First iPhone 3GS jailbreak hits the web

[Jos]

The first jailbreak solution for Apple’s iPhone 3GS smartphone has been released by George Holtz, a young developer who also unlocked the original iPhone. Called “purplera1n,” the latest hack is currently available for Windows XP and Vista users only, and requires the latest iTunes installed as well as an iPhone 3GS with the 3.0 firmware. A Mac version is promised to follow shortly.

Holtz cautions that purplera1n is in beta and recommends a full backup of the phone is made before running the software, but the procedure seems pretty straightforward. As detailed on his blog: “Connect your iPhone normally. Click ‘make it ra1n.’ Wait. On bootup, run Freeze, the purplera1n installer app.” This will allow iPhone 3GS users to install any application directly onto their device, including those not sanctioned by Apple, but it won’t free you from your current carrier. The ultrasn0w tool should take care of that.

You can find a download link for purplera1n here and additional details on Holtz's blog, including some crash reports on the comments that you’ll probably want to sift through before taking the plunge.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/35329-first-iphone-3gs-jailbreak-hits-the-web.html

 

[Guest]

With all the people owning iPhones nowadays, I don't know anyone with a jailbroken phone anymore. Give it up with the jailbreaking thing already. It's like chasing a bikini model you'll NEVER get... and for God sake, jailbreakers, get out of your parent's basement and take a shower

 

[tengeta]

Seriously? Guests need to not be able to post anymore...

Or possible Apple Employees...

 

[Wendig0]

tengeta said:
Seriously? Guests need to not be able to post anymore...

Or possible Apple Employees...

I said the same thing about guests a week or so ago tengeta. Sadly, I don't think TechSpot is going to listen to me.

 

[mattfrompa]

"It just works" Not particularly well, and now not for very long.

 

[Julio Franco]

I wouldn't say jailbreaking is as important as unlocking, so you are not tied to a specific carrier. Sometimes those two go hand in hand however.

 

[Rick]

Jailbreaking still makes plenty of sense, but only for a small demographic. It allows true multitasking, terminal access to the BSD subsystem, theming etc.. It's worth it to some people.

The only real problem is keeping up on the bleeding egde with Apple's updates.

 

[JudaZ]

I'm just wondering when Apple will launch a new phone, that has a good camera in it . ....3-mega pixel .. come on Apple! ..thr new IPhone is catshing up to the other phones someone, but they are still lightyears away from the functions a new, modern phone should have. ..you have a cool touch sceen, I'll give you that .. you have a nice design.....but the components and functions are way behind other manufacturers. ... why whould i want to jailbreak it, why would i even want to buy the phone in the first place?

 

[Rick]

I'm just wondering when Apple will launch a new phone, that has a good camera in it . ....3-mega pixel .. come on Apple! ..thr new IPhone is catshing up to the other phones someone, but they are still lightyears away from the functions a new, modern phone should have. ..you have a cool touch sceen, I'll give you that .. you have a nice design.....but the components and functions are way behind other manufacturers. ... why whould i want to jailbreak it, why would i even want to buy the phone in the first place?

Well, here's what it looks like and good luck finding a phone that takes pictures 'lightyears' ahead of these:
http://www.winandmac.com/news/sample-photo-captured-by-iphone-3gs-camera-looks-amazing/

Megapixels are nearly irrelevant. It could be 10 megapixels and still look like s#$%, because the optics are crummy. To install a good lens that is so thin it fit inside a phone that size would be prohibitively expensive and well, it's a phone, not an SLR. Surprisingly, the video looks pretty close to its photo capabilities... which I personally believe is pretty impressive.

As for hardware that's 'lightyears ahead', the CPU and memory is pretty close to the fastest phones out there. The phones I've found are usually an 800MHz CPU and 256MB of RAM (and are considerably fatter, I might add). The iPhone 3GS is 600MHz/256MB. That's pretty modern, no?

Any *real* competitors, for example: the Palm Pre and MyTouch, have very similar hardware. The pre uses the same exact CPU/RAM config and the MyTouch is a tad slower with 512MB** RAM (glad to see it).

** Update: It turns out the MyTouch 3G only has 192MB of RAM. The HTC branded version of the phone has 512MB though, I believe.

 

[JudaZ]

sure looks ok, and you are correct...megapixels are definitly not everyting.... but personally i think carl zeiss makes damn good optics...

 

[Rick]

but personally i think carl zeiss makes damn good optics...

The brand is well regarded, but that doesn't mean everything from Carl-Zeiss is gold.

That may actually help illustrate the limitations in working with something so small and thin. If Carl-Zeiss can't do it... then yeah.

Here's a shot I took myself:
https://www.techspot.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3507&cat=504

Not bad, IMO.

 

[DaLatinHacker]

I think Jail Breaking an iPhone is fun and it's simple. I have jail broken my iTouch 16 GB and my iPhone 3G 16 GB too. I have tons of applications and free stuff that I wouldn't have if I had it regularly. Also I am so glad that I recently found a company that has Satellite Internet. Since the iPhone is a Satellite phone is awesome that now we can pay $14.99 a month for Wi-Fi anywhere in the Globe and be able to use iCall and Free Texting anywhere I do not have At&t anymore and I am so glad to have a phone that works all the time I have EVERYTHING UNLIMITED but no plan. This is the life.