Firmware 2.0.1 breaks PwnageTool, could render iPhone 3G un-unlockable

As some of you already know, updating your iPhone to firmware 2.0.1 means that you've lost access to all your jailbroken apps. That's pretty much expected and should be rectified by the DevTeam soon enough. What's notable from an unlocking perspective, however, is that Apple's 2.0.1 release also updates the iPhone 3G baseband. This puts iPhone 3G owners in a bit of a quandary: update now via iTunes in desperate hopes of the stability and improved keyboard response we've been seeing but do so at the risk of not being able to unlock your iPhone 3G in the future (if and when the DevTeam gets around to releasing it for firmware 2.0). A lot can happen in the course of a 2 year (or longer) carrier commitment. According to the DevTeam, you'll get all the benefits of Apple's 2.0.1 update (without the pesky new baseband) just as soon as they can kick out the updated PwnageTool (current version is 2.0.1) onto the Internets. Decisions, decisions.

[who? @ Aug 5th 2008 4:12AM]

This is crap. A good phone should always have the option of being unlocked. Period.

AT&T, Apple, you are a couple of greedy bastards....

[LordFarkward @ Aug 5th 2008 4:14AM]

FWIW, iPhones in HK and Singapore are unlocked. Just saying...

[Shiva N Singh @ Aug 5th 2008 4:15AM]

who's right

[GhostDoggy @ Aug 5th 2008 5:06AM]

I wouldn't be so kind as to call them greedy. Even greedy people have souls. These two mo-fo's are the devil. If you own a working iPhone, you have no soul anymore. :)

[Muhammed @ Aug 5th 2008 5:08AM]

phuck apple, I really cant take this anymore.
I'm waiting eagerly for the 5800 Tube to replace my iphone
Nokia, FTW!

[Adderz @ Aug 5th 2008 5:49AM]

Australia offers unlocked iphones.

iphones are also sold by 4 different companies (soon to be 5)
Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, Virgin and soon Three

So it seems that Americas phone companies SUCK, and AT&T is the best from a bad bunch

So yes, iphones are being sold unlocked in Australia for around $800 and $900 respectively.

[JayC3 @ Aug 5th 2008 6:09AM]

Actually, the carrier has the option to make the iPhone 3G lock or unlock. I've confirmed this information with my contact with 3HK. Apple is very open to the carrier if they want it unlocked. I guess AT&T wanted it locked.

[Gus @ Aug 5th 2008 8:04AM]

Hey ePic fail, why would we want to visit your ePic fail website to discuss when we already have this place to discuss?

GTFO, troll.

[h0mi @ Aug 5th 2008 11:01AM]

I thought unlocked versions of the iphone were available even in the states? Its just that the $199/299 price tags are subsidized; unlocked adds ~$300 to the price?

[Steffen Jobbs @ Aug 5th 2008 11:02AM]

Aww. Poor babies. Did Apple spank your scrawny buttocks for being dishonest? That's what happens when bad people tinker with Apple's closed platform.

Still, what's the big deal? In a couple of days, the new firmware will be defeated and then back to business as usual. This cat-and-mouse game will be continued until the iPhone is no longer popular which will be about two years from now.

[OneLove @ Aug 5th 2008 11:54AM]

I don't understand why people buy products or support a company that is constantly trying to undermine their efforts.

[iPriest @ Aug 5th 2008 12:37PM]

Can't find any locked iPhone in Belgium. Seems like the iPhone is a good phone by your standards as it is unlocked overhere.

[Mustaine @ Aug 6th 2008 5:01AM]

800 or 900 bucks eh? hmm, could buy a decent laptop or a good computer for that much. I'll stick to my 10% rule. The day I buy a $9000 computer is the day I'll shell out $900 for a phone.

[LordFarkward @ Aug 5th 2008 4:15AM]

umm phale.

[noel @ Aug 5th 2008 4:16AM]

Does anyone else have the desire to see Pineapple Express even more after seeing that Pineapple?

[Sam Zebian @ Aug 5th 2008 4:21AM]

Yes that move looks awesome!!! And yes that pinapple is quite ugly when it's your iphone boot screen (I used the unnoficial windows method for jailbreaking the 1st time, but then the winpwn came out and I got rid of the pineapple) Now I've upgraded to 2.0.1 until it's jailbroken again.

[Colin Potter @ Aug 5th 2008 4:26AM]

if by desire to see it more, you mean actually kinda wanna see it now... and if by after seeing the logo you mean after seeing more trailers.... then yes.

[neofolklore @ Aug 5th 2008 8:30AM]

I FLY LIKE PAPER GET HIGH LIKE PLANES
IF YOU SEE ME AT THE BORDER I GOT VISAS IN MY NAME



i love M.I.A. (they play it on all the pineapple express trailers)

[ShadowKain @ Aug 5th 2008 1:17PM]

Either your head is up your ass or you thought this was imdb....go AWAY

[Sam Zebian @ Aug 5th 2008 4:19AM]

umm, wt-eph?

[Andrew Harrison @ Aug 5th 2008 4:20AM]

I will happily go and purchase legitimate, legal, unlocked iPhone3Gs from carriers in Australia and ship them to the US if anyone wants.

[who? @ Aug 5th 2008 4:53AM]

For a small fee, no doubt.

[BB @ Aug 5th 2008 4:20AM]

Bwahahahaha !

[nak @ Aug 5th 2008 4:30AM]

Rumor has it that they already have a working jailbreak for 2.0.1 but it's not quite ready to release. i think they'll be putting a notice on their blog soon about it.

[Uker @ Aug 26th 2008 11:25PM]

If it can be unlocked, it will be.

[Information Central @ Aug 5th 2008 4:37AM]

There's no excuse for any phone being locked, EVER, when you are already under contract.

[deyanimay @ Aug 5th 2008 5:19AM]

Thats why t-mobile is all the more awesome. If you have had service for 90 days then you can call customer support and they will give the unlock code if you ask.

[Raheem @ Aug 5th 2008 6:15AM]

Over here (UK), on all other handsets, O2 supply them unlocked if you are on a contract. All handsets but iPhone. Hmph.

[THJ @ Aug 5th 2008 2:34PM]

I guess you've never used Verizon or Sprint.

[Cory @ Aug 6th 2008 2:21PM]

It's to avoid people getting the contract and then paying the ETF. They make more over 2 years of monthly payments than they do from a one time early termination fee.

[Beau @ Aug 5th 2008 4:38AM]

I just wish they'd update PwnageTool, if nothing else but to add 2.0.1 support for the original iPhone & iPod Touch.

[Ben @ Aug 5th 2008 4:44AM]

iphone is getting wrose,more worse than windows mobile now.Can't send files,games,apps,office doc etc...

Why not get a Windows Mobile?

[pathogen @ Aug 5th 2008 12:38PM]

I can't really take a liking to the winmo interfaces. And when this is all said and done Iphone will be the most developed for mobile os in the world. Yes along the way people will be screwed over but in the long run I think it will produce some beautiful things.

[firesign @ Aug 5th 2008 12:48PM]

why? because windows mobile sucks. i just switched from a samsung blackjack II to the iphone, and even with it's problems the iphone is MUCH more of a pleasure to use and more useful to me than winmo ever was. ymmv.

[nak @ Aug 5th 2008 4:44AM]

BTW, Mr. Ricker, it's firmware version 2.0.1 (not 2.01). Same goes for the PwnageTool.

[grug @ Aug 5th 2008 4:48AM]

Good thing my carrier unlocked my phone for free then. :)

[ipubs bastard child @ Aug 5th 2008 4:55AM]

A quick rant..
While I love the browser and smooth interface on the iphone can somebody tell me what makes this phone so f**king special that it deserves mentioning every few posts and in comments on practically every single post? If you're daft enough to buy an iphone and expect to keep it running unlocked / jailbroken permenantly, you have no right to moan about it!

You're no better than people who moan that they were caught downloading illegal copies of movies! We all know the risks!

I love gadgets and technology and I love this site but I dont understand why the engadget "team" love to bend over the apple barrel so much so that they can't see who is bumming them in the ass. There is more in the world than reporting on every single thing to come out of apple and some of which may not even be true..


I want to cry. :'(

Please, for the love of god. Provide some real news about gadgets or rename the site enapple.com..

[Strider @ Aug 5th 2008 5:01AM]

What? We're no better than people who download movies after we pay for them? What's wrong with us for wanting to use our device however we want to after paying for them?

[Engadget: Please confirm your comment @ Aug 5th 2008 5:05AM]

Hey man, I know how you feel, but face it: Apple has the most popular phone out there.

They have 90% of the music player market, and now they have integrated a phone into their near-monopoly on music players.


It isn't fair. It isn't nice. It's business.

[ipubs bastard child @ Aug 5th 2008 5:11AM]

@strider

ALl i mean is that you know the rules of engagement so to speak before you purchase it. Buying a movie with the right to watch it wherever you want is not the same as buying a locked phone that apple does not want you to use outside of its own critieria. It was possibly a poor metaphor however that is aside from the point I'm trying to make, which is that I'm quite tired of hearing the word iphone and it's blatant marketing / spam from the editors of this website.

I want more varied news. I know I should just go elsewhere..

[zomg0t @ Aug 5th 2008 5:10AM]

People have come up with better names, such as igadget. I suggest you start crying now because you won't see your alternative request. Engadget does "provide some real news about gadgets" it's just not as frequent as news about the iPhone (That is, there is no one gadget with more posts in recent times than the iPhone; all other gadget news combined must be greater than the amount of news regarding the iPhone). The problem is not the frequency of news articles on the iPhone, but the obviously overworked attempts to connect unrelated news (anything having to do with multitouch, 3G, or a design that resembles and Apple product just because it looks like a generic phone or laptop) with the iPhone or another Apple product.

[zomg0t @ Aug 5th 2008 5:24AM]

I feel discriminated against by Engadget: Why does ipubs bastard child's post at 5:11 AM appear before my post at 5:10 AM? I want answers, Thomas Ricker!

[Lazerface @ Aug 5th 2008 4:34PM]

"Please, for the love of god. Provide some real news about gadgets or rename the site enapple.com.."

For a second I thought he said Snapple.com...

[Engadget: Please Confirm Your Comment @ Aug 5th 2008 4:57AM]

Prepare to be Lowest Ranked!

Bwa ha ha ha...

[UltimateTOR @ Aug 5th 2008 5:01AM]

Well the update fixed a lot of stuff - I'm staying there until Installer 4 comes out.

[zomg0t @ Aug 5th 2008 5:02AM]

If the iPhone really is the best phone ever made, then there would be no phone adequate for those that wish to haver unlocked iPhones. Unlocking a phone makes it better because you can do more with it. Instead of complaining that they don't like how they have to use the iPhone with whatever service provider it comes locked with, some people are taking action and changing that while other benefit from these people's work as well. You suggest that instead of comlaining that the iPhone is locked again or that it has to be unlocked for people to enjoy it, those people should complain that they can't use a phone (since the iPhone is obviously the best and unfortunately the best just isn't good enough for them, so they must settle with nothing). It seems much more logical that they take something that's alright like the iPhone, and improve it by unlocking it. Nice ASCII dick.

[BobbyB @ Aug 5th 2008 12:00PM]

I've never really taken the unlocking argument when its applied to a subsidised handset.

If I'm a network and I'm shelling out cash to reduce the cost of a handset to the consumer, you bet ill make sure you can't use it with anyone else. My shareholders dont want me spending company money to allow one of our customers to use the handset with a competing network. I may as well just send my rivals a nice cheque in the post. Once a consumer comes to then end of a contract then fair enough I'll unlock it for them. Hopefully I will do my best to entice them to stay with better tarrifs etc.

In the UK for example you pay £150 ish for the 16gb hamdset on O2. Technically you enter into an agreement with O2 to abide by the terms of contract. The consumer agrees not to use the phone on a rival network.

As for Jailbreaking....well i guess thats personal preference. I cant help but wonder if most people that do it do so because its cool rather than because they need to. Wy do people get so indignant if a manufacturer has created a device designed for specific tasks and they can't run an application of their own....It's the equivalent of buying a device with an embedded web browser (such as the Samsung Fridge) and complaining that it does not run your favourite plugins etc.
Going back to the carrier analogy from earlier... I certainly would not entertain ANY support calls whatsoever from customers who came to my store, signed up of their own free will and then bricked their handset because they used "some software of the internet", or more as likely sit there pretending they had not doen anything.

Frigtards!

[spellprince @ Aug 5th 2008 5:24AM]

Apple fucking blows hahaha can't even buy a fucking phone and do what you want with it. Pretty soon Jobs will be telling people who they can and can't call. Fuck these companies, the whole lot of em!

[Eric @ Aug 5th 2008 11:30AM]

if you can't take how things are in society, you should do us all a favor and go 'off the grid'. no but seriously, get the fuck outa my face.

[Joe Bella @ Aug 5th 2008 8:21PM]

Funny, I bought the phone and I can make phone calls, browse the web, download cool applications, listen to music, watch movies.. pretty much everything I want to do.