Mods

It’s a sad state when normal consumer electronics are rendered as tools only meant to be handled by technicians when it comes to the most minute of Hardware upgrades such as changing the battery (but then again we’d be depriving people of money). Although you can pay to have the privilege of Apple gracing your iPhone with a new battery, those with a sense of danger (or have the misconception that their wallets are deeper than they really are) and actually have a scrap of knowledge of busting open small, delicate devices can indulge in a cheap battery replacement kit for the iPhone.

I can only think of a few good reasons why this would be a good idea for the same reason you dislike mango juice with your filet mignon. A word of caution to those insane enough to try this: your warranty will be violated and you must know how to use a solder gun and no they do not function like a stun gun. But for the curious, you can reference iFixit for a take apart guide and battery installation.

The battery itself… more...

As Apple users we slowly came to accept the fact that once Apple ditched the limited range of colors they so enthusiastically splashed onto their products for the few years after Steve Jobs returned that we’d be stuck with the colors white and brushed metal. It was by no means a bad thing but eventually it wears down on you like William Hung singing at your child’s birthday party, with loud speakers.

Eventually Apple decided to bring back the trend of not being color blind and gave us a few new colors but some ignorant prick thought that the different shades of grey and black were already overkill for a consumer device and deprived us of any joy or uniform color scheme. That is why one enterprising modder, KnightKrew, equipped himself with some sort of device priced out of the range of most consumers that automagically converts the normal substances of titanium and aluminum plus nitrogen to form a plasma that coats the iPhone. To blow away the scientifically inert such as myself, a high cost optical telescope was used to examine the surface of the iPhone revealing… more...

You’ve unpacked your iPhone and all you’re left with is a box and the usual junk instruction manuals, what do you do with the rest? Scot Hampton had the same question and took the opportunity to make a pin hole camera, from an iPhone box.

Dubbed the iHole, the cardboard camera uses common household parts and of course some film. Unfortunately there are no building instructions but you can find out more about the project from Scot’s Blog

Via: iPhone Alley

iPhone Atlas reports another Jailbreak method. This time from the iPhone Dev Team. Unlike the previously described method, this Jailbreak does not involve the use of the TIFF exploit, which is likely to be patched in a future update.

The process is said to be very detailed and tedious, but you’ll be on your way to running 3rd party apps in no time.

Steps include:

• Downgrading to 1.0.2
• Preparing the iPhone for a jailbroken update
• Performing a software update, leaving you with a jailbroken v1.1.1
• Forcing v1.1.1 to mount read-write so you can access it
• Installing SSH and BSD world
• Activating with a Non-AT&T SIM
• Patching SpringBoard to allow third-party applications
• Clean-up

Users should proceed at their own risk at this early stage.

Some people are panicking, trying to relock their iPhones before the update, and some of you just don’t care. If you don’t care, and haven’t tried unlocking your phone, there is a much easier way.

AnySIM 1.0.2 is the second release of its free software and available for download. This version promises a stress-free unlock process that, unlike the last version, provides a delightful experience (So I hear).

Since this version works out all the bugs, it is said to not have as many bricks. Good luck to you out there. I’d hate for a fellow iPhone owner to own a nice piece of decoration.

“I unlocked my iPhone, and I don’t want to be screwed when the next iPhone update comes. What do I do?” Good question.

When browsing forums, I have seen a few questions such as these. There is a solution--relock your iPhone!

TUAW posts a rough guide on how to relock your iPhone to avoid the possibility of a dead iPhone from the upcoming iPhone V 1.1.1 update.

To relock your iPhone, follow the directions that TUAW provides. This will provide a fully restored iPhone that should be indistinguishable. Of course, if you relock your iPhone, you will loose the ability to use a non-AT&T SIM card.

Last Monday, I told you about a nifty little application that changes the look and feel of your iPhone, called SummerBoard.

Yesterday, four new themes were released and are now available for download at installer.app. The four new themes include: Oren, Phiberglass, JrWallace, and two variations of Tiger.

I am not really impressed with purple, but the theme, Oren, really looks good on the iPhone in my opinion. The other themes look pretty good also. They are really simple themes, but sometimes the most simplistic app, is the best app. Not to mention, the app is free and we all love free!

So many people (including myself) have complained about the lack of GPS in the iPhone. As Hadley Stern mentioned in an earlier post, “The iPhone has an accelerometer, something or other that detects when you move the iPhone to your ear, yet no GPS?”

We all know how you feel Hadley… Yesterday, Gregory NG posted an article on what OSX App you would most like to see in the iPhone, and guess what number one was? GPS!

So with the high demand of GPS for the iPhone, it comes as no surprise that someone has figured out another solution. Yeah, it isn’t the real deal, but it is something until we get those rumored 3G, GPS enabled iPhones next year.

Using, what they call, peer to peer location detection, Navizon has released a faux GPS system for your iPhone, which I hear, actually works. If you check installer.app often, then you might have noticed this new app that appeared yesterday morning. After creating a username and password, it takes about 30 seconds to pinpoint your… more...

Are you tired of that same boring Apple motif on your iPhone? I’m getting there. I change my wallpaper a lot, but once I slide to unlock, I am back at that same black theme. There are a few ways to change that with some other apps that are out, and here is just one more that will allow you to change the background of your home screen.

This nifty app changes the look and the feel of the iPhone’s default launcher, with a choice of 4 themes. If you already use installer.app setup, all you have to do is select SummerBoard from the list of sources. After you install this app, you will be greeted with a new icon on your home screen. Tap that new icon and you are ready to change the look!

Although I have not tried this new application out yet, I love some of the themes. There are pictures on the website. Give them a look and see if you want to start using this neat, easy application today.

For a third time I’ll repeat it: the iPhone losing AT&T exclusivity was big, it was massive, it was probably more important than your aunt’s wedding. However you may need some schooling on what you can do with an unlocked iPhone.

First off you cannot inflict physical damage, attempt forced entry of a vehicle or use it to attract women outside your age group. Now that we have reinforced those silly problems it’s time to tackle the more serious, is unlocking the iPhone legal?

Yes and no, Nilay Patel, Engadget’s Copyright attorney sets it straight. If you want to unlock your iPhone for personal use with another carrier that’s perfectly fine. If you are aiming at selling that unlocked iPhone eying some profit then that is illegal it probably is illegal (depends).

To unlock the iPhone you can only modify certain parts of the firmware. It’s all a sticky mess and Nilay can explain it better than this Blogger can.

Read More: Engadget