Talk:Interview: cracked iPhone working in New Zealand

The email
Here is the raw email (all other comments should go ABOVE this). --Nzgabriel | Talk 05:44, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi Gabriel


 * Is the process you used to unlock the iPhone the same as the one used by George Hotz?

I used the instructions found on this site that does not require soldering and can be done with 2 fine needles. http://iphone.unlock.no/ This web page was a lot clearer on how to unlock the phone.


 * How long did it take you to unlock it?

I got the phone at 2pm and finished at 8pm, so it was about 4-5 hours as I had to drive to house and had friends around at the time. Activations took some time due to needing an older version of iTunes. The night before I had also watched some vidoes on what I needed to do.
 * Was it difficult to accomplish, and would novices be able to complete this feat?

The instructions are really really good. There are 2 spelling mistakes in the instructions that most users will pick up. If you tried to do this it would just say file not found and you would pick this up really quickly. A few things were quess work regarding if a file was patched or not but they included the byte size of the patched file which pretty was a near perfect match. Super hard part was just getting the case open. This is soo hard, took me approx 2 hours. Most people scratch the case I was lucky and had some plastic tools used to replace iPod batteries that worked ok. The 3x phillips screws are really really small and you will need a precison screwdriver set. Lastly another pair of hand to help when shorting out the circuit, you WILL need a magnifing glass and the stronger the better as the points to short out are tiny and one is covered in green lacquer. So you need to scape that off carefully as well. This shorting part took about 10 minutes to get right. You basically short this and run

ieraser

If that worked it will say Testpoint works or "Please connect the testpoint". Once that is done you have to do a modem command and its done. The software part is pretty simple, follow the instructions and it could be made even easier if all the files were in one download. Anyone could do this. The hardware part requires some special tools and getting the case open is amazingly difficult.


 * If and when Telecom launches their new network, will it work on that?

Telecoms new network will be GSM which is the same as Vodafones, so yes I think it would.
 * Is there any functionality that doesn't work on the Vodafone network?

Vodafone NZ has 3G but no EDGE and I cannot get the slower GPRS working so right now if I dont have wifi I dont have any internet. I have also noticed the YouTube application will not work (dont know why) and all the email applications dont work, gmail, yahoo and even POP will not connect. I have tried several times. I can use all of them via the web browser but none by the inbuilt iPhone applications.


 * Does Vodafone know you are using this phone on their network?

Some of my friends know about this that work at Vodafone and some of the empoyees have iPhones now hoping there will be an iPhone software hack. As for the head of vodafone I dont think they care. I dont think they will be able to sell these phones but it would be good if there was a 3G phone then this phone would be amazing!


 * Is it a good phone?

The phone is amazing. It's sad the email doesnt work but I am sure there will be an app you can install that will fix this or a new hack or its just me. I really really love this device. Its a mini always on, quite, doesnt get hot, instant start, takes phone calls etc etc etc. Just love it.


 * Anything else you would like to add about unlocking it, etc?

[URL withheld due to spam filter] here is a url to an article and ome of ther photos Flickr hi-res photos with creative commmons. (some have CC some dont) I took some new ones at the end of the set for you. http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluespark/sets/72157601766607033/ The only thing I would recomend is that the 3G version of this phone is going to be a LOT better, I love the maps but when I really need it will be in the car and I cannot get any internet in my car, so that sucks a bit.

Many Regards, John.