Must know jailbreak tips for iPhone
So you have a spanking new jailbroken iPhone and raring to see what it can do. Here are a few tips to get you started
1. Install openSSH from Cydia. This is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL if you want to play around with your iPhone.
2. If you wish to installed cracked apps directly through iTunes (which is the easiest way), just install AppSync for OS 3.0/3.1 from hackalo.us repo. For those folks who can't access hackalo.us, use this repo instead: http://repo.beyouriphone.com
3. Get SBSettings through Cydia. You simply can't live without it.
4. Install Backgrounder from Cydia. iPhone doesn't allow third party apps to run in the background by default. Backgrounder lets you do that. Simple.
5. If you use an unofficial carrier, Apple decided that you shouldn't be let to edit your GPRS/EDGE APN settings. To fix this, follow this post
6. If you are facing the infamous "No Service" problem after jailbreaking/unlocking your iPhone, give this a shot
7. This is for a non-jailbroken phone as well. Make ringtones easily right from iTunes - http://cnettv.cnet.com/create-free-iphone-ringtones-using-itunes-8-0/9742-1_53-50003920.html
iPhone Observations
This is on an iPhone 3G 16GB running OS 3.1 and jailbroken
1) All apps are a bit sluggish to start. Maybe cleaning up unwanted language files will improve things
2) Not really liking safari. No data compression so higher data bills
3) No Opera Mini!
4) Turning off images in Safari (using ImaSafari) doesn't really stop the images from downloading (correct me if I'm wrong)
5) Interface rocks!
6) Sound from speaker is just too mild. They really need to have a better speaker in the next version
7) Good for developers or someone wanting to mess around with the internals (openSSH a must)
No Opera Mini (again)
9) Decent battery life under light usage. If you really make a lot of calls or browse extensively, look else where. But you can get a lot of juice if you listen to music a lot and use the phone sparingly
10) Great keypad for typing (the horizontal keypad suits me better cause of my bigger fingers).
11) Very good predective spelling correction. It really works
12) Breeze to install apps (even the cracked variety if you know how)
Potential fix for iPhone 3G No Service problem
This post is old and is not updated (I've moved on to Android). Comments are now turned off. For more details on jailbreaking and unlocking, please visit http://jailbrea.kr/ and http://unloc.kr/
Dislcaimer: I'm NOT responsible in ANY way if you damage your iPhone. This will require you to open up the iPhone to verify the SIM slot which will void Apple Warranty. So DON'T do it if you are unsure.
If you are among the unlucky ones who happen to jailbreak and unlock your iPhone 3G to get cellular network access, you might have come across this annoying problem. For most, installing ultrasn0w and a simple reboot works. But for many, it just doesn't! No matter what you do, you will be facing the dreaded "No Service" or "No SIM card installed" problem.
I have been playing with my iPhone 3G for about a month now, and was suffering the same fate. No matter what I tried, it JUST WOULDN"T WORK! I knew I was following the jailbreak and unlock steps correctly, so I decided to give it to a service center and get it checked. And voila! A piggyback unlock chip i-Smartphone was soldered to the SIM slot inside the phone! To complicated the matter, it was done in the sloppiest way possible with wires hanging all around (apparently some old technique). This seems to be the issue with many phones originating from Australia and the middle east (as mine did), so if you got your iPhone through the Grey channel and are facing problems, this might be it.
How do you fix it? Simple - After removing the soldered chip, I restored my iPhone with a custom OS 3.1 firmware using pwnage tool, installed ultrasn0w, and it just works! The problem is the conflict between software and hardware unlock techniques. Hardware unlock is buggy, troublesome and not recommended especially because ultrasn0w works perfectly now!
So there you have it. If you are sure that you are doing the jailbreak/unlock right but still aren't able to get into your network, try this. If this helps anyone, leave your comments and experiences please.
P.S: If you take it to an Apple store to get it fixed, they will reject it outright as any hardware/software modding on the iPhone violates the warranty. So my advice is to avoid Apple, and get your friendly neighborhood mobile service guy to check it.
Update 1: If after doing all this you still get "No Service", goto Settings -> General -> About and check the field "Carrier". If it shows your service provider (ex: Airtel 5.0) then there maybe some problem with automatically selecting your network. To do it manually, Goto Settings -> Carrier and let the list populate with the service providers in your area. Then select your network from that list. To verify, reboot the phone and see if it sets automatically.
Update 2: If you use pwnage tool to jailbreak and install custom OS 3.1 (which you should, if you don't want to lose your unlock) the name of the carrier will not show up at the top left, right next to the signal indicator. It is a known bug and you can simply set your custom carrier label using a tool called "MakeItMine" which you can install through Cydia.
Preparing for the iPhone
Yes, I'm taking the giant leap of faith and getting myself a spanking new iPhone 3G 16GB. My furious attempts at Twitter to win one of those new 3G's that were on various giveaways went in vein, so decided to take the practical way out. Unfortunately, the newly launched 3GS is way out of my league so I had to settle with the older but still respectable 3G on which I'm getting a decent deal (Getting it for almost Rs. 8000 less than the Indian market price).
I did have the choice between the iPhone 3G and the HTC Touch Diamond2. It was a tough decision, but in the end I chose the iPhone due to various reasons:
- 3.5mm audio jack - How could HTC leave this one out in such a high end phone? Simply beats me.
- Inbuilt memory of 16GB which is more than enough for my needs (need microSD cards for the diamond2 as it doesn't have inbuilt memory)
- Virtually an application for every need (and a few that you don't need too)
- Better battery life - Although HTC made amends to the battery over the original diamond, its still bad. Reading from reviews/user comments, it seems to be the most significant downer. And I'm a battery freak, and need enough juice to pull out a couple hours of music, browsing, and an hour of voice calls without being bothered about when the battery will run out
- Build quality - Though the diamond2 looks great, I don't think it can compete with the build quality of the iPhone
- Jailbreaking/Unlocking - This is a lame reason, but I've been fascinated with jailbreaking, installing other apps for the iphone ever since I've read about it on the internet. Sure must be exciting!
I've already downloaded redsn0w, iTunes and read up on a few tutorials. Should be getting the phone by Wednesday, and zip zap zoom!
Apple and gaming
Amidst rumors that Apple may buy E.A and that its building the next big console, one wonders what will happen to the gaming industry if the rumors come true. Traditionally, Apple has never been pro-gaming, as evident from its poor support for gaming hardware or software. But now that Apple has held itself together and posted a good profit during these hard times, and that its fanbois are crazy enough to catapult any minuscule product launch into a glitzy media event, getting into gaming might seem as the next logical step.
There are two basic problems with this:
1. Apple isn't known for gaming. Rather some may even say apple is anti-gaming
2. Anything and everything associated with apple is ridiculously priced
Both problems are hard to solve. You cannot just buy a game developer/publisher and change your image overnight. It will take months if not years for both the developers and the gaming community to start believing in Apple, and that will not be easily accomplished either. That will mean more advertisement campaigns, and counter campaigns by Microsoft, which means expenditure running into millions. And Apple's pricing will not help their cause either. With the popular "Laptop Hunter" campaign by Microsoft focusing on pricing, and support for gaming; and both being genuine reasons to chose a PC, it is going to be very difficult for Apple to post good sales numbers unless they retain the old pricing. Which is very unlikely to happen.
On the other hand, it will be a very smart move if Apple manages to do everything right. EA is well established, and with their popular titles grossing millions in sales, it already has a well established, faithful user base. By retaining the original team and pricing, Apple can get a head start into the billions worth gaming industry. It will also be a big plus that they can start developing quality titles for the Mac, something which is lacking for a long time now. It will be interesting to see how they handle the hardware support for the Macs though.
Whatever said, this is an interesting development that everyone in the gaming industry will watch. Hopefully, Apple will not screw this one up.