I’ve been curious to have an extended play with the iPhone since it was announced. But the high price and AT&T exclusivity were a real deterrent. However, when the price of the 4GB model got slashed last week to $299, and unlocking tools were on the horizon, I decided to take the plunge. Now, finally, after wasting $50 on some shady retailers, I’ve managed to unlock my iPhone using free tools and get it up and running using my existing T-Mobile USA SIM and account.
It’s taken me all damn morning, so I’m feeling fairly triumphant at this point. You can see photos of the process and result over at Flickr.
In case anybody else wants to go to the trouble, I’ll give a brief outline here for the steps I used on my Mac to get it going (sorry, users of Windows and other platforms, I’ve got no advice for you, but perhaps somebody can leave some in the comments):
1. Acquire iPhone
2. Activate the phone by whatever means you like (I used INdependence, which was very easy with nice instructions in the Readme file), and update the firmware to version 1.0.2. You’ll probably need to re-activate at this point.
3. Jailbreak it so you can install third-party apps (again, I used INdependence for this).
4. Get the iPhone Unlock app onto the iPhone. There are a variety of methods for this, I used the terminal to copy it over with scp, as I couldn’t get INdependence to do it for me.
5. Run the app and hit “start”, then wait 20 or more minutes (mine took 35 or so).
6. When it says it’s completed, shut off the iPhone and remove the AT&T SIM from the slot in the top.
7. Insert the SIM of your choice.
8. When you get the “Incorrect SIM” message, hit “Dismiss”, then activate the iPhone again (as I did with INdependence).
9. Enjoy the fruits of your labor, and feel smug because it didn’t take you 4+ hours, like it did me.
My initial impressions of the device and UI so far? It’s pretty, though I’m not sold on the UI (perhaps because I don’t really like touchscreens) just yet. I’ll have to play with it for a while and use it as an actual phone first. The Safari browser seems great so far, and the iPod functions are, as you’d expect, just fine.
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