Their team is excellent and very quick in helping.
Apple announced the iPhone 3G, and immediately after that everyone wanted to know if the 3G would be as easy to unlock as the original iPhone. It wasn't allowed by the firmware that Apple had pre-installed on the newly shipped iPhone 3G. The firmware was updated enough that it made it very difficult to unlock the iPhone 3G.
The difficulty involved with unlocking any cellular phone device may be as simple as buying access to it via the carrier or as hard as setting up complex hacking software and devices to allow the usage of the cellular phone devices with other service providers. The original iPhone had many different types of unlocking methods. This is not so true with the iPhone 3G.
Only 4 days after the initial release of the iPhone 3G, it was unlocked by the use of SIM cards that tricked the phone into thinking it had a special SIM card used to test various functions of the iPhone 3G's capabilities. This has evolved into hardware solutions that are cheap and readily available through many sources.
It wasn't until later on that someone figured out how to use software methods to unlock the iPhone 3G. Fully unlocking the 3G took time and patience to crack. Some companies are still trying to figure out how to unlock the 3G through a software type solution to profit from the phone's success and locked features.
As of now, there are very few available unlocking methods that do not involve paying monopolizing fees for such a freedom. The hard work of men and women that are dedicated to bringing new functionality to the iPhone 3G is appreciated by all whom use them for all aspects of their lives.
When the iPhone 3G is no longer as popular than it is now, it may have free solutions to unlocking all of its functions. For now, the only real simple ways to do so would be to spend money on some of the current methods of unlocking the iPhone 3G. The iPhone 3G may never have free unlocking methods.
Unlock iPhone
Verizon’s got something to show us next Tuesday, and the WSJ says the iPhone is a lock-in for their network. The possibility of Apple’s smartphone on Big Red’s network has been the stuff of rumors since before the first-gen iPhone even launched back in 2007. There’s no denying the amount of interest in a Verizon iPhone; head on after the cut to find out why we should care, as well as some of the issues that still remain unanswered.
AT&T managed a major coup when they clinched not only the first-gen iPhone but exclusivity on the three subsequent versions in the US. Over that period, despite investment in the network, the iPhone’s appeal has seen AT&T’s wireless capabilities overloaded again and again. Yes, it shows its head particularly during events like CES 2011, when iPhone 4-toting geeks come together and, combined, suck all the juice out of AT&T’s base-stations, but network capacity has been an ongoing problem for US subscribers from the very earliest days.
In contrast, Verizon’s much-vaunted CDMA network has hovered like some teasing high-ground, off limits to even the iPhone unlocking community thanks to the differences in network technology. For many, the appeal of a Verizon iPhone is the fervent belief that where there once were zero bars for them, now there would be five. No more dropped calls, no more sluggish browsing, no more SMS messages dropping into their inbox five hours late.
It’s also a matter of competition. In Europe and Asia, where the iPhone 4 is not a single network exclusive, the usual battle to the bottom line has meant that even Apple’s “magical” smartphone isn’t safe from discounts and heavy subsidies. In the UK, for instance, you can pick up a “free” iPhone 4 with a new agreement from more than five carriers, each competing for business by throwing in more minutes, more data or more messages.
Now, if the iPhone lands on Verizon next week, it won’t quite add up to the same thing. We don’t yet know what Verizon is intending in terms of wireless radios; the carrier could switch out the iPhone 4′s AT&T support for its own CDMA EVDO Rev.A radio, or it might produce a so-called “Global Phone” with both CDMA for use in North America and GSM/UMTS for use when roaming abroad. The latter seems more likely, given otherwise the Verizon iPhone would be little use for travellers, and global-roaming is certainly the direction the carrier appears to be taking with its high-end smartphone range. Another possibility is LTE, to take advantage of Verizon’s fledgling 4G network.
Still, even as a global phone, you couldn’t hop between AT&T and Verizon as you can with European carriers. For a start, the AT&T iPhone 4 lacks CDMA support – if you want to switch network, you’ll have to buy a whole new iPhone 4 – and we’re expecting Verizon to lock down their version so that only their own roaming microSIMs are allowed. That’ll be another challenge to the iPhone unlock community, but it remains to be seen which US-compatible 3G bands a Verizon iPhone 4 global phone might support.
Verizon’s timing also throws a spanner into the works, given that the fifth-generation iPhone is expected to debut midway through 2011. Apple’s yearly refresh of the smartphone has been pretty predictable, but Verizon’s model makes it a biannual cycle; will Verizon devotees always be six months behind the GSM version, or will this first Verizon iPhone be refreshed as soon as June or July? If you opt for the Verizon iPhone 4 this week, will you be out in the cold when it comes to the iPhone 5 in a few months time? The carrier is expected to update its early-termination policies to extend the minimum period before a subsidized upgrade to 20 months, which means it could be near the end of 2012 before they’re willing to let you switch to whatever updated version Apple has rolled out.
For those currently struggling to make a call or send a message, but unwilling to give up their iPhone’s usability, the strength of Verizon’s network may still provide enough appeal to override such concerns. Analysts vary in their predictions of what impact on AT&T’s business a Verizon iPhone might have, but the GSM carrier has undoubtedly been doing its best not only to lock in as many new customers as possible – the half-price iPhone 3GS, for instance – while outing a comprehensive new smartphone range based on Google’s Android platform this past week. The Motorola ATRIX 4G, Samsung Infuse 4G and HTC Inspire 4G all have strengths above and beyond the current iPhone 4, not least their support for AT&T’s HSPA+ network. Expect just as much push to popularize those handsets as AT&T has been doing with the iPhone, as the carrier attempts to reduce its reliance on Apple’s handset.
SlashGear will be at Verizon’s event – along with, if you believe the rumors, Apple CEO Steve Jobs – on Tuesday, January 11 2011, so join us then for all the details as they’re announced!
Box.net chief executive Aaron Levie might have a soft spot for Android, but he has to go where the money is. So his company is unveiling a slew of new features for its iPad application today before it gets to work on pumping up its Android application.
The newest version of Box.net’s iPad application features a projection mode, which lets Box.net users connect their iPads to a display and project whatever is on their iPad on the new screen. That can include anything from additional monitors to projectors. The feature requires an iPad connection cable to connect the iPad directly to a secondary display.
Box.net’s latest version of its iPad app also features air printing for documents stored online. Apple enabled wireless printing for its devices in one of its recent iPhone operating system updates. The feature lets iPhone and iPad users print documents on any wi-fi connected printer that’s on the same network without having to install any additional drivers. But a number of companies like HP have already released third-party apps that enabled wi-fi printing.
Aside from that, Box.net is including a locking feature and a way to log onto multiple enterprise accounts with a single screen name and password through the application. Since Box.net typically logs in automatically, the application now has a password lock like the iPad’s normal password lock function. That means once a user locks the device, they have to type in a four-digit password to unlock it an access the application.
Box.net decided to focus on the iPad because it has such a wide distribution — at least for now, Levie said. He said tablets running Google’s mobile operating system Android will eventually take over the enterprise tablet market – especially once the latest version of Android, dubbed Honeycomb, hits the market. But until then, the iPad has proved to be quite popular. iPad users have downloaded the Box.net application more than 250,000 times since it launched.
But that doesn’t mean Box.net is completely ignoring Android. Box.net currently has an Android application that Android users have downloaded more than 70,000 since it launched in the fourth quarter last year. Box.net is also working with Samsung, the manufacturer of the Galaxy Tab, to pre-load the Box.net application on its newest tablets. Levie also said there’s a certain appeal to working with the Android team when developing an application.
“The whole Android team is really accessible and loves getting down into the stuff you’re working on,” Levie said. “Which is totally awesome because you can get some really great feedback.”
But as “awesome” as it is to work with the Android team, Levie said that there’s a certain elegance to how Apple has rolled out its app development ecosystem. Since there is just one tablet and one phone, developers don’t have to fret about form factors and how big screens will be. So developers can make iPad and iPhone applications much more quickly than they can develop Android applications, he said.
There aren’t any plans for a Box.net application for some of the other tablet operating systems just yet despite a slew of new devices on the way. Research in Motion hopes to make a splash in the enterprise tablet space with its PlayBook tablet, which runs on the BlackBerry operating system. But Research in Motion already plans to run Android applications on the PlayBook — so it might be moot to make a BlackBerry tablet Box.net application.
Nokia just jumped into the pool with Microsoft and plans to release phones running the Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system. Hewlett-Packard also recently unveiled a new tablet and several smartphones running on Palm’s WebOS mobile operating system. Both are good targets, but it’s too early to tell whether they’ll have any kind of traction, Levie said. So for the time being, Box.net is going to stick with the iPad and Android.
Next Story: Y Combinator founder: There is no tech bubble Previous Story: Nokia Plan B: Journalists fooled by “one very bored engineer”
Apple announced the iPhone 3G, and immediately after that everyone wanted to know if the 3G would be as easy to unlock as the original iPhone. It wasn't allowed by the firmware that Apple had pre-installed on the newly shipped iPhone 3G. The firmware was updated enough that it made it very difficult to unlock the iPhone 3G.
The difficulty involved with unlocking any cellular phone device may be as simple as buying access to it via the carrier or as hard as setting up complex hacking software and devices to allow the usage of the cellular phone devices with other service providers. The original iPhone had many different types of unlocking methods. This is not so true with the iPhone 3G.
Only 4 days after the initial release of the iPhone 3G, it was unlocked by the use of SIM cards that tricked the phone into thinking it had a special SIM card used to test various functions of the iPhone 3G's capabilities. This has evolved into hardware solutions that are cheap and readily available through many sources.
It wasn't until later on that someone figured out how to use software methods to unlock the iPhone 3G. Fully unlocking the 3G took time and patience to crack. Some companies are still trying to figure out how to unlock the 3G through a software type solution to profit from the phone's success and locked features.
As of now, there are very few available unlocking methods that do not involve paying monopolizing fees for such a freedom. The hard work of men and women that are dedicated to bringing new functionality to the iPhone 3G is appreciated by all whom use them for all aspects of their lives.
When the iPhone 3G is no longer as popular than it is now, it may have free solutions to unlocking all of its functions. For now, the only real simple ways to do so would be to spend money on some of the current methods of unlocking the iPhone 3G. The iPhone 3G may never have free unlocking methods.
