the phone. Any suggestion on how to fix this?? Thx ahead of time