The inevitable has finally happened – the iPhone Dev Team has worked their magic to jailbreak and unlock the iPhone 4. Today, iPhone Dev Team member @planetbeing posted a proof-of-life tweet showing his iPhone 4 running on Canada’s Bell network. It seems all the hard work on the part of the Dev Team has finally paid off with a working version of the Spirit jailbreak and ultrasn0w unlock for iPhone 4 and iOS 4. That’s the good news. The bad news, however, is that Johnny iPhoneuser will have to wait it out a bit longer for the powers that be to release the jailbreak and unlock utilities to the masses.
The video and images posted to @planetbeing’s Twitter profile proves that the newest Apple smartphone has been hacked to run on any GSM network in the world and is ready to get jiggy with the Cydia jailbreak app store. If the handle @planetbeing rings a bell, that’s probably because you remember this particular iPhone hacker from his exploits in porting Android OS to the iPhone. We’re glad he’s put his skills to more fruitful ventures and helping the iPhone Dev Team get the Spirit jailbreak and ultrasn0w unlock solutions working on the new iPhour.
So, why did it take the Dev Team so long to get free the iPhour from file-system and carrier lockdown? Well, turns out that iOS 4 is bundled with new baseband firmware that required a complete, ground-up rewrite of the ultrasn0w software. The baseband firmware is basically code that controls how your handset connects to cellular towers. Completely re-coding that kind of stuff takes time.
What does this mean for you, Johnny iPhoneuser? Well, Johnny, it means that we’re just one step away from being able to use the all glass-and-steel iPhone 4 on any GSM carrier in the world with third-party apps that will allow you to side-step the iTunes AppStore altogether. With the Cydia jailbreak app store, shown running on the iPhour below, you’ll be able to use apps that turn the Apple smartphone into a WiFi hotspot – all without having to pay AT&T for their optional tethering data plan. It also means you can stop harassing GeoHot for his jailbreak solution.
So, what’s the next step? Well, we’ll probably have to wait for Apple to push out an iOS update (iOS 4.1 or iOS 4.0.1) before the Dev Team releases their tools .
Here’s some video proof of the iPhone 4 carrier unlock in action:
Stay tuned!
[Via: Twitter]