Good source for unlocked iPhones

Don't want to buy and unlock your iPhone youself? Then unlockediphones.com is a good place to look for new and used unlocked iPhones. Right now they have 26 models listed.

iPhone Firmware 1.2.0 unlocking announced

The Dev Team have announced that future release of an unlock for iPhone Firmware 1.2.0 that comes with the iPhone SDK. This will allow any application to be installed (jailbreaking) and any SIM card from any operator to be used (SIM unlocking).

All the gory technical details of the Pwnage project here.

Jail, Jailbreak, Bricking, Activation, etc.: vocabulary explained

Yeh, the iPhone lingo is not always easy to follow. Erica Sadun has a Vocabulary Primer over at tuaw.com.

Orange iPhone in France - the prices and the small-print

OK, the prices for iPhones in France on the Orange network have just been published on iphone.orange.fr.

The subsidized iPhone is 399 Euros (US Dollars, Swiss Francs, British Pounds).

The subsidy requires a 12 or 24 month commitment to a service, the cheapest being 49 Euros a month (US Dollars, Swiss Francs, British Pounds) that includes 2 hours peak time and 2 hours off-peak time and "unlimited" GPRS.

Except that unlimited, according to the small-print, is actually 500Mo and excludes bluetooth tethering, VOIP, P2P and "Newsgroups". And minutes over the "forfait" cost 0.37 Euros, gulp. Gotta love these telcos!

Note that according to law, Orange will be required to give you unlock codes for free 6 months into your contract.

Free iPhone SIM unlock codes on May 29 2008... from Apple!

Now that Apple has announced launching the iPhone in France with Orange on November 29, Orange will be obliged by law – as reported here – to provide SIM-unlock codes for free 6 month into any contract.

So on on May 29 2008, 6 months after the introduction in France, Apple will be endorsing SIM-free iPhones. Better late than never.

Instructions to downgrade and reflash baseband firmware of hacked iPhones

The "iPhone Elite" hackers have posted detailed instructions on how to downgrade any iPhone to 1.0.2 and re-flash the baseband firmware.

Highly recommended as it makes the 1.1.1 update a smooth experience. Unbricks too, apparently.

iPhone unlocking - back to square one and 1.0.2

As reported just about everywhere, the Apple iPhone 1.1.1 update risks making your 1.0.2. hacked iPhone unusable.

So it's back to square one, sigh.

In the meantime, the iPhone Dev Team recommends downgrading to 1.02 before attempting a software SIM unlock.

I'm following the "new" hacks (such as this one that claims a 1.1.1 unlock) and will report on any significant proven breakthroughs as they are released.