so, i did what any good little apple fanboy should do and got a 16gb iphone.

sure i could have waited till june / july and got a 3G second generation, but.. well.. i don't have a landline at home, so i kind of need a phone. :)

it's a bit of a process getting it here, working & sexy.  so i thought i'd share how i did things.

everything was run from my (old) PowerBook G4 1.33 GHz running Leopard 10.5.2

oh, and if ever you get into trouble any step of the way, google and hackint0sh are your friends. :)

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UPDATE 2: wow, no wonder the iphone-dev team has been so quiet.. pwnage! :D

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UPDATE: or you could just use the newly released iLiberty+ & iLibertyX software. ;)

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bought from: http://www.ebay.com.au (user: littlenewbie)

paid: AUS$774 including international courier postage + insurance.  full tracking is available on-line. :)

unlocked: using iNdependence v1.4 beta 5

i used iNdependence over any other solutions because it was open source and more importantly, it didn't make any permanent changes that couldn't be fixed by restoring the iphone in itunes to brand new out of the box state.

tricks:

* when you first plug in your iphone, itunes & itunes helper run.  you need to close both.

* to do this run Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor.

* then scroll down to itunes helper and click quit.

* now you're ready to Activate / Unlock / install SSH.

* make sure the original AT&T simcard is in the iphone to start with.

* between each step, quit and restart iNdependence.. there's a bug which makes it hang if you don't.

* if the Unlock step hangs your iphone, DON'T PANIC.

* just let the iphone restart and Unlock a second time.

* now you'll have a fully functional iphone running 1.1.4 firmware, 4.6 bootloader & 04.02.13_G baseband.

installing installer.app to run cool apps on 1.1.4 firmware:

what's the use of a lovely iphone if you're stuck with apple's basic app pack (until they release 1.2.0 in june)?

to install installer.app run iNdependence.

* install SSH

* download the latest version of installer.app here: http://repository.apptapp.com/packages/System/Installer.zip

* make sure your iphone and laptop are connected to the same wireless network.

* find out your iphone's IP address by going to Settings > WiFi > click the little blue arrow next to your network.

* click the customize tab in iNdependence on your laptop.

* now select Applications > User > and click Add and select the unzipped installer.app

* enter the IP address of your iphone, and enter the SSH password, "alpine" is the default.

* next comes the trick to getting it working on 1.1.4 firmware.

* open Terminal on your laptop.

* SSH into your iphone by typing (without quotes): "ssh root@192.168.1.2" (where 192.168.1.2 is your iphone's IP address)

* enter the password, default being "alpine" again.

* next type "chmod 777 /Applications"

* next type "chmod 777 /Applications/Installer.app"

* next type "chmod 777 /Applications/Installer.app/Installer"

* next type "cd /Applications"

* next type "chmod +s Installer.app/Installer"

* next type "chmod 4755 /Applications/Installer.app/Installer"

* next type "exit" and you're done in terminal!

* restart your iphone.

* you should now have a working installer.app on your home screen!

* two things you should install first with installer.app are:

* > Sources > Community Sources

* > System > BSD Subsystem

getting SMS caller ID to match up:

this was my first issue with the iphone.  the caller ID +61 numbers that vodafone network were receiving SMSs with wasn't matching my address book names.  so i had no idea who was sending me messages.

* to solve this, start installer.app on the iphone.

* click Sources from the bottom right.

* click Edit (top right)

* click Add: http://wpool.com/iphone

* then back under Install tab (bottom) head to > Localisation > Aus +61 number support.

And there you have it!  A fully functioning iphone for Optus, Telstra or Vodafone networks. :)

optional SMS backup software for your mac osx:

* syphone - SMS utility software to backup your messages on your laptop.

what doesn't work on my hacked iphone:

* visual voicemail.  no AUS network supports this yet.. have to wait for an official release.

only things that annoy me so far:

* the iphone alarm doesn't wake the phone from complete OFF state. my old K750i did, so iphone can.. fix it apple.

* iphone doesn't sync with bluephoneelite (which is a nice little app for typing SMSs on your laptop)

things i love about the iphone:

* SMS / phone / ipod / calendar / photos / video / weather / maps / world clocks / alarm features.  they all kick ass!  apple obviously spent a fair bit of time on these, and they're fantastic to use.  especially when you use everything on mac osx like Address Book / Calendar / Safari.. even your bookmarks / RSS feeds sync automatically with itunes!  AND if you don't like the way iphoto or itunes order your files, then you can sync manually!  hot.

* smartRSS app.  it's not official apple, but it's an amazing portable RSS reader.

* MIM app.  lets you set the carrier to your favourite name.. sighmon!

* Lockbox app.  lets you save secret stuff on your iphone.

* Sketches app.  lets you draw like an etch-a-sketch!!!  yeeeahhh.

* MobileScrobbler app.  links with your Last.fm account to scrobble all the music you play on your iphone!

* Stumbler app.  to find all the wireless hotspots so you can use the beautiful features on the iphone.

* Safari app.  THE MOST AMAZING mobile browser ever.  period.

* zooming / pinching / customisation.. the interface is just so smart.

i probably could go on ranting about it for ages.. but, well, i'll stop now.

hope this helps you with your iphone purchase or drooling session!

hugs!

sighmon.