Hasta La Gadget!

The Library of Congress made it legal, MuscleNerd showed us it was a go, and now Comex and company have delivered the long-awaited jailbreak to the fourth rendition of iPhone. According to their new page JailbreakMe, the hack works right on the iPhone 4 (or 3GS, or 3G, or iPad, or…) itself, using via the handset’s Safari browser to reportedly break into most any iOS device. The servers are getting slammed pretty badly, and only a few Engadget editors have so much as seen the page pictured above so far, but rest assured we’re testing this as we speak and will have more details up soon.

Update: Sorry folks, we’ve tried repeatedly, but apparently the servers just can’t handle the load — Comex tweets that the purple screens we’re seeing are evidence of server fail. Here’s hoping for a Cydia celebration when the stampede is over.

Update 2: Comex says you might want to reboot if you got stuck staring at that purple screen, and you could also try their backup server (click our second source link) to help the Dev Team divide the load.

Update 3: We successfully got the jailbreak to start working, but it crashed Safari. Upon reboot of our phone we’ve got… nothing but the Apple logo. Take note, this can brick your phone, so proceed with caution! Video of the experience after the break. After a reset, our phone is giving us nothing but the Apple logo. (Update to the update, the phone has been restored).

Update 4: Our intern Sam has successfully jailbroken his iPhone 4 according to this pic, so it can be done!

Update 5: Comex reports that iPads running iOS 3.2.1 aren’t presently working properly, and that MMS problems after jailbreak are a known issue.

Update 6: Good news? Saurik (of Cydia fame) has pitched in to secure JailbreakMe some better hosting. Bad news? Reports indicate that FaceTime doesn’t work after jailbreak, either.

Update 7: Seven updates? You bet, because it’s looking like there’s already a fix for the missing FaceTime and MMS features. Head on over to Redmond Pie (in more coverage below) for instructions to install the Cydia package that brought video chat back to two of our iPhone 4 handsets. If you’re just downloading JailbreakMe for the first time though, you shouldn’t need to do a thing, as Comex claims both have been fixed in a new version of the hack that just went live.

Continue reading Official: iPhone 4 jailbreak hits from iPhone Dev Team (updated with video)

Official: iPhone 4 jailbreak hits from iPhone Dev Team (updated with video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Aug 2010 17:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The iPhone 4 may be launching on all the major Canadian carriers tomorrow, but we’re only just now starting to get the actual details on what they’ll be offering. Rogers is the first out of the gate and, for a change, it looks like folks in the US may just be a tad jealous of their northern neighbors. It’s not only offering the iPhone 4 for a further discounted price — $159 for the 16GB and $269 for the 32GB on a three-year contract (for both new and existing customers eligible for a hardware upgrade) — but it’s bringing back its 6GB data plan for $30 a month as well. On top of that, Rogers is also offering a new iPad sharing plan that will let you share those 6GB between the two devices for an extra $20 a month. Still no official word from the other carriers, but MobileSyrup has turned up a leak that suggests Bell will be offering 6GB for $30 as well, and iPad sharing for just $10 a month — although that’s yet to be confirmed. We’ll keep you posted as more plans are announced.

Update: Bell just flipped the switch, and their numbers are largely the same with one notable exception — iPad data sharing is an additional $10 a month instead of $20, just as had been rumored. Thanks, everyone!

Canadian iPhone 4 launch details emerge: Rogers offers 6GB for $30, iPad sharing for $20 (update: Bell’s iPad deal cheaper) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well this is getting good. Motorola was one of the first to take a subtle swipe at Apple’s iPhone 4 antenna dilemma with an ad saying you could hold the Droid X “any way you like,” Apple came right back with a video purportedly showing the Droid X suffering similar attenuation issues when held in the right hand, and now Moto’s responded with this cheeky ad that plays off Apple’s free iPhone case solution by saying the Droid X can make calls “without a bulky phone jacket.” Yeah, it’s pretty good — particularly because unlike most other phones, we haven’t been able to death grip the Droid X with any noticeable effect on 3G reception. (Although, truth be told, we can drop the WiFi signal by a few bars pretty easily.) Either way, we’re certainly enjoying this little slice of swagger from Moto — check a larger version after the break.

Continue reading Motorola takes another shot at the iPhone 4, says Droid X is ‘no jacket required’

Motorola takes another shot at the iPhone 4, says Droid X is ‘no jacket required’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, we in the US are pretty much stuck with AT&T when it comes to iPhone 4 indulgence, but Canada gets to pick — for a price. We knew the of the option up north but not how much, and according to CBC News, that’ll be $659 for 16GB, $779 for 32GB, and $549 for the 8GB iPhone 3GS. All Canadian dollars, of course — the US conversion would be about $637 / $753 / $530, respectively. Carriers are still offering it up for a discount on contract, and to be perfectly honest, we think that’s probably the route most people will take anyway. All the same, gotta love having a choice.

iPhone 4 for Canada gets unlocked price: freedom is far from free originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Beyond an opportunity for a lucky few to visit the surreal and sophisticated wireless testing labs buried deep within the Apple campus, the Steve Jobs “Antennagate” press conference had few surprises in terms of using a tool at Apple’s disposal — its own Bumpers (augmented by those of third parties) — to address a vulnerability of the iPhone 4 antenna design. The difference between the iPhone 4 and other devices is the clear marking of the spot at which physical contact causes the signal to degrade. Optimists could consider this a visual reminder to avoid contact while pessimists could see a constant reminder of imperfection. Regardless, at its press conference, Apple added – and continues to add — visual verification of its assertion that multiple handsets (or at least smartphones) can fall victim to a strategic grasp.

Beyond that, the only muted revelation of the day was that AT&T is reporting that the iPhone 4 is monitoring dropped calls on the iPhone 4 at a rate ever so slightly above that of the 3GS. However, the 3GS did not have a reputation for being particularly tenacious at holding on to a call. Indeed, were it not for all the heat the previous iPhone took at AT&T, perhaps Apple would not have had to push for so radical an antenna redesign. Therefore, it would have been interesting to know how the iPhone 4 compared to the AT&T smartphone average (skewed as it is to iPhones anyway), especially given the earlier Apple demonstration of how other smartphones can suffer from attenuation.

Continue reading Switched On: Of guiltlessness and giveaways

Switched On: Of guiltlessness and giveaways originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Jul 2010 19:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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