Clever S60 programming nerd over at the Symbian Freak forums have cooked up an app called ROMPatcher which is able to modify the ROM containing the operating system itslef - allowing fundamental changes and interesting tweaks to be made in the way your phone works.
The app uses a technique where a cpy of the ROM is made in the phone’s memory, then modified (’Patched’). The phone then uses the modified version of the ROM - leaving the original untouched and nice and safe, so you can roll back to the pre-patched ROM the next time you restart your phone.
Already, there are a number of patches available including one that enables several hidden menu options on the S60 interface and another that bypasses the Symbian app security - allowing users to run unsigned apps.
It should go without saying that this kind of hack is strictly for advanced users and please, PLEASE take a backup of your data before you go and play around.
If you give this a try, why not let us know how you get on? Are we entering a bold new era of S60 tweakage, or just bricking a load of perfectly good phones?
In a surprisingly brutal move, Apple has issued a frank warning to owners of unlocked iPhone, telling them that their handset is unlikely to survive the imminent firmware update (to version 1.1.1).
Mac site TUAW has already posted a re-lock procedure (still to be verified) for those seeking to reverse the unlocking process before Apple’s mighty boot descends upon their iPhone. Of course, you could always leave the handset unlocked, but that would, in another way, leave it ‘locked’ in time, stuck at firmware 1.0.2.
It’s actually quite prescient of Apple to make this announcement; whether true or not that the unlocking and new firmware will clash, the company has probably saved everyone a lot of upset when the update is released in the near-future.
(Via MacRumors)
Respected tech site ArsTechnica has run a story claiming that Apple’s upcoming iPhone firmware update may kill — stone dead — any unlocked iPhones.
Some of the inspiration for the story seems to be Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ comments at the UK iPhone launch. When asked about various attempts to network unlock the iPhone, Jobs is reported as saying, “It’s a constant cat and mouse game. We try to stay ahead. People will try to break in, and it’s our job to stop them breaking in.”
Now, call us glass-half-full kinda people, but extrapolating that into Apple irreversibly killing iPhones with a firmware update seems a tad paranoid.
We’re guessing Apple’s gurus are working overtime to undo the good work of the iPhone Dev Team. The former seemingly has iPhone firmware update 1.1.1 on the way (above right; not much detail to talk about, other than a new ‘Home Button’ option), while the latter has just released the user-friendly version of its iUnlock network unlocking software, anySIM. We can see this battle running for quite some time…
(Via Engadget and MacRumors)
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