It was only last week that I had written about the seven cool iPhone hacks or applications which can be used to add custom ringtones to your iPhone in case you did not want to pay Apple the additional 99c for each song you wanted to add as ringtone.
Apple seems to have spoiled that party too like it has done for those with unlocked iPhones with firmware 1.1.1 as NONE of the applications seem to currently work with iPhone firmware 1.1.1.
I have some great news for all those who had bricked their iPhone with firmware 1.1.1. The iPhone hacking geniuses at iPhone Dev Team have done it again thanks to Kmac1985. They have just released instructions on how to downgrade iPhone’s Firmware 1.0.2 from 1.1.1. However it won’t downgrade your baseband which means that you can’t re-unlock the iPhone if iPhone’s firmware has already been updated with 1.1.1.
The iPhone Dev Team are working hard to downgrade the new firmware so that people can unlock their iPhone’s again. However until then for iPhone users with a valid AT&T SIM everything should work just fine while those without the valid AT&T SIM can at least work with Wi-Fi and use the iPod.
The best part of the news is that you can have all the third-party iPhone hacks working after downgrading to 1.0.2.
Update (1st Oct): Jesus Diaz over at Gizmodo is reporting that once you have downgraded to firmware 1.0.2 you can also get the phone part of the functionality (make and receive calls, send and receive SMS and mails too) to work with either TurboSIM method or iPhoneSIMFree’s software-only unlocking method.
The recommendation for all those who used iUnlock or anySIM from the iPhone Dev Team to unlock their iPhone is still the same, i.e. to wait for them to provide the necessary fix/instructions to get the phone functionality to work. Click here for more details over at Gizmodo. Thanks Diaz for the update.
iPhone firmware 1.1.1 has brought in a great deal of disappointment for iPhone owners, not only did it partially brick the unlocked iPhones (apparently maliciously) where the unlocking mechanism of the iPhone Dev Team was used it also has made all the cool iPhone hacks unusable.
Apple seems to have missed the pulse of the iPhone owners as what made the iPhone truly revolutionary was not just the iPhone but was also because of the cool iPhone applications that were released by the iPhone hacking community.
Lets have a look at what’s on offer with iPhone 1.1.1 in comparison to the hacked iPhone.
It has been almost three months and it would have been inappropriate on my part if I had not written about how to use the ultra popular social networking and micro blogging service aka Twitter on your iPhone. So let me address this today by writing about the various options you have of using Twitter from your iPhone.
Having a choice is always good and in case you are addicted to the fast-paced social network then you will happy to know that there is not one but 5 ways to use Twitter on Apple’s iPhone in case you didn’t already know. Do you know all the 5 ways? Maybe you can find out after the jump.
iPhone Firmware update 1.1.1 is out, the third firmware update since iPhone’s launch. The firmware update as expected bring iTunes Wi-Fi Store Music to the iPhone along with some new features and shortcuts to make common tasks that much more simpler. However, more importantly initial reports are indicating that iPhone owners who had unlocked their iPhone are getting SIM errors partially bricking their iPhone while in case of those who had installed iPhone hacks have observed that they have been wiped out after the firmware update.
WARNING: You might already know this but if you want to continue using your unlocked iPhone, do NOT update your iPhone with firmware 1.1.1. More details available after the jump.
Update (29th Sept): Based on some reports it seems that iTunes 7.3.1.3 can restore a
bricked phone with the 1.1.1 update. No confirmation yet, but in case
it works for you do let us know in the comments.
In fact Mo, an
iPhone Hacks reader has commented below that he was able to restore
his bricked iPhone to 1.0.2 using iTunes 7.3.1 though it was not an
unlocked iPhone that he was trying it on. I guess as Mo aptly puts it
worth a try if you can’t do anything else. Thanks Mo for the tip.
For iTunes 7.3.1.3 – Windows version (couldn’t find the link to the Mac version): Click here
We have seen some applications that have brought VOIP based calls to the iPhone in the form of SoonR or the web-based Skype for iPhone from Shape Services. However based on news from Blognation we could soon be able to make VoIP calls from the iPhone using a native iPhone application. Truphone, the company that offers free mobile calls to other Truphone users & very cheap calls to anyone else by routing mobile calls via the internet has announced a very early alpha version of their VoIP client for the iPhone.
The battle between the iPhone hackers and Apple is now out in the open and seems to getting more interesting. After approximately three months of uneasy silence Apple had yesterday finally released an official statement warning users that "unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs" could cause "irreparable damage to the iPhone’s software". But the folks at iPhone Dev team who developed the free GUI based iPhone unlock tool have issued a statement today condemning Apple and promising a tool soon which will restore your iPhone to factory-settings.
If you are frustrated with the 4 GB or 8 GB limit on your iPhone, I had written earlier this month that Dot.Tunes had an innovative way of solving your space problem by streaming any song or playlists from your iTunes library to your iPhone. However, for this to work you needed to buy the iPhone Dot.Tunes plug-in which costs $20.
In case you are looking for a free option then folks at Embraceware Software have figured out a not so neat way of solving the space problem but for free.
The cat and mouse game between the iPhone hackers and Apple continues. The iPhone hacking community keep coming out with new ways or hacks to help iPhone owners add custom ringtones to their ringtone in most cases for free rather then using the expensive option of paying Apple additional 99c if you want to make a song as a ringtone.
Apple has released two updates for iTunes i.e. iTunes 7.4.1 and 7.4.2 to fix holes that made it easy to add custom ringtones. However, the iPhone hacking community has been quick to respond and are currently ahead of race. Lets check out the seven iPhone applications that you can use to add custom ringtones to your iPhone.
Update (20th October):
Erica’s SendSong ringtone app has also been updated to work with iPhone OS v1.1.1.
Update (17th October):
The latest version iToner v1.0.3 which has just been released by Ambrosia SW is now compatible with iPhone OS v1.1.1. Click here for more details.
Update (30th Sept):
The bad news for all those who have updated their iPhone firmware to
1.1.1 and looking to add custom ringtones is that NONE of the iPhone
applications listed above will work with iPhone firmware 1.1.1.
Here are some useful tips that I have hand picked from 25 iPhone Power Tips published by MacLife. If you want to know what to do if the iPhone slider is stuck or how to avoid damaging your iPhone or find out if your iPhone is suffering from dead pixels and lots more then you will be interested in reading the details after the jump.
Due to the hectic pace on the iPhone hacking front it has been a while since I wrote an article on some tips and tricks for the iPhone, I hope you find them useful.
