Definitive Designs

Dev Team has once again came through with their promises. Tonight, about 12 hours away from iPhone’s 3.0 software release they have demonstrated a working jailbreak and unlocking work-around. They have not released the applications to patch iPhone’s software yet because they don’t want Apple to fix it at the last minute before the official 3.0 release, but have promised that it will be out shortly after 3.0 is out. If you want more information, visit Dev Team’s blog website, but remember – jailbreaking and/or unlocking your phone voids the iPhone’s warranty.

The next iPhone is finally here! Apple has announced its third generation iPhone 3GS. The phone is available in black or white color as either 16GB or 32GB. The new version of iPhone 3.0 software will be included with the phone, adding such features as copy, paste, search across platform, MMS, horizontal keyboard layout for typing, push notification, tethering with your computer, turn by turn navigation, better language support and more. Safari with Java also gets a speed boost under OS 3.0 – up to 3x compared to the previous version. There is also a new feature called Find Me which is a service offered to MobileMe users which helps users track their lost or stolen iPhone over Google Maps. You can send a command to the phone which will cause it to emit a sound even if the phone has its sound turned off. Additionally you can send a wipe command to the phone which will erase contacts, and other personal data. In App Purchase allows you to buy content inside an App Store bought applications.

On the hardware side of things there are improvements to bluetooth and how it interacts with other software and hardware. The phone will have a faster processor and graphics, a higher resolution camera (3MP) with auto focus, 30fps video recording, voice controls, Nike+ support, 7.2Mbps HSDPA, a digital compass, increase of system RAM, encryption, better batery life (3G is 5 hours, while WiFi is 9 hours), and more. There will also be updates to iTunes which deal with parental controls, movies, tv shows, music and audio books. The pricing for the new phones is $199 for 16GB, and $299 for 32GB (both versions come in either black or white color) and it will be available on sale on June 19th. This price is available with a new two-year contract with AT&T. The current 8GB 3G will be lowered in price to $99. Official photos and information is available on Apple’s website.

Today Apple has demonstrated the upcoming iPhone 3.0 operating system. Coming this summer, the next version of the iPhone OS will have many new features which customers feel should have been available at the time of the phone’s release. Some of these new features will include the following:

-In-App Purchasing: Allows the sales of additional content from developers.
-Peer-To-Peer: Sharing of data.
-Third-Party Accessory Applications: Applications to interact with other hardware.
-Push Notification: Push badge, text, and audio alerts from servers instead of using background process.
-Cut, Copy and Paste: One of the most anticipated updates, this feature will allow users to cut, copy and paste text across entire platform.
-Landscape Keyboard: For easier typing, the users will be able to use the keyboard in a landscape mode.
-MMS: Picture messaging – another long-awaited feature for the iPhone.
-Voice Memos: Record voice, etc.
-Spotlight Search: System wide search available across the platform.
-A2DP Bluetooth: Support for stereo Bluetooth headsets.

The beta is available as of now for developers, and will be available some time in the summer to general public. The iPod Touch upgrade will cost $9.95, while the rest will be free of charge. The first generation iPhone will most likely not be able to take advantage of some features such as MMS and stereo Bluetooth due to architectural limitations. For more information visit the website that Apple has launched for the iPhone 3.0 OS.

Just several weeks after releasing the jailbreak for the iPhone 3G, the Dev Team is once again ready to unveil their next project – a jailbreak for 2nd generation iPod Touch. The software isn’t final yet, but it seems as if its release is just around the corner. Once again, stop by Dev Team’s blog for more information on when the application will be released.

Several web browsers have appeared in the AppStore starting last night. In the past Apple has not allowed the sale of such applications in their online store, but now it appears that they’ve lifted the ban. Some of these browsers include:

Edge Browser (Free)
Webmate: Tabbed Browser ($0.99)
Incognito ($1.99)
Shaking Web ($1.99)
Squeaky – The Clean Web Browser ($3.99)

This marks an important step in mobile browser design, because it opens up the possibility for release of mobile versions of such great browsers as Opera and FireFox.

Looks like the Dev Team delivered much more than it originally promised us in 2008. The team originally planned on releasing a SIM unlock for version 2.1 of the firmware which included an older version of the baseband, but after some last minute work they ended up releasing an unlock which works with the latest firmware 2.2 baseband, version 2.28.

For more information, head over to Dev Team’s blog website.