UPDATE: Please, consider reading our Jailbreak & Unlock FAQ, especially if you have questions or troubles.
This is a step-by-step tutorial. If you have iPhone 3G this guide will help you jailbreak and activate the device. For iPhone 2G it will also perform the unlock.
I recommend using 2.2 firmware, because iPhone 3G unlock is avaliable now. But you can use it with old v2.1, v2.0.1 and v2.0.2.
Sn0wBreeze 2.9.6(pwnagetool for windows, supports untethered jailbreak of iOS 5.1.1 for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 3G, iPod Touch 4G, iPad and Apple TV 2G)
Sn0wBreeze 2.9.3(pwnagetool for windows, supports tethered jailbreak of iOS 5.1 for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 3G, iPod Touch 4G, iPad; untethered for iPhone 3GS with old bootrom; untethered for iOS 5.0.1, iOS 4, iOS 3 supports Apple TV 2G)
Sn0wBreeze 2.8b11(pwnagetool for windows, supports iOS 5, iOS 5.0.1, tethered jailbreak for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 3G, iPod Touch 4G, iPad, Apple TV 2G; untethered for iPhone 3GS with old bootrom)
Current version is ultrasn0w 1.2.3, download in Cydia (unlock for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, firmwares 3.0-4.3.3; it supports basebands 01.59.00, 04.26.08, 05.11.07, 05.12.01, 05.13.04, 06.15.00)
This video is from Vladivostok, a big city in the east part of Russia. It is October 3rd there already. In Moscow and St.-Petersburg the sales will start in about 3.5 hours.
Update: the price was 33000 RUB, which is $1278 for an unlocked 16Gb iPhone.
Firmware 2.2 beta 1 appeared just a day ago. It seems that DevTeam never sleeps They published a screenshot of jailbreaked iPhone 2G with this new firmware:
It runs Terminal.app (non-apple application) running on 2.2b1 firmware. Thay say that version 2.2 is still vulnerable to pwnage and quickpwn on everything but iPod Touch 2G.
No news about software unlock for iPhone 3G or jailbreak for iPod Touch 2G.
Apple is now selling its iPhone 3G unlocked via its on-line Apple Store in Hong Kong. The 8GB model is HK$5,500 (about US$694) and 16GB is HK$6,200 (about $797). It is available since July 11th with a local Hutchison Telecommunications contract, but this is the first time that Apple has sold its device unlocked in Hong Kong.
"iPhone 3G purchased at the Apple Online Store can be activated with any wireless carrier. Simply insert the SIM from your current phone into iPhone 3G and connect to iTunes 8 to complete activation."
Unfortunately for the 1 billion mainland Chinese, the terms and conditions limit sales to those in Hong Kong only.. But the gray market usually doesn't care about t&c's.
According to the South China Morning Post, the carrier wants Apple to supply a custom version of the iPhone which disables both W-CDMA (3G) and Wi-Fi. China Mobile doesn't yet have a 3G network in place and is afraid that customers will buy the iPhone and unlock it for use on more capable networks. This explains the lock-out for 3G, but killing the Wi-Fi is just spiteful.
Given that Apple ships an identical iPhone to every other world market, it's doubtful that China Mobile will get its way. But then, no other world market has a potential customer base of two billion people. If these functions are disabled, it will most likely be done in software.
There are so many tools, some for Mac OS, others for Windows, different versions... Complicated. So let's summerize a little bit.
If you have iPhone 3G, you'll be able to install 3-rd party non AppStore applications (through separate applications called Cydia and Installer) and run these applications. If you have old iPhone, in addition to that you'll be able to unlock the device (use with any carrier).
There are two methods: quickpwn and custom firmware method. First one is for quikly pwning and jailbreaking the device without restore. You should use it if you have unlocked device or an AT&T contract.
If you are Windows user:
Go for WinPwn. The current version is 2.5.0.2 (also called 2.5 beta-2). Download here. It supports both iPhone and iPhone 3G, firmwares 2.0, 2.0.1, 2.0.2. You can use either quickpwn or custom firmware method.
There is a separate QuickPwn tool for Windows. The current version is RC3. Download here. Do you need it? Yes, if you want to quick pwn and you do not like WinPwn (or you had problems with it).
If you're using Mac OS:
Go for PwnageTool. The current version is 2.0.3.1. Download here. Works with 2.0, 2.0.1, 2.0.2 firmwares using custom-firmware method.
There is a version of QuickPwn tool for MAC OS. The current version is 1.0.0. Download here. It works only with firmware 2.0.2. Do you need it? Yes, if you want to quick pwn.
QuickPwn is not a replacement for PwnageTool, they are different tools and provide different features, QuickPwn is for quickly pwning a device, whereas PwnageTool is designed to custom build and tailor the ipsw production process, both tools will be actively developed in the future.
Recently a new project has been started, called XiPhone. It will be based on XPWN. So functionality similar to WinPwn and Pwnage will be present (jailbreak, unlock, etc). In addition to that developers plan to include:
Auto downloading of stock firmware files from apple’s site (no need to hunt for it then select it)
Wizard based modern GUI (created with .net 2.0), and Vista Style UI.
Export of firmware settings so users can pass around an XML file which contains a configuration that works for them.
Auto updates to the XiPhone software.
Community based wallpapers used for Bootscreen, Restore screen and others
Enabling / Disabling of options available based on the device you select.
Unfortunately, only Windows platform users will be able to use XiPhone.
QuickPwn for Windows is updated. Support for all 2.x firmwares is added. So now you can QuickPwn and jailbreak the device if it is running 2.0, 2.0.1 or 2.0.2.
DevTeam reminds that it is still beta software, so usual rules apply, no complaints if anything goes wrong and use the tool at at your own risk!
Using QuickPwn does not update the firmware itself, this tool is designed to ‘Pwn’ (the ability to install future custom non-Apple firmwares) , ‘Jailbreak’ and install Installer and/or Cydia on a given device. If your device is running 2.0.1 and you QuickPwn it, it’ll still be running 2.0.1, although it will now be Pwned and Jailbroken. It will also activate (not unlock) devices that are being used outside of their intended territories and cannot be activated using iTunes.
If you want to update to 2.0.2 then use the normal iTunes update to get to 2.0.2 and then use QuickPwn to Pwn, Jailbreak and Activate, remember that the 2.0.2 update includes a baseband update for the 3G iPhone, so depending what your long term intentions are for the phone, update wisely, of course in the upcoming PwnageTool application you’ll be able to create a custom ipsw without the baseband update enabled.