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With Apple targeting the unlock iPhones by tightening the security on their firmware, owners of the unlock iPhone would most probably face the issue not being able to get their iPhone updated in the next firmware release. Thus, the guys from TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog) has gathered several resources across the net to present the following method to relock the iPhone. Here’s the excerpt from their site:

• (Take out your SIM from your iPhone.)–Still checking on this step.
• Download the 1.0.2 firmware to your computer and unzip it. It uses a .ipsw extension but your unzip program should still work. Change the extension if you have to.
• Extract the ramdisk as such: dd if=009-7698-4.dmg of=ramdisk.dmg bs=512 skip=4 conv=sync
• Mount the extracted ramdisk.
• From the ramdisk, copy /usr/local/bin/bbupdater, /usr/local/standalone/firmware/ICE03.14.08_G.eep, and /usr/local/standalone/firmware/ICE03.14.08_G.fls to your iPhone. Place these into a folder on the OS partition (such as /bbupdate) and not into a folder on /var/root. The /var/root partition is set noexec and you cannot run programs from there.
• Disable com.apple.CommCenter.plist–either using UIctl or launchctl: launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.CommCenter.plist
• On the iPhone, navigate to the folder where you stored bbupdater and the eep and fls files.
• Run bbupdater as such: ./bbupdater -f *.fls -e *.eep
• Reload comm center: launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.CommCenter.plist
• Reactivate with your favorite AT&T SIM. I personally like using iASign.

However, they’ve stressed that it’s of paramount importance that you wait for a while more for something more concrete as the above methods has its fair share of success and failure. If you’re wondering why should you even bother about the updates, here’s what Eric from TUAW says:

Q:”Do I have to update my iPhone when the next firmware is released?” — A:No. But then you’re kind of sticking your iPhone into a time warp. Everything else will change but not your iPhone. And I don’t see there being a parallel development effort on the part of hackers.

We wish the best of luck for the guys from TUAW to be able to come up with a solid method as soon as possible. via [TUAW]

Given the fact that iphone is selling like hot pancakes in the US, China came out with their OWN version of iphone.

 Lo and behold! Its called ‘Love Feng Mobile Phone’. It has a built in microSD slot and a 2 megapixel camera. It even runs on a microsoft platform.

Until now, the device only understands chinese is not available beyond China.

Well, if you really intend to get your hands on this phone, you better do it fast Steve Job decided to eradicate its production.(Due to copyright issues)

Found this interesting article from Crunch Gear and I took a excerpt from it. Before that, I’ll personally noticed that the comments from Nokia are a tag too ‘commercial’, as commented by another fellow blog at CG.

Here’s one part of the except,

Q: The iPhone, at less than half an inch thick, can be described as a ‘thin phone,’ but what comes after the thin phone? How much thinner can you go?

HELIO: FIN is the thinnest clamshell in the U.S., at 0.45 inches, and though it meets our three-hour talk time and one-day usage requirement, it probably doesn’t provide much battery life for heavy data users. The drawback is that as LCDs get larger and the device gets thinner you will basically run into a reliability issue where your phone will snap when you sit while the device is in your back pocket. Also, as we see heavier data usage, battery life will be very important; 17 to 20mm can probably support good battery life without making the device bulky.

MOTOROLA: We’re the inventors of thin, and although it is possible to go thinner, we’ve reached a point where consumers are comfortable with the size and thickness of their handset and, instead, they are demanding more and more functionality. This is where we see real opportunity-by offering handsets with new features, innovations, and supporting great applications/services.

NOKIA: We certainly have a number of thin phones, including the N76, which we are constantly working to refine and improve.

SAMSUNG: We think that we can get quite a bit thinner, provided the device remains durable and feels comfortable. That said, there are certainly limitations inherent in a slim design, which we are hard at work on.

Hmm, while I was pondering about the comments, I scroll back up to the top and check out on the guy who was representing Nokia. Then, I realize that he’s the vice president of sales, multimedia and content. Now I see where all that is coming from.

For full story, please head on down to Crunch Gear.

via [Crunch Gear]

Although iPhone sound system is not exactly rocking, this latest iPhone skin from the DecalGirl’s series can at least let it play the part.

The kit contains the the front and back of the skins and there’s a special download code to allow you to get a free matching background wallpaper as well. It’s just $6.99 USD per kit and don’t worry about the sticky issue if you plan to remove it as its stated that it will be goo-free.

[iPhone Skin via Technabob]

Two claims of unlocking Apple Inc.’s iPhone have surfaced in recent days and a third is set to be announced Saturday.

One blogger, George Hotz, on Friday posted a step-by-step method for unlocking the iPhone that involves both hardware and software modifications. His blog also includes photos of an iPhone he said is unlocked and shows T-Mobile USA Inc. as the service provider. At another site, iPhoneSimFree.com, a company claims it can unlock iPhones through software only. A screen image with an item about the company on Engadget.com also shows an iPhone displaying the T-Mobile name.

In addition, John McLaughlin, founder of Uniquephones, said his Belfast, U.K., company will be posting software on Saturday that iPhone users can download to unlock their handsets to work with any SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card on any network they choose. The software should hit the Web at www.iphoneunlocking.com between noon and 2 p.m. Eastern Time, he said.

The iPhone is based on GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication), the most widely used cellular technology, but today the hot phone is sold only in the U.S. and locked into AT&T Inc.’s network. Unlocking would allow iPhone owners to break the required two-year contract with AT&T and choose their own GSM carriers. More importantly, it would allow people outside the U.S. to own and use the highly prized device. With an unlocked GSM phone, it’s possible to change carriers by putting in a different SIM card.

Uniquephones’ McLaughlin said 450,000 users already had signed up at iphoneunlocking.com, which the company set up soon after the iPhone was released for people interested in having their iPhones unlocked. The Web site was not active at the time this story was written, but should be reactivated Saturday with options for users to access the unlocking software, he said.

McLaughlin plans to charge between US$25 and $50 for the software, but users who had already signed up will have access to the code at either a 25 percent or 50 percent discount. Uniquephones will let people anywhere in the world download the software. The company already unlocks phones from many manufacturers, including Nokia Corp. and Motorola Inc.

There were about eight locks that Uniquephones engineers had to break in the iPhone software to come up with the code that will unlock the phones, and engineers in several countries had been working around the clock since the phone’s release to do so. McLaughlin declined to go into great detail but said one of the most difficult locks to break was contained in the handset’s electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM). There also was a lock in the handset’s permanent phone memory (PPM) as well as other places in the iPhone’s software. In the end, it was an engineer in Russia who came up with the software for unlocking the phone, McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin claims he is using his iPhone on the Vodafone Group PLC network in the U.K. He added that both Vodafone’s network and T-Mobile U.K. Ltd. network allow iPhone users to download data faster on their iPhones than AT&T Wireless’s network does.

Although almost 100 percent of the iPhone’s features work even when the handset is unlocked and using another carrier’s SIM card, the Visual Voicemail feature will only work on AT&T’s network because of the way the feature is designed, McLaughlin said. Visual Voicemail lets users easily view the messages that have been left for them.

The iPhone has been a hot target for unlocking since its June 29 launch, both because of its advanced design and features and because AT&T has an unusual long-term exclusive relationship with Apple. It’s common for U.S. mobile operators to lock the phones they sell, but in some cases they will later unlock the phones free or for a small fee.

On its site, iPhoneSimFree.com says it will start selling individual per-unit licenses for its unlocking software starting next week. The company will also accept inquiries for bulk purchases of 500 or more licenses.

Hotz, who wrote that he is soon heading off to college, isn’t offering to sell his technique but is auctioning in ebay what he claims is the world’s second unlocked iPhone.

Stephen Lawson is senior U.S. correspondent for the IDG News Service.

Elizabeth Montalbano is a senior writer for the IDG News Service.