Merry Christmas from the iPhone Devteam and the Chronic devteam it would seem! After Pod2g sent them his jailbreak, they have put it into redsn0w 0.9.10 and PwnageTool, and the chronic devteam put it into a Cydia package (the same set of exploits is in all three).

This is for Non A5 devices only, so you must be on a iPhone3GS, iPhone4, iPhone4-CDMA, iPad1, iPod touch 3G, iPod touch 4G, running iOS 5.0.1.

Download RedSnow 0.9.10b1 on Mac or Windows (run as administrator).

As mentioned earlier, @pod2g has spent months working on all the exploits and tricks in this untether, and many of you may be wondering how you can send donations.  Although the iPhone devteam itself doesn’t take donations, we thought it was appropriate to provide a link at the end of the redsn0w run for you to more easily donate directly to @pod2g if you wish (alternatively, you can go right here).  There’s a link in the Cydia package for donating to the chronic devteam for the Cydia version of @pod2g’s untether.

@pod2g is now looking for a way to extend this to A5 devices.  Because those devices cannot use geohot’s limera1n exploit to inject the untether, they require exploits above and beyond those used for this release.  Keep following pod2g on twitter or his blog for any progress reports!

Well done, Pod2G!

Apples new iPhone 4S is capable to reach double the speed of the iPhone 4 (which tops out at 14.4Mbps, up from the iPhone 4′s 7.2Mbps) thanks to it’s dual antenna system, yet isn’t 4G because it’s not actually using 4G connectivity.

However, that hasn’t stopped AT&T who, according to a leaked memo, are asking Apple to show the network indicator as 4G, even though it isn’t 4G, just because it can reach that speed. iPhone 4S is an HSPA+ device, but is not a 4G phone precisely.

According to ThisIsMyNext, who got in contact with AT&T, AT&T confirms that the companies are indeed “working together” on it, emphasizing that “customers will get 4G speeds from day one” regardless.

Yes, AT&T, customers can get the same speed as 4G devices, however the iPhone 4S is *NOT* a 4G device as it does not run on LTE. The reason it is getting that speed is because it’s using two antennas to connect via 3G, thus doubling the 3G speed. Whether you can actually download at double the speed is yet to be checked on all networks.

If Apple were to do this, an iOS update would need to come out to change this.

Surely, AT&T are just taking the biscuit right? I mean… All I can see come out of this is that AT&T can turn around and say iPhone 4S works on their 4G network, even though it only connects via 3G. So only AT&T can get good out of this, by showing off their network (which isn’t even ready yet) working at these speeds.

*sigh*

China Unicom’s Deputy Director of Research has confirmed an iPhone 5 with HSPA+  capabilities (21Mbps) during a keynote at Macworld Asia 2011. The image above is from the presentation via PC Watch.

With rumors before that Apple have been testing LTE with iPhones, and AT&T rolling out HSPA+ already. Could this be the icing on the cake for the iPhone 5? Analysts didn’t expect it until 2012…

What do you think? Roll on Tuesday!

With the announcement that Apple is expected to hold a media event on the 4th of October, there are reports that Apple are also to update the iPod Touch with a white version with minor improvements alongside the new iPhone hardware.

“MacRumors has received information indicating that the next iPod touch revision will be a very minor change, with the primary addition being the introduction of a new white model. Only minor changes are expected for the existing hardware, with the addition of an oleophobic coating for the display and a revised ambient light sensor seemingly being the main differences. Otherwise, we expect the models to be nearly identical to the current fourth-generation iPod touch model.”

You may remember earlier this year, Apple had posted images of an iPod Touch showing a 3G signal on its website by mistake. Could this include that update? There were reports that Apple would introduce a 3G version for the pre-paid market…

I’m not entirely convinced. The image above shows what it could look like but obviously the button would be white too. Someone simply just placed the new look front on top of a current black version. But it kind of also looks like its just a cut out piece of paper with the plastic film placed on top to make it shiny  (hence the tab at the top). But hey…

We will see.

Reports have surfaced today that Apple Carrier Partners are testing out 4G LTE iPhones.

BGR today have obtained evidence for one of these carriers of an internal iOS build which contains a .plist file for LTE.

This report is not saying that the Next Gen iPhone (IPhone 5 / 4S) will have the LTE modem or that all of Apple’s device to be released will support LTE, but it does mean that Apple is testing it out and making sure that when they do implement it the battery will last for a workers day.

[Source]

Now, after the full story has been released, the bottom line is simple: This device is real.

While the outer shell may not be the same come shipping time in June/July, all of the internals have been investigated as well. With that being said, let’s jump into the actual story.

HOW IT WAS OBTAINED

This story starts in a place called “The Gourmet Haus Staudt”, a German ale house where software engineer Gray Powell frequents. Let’s meet the man who really ‘let the dogs out’.

Mr. Gray Powell is a graduate of North Carolina State University who according to Gizmodo.com is also a talented amateur photographer. Here, he can be seen enjoying one of those fine ale’s:

His specific job at Apple is to work on the baseband, which is the portion of the phone used to unlock the Apple devices from their official GSM carrier and allow the ability to have that device used on any GSM carrier of choice, worldwide. This baseband is also the tool that allows the iDevices to actually send and receive phone calls, so yeah, it’s a pretty big deal. Everything went down on March 18, 2010, while Mr. Powell was in the process of intently enjoying various and numerous servings of those fine imported ale’s in celebration of his 27^th birthday in the Redwood City area of California. Who can blame the man? Getting wasted on your birthday is simply a part of being a man, right? Right. But unfortunately, this is the night that his entire life had changed. Using this new iPhone prototype, Gray was seen updating his facebook page with this entry: “I underestimated how good German beer is”. That was the last facebook entry he would ever make using the field tested version of this iPhone prototype, which to the naked eye was disguised to look simply like an iPhone 3G[s]. At this time, it’s vaguely reported that Mr. Powell left his iDevice on the stool that he was sitting on to go to the bathroom, and then proceeded to leave the establishment to go home, with the iDevice slipping his mind, and being left behind.

APPLE’S PHALYNX

Now, anyone who knows the history of Apple knows that when this company decides to keep something hidden, which is just about everything they do in the field of research, development, prototyping, and the like, they have better security measures than most government agencies. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t doubt that Mr. Powell is under surveillance right now by ninja hitmen ready for him to venture off into a sparsely populated area. I kid, I kid, but I do have no doubt that he has been interviewed (no doubt, Jack Bauer style) by Apple’s internal security to see if he is a further risk to corporate security. I’d also bet that the company is keeping a close eye on him at the current time as well. But Apple is also known for keeping CIA-style secrecy constantly enforced as a business practice, and in this case, the “leak” was not malicious. It was a simple mistake by a man celebrating his birthday. It’s something that any man could and probably has done in the past. On Twitter, people have been making comments that Mr. Powell did it on purpose because they find it hard to believe that someone would just leave an iPhone behind in a bar. Now, from a personal observation, people do this ALL THE TIME. As a sidejob, I actually work as a security officer (*ahem* ‘bouncer’) in two New York City nightclubs which I alternate weekends with. I am telling you that with my own eyes, at least one smartphone is left behind each weekend. I’m not talking about the cheap little pre-paid cell phones, or the ‘lesser’ cell phones. I’m talking about Nexus One’s, G1’s, Blackberry Storms, iPhones, iPods, you name it, it’s been left behind. So I can’t blame the man for making an honest mistake. But apparently, people are doing just that.

Apple is in a catch 22. On one hand, this man has violated, in the worst way, everything that Apple had attempted to keep a secret. One of their best selling items had a prototype, and now everyone knows about what to expect. This is not a blurry, secret photo that was leaked. These are not random ‘rumors’ strategically released days before release about what will most likely be released on the new phone. This IS the new phone. Every detail has been released. More on that in a little bit. On the other hand, if Apple fires the man for making an honest mistake, ESPECIALLY after they got their prototype back, they will take a huge PR hit and look like a major douche. It will be interesting to see how they will play this one out.

THE ACQUISITION

Supposedly, there was an exchange of words between the man who ended up going home with the prototype, and a random inebriated man who pointed out the desolate iDevice about what went down, but I don’t believe it for a second. Why? Because as I stated earlier, I work in nightclubs. If there is a cellular phone that’s been left behind, especially one that’s worth a chunk of money, people will begin to circle that thing like sharks in a feeding frenzy. First they try to be inconspicuous, and take a seat or stand close to the device. Then, they will keep their eyes open to see if the owner comes back from the bathroom or a cigarette break, and when they don’t, they will watch the bartenders to make sure that they don’t get caught. While they are focusing on all of these things, they don’t realize that they are being watched by security and without fail, every time, they will move in for the kill with every intention of stealing the damned thing and making a quick getaway. Now, I can’t speak and say that’s exactly what happened in this specific situation, but I have seen that exact situation happen exactly as I described many times in my life. And frankly, that’s how I BELIEVE it REALLY went down.

From that point, the theif good citizen decided to play with the iDevice (to obtain contact information about the phones owner no doubt, so that he could return it. *cough*) and discovered that it was running a “new” operating system. Most likely, this was 4.0 before it was released to the developers. 007 claimed to have attempted playing with the camera app, but stated that it crashed a total of three times. He stated that he thought it was just an iPhone 3G[s]. Finally, supposedly thinking about returning the iDevice the next day, he left the establishment.

Little did he expect, the next morning when he woke up, he attempted to play with the iDevice and discovered that it had been remotely wiped/erased via MobileMe. Only then, after finally sobering up, did 007 realize that there was something different about this ‘iPhone’. He claimed that it felt different in his hand, and he noticed that there was a camera in the front of the phone, facing the user. At this point, 007 attempted to call Apple and find someone who would take him seriously, but all he got was transferred around like the hot potato, with nothing more than a ticket number for his time. He assumed that eventually his ticket number would move up high enough, but his phone never rang. You know, the one that he didn’t steal. It never rang. He apparently held onto the iDevice long enough because he didn’t want to turn it in to a young Apple employee who would probably turn around and sell it on eBay. Why use a middle man, when HE, the ‘finder’ could make the profits, right? See, he was a thinkin’ man…

Weeks later, Gizmodo received this iDevice, after paying between $5,000 – $10,000 for this iDevice. Hey, screw eBay when you could commit corporate espionage, right? The pay is better! Upon receipt of this device, Gizmodo called Apple and obtained the contact information for Gray Powell, and contacted him telling him that they had his device. Despite sounding strangely like a ransom call without the ransom demand, the iDevice was returned to Apple. BUT NOT WITHOUT BEING RIPPED APART AND EXAMINED, which takes us to…

THE BELLY OF THE BEAST

Now, all of the below photos are from the Gizmodo website. Here are a few:

Since they said it best when describing this phone, I will simply repeat what they have said. Regarding what is new:

• Front-facing video chat camera
• Improved regular back-camera (the lens is quite noticeably larger than the iPhone 3GS)
• Camera flash
• Micro-SIM instead of standard SIM (like the iPad)
• Improved display. It’s unclear if it’s the 960×640 display thrown around before—it certainly looks like it, with the “Connect to iTunes” screen displaying much higher resolution than on a 3GS.
• What looks to be a secondary mic for noise cancellation, at the top, next to the headphone jack
• Split buttons for volume
• Power, mute, and volume buttons are all metallic

And regarding what has been changed:

• The back is entirely flat, made of either glass (more likely) or ceramic or shiny plastic in order for the cell signal to poke through. Tapping on the back makes a more hollow and higher pitched sound compared to tapping on the glass on the front/screen, but that could just be the orientation of components inside making for a different sound
• An aluminum border going completely around the outside
• Slightly smaller screen than the 3GS (but seemingly higher resolution)
• Everything is more squared off
• 3 grams heavier
• 16% Larger battery

• Internals components are shrunken, miniaturized and reduced to make room for the larger battery

You can catch a few videos of this iDevice over at www.Gizmodo.com, so its definitely worth taking a look.

ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END…..

To conclude this EPIC FAIL on Apple’s part, they more or less politely asked Gizmodo to return the iDevice back to Apple, pretty much confirming that this is in fact a legitimate prototype, ending the speculation. A copy of the correspondence that Apple sent Gizmodo can be seen here:

So in conclusion, I am pretty much certain that we caught a glimpse into the future when it comes to the iPhone HD/G4, and I don’t know how to feel about it. On one side of the token, I am impressed that so many new features were added, such as FINALLY adding a front-facing camera, which will undoubtedly allow video chat finally. While the battery is not much better, adding only a meager 16%, for iPhone 3G users who are upgrading they will be overjoyed because they never got the small 12% increased battery upgrade that came with the 3G[s] battery life, so in total, all iPhone 3G users who upgrade to the iPhone HD/G4 will experience a total of a 28% battery increase, which is pretty significant, I guess. On the other side of that same token, now we pretty much know all about the new iPhone, and there is no mystique left, no excitement about future Apple announcements, and in an odd way, I feel oddly cheated about that. Now, Steve Jobs has nothing new to reveal to us, no closing “bang!” comments to impress us with.

Ultimately, I guess we will just have to let this magical piece of hardware impress us with its function once it’s released. IF NOTHING ELSE, I hope that because of such a major leak, it gives Apple incentive to push the release date ahead so that we can get this tech goodness ASAP!

What are your thoughts on this? Feel free to sound off in the comments below, or DM me on Twitter @FEARtheSERVER

This looks like a great concept for the new iPhone and although I don’t think we will see it look exactly like this, I think that this has some fighting chances at getting a few things right.

I especially like the video chat in the last few seconds.

Have a look at the video below….

Click here to view the embedded video.

It hasn’t been confirmed that these parts are authentic yet but take a look at the images below, they look real enough. The following observations have been made from looking at these images;

1) The LCD appears to be factory glued to the digitizer which is more similar to the first generation iPhones than the iPhone 3G and 3GS. The digitizer can be separated from the LCD on the 3G and 3GS models, which should be interesting to all, but for the repair folks like us–this means that the 4G screen repair price will be higher since both parts will have to be replaced at once.

2) The iPhone 4G front panel seems to be about 1/4″ longer than its predecessors.

3) There is an interesting reflective, mirror-like surface directly above the speaker. This is likely a spot for the proximity sensor. If that’s what is is, it’s in a different location than previous models.

As we draw ever closer to the impending unveiling of the 4th gen iPhone around March/April, images like these are going to come thick and fast.

KT, the second largest mobile carrier in South Korea, indicates that Apple may launch its fourth generation iPhone as early as April.

The KoreaTimes has heard that talks over sales volumes are underway and that KT is set to sell the new devices to its bigger local corporate clients as a “litmus test” in April. It plans to provide the new iPhones to local distributors in June.

“We don’t see any bigger hurdle to introduce 4G iPhones here, as legal issues were completely cleared. It’s possible to launch the devices within the first half,” a high-ranking KT executive told The Korea Times, asking not to be identified.

“Still, there are some 3G iPhone stocks. But KT and Apple have reached a broad consensus to introduce the advanced models as early as possible,” according to the executive.

The 4G iPhones will reportedly be equipped with OLED screens, live video chat functionality, dual core processors, more powerful graphic chips, as well as higher video resolutions and better “still” images. A removable battery is also highly likely.

If this report is accurate, Apple may be trying to counter the rush of new smartphones such as the Google Nexus One device.

Source info thanks to iClarified

The GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is what offloads 3D graphics rendering from the main processor.

Imagination Technologies unveiled a new GPU named PowerVR SGX545. Now that might not mean anything to you but the next part will. The PowerVR SGX545 is the only mobile GPU capable of OpenGL 3.2 and DirectX 10 Level effects. OpenGL 3.2 offers the following to app developers:

• Increased performance for vertex arrays and fence sync objects to avoid idling while waiting for resources shared between the CPU and GPU, or multiple CPU threads;
• Improved pipeline programmability, including geometry shaders in the OpenGL core;
• Boosted cube map visual quality and multisampling rendering flexibility by enabling shaders to directly process texture samples.

While DirectX 10 offers advanced 3-D graphics-rendering capabilities and helps improve your computer’s performance in games and high-end 3-D applications.

The PowerVR SGX545 also includes OpenCL support which means that used processing cycles on the chip can be used to offload work from the main CPU.

So why do we think that the PowerVR SGX545 may be in the next iPhone well here it is……..

Apple is an investor in Imagination Technologies, purchasing a 9.5% stack in the manufacturer in 2008 and 2009, and also Imagination Technologiess said that they have produced a test chip for an unnamed “lead Partner”.