Jailbreaking a 3GS with iOS4

With the iPhone Dev Team’s release of PwnageTool 4 yesterday (and the 4.01 update today) I was ready to jailbreak my iPhone 3GS. It’s been running the iOS4 beta 4/Gold Master since that was leaked, but being on iOS4 already had prevented the use of the beta jailbreaks available before the public release of iOS4. There were still several steps involved to achieve the jailbreak, as stipulated in this condition from the Dev Team’s blog:

If you have a Jailbroken iPhone 3GS with the OLD BOOTROM and you DID NOT use Spirit to jailbreak then you can create the ipsw with PwnageTool 4.0 and restore with your jailbroken recovery mode

My 3GS uses the old bootrom, so OK there. The requirement for a jailbroken 3GS NOT using Spirit meant the first step was to downgrade the firmware to 3.1.2. That’s an easy step if Cydia has your SHSH stored for the previous firmware, as mine are.

The next step was to jailbreak the 3.1.2 install using redsn0w 0.9.2. Once this was confirmed to be working correctly (just look for Cydia to be installed) PwnageTool 4.01 was used to produce a custom iOS4 ipsw. The iPhone was then put into DFU mode, and iTunes used to pick the custom ipsw to restore.

Both times I restored a firmware during this process a 1015 error was given after the restore. By that time the restore had successfully completed but the iPhone was stuck in recovery mode. The freeware RecBoot utility was used to get out of recovery mode and back to normal startup.

A backup had been made by iTunes before starting the jailbreak, so this was restored once the jailbreak was completed. I now have SBsettings back on my iPhone, giving fast access to 3G and WiFi on/off to help conserve batter power. There’s a few other useful jailbroken apps that haven’t been updated for iOS4 compatibility yet, but hopefully that will be done soon.

Once again thanks to the iPhone Dev Team for redsn0w and PwnageTool, and to Saurik for Cydia and enabling the downgrade to earlier firmware.

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Redsn0w 0.8 with iPhone 3GS

The iPhone Dev Team released version 0.8 of Redsn0w recently, adding compatibility with the latest iPhone 3GS hardware running firmware 3.0. I had previously jailbroken my 3GS using purplera1n but couldn’t pass an opportunity to play with the latest method. Below is a video for anyone thinking of trying the jailbreak but unsure of what is involved. It’s fairly straightforward, the only bit that requires manual intervention is putting the iPhone into recovery mode and even that is guided by the app. Another top tool from the iPhone Dev Team, many thanks for their continued work. Click the HD button to go to Vimeo and watch or download the full size version (bottom right corner of the page).

iPhone 3GS jailbreak tested

The iPhone Dev Team have commented in recent blog posts that although they have a working 3GS jailbreak, they are planning to wait for the 3.1 update to be issued before releasing it. Without getting into the politics of the situation, hacker George Hotz has decided to release a beta jailbreak app without waiting for the next software update. Please remember this is a beta release so may do horrible things to your shiny new iPhone. I took the risk since I’m a daring blogger (or an idiot, never quite sure which)

iPod Touch 1st Gen to iPhone 3GS

For the past (almost) two years I have used my iPod Touch every day as a web browser. email client, PDA, eBook reader and even a music and video player. It’s been reliable, flexible and even better once jailbroken. As a computer user who’s experiences started with a one kilobyte ZX81 29 years ago I have never ceased to be amazed at what such a small package could do. Even after all this time I still turn it sideways and wonder how so much power can fit in such a thin case. Just like most of the iPod’s that came before it, the Touch will be remembered as a design classic.

The one thing I have missed all this time was a permanent net connection. The iPhone is an expensive proposition in the UK but I finally succumbed on Tuesday and visited the Apple store at Lakeside Thurrock intent on a 32Gb 3GS. I had initially been contemplating a pay as you go contract for an eye watering £540. This initially sounded a good deal, you put £10 a month credit on the phone and get 500 free minutes. Unfortunately these free minutes are only to other O2 phones and landlines, so it’s not quite as good as it initially sounded.

UK iPhone pricing

I had hoped O2 would be replacing the 8/16Gb iPhone 3G with the new 16/32Gb 3GS, but the AT&T pricing of $199/$299 made that look unlikely. O2 now have an iPhone 3GS pricing page and they’re not coming cheap.

The last generation iPhone 3G stays at £96.89/free, but the new 16Gb 3GS rises to £184.98 on cheap/shorter contracts, compared to £155.61 for the replaced 16Gb 3G. The 32Gb 3GS comes in at a wallet busting £274.23, or £175.19 if you are willing to sign up for a 24 month contract. That’s a TCO of £890.91 for a 16Gb model on the £35 tariff for 18 months, or £926.91 for 32Gb. The new 3GS is also available on pay as you go:

• iPhone 3G 8GB – £342.50
• iPhone 3G S 16GB – £440.40
• iPhone 3G S 32GB – £538.30

That’s an eye watering price for the 3GS, but since it includes 12 months of unlimited data it works out cheaper for anyone with light call and text usage.

The real issue here is the use of 18 and 24 month contracts, especially when Apple seem dedicated to a 12 month release cycle for its iPhone hardware. Macworld has some details for users looking to terminate their contracts to get the new model, and the bad news is that it looks like O2 will want the remainder of the contract paid in full. That means an iPhone 3G owner 12 months into their contract would have to pay £205.56 plus cost of new 3GS model, with the prospect of doing the same in 12 months when the next version is released.

Apple announces iPhone 3GS

As was fairly widely reported in the past 24 hours, Apple has announced a new version of the iPhone hardware. The 3GS improves on the current 3G model in a number of key areas:

• Speed improvements launching apps
• 7.2Mbps HSDPA for faster cellular data transfer
• 3 megapixel autofocus camera with macro down to 10cm
• 30fps VGA video capture
• Voice control for calls and iTunes
• Nike+ support built in
• Up to 5 hours 3G talk time, 9 hours WiFi internet use

Price at $199 for 16Gb and $299 for 32Gb the iPhone 3GS goes on sale in the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and UK on June 19th. The existing iPhone 3G will still be available as an 8Gb $99 option, so it looks like all the talk of an iPhone nano is redundant.