Apple released an update to the iPhone OS today. The 3.1 iPhone update brings lots of little improvements. Don’t let iTunes tempt you with them if you have an unlocked iPhone. The new firmware will upgrade your baseband firmware, relocking your iPhone and, potentially, making it impossible to unlock again.
The good news is that your iPhone can still have that 3.1 iPhonee goodness and your unlocked iPhone. You just need to trust in the iPhone Dev team, because their tools provide a way to install the update without updating the baseband and breaking the unlock.
If you update to Apple’s new software using the normal iTunes process, you will lose your ultrasn0w unlock. In fact you may lose it permanently, because for most people the baseband firmware cannot be reverted to a previous version (unlike the main application CPU firmware).
But don’t worry…our PwnageTool program lets you update your main firmware without touching your baseband firmware, so you can still have the best of both worlds. But you must be diligent about saying “no” to your iTunes request this week to update your firmware.
As always, eliminate the middle-men and get the PwnageTool and all your iPhone accessories direct from the source.
If you have an unlocked iPhone 3G you can now take advantage of the new 3.0 firmware! First, use RedSn0w (that’s a zero in there, not an ‘o’, to jailbreak your phone, then use UltraSn0w to unlock it! For more info on UltraSn0w, go to the source. This apparently supersedes the original YellowSn0w unlock for the 3G.
Note, this doesn’t work with the 3.1 firmware betas that are being circulated, at least not yet.
An automated windows tool called iDemocracy for “jailbreaking” iPhones running the 1.1.1 firmware to allow the installation 3rd party apps has been released. If you’ve unlocked your iPhone, make sure you “revirginize” it first.
This will allow you to install the latest version of the free AnySIM unlocking tool.
It looks like it is possible to roll phones with the 1.1.1 firmware back to 1.0.2. A good thing if you want to run 3rd party apps. Eventually this may open the door to unlocking the phone again. The method requires a handful of 3rd party apps, and jumping backwards through a few hoops.
Apple’s BS claims of unlocking causing “irreversable damage” to the iPhone software are looking pretty bogus right now. Big suprise.
I haven’t tried it yet, but the ability to run 3rd party apps is looking more appealing than Apple’s mediocre updates.