Firmware 3.1 Beta Brings New Features But Breaks Unlock *UPDATED*

Apple has seeded firmware 3.1 to developers and there is already info coming out on the new features. Of course, they have updated the baseband so if you want to unlock, don’t upgrade. Also, If you want to jailbreak, don’t upgrade. There is speculation that if you upgrade, you may never be able to jailbreak again. Here’s info from the Dev Team and then a list of new features.

You’ve seen us give this warning before, and there are only so many ways to say it or come up with a clever title But here it is: ultrasn0w users must stay away from any firmware updates past 3.0 (including today’s 3.1 beta) until we release the tools that let you update the firmware without updating the baseband. For most phones out there, baseband updates are irreversible and you’ll lose ultrasn0w.

The 3.0 jailbreak was one of those (rare) times where both the jailbreak and the unlock coincided (the only other time was 2.2). It’s important that people realize that *most* firmware releases aren’t like that, and you need to take steps (via the tools) to separate the firmware update from its included baseband update.

This warning does not apply to the iPhone 2G, which uses BootNeuter for the unlock, not ultrasn0w.

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List of Jailbroke App Compatibility with 3.0 Firmware

I’m sure some of you have already seen this but, BigBoss has started a nice little app compatiblity list. The list includes apps that are Not Working on the 3.0 firmware, apps that were recently updated and Working and apps that are Working. Below are a few things he has to say about the compatiblity of apps on the 3.0 firmware. Read more

New Poll - Did you upgrade to firmware 3.0?

Time for a new poll. The last poll was - Will you purchase the iPhone 3GS? Below are the results.

* Yep - It will be my first iPhone! (9.0%, 106 Votes)
* Yep - Upgrading from the 1st Generation iPhone. (16.0%, 191 Votes)
* Yep - Upgrading from the 2nd Generation iPhone. (24.0%, 289 Votes)
* Nope - Keeping my 1st Generation iPhone. (9.0%, 107 Votes)
* Nope - Keeping my 2nd Generation iPhone. (35.0%, 425 Votes)
* Nope - Sticking with my iPod Touch. (6.0%, 69 Votes)
* Nope - Still no iPhone. (3.0%, 37 Votes)

Total Voters: 1,224

Now that firmware 3.0 is finally available, did you upgrade? Read more

Firmware 3.0 Jailbreak and Unlock Specifics *Updated

Below is the basic information about how jailbreaking and unlocking will work on the 3.0 firmware for the 1st gen iPhone, the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS.

Important Note: Upgrading to firmware 3.0 will break your current jailbreak and unlock (see below for more specific information). Also, many of the current jailbroke applications do not work on firmware 3.0. Read more

Firmware 3.0 Now Available for Download

Apple has released the 3.0 firmware. Connect your iPhone or iPod Touch to iTunes and click update. We will have the direct download for you when we have them. The jailbreak should be released within a few hours. Unlock on Friday.

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iPhone Firmware 3.0 Release Times

A few websites are reporting this morning that Hong Kong sent a network-wide SMS notifying iPhone owners that OS 3.0 will be available on June 18th, 01:00 local time. That puts it at 10:00am Pacific, 12:00pm Central, 1:00pm Eastern. For other time zones, see this link.

Firmware 3.0 Preview: App Store

The App Store has had some minor changes with firmware 3.0 but the best one, I think, is the way screenshots are displayed. All you have to do is scroll down to the screenshots section and then just flick sideways to see more screenshots. Also, there is an additional option at the bottom of the app, the More tab. This is because another options screen has been added called Redeem. This used to be only in the iTunes app but now is in both. This way you can redeem promo codes for apps right in the App Store.

With the More tab, you can also tap edit in the top right and rearrange your tabs. If you have the Updates option under the More tab, it still shows a red numbered badge when you have updates. Read more

Apple’s New Icon Layout

I don’t know if you guys have noticed or not but, Apple seems to have rearranged the icons on the iPhone. The 3.0 firmware adds a Voice Memos application. Instead of adding the Voice Memos app at the end, they add it to the third row of apps and then rearrange the entire third row of apps. Previously it went Clock, Calculator, Notes and Settings now, they have it as Voice Memos, Notes, Clock, Calculator. Why in the world would they do that?? Why not just add the Voice Memos application to the end and leave the rest of the apps alone? Especially since they add the new Compass application to the end of the apps on the iPhone 3GS….they didn’t add it amongst the already exciting apps. Totally weird.

Personally, I’m totally going to have to rearrange them so that they are “normal.” I’m waaaay to used to it the way it is now…I would go to use the Calculator and open Notes instead. Read more

Firmware 3.0 Preview: Copy & Paste

One of the longest awaited features of the iPhone is copy and paste. It works really well but does not work in all apps as claimed by Apple in the most recent announcement at the WWDC 2009 Keynote. Just hold down your finger to get the magnifying glass and place the cursor where you want to copy. When you let go you’ll get the option to Select, Select All, and Paste. It’s really easy to highlight what you want to copy, just drag the beginning and end points around until the text you want is selected. And, if you want more text selected, like from a web page, just drag up or down until the highlighted area turns into a box. Then drag the whole box around what you want highlighted.

A very nice feature is the clipboard holds rich text and pictures. Depending on where you are pasting it, you can paste font color, size, pictures, etc. that is pulled from email or a website. There are many webpages that I’m not able to copy from and they are usually the ones specifically formatted for an iPhone. Not sure why this is but the copy feature doesn’t even show up. Read more

11 Page SpringBoard on Firmware 3.0

One feature of the 3.0 firmware that is pretty cool is that you can now have 11 pages of applications on your SpringBoard instead of the previous 9 pages (screenshot below). Which means you can now have 180 applications at your fingertips where previously you could only have 150. I know some of you probably use Categories so you do not use all 9 pages anyway but, for those people who are not jailbroke…it might be a nice feature of the new firmware. Though, I have found that the more apps I install the slower my iPhone gets but, I might be able to blame that on the jailbroke apps.

Thanks to aly for pointing this out!
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Firmware 3.0 - No Jailbreak Yet, Hold Off On Upgrading

BigBoss posted an article today stating that there is currently no jailbreak for firmware 3.0 (the real thing, not the betas). Yes, you can use the 3.0 b5 jailbreak tools but, it’s not advised. Below is what BigBoss has to say on the matter.

As for the rest of us who are not on firmware 3.0 yet, they will probably have it jailbroke before we even get it on June 17th. However, even if they do have it jailbroke by the release date, there is rumor that many of the jailbreak apps will not work on firmware 3.0. Doug says apps like WinterBoard, WeatherIcon, LiveClock, Cycorder do not work on firmware 3.0 b5. So, on June 17th, you might want to hold off on upgrading until we can figure out how everything works. We will keep you up-to-date. Read more

Demo Videos of New Features of iPhone 3G S and 3.0 Firmware

If you do not have time to watch the entire Guided Tour for the iPhone 3G S, you can watch short demo videos of just the features you are interested in (that is totally what I did). Below is a list of all the features that have short demo videos and the link to the demo video on Apple’s website. These include features of both the iPhone 3G S itself and the 3.0 firmware. Read more

Firmware 3.0 - New Features

I know that the 3.0 firmware is not new news, we heard all about it in March, but there were a few new features that were mentioned today.

Note: Not to be confused with the features that are exclusive to the iPhone 3G S itself and not the 3.0 firmware, you can check out the list of features for the iPhone 3G S HERE.

The 3.0 firmware will be released June 17th and will be free for all iPhone users. The upgrade will cost $9.95 for iPod Touch users. Read more

Firmware 3.0 Preview: Maps

So far, there are no changes to the Maps application for the iPhone. There are some other features that include maps that are new to the 3.0 Firmware though. First, developers can now integrate Google Maps into their application. This is part of the new developer APIs in the 3.0 Software Developer Kit. This should help with some sweet weather or real estate apps.

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Firmware 3.0 Preview: Stocks

First, the Stocks application gets a new icon. It’s not a total redesign, but they did take off the labels at the bottom of the graph in the icon. Also, the design of the line on the graph has more of a sharp line than curvy. Most of the app is still the same but there are some valuable new features. When tapping on the stock’s units on the right, in green or red, you now get a third option. Not only do you get the percentage and price change, but you get the Mkt Cap. Best of all, there’s a nice new landscape view. It’s a big, full screen graph like the small one in portrait view. Overall, a great update to a simple app from Apple. Read more

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