Apple has confirmed that it will not be selling an unlocked version of the iPhone 5 in the U.S. at launch, reports The Verge.
We spoke with several Apple Store customer service representatives today, who informed us that US customers won't be able to sign up for the unlocked variant of Apple's new flagship phone when pre-orders start early tomorrow morning. The unlocked version also won't be available from either the US online or brick-and-mortar Apple Stores when the iPhone 5 launches on September 21st.
According to antenna expert and owner of website AntennaSys Spencer Webb, the iPhone 5’s increase in height and other changes in its design should improve signal reception. He wrote extensively about the antenna issues in the original iPhone 4.
According to a report from The Telegraph, Apple will likely discontinue the iPhone 3GS once it introduces the new iPhone at next week’s media event. The report also said that Apple will likely introduce an 8 GB iPhone 4S with a middle price point as it did with the iPhone 4 last year.
“The new update will mean that the 8GB version of the iPhone 4 will be the entry-level iPhone, probably given away free on £20 per month contracts, as the 3GS is currently”.
The Telegraph also notes that iPhone 5 will come in three different capacities, probably the same 64 GB/32 GB/16 GB line seen with the iPhone 4S.
Moving the iPhone 4 into the position that is currently occupied by the iPhone 3GS would allow more carriers to offer a free iPhone, because the iPhone 4 is sold in both CDMA and GSM versions while the iPhone 3GS is only offered in GSM version.
The iPhone 3GS would probably be most missed by customers who want to buy contract-free smartphones. Currently Apple sells contract-free, unlocked iPhone 3GS for $375 in the U.S. and at higher prices in other countries such as $455 in China. If the company elected to continue selling the device along with its three other iPhone models, it would have to cut the price even further.
Nitrous is a new tweak from Joe Jordan that unlocks the Nitro Javascript engine to give third party iPhone apps like Google Chrome, Twitter and others a speed boost.
The Nitro JavaScript engine is an advanced bytecode JavaScript engine that makes web browsing fast. It powers Safari on OS X and iOS. Unfortunately Nitro is only available to Apple apps such as Safari and iBooks. Nitrous tweak lets you grant this access to other apps.
The iPhone Dev-Team released RedSn0w 0.9.14b2 with improved algorithm for baseband downgrade from the iPad's 06.15 baseband to 05.13 on the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G. The 06.15 baseband was used by many users to unlock their device. Now it is possible to to get back true GPS and an ultrasn0w unlock.
The iPhone Dev-Team released RedSn0w 0.9.14b1 that can perform a baseband downgrade from the iPad's 06.15 baseband to 05.13 on the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G. The 06.15 baseband was used by many users to unlock their device. Now it is possible to to get back true GPS and an ultrasn0w unlock.
The iPhone Dev-Team will release the 06.15 baseband downgrade today, according to a tweet from MuscleNerd.
Sunday should be a Funday for those waiting for 06.15 BB downgrade! ("Sunday"==PDT, i.e UTC-7). Blog will have details before release
The 06.15 baseband is an iPad baseband that many iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS owners updated to in order to unlock their device. Now those users will be able to get true GPS and an ultrasn0w unlock.
the 06.15 downgrade allows both true GPS location services and ultrasn0w unlock (if it's still needed) to work
Here are our step-by-step tutorials that will guide you through all the process of untether jailbreaking iOS 5.1.1 with absinthe, redsn0wand sn0wbreeze:
Added 5.0.2/9B830 Apple TV 2 untether payload. (Thanks @planetbeing & @nitoTV)
Apple TV 2 users can now resize their root partition.
Sn0wbreeze can be used to create a custom firmware with jailbreak and preserve iPhone modem (baseband) version for unlock.
Sn0wbreeze 2.9.6 supports iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad 1, iPod Touch 3G, iPod Touch 4G and Apple TV 2G. It does not work with A5 devices, like iPad 2, iPad 3 and iPhone 4S.
Using this tutorial you will be able to untether jailbreak iOS 5.1.1 (5.0 9B206f and 5.0.2 9B830) running on Apple TV 2G. This tutorial uses Seas0nPass for Mac OS X or Windows.
UPDATE: Please, consider reading our Jailbreak & Unlock FAQ, especially if you have questions or troubles.
Step one
Make sure you're running the latest version of iTunes.
The iPhone Dev-Team has released updates to RedSn0w and PwnageTool that bring support for the iOS 5.1.1 untethered jailbreak.
RedSn0w 0.9.12b1 supports untethered iOS 5.1.1 jailbreak for all devices:
iPhone 3GS
iPhone 4
iPhone 4S
iPad 1
iPad 2
new iPad 3
iPod Touch 3G
iPod Touch 4G
PwnageTool 5.1.1 allows to create custom firmware and preserve modem version for unlock with ultrasn0w or Gevey. PwnageTool 5.1.1 supports all A4 devices:
iPhone 3GS
iPhone 4
iPad 1
iPod Touch 3G
iPod Touch 4G
Apple TV 2G
You can download RedSn0w 0.9.12b1 here and PwnageTool 5.1.1 here.
iOS 5.1.1 untethered jailbreak tutorial using Redsn0w is available here.
Using this tutorial you will be able to create a custom firmware, untether jailbreak and unlock iOS 5.1.1 running on iPhone 4. This tutorial uses Sn0wBreeze 2.9.5 for Windows.
Sn0wBreeze will also preserve baseband version if you need carrier unlock.
Just like version 2.9.4 the new 2.9.5 version supports untethered jailbreak of A4 devices on iOS 5.1.1. Sn0wbreeze can be used to create a custom firmware with jailbreak and preserve iPhone modem (baseband) version for unlock.
Sn0wbreeze 2.9.5 supports iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad 1, iPod Touch 3G, iPod Touch 4G and Apple TV 2G. It does not work with A5 devices, like iPad 2, iPad 3 and iPhone 4S.