While Dev-Team is waiting for iPhone 3.1 firmware to release its iPhone jailbreaking tool, geohot has released a tool ahead of them. As of this writing, the tool is available for Windows (not Windows 7). A Mac version is coming soon.

You need the latest iTunes installed on your computer. The download web site is purplera1n.com.  Click on the Windows logo to download purplera1n.exe . Run purplera1n.exe on your Windows computer to jailbreak your iPhone 3GS. After iPhone reboots, run Freeze on your iPhone.

I really like some of the jailbroken applications like PDANet and Cycorder. When Apple released iPhone 3.0 firmware last week, I thought I was going to wait for a while until the jailbreaking utilities are ready for the new firmware.

It took only a few days for the iPhone Dev team to publish the jailbreaking tools. The new recommended tool is now readsn0w. Note that it works with original iPhone, iPod Touch, iPod Touch 2G and iPhone 3G. It can jailbreak the supported devices, but it can only unlock the original iPhone, not iPhone 3G. If you have a locked iPhone 3G and you need to unlock it for other wireless carrier, you have to wait for a while.

Here is the link to the download page for redsn0w. The steps are really easy. You just need to use iTunes to upgrade firmware of your iPhone. Then, you can use redsn0w to jailbreak it. iClarifiled has tutorials for the procedures if you like to see some screenshots and the locations for the firmware download.

redsn0w Windows Tutorial

redsn0w Mac Tutorial

I tried it last Saturday and found the steps easy to follow. The only problem I had is to put the iPhone to DFU mode. You have to follow the instructions precisely. I suggest you read the tutorial several time before you attempt it.

After my iPhone was jailbroken, Cydia crashed several time when I tried it. After several tries, Cydia seemed to behave normally.

Apple has just released iTunes 8.2. In this release, Genius bar now does video. It also supports the soon to be released 3.0 firmware.

It might seem compelling to upgrade. However, if you have a jailbroken iPhone, you might want to postpone the upgrade. The iPhone Dev-Team has warned that this release breaks QuickPwn and PwnageTool. The iPhone Dev-Team has also stated that they are not going to release a new versions of jailbreaking tools until the 3.0 firmware is official.

Have you ever wanted a keyboard with numbers on the same screen for iPhone? I have. I still remembered how hard it is to enter a WEP password which has a lot of numbers mixed with letters. It took like forever to enter it.

Now with a program called 5-Row QWERTY Keyboard, you can enter numbers with ease. The program is available for jailbroken iPhone via Cydia.

Here is a screenshot of the keyboard. Notice the extra row of numbers on the top.

When you activate the shift key, the numbers turn to symbols just like the ones on the regular PC keyboard.

Press 123 and the keyboard turns to the rest of the symbols and the numbers pad.

This is what you get when you activate the shift key.

Note that the arrangement of the keys are just like the regular keyboard, so it’s easier for you to find the key you want to type. The only drawback for this keyboard is that the keys are smaller than the keys of the original keyboard. The keyboard is installed as an extra keyboard, so you can easily switch between the regular keyboard and this one.

One weak feature of iPhone is its camera. The photos you take with it are usually not very sharp. An application called ClearCam might just be the cure for this problem. It’s available for jailbroken iPhones through Cydia. The price is $9.99 for the full version. However, the function to create 4 MP pictures is included with the free version. The free version has no time limit, so you can use it as long as you want.

Once you have ClearCam installed. Tap the icon to invoke it. Tap the shoot button to take 6 shots of your subject. The shots are saved as a queue. For the free version, you can only have one queue at a time. Therefore, you have to process the queue first before you can use it again. Tap on the folder icon on the lower right corner to see the queue. Tap on the queue to bring up this screen.

The dots denotes the pictures in this queue. Note that there are 6 pictures before you process the queue. Tap on Align button on the upper right to align the pictures.

Now the pictures are ready to be enhanced. Tap on Enhance to generate the enhanced photo.

After about 30 seconds, the enhaced 4 MP photo is generated and it’s the last one in the photo queue. Tap on the Export button to save the photo to camera roll.

If you think the process is taking too long and you just want a sharper picture, just tap the Export button to jump to the sharpest picture and tap the button again to save the sharpest picture to camera roll without processing the whole queue.

Here is the picture taken by the default Camera app.

Here is the sharpest picture taken by ClearCam.

Here is the enhaced 4 MP picture generated by ClearCam.

Click on the thumbnails to see the full size photos. When you are done saving the pictures to the camera roll, don’t forget to delete the queue so you can use it again. Otherwise, you can just pay for the full version to have multiple queues enabled and use the quick shot function.

Overall, I think this is a fine application. Even with the free version, you can take sharper photos and 4 MP photos. Just another reason to jailbreak your iPhone.

The iPhone Dev-Team has finally published the software unlock for iPhone 3G: yellowsn0w (Note that it’s a zero in the word sn0w, not letter o). This is the original post. Earlier the team claimed the unlock is only for earlier version of the baseband, however this is not true for the actual unlock. This unlock applcation is only for iPhone firmware 2.2 with the lastest baseband firmware 0.2.28.00. The package is still in its beta, so proceed with cautions. Here are the steps to unlock you iPhone 3G.

1. Update iPhone Firmware

If your iPhone’s firmware is not up to date, you need to update it first. If you are not sure about your iPhone’s firmware vesion, tap on Settings -> General -> About. Version is your iPhone firmware vesion, it should be 2.2 (5G77). Modem Firmware is the baseband firmware version, it should be 02.28.00. Use iTunes to update your iPhone’s firmware.

2. Jailbreak iPhone

After your iPhone’s firmware has been updated successfully, use QuickPwn to jailbreak your iPhone. Here are two execllent tutorials if you don’t know how to do it.

Windows

Mac

3. Use Cydia to get yellowsn0w

Upon successfully jailbreaking your iPhone, you can see two extra applications on your home screen: Cydia and Installer. My personal preference is Cydia. By default, Cydia doesn’t have the repo for yellowsn0w, you have to add it manually.

• Tap on Cydia to invoke it.
• Tap on Manage on the lower right corner.
  
• Tap on Sources.
  
• Tap on Edit.
  
• Tap on Add.
  
• Enter http://apt9.yellowsn0w.com .
  
• Tap on Done on the top right corner.
• Tap on Changes on the lower left corner and then Refresh on the top left corner to refresh the list.

You should be able to see yellowsn0w package in the Sections -> All Packages. Just install it and turn off your iPhone and restart it and it should be unlocked.

I used to use FileZilla to transfer files between my iPhone and computer. It works well with smaller files. I was trying to copy some huge movie files from my computer to my iPhone and the estimated time is several hours! One reader has suggested a program called DiskAid, but I have not tried it yet. I think it’s a good idea to try it out.

The web site is here. Both Windows and Mac OS X versions are provided. You also need to install iTunes in order for the program to work.

Once installed, you can run it before you connect your iPhone to the computer. You cannot drag and drop files from Windows Explorer or Finder to it. Everything is done through the program. You cannot select multiple files at the same time, but you can select a folder. The transfer speed is fast compared to the file transfer via wireless connection.

For version 1.5, the default location on the iPhone is the /var/mobile/Media . If you want to access other location, use the selection box on the lower left corner to switch. Note that you have access to some of the system files now. Be careful about deleting files you are not familiar with, you might render your iPhone useless.