Filed under: iPod Family, Hacks
iPod touch: state of the jailbreak
Gallery: GRestore
The iPod touch jailbreak attempts continue but there's little progress and less to report. Martyn, one of the hackers, has disassembled his touch and has attempted to read the chips directly. This hasn't been a huge success. I have been using iPhuc's grestore mode and my digital camera's video to try to see if we can learn more about the vocabulary the touch uses to communicate with iTunes. You can view my extremely blurry pictures in the attached gallery.
Does the touch indicates the future of the iPhone? The news looks bleaker by the day.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
mycintosh said 6:20PM on 9-20-2007
I was really hoping, that we could extract the Dictionarys or even the Keyboard so we can improve exixting Language Packs for the iPhone outside of the US. Although there are quite a lot available (in my Case i offer the German Language Pack) its still not perfect without the auto-completion dictionary. Do you think you will get to it some time?
Greets from Switzerland!
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Jacob said 6:22PM on 9-20-2007
hmmmm i'm on IRC all day long with you guys.......but what is that code running on your touch??!?!?!?!?!?
no info of that on IRc.. . . . . . .
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Nate said 6:37PM on 9-20-2007
If this is an indication of what the iPhone Software 1.1.1, I will be seriously pissed. I've been very understanding of Apple when it comes to ringtones and stuff. But come on! Please, please...
I'm kinda hoping that the reason 1.1.1 is delayed is because they're having second thoughts on locking it in like the iPod touch. Maybe they're realizing how huge the uproar would be...
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yacoub said 6:42PM on 9-20-2007
If you connect the right contacts on the chips, making a circuit, does it decrypt sensitive government online documents?
(ala Sneakers)
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potato said 6:42PM on 9-20-2007
I've been an Apple fan for a long time, and even I am hella pissed at them. Third party support should have been allowed on the iPhone to begin with - this hurts nobody but Apple.
Apple has gone from the underdog giving consumers the products they want, to the monopolist leveraging every position they can to screw the consumer.
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TjL said 6:48PM on 9-20-2007
I'd bet my $100 iPhone rebate that the 1.1.1 iPhone firmware attempts to lock things down every bit as much as the iPod Touch.
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jus10 said 6:58PM on 9-20-2007
Folks, please remember to voice your displeasure with the current situation directly to apple (produce feedback forms on the website). I'm not purchasing a touch or iphone until there is 3rd party support.
Apple's present course has me questioning if my second mac might end up being a Dell instead.
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Stephen Lang said 7:04PM on 9-20-2007
I love using Contacts to type down little notes, it's not a kludge at all!
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Brettt said 7:07PM on 9-20-2007
Am I in the minority when I say that I'm not worried?
I plan to never update the iphone. There's nothing wrong with it, and I guarantee that the updates on Installer.app that appear in one day are greater than whatever patch apple will bring. It doesn't even feel like a loss to not be able to update, since the Installer.app updates are far cooler. There's GPS now, who cares about double-tapping the homescreen? I'm sure someone could write an app to do this anyway.
All I'm waiting for is the ability to download straight to the phone, whether it be a safari add-on or a separate app.
Apple's not touching my phone now, and even if they did, we could always find a way to downgrade the firmware.
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gonzo66 said 7:17PM on 9-20-2007
I second that, I'm NEVER updating my iphone's software unless i know it's safe. i don't really need the itunes store in my ihpone, i can even live without tv out. i'm seeing this might turn into a battle ala PSP.
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rp said 7:22PM on 9-20-2007
I'm in 110% agreement with jus10. You know what I have to say? This is not the company that I used to know, and it's starting to piss me off. What happened to the pirate flag and making fun of corporate stiffs at IBM?
I'm gonna keep spamming the fuck out of their feedback system until they take notice. I'm not going to put up with inferior products and closed systems, end of story. Apple had better listen to it's core users; we got them to where they are right now. If I hadn't bought that 6100/66 back in the day and converted several people who were somewhat skeptical about Macs, there wouldn't have even been an iPod because Apple would be belly up. Apple had better listen, or they're going back to mid 1990 status soon.
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Jeedee said 7:30PM on 9-20-2007
I don't think we should worry too much. If it is really impossible to hack the iPhone after the upcoming update, someone will patch the update and remove the part of the code that's locking us out and we'll just use the modded update to keep our "hacked iPhone" working with the latest "official" version features and fixes.
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CMara said 7:38PM on 9-20-2007
Like I posted earlier, I sort of understand why they want to control the iphone what I don't understand is why they would want to control the itouch to the extent that they seem to have done. Keeping the iphone controlled means a lot of $$$ for Apple plus they're in a partnership with AT&T. But the itouch is end to end an Apple experience. The competition is out there. Steve Jobs saying "Our stuff is better" doesn't cut it. "Good Enough" mens that consumers will be able to get a itouch like device for a lot less and it will do more. It's not the OSX on in the iTouch it's the touch interface that people like....that can be copied and has to a point already. This interface with hand=helds is the future. If consumers can't get more than what Apple offers them they'll go elsewhere.
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Reg Muffet said 7:40PM on 9-20-2007
@Brettt,
Good point.
Installer.app updates vs. Apple.com updates. Unless Apple can offer something very enticing (and the WiFi store isn't enough for me), then staying on v1.0.2 is certainly viable.
It would be ironic if Apple's lockdown efforts were to cause a "fork" in the installed firmware base.
I hope they don't. It really wouldn't be good for the ecosystem. Apple should cherish its influencer users.
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jojohnst said 7:42PM on 9-20-2007
This is an excellent article about apple's new policies: http://wilshipley.com/blog/2007/09/iphone-ipod-contain-or-disengage.html
I do think that if we got organized we coudld persuade apple to reconsider their path here. I'm waiting on an itouch till i know i can port mail, add events in cal and put on a third party ebook app. it is difficult to buy something so crippled, especially when its potential is so obvious. why all the black space on the home screen if not going to let it be filled with new, innovative, silly, weird and helpful apps? We send out a link for a single apple feedback site to speak our minds.
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nick said 7:44PM on 9-20-2007
This sucks... its like the PSP home-brew scene all over again... In the end i gave up and sold my psp, i hope apple wakes up.
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Stephen Lang said 8:08PM on 9-20-2007
I wish Neo or Trinity were here, I bet they could hack the Touch, right?
Thanks for the updates!
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matt said 8:22PM on 9-20-2007
Intercepting the communications between iTunes and the iPod could help.
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Paul said 10:21PM on 9-20-2007
Some have speculated that Apple will break current unlocks with an update. Does anyone know, isn't this illegal? I thought cell phone providers were supposed to enable their customers to be able to unlock their phones (in the event of a change of service, etc).
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Paul said 10:28PM on 9-20-2007
Also, who are the idiots who are signing up on contracts with the iPhone. I hear a lot of people talking about it sucking to be stuck on a 2 year contract with AT&T. But I've noticed that there is no advantage to signing up for a 2 year contract, no discount on the iPhone. Wouldn't it make more sense just to sign up on a month to month and buy the iPhone outright and be able to cancel anytime?
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