Drama in the Jailbreak Land: SHAtter Delayed

Egos are a fact of life.  They run rampant in almost everything, though it seems that the bigger the limelight, the more likely it is that an ego will jump to the front.  This is surely the case in the hacking world, where egos are attached to handles that don't necessarily bear any resemblance to reality.  Such is the case with the latest iOS 4.1 jailbreak.

Chronic Dev Team, a group of hackers known for developing some of the most capable jailbreaks for the iPhone, have been touting a major bootrom exploit for the latest generations of iOS devices called SHAtter.  With SHAtter, which relies on an unpatchable vulnerability in the bootrom of all current generation iOS devices, jailbreaking would be guaranteed for the life of the device (source: QuickPWN).  The exploit is at such a low level that it would be all but impossible for Apple to patch it with software.

The exploit was announced several days after iOS 4.1 went live with a message that the jailbreak was verified and would make its way to the wires soon.  The raw jailbreak was announced with this twitpic photo on July 15, 2010.  Note the version of iOS which states 4.1 along with "rooted".  Eventually, this jailbreak was slated to be rolled into a package called "greenpois0n", which would be released on 10.10.10 at 10:10 am (the Geek holiday).

Drama and egos, though, are apt to ensue with something this highly touted.  On October 9, 2010, one day before greenpois0n was to be released, another member of the iOS hacking community released a different bootrom exploit, rolling it into a package called limera1n.  That hacker, George Francis Hotz (born October 2, 1989), aka geohot, had previously released a tethered jailbreak known as blackra1n.  This release of limera1n was apparently against the express wishes of both the Chronic Dev Team and the iPhone Dev Team.  In a tweet that would come out shortly after the limera1n release, some insight into the drama that must have been running amok is revealed.  The tweet states:

@chronicdevteamchronic dev team

use limera1n at your own risk. it has been untested and geohot screwed over @comex who trusted him to wait.

It is worth noting that limera1n is in beta form and does not work on older devices.  Further, it is rumored to not work on newer bootrom iPhone 3GS devices.  Finally, it is currently only Windows based.

In the ensuing fallout, the Chronic Dev Team postponed greenpois0n, pulling the SHAtter exploit from it completely and choosing to implement the bootrom exploit which geohot used.

At issue here is that each bootrom exploit is precious.  Apple can patch and remove these exploits as they iterate hardware.  To release two bootrom exploits at the same time would be a waste, in that Apple could roll up both of them in the next iteration.  By doing the "mature" thing, the Chronic Dev Team is at least giving potential life to SHAtter on another device, and it may serve as the means of a lifetime jailbreak on the next iteration of iOS devices.

Given the beta nature of limera1n and the timing of its release, it certainly seems as if it was released as a means of grabbing the limelight.  It was also apparently an unpopular thing to do in the small community which is known for turning out solid jailbreaks.  The fact that it does not work on older devices and is rumored to not work on the newer iPhone 3GS devices seems to indicate that it is an inferior jailbreak, as well, which is a true shame:  It is unlikely that the SHAtter exploit will see the light of day anytime soon.

Greenpois0n will be released soon, according to the Chronic Dev Team.  It may be wise to wait for their fully tested version to be made available before jumping into the hairy landscape of jailbreaking.  If you can't wait, however, limera1n is available and waiting.

Sources: Chronic Dev Team twitter, geohot.us, quickpwn.com

Assimilation: A Review of iPhone 4

On my birthday, September 9, I walked into an Apple store and asked to be assimilated.

It was a truly magical event.  As I walked down the long hall of aluminum, surrounded by cheering Geniuses in their blue shirts, my heart beat furiously.  Soon, oh so soon, I would have within my possession the grail of all phones, the beautiful and sleek iPhone 4, that phone which makes all other phones seem as pale imitations of phonedom.  I approached the counter, stated my case, laid out my credentials, was judged worthy (after a slight Apple network hiccup) and proceeded out the door carrying the fabled device.  The universe was right and good, a thing of majesty and beauty.

If you've never been in an Apple store, you may scoff at this account, but I tell you, this is exactly what Apple is trying to foster in their stores.  A land of sleek industrial design which seeks to pull you, atom by atom, into a world where the coveted fruit of their hard work is your only goal, idolized and adored by you to the exclusion of all else.  They go a long way to accomplishing that goal.  Hold fast your soul should you ever tread these hallowed halls!

It's been a week since I purchased said device, so I'd like to give you my impressions.

Syncing and Upgrading

I brought my iPhone 4 to work, hooked it up to my computer and synced everything that had been on my tired and worn out iPhone 3G.  Apple has really nailed it, here.  It was a painless process.  In less than half an hour, I was holding a device that seemed identical in OS to my iPhone 3G (besides hardware differences, mind).  It was faster, sleeker, but every single piece of data had transferred.  I was almost disappointed that I wouldn't have to crawl through the depths of the device to set anything up.

Design


It is truly a sleek device.  When I got my iPhone 3G, i thought I had never seen a more beautiful piece of hardware, but the 4 makes the 3G/3GS design seem cheap and plasticy, utterly devoid of inspiration.  This glass and aluminum idol is a thing of utter beauty to behold, I have to say.  All other phones come up short, so far as I can tell, in comparison.

That's not to say that it's without flaws.  Being all glass on front and back, it makes it hard to hold.  Often when I'm talking, I feel the phone start sliding around in my hand.  I keep having to rearrange my grip to keep it from sliding out of my fingers.

I'm also extremely nervous about it, in general.  I know that the glass is hardened, but I can't help but be concerned that I'm going to shatter it.  In fact, when I went into the Apple store, the geniuses at the bar were mulling over an iPhone 4 with a shattered back.  These things can be broken, and I'm much more cautious about using this phone than I was about my 3G.  When I used to place my 3G in my pocket, I would always put the glass against my leg, hoping to protect it to some degree.  No matter how I put my iPhone 4 in my pocket, some glass is going to be exposed to the outside of my pocket.

I've also noticed some slight hairline scratches on the back of the device already.  As I've stated, I've been extremely careful with it, so that just goes to drive home the point even more:  despite hardened glass, it should be handled delicately.

I've already put my order in for my free case, and I can't wait for it to get here.  I'll feel a bit better about things when I finally have this thing at least moderately protected.  Such a shame, though, to cover up a beautiful device.

Speed


Compared to my 3G, this thing is a rocket!  There is now very little lag in the OS.  I can move between apps quickly and things like diving into the texting client take only a fraction of a second.  On the 3G, this was a particularly onerous task, taking up to a minute to fully load.  It's nice to have a usable phone again.

Antenna and Reception


I've experienced the death grip one time and one time only.  My hands were slightly damp from washing them and when I held the phone in my left hand the cell radio suddenly went into searching mode.  If I really squeeze down with the death grip (holding the phone in the left hand with the black bar on the lower left of the phone in the palm) I can see some signal attenuation, but by and large it has not been a problem.

I also experienced another issue I've never seen with my 3G.  Over a period of about 15 minutes, while driving down the road, every call I made dropped suddenly.  The person I was calling wondered just what the heck was going on, as I kept dialing and redialing them.  Whether this was due to the phone or the network, I can't say, but that never happened with my 3G.

Other than those two times, the reception has been fabulous.  Call clarity and quality are awesome.  Folks are telling me I sound better.  The noise cancelling mic is truly awesome.  This is a great phone to make calls on.

Pictures and Video


The camera on this device is amazing.  The stills it takes are phenomenal and with the addition of HDR photos in iOS 4.1 you can really get some amazing shots.  The flash also adds a new dimension lacking in the previous models.  I am starting to think that I might be able to leave my point-and-shoot behind in favor of my phone, and that's an awesome thing, indeed.

This is a silly little picture of a kids toy, but it really serves to illustrate how sharp these photos are.  This was taken with the flash.

But as good as the stills are, video is even better.  The 720p video this iPhone takes is smooth like butter.  The details are crisp and there's almost no jelly-vision, even if your hands aren't too steady when you're filming.  Add in the capability (at the premium app price of $4.99) to edit movies on the device with iMovie, and you really have an awesome deal.

Here's a movie shot with my iPhone, put together with iMovie.  It's of my son's soccer practice.  Such a simple little thing, but it really is an amazing to have done this on a phone.  (Looks like Blogger really compressed the mess out of the movie, here's the original on YouTube)

Conclusion


This is truly an awesome device.  Despite some minor complaints, it is both beautiful and functional.  I will be able to leave behind both my Flip and my point-and-shoot.  I can edit video on it and upload that video to YouTube without a problem from the device.  It's snappy and runs iOS flawlessly.  Upgrading from a previous iOS device is painless.

Truly, I can't recommend this phone more.

Double Fisting It on AT&T

I have recently had to severely analyze my motivations for which phone I will get next.  Included in this analysis were factors such as work getting me a development phone, would I stay with AT&T and would I leave the iPhone behind.

In answer to my last post, whether I would shift with the wind on which platform I wanted to commit to, the answer is both yes and no.  When I watched WWDC I became very excited about the iPhone 4.  What a gorgeous piece of hardware, and iOS has already proven to be a capable OS so I had no concerns there.  In short, there was much that was attractive to me about the iPhone 4.  Add in the capability to take slick 720p videos and edit them on-device and it seemed like a no-brainer.

Then, antennae-gate hit.  It quite literally paralyzed me where I stood.  Could it be true, the vaunted iPhone 4 was a deeply flawed device?  Would simply holding the phone render it useless as a phone?  The echo-chamber of the gadget media covered the story in excruciating detail.

As it turns out, it's not such a bad flaw, only showing up in low signal-strength areas.  Further, Apple is giving out bumpers with every iPhone 4.  The bumper mitigates the problem completely.  While I can't say that I love the thought that some high-end gadget has a design flaw which necessitates a case, the benefits of having an iPhone 4 greatly out-weigh the downsides.  Simply put, Apple has put out another superb machine for indoctrinating the masses and across the board all the pundits that have obtained one say it is a beautifully useful device.

So, with the iPhone 4 back in the mix as a viable alternative (meaning I couldn't simply dismiss iOS and switch to Android), which phone would I get.  Ironically, work and AT&T provided the answer.

Work has agreed to the necessity of development hardware and is allowing us to choose which device we would like.  We have to provide the service, should we want it, but by and large the choice of phone is ours.  The development team all agreed that Android was the way to go, as it is likely our customer will have Android phones at their disposal.

Providing the service became a bit of a sticky wicket, though.  Did I really want another device, one that could be taken away at any time, and have to provide at least $40/month in service for it (on Verizon or AT&T)?  Did I want to switch to a lower tier provider like Sprint or T-Mobile?  Heck, did I want to carry around two devices with two numbers?  All of these questions came to mind, and I researched them to death.

Turns out that Sprint and T-Mobile both have great plans which roll data into the plan.  On AT&T and Verizon, you have to pay ~$30 for data per smartphone and there is very little way around that.  However, the savings I would get on Sprint or T-Mobile weren't that much greater than what I have now.  If the answer had been that I could have my cost on my mobile bill go down $50/month, it would have been a no-brainer, but that is not the case.

Adding to the complexity is the decision I made to have both major phone OSes at my disposal.  I would like to have my hand in both Android and in iOS, with an eye towards developing in both.  This requirement ruled out Sprint, but due to rumors did not rule out Verizon.  However, the modus operandi of AT&T provided a clear-cut answer.

AT&T is a GSM carrier.  That means that the service each phone has is dependent on which SIM card is in the phone at any given time.  As long as I kept my iPhone plan/SIM, which provides data, SMS and phone service, I can switch my SIM into a different phone and still have all of that service, as well as keeping the same number.  It's a beautiful solution.  I could get both an iPhone 4 and an Android device and, depending on the necessity of the day, switch my SIM around to carry which phone I needed.

Now, I have to find the right Android device on AT&T.  A Nexus One would suffice, but I will have to go to Ebay for one of those, so I may wait around and see what percolates out in the next few months.  Regardless, I believe I will be able to carry both OSes, and this makes my geeky heart very happy.

Wherever the Wind Blows

Just recently I spent a couple of days watching the Google I/O 2010 keynotes live.  The first half of the second keynote was dedicated solely to Android 2.2 (codename Froyo, which is short for Frozen Yogurt) and man, I'm incredibly pumped about it.  Despite the fact that I don't have an Android phone, nor am I likely to get one anytime soon.

It did get me thinking, though, about whether or not I will upgrade my iPhone come June 7 when the new iPhone is released.  It certainly has put a lot of hesitation in my mind.  Some of that hesitation is due to my frustration with the iPhone.  I recently decided that I would finally take the plunge and spring for the iPhone dev kit.  I amped myself up to start writing nifty apps on the iPhone and was completely gung-ho about the whole process.

Only to find out that the only way to write apps on for the iPhone is on a Mac...  This caused me much angst.

Enter Google I/O (and some Engadget reviews about the EVO and Incredible) and the wind started to shift.  By the end of the second keynote, I was committed to being an Android convert (with the added bonus that I could leave AT&T far behind).  However, there was a question niggling in the back of my mind:  Would my lust for a new iPhone reassert itself as I avidly watch the WWDC, where Apple will launch its new iPhone?

As any good fanboy will do, I decided to seek out as much information as I could about Froyo and the current batch of devices everyone is talking about.  I turned to Mashable, Engadget and Ars, reading the same stories hashed and rehashed.  I downloaded all of the pertinent Engadget podcasts.  I devoured this info.

And, hidden in there, I found an interesting tidbit of info:  A lot of these guys which are touting Froyo as the next coming of the mobile Jesus are reluctant to release their firm grasps on their iPhones.  In fact, during the Engadget show, an audience member asked a panel of Engadget editors if they would be willing to leave behind their iPhones for an Android device.  The answer, across the board?  "No."

Here is an interesting perspective.  Has Apple done such a good job that even those that don't want to be indoctrinated are truly indoctrinated?  It's quite clear that the iPhone is the phone to beat.  This shows up whenever the latest, greatest phone is reviewed.  The question is always, is it an iPhone killer?  The answer every time so far is, "No."  In short, even though the pundits are crying out for a changing of the guard, they are unlikely to get one anytime soon.

Even though the wind is blowing towards Android right now, will it be blowing that direction in two weeks?  I actually doubt it.  Don't get me wrong, Android is a worthy platform.  I want to develop for it.  It has some many things that make it ideal for our projects (more on that in another post).  It has strengths which are only now being developed and which, when they come to fruition, will be amazing.  But, for now, in the words of Paul Miller from Engadget, "Now is the best time to wait."

So, I leave an eye to WWDC.  Will I be able to stomach another two years of AT&T and Apple (I highly doubt that Verizon will get an iPhone this time around)?  Will I find some way to secure the development environment which I so crave for iPhone OS devices?  An answer of yes to either of these two questions will indeed commit me to another tour of duty with an iPhone.

The Walled Garden

Let me hereby declare that I love my iPhone. It is useful and wonderful and keeps me connected all the time. I have been using it in lieu of my computer at home for quite some time now. I write emails on it, craft witty 140 character tweets on a regular basis, listen to books on iPod and even play extremely enjoyable games. It is a great experience.

I have, however, begun to chafe under the strictures placed on my iPhone by both AT&T and Apple (often in conjunction with each other).

My gripes against AT&T are especially aggravating. I pay them enough money as it is for the privilege of using my iPhone, why do I need to pay them even more in order to use my iPhone as a modem? It does not seem fair that I will have to shell out an additional $30/month to do what is freely available on other, older and less capable smart phones.

What's worse, if AT&T sees an app as competitive to it's business model, it will limit that app, or flat out deny it! Consider Skype: Skype offers free calls over the Internet to other Skype users, yet AT&T will not allow Skype to make calls over its 3G or Edge networks. They pull the undue competition card.

On the Apple front, a nifty app came to my attention recently that I thought was a truly innovative and awesome use of the iPhone. Given an iPhone 3GS (with its video capabilities, compass and GPS) an "Augmented Reality" app has been developed called TwitARound.

TwitARound looks at the tweets from Twitter in your area and plots them on a map. The AR part, though, comes when you hold your phone up. The app takes your GPS position and your bearing from the compass and lays the tweet on the screen. So, as you move in a circle with your iPhone in front of your face, you can see the actual locations on your iPhone of the tweets as they would appear if the tweets were layered over real life. It's quite awesome and I would like to see more apps like this.

However, because TwitARound accesses APIs which Apple has not, but should have, made public, it cannot be published in the iTunes store.

Apple plays the non-public API card too much. For instance, they did not make their "find my phone" APIs public so that they could charge you a monthly fee through mobileMe. There are already jailbroken apps which can do this, but since they didn't make the APIs public, you won't see legitimate apps show up in the app store.

Call me naive or non-business-savvy, but all of this seems like bad business to me. As a consumer, I want freedom. It's my device, I should be able to do with it as I choose.

So, while I love my iPhone, I chafe. Yes, I chafe.

Update: (on 7/29/09)

First off, it turns out that Apple will release the video camera APIs with iPhone OS 3.1 (per Ars here). Yay for Apple on this one. It's good to see that some of the "hidden" functionality is being exposed. Now, let's see if they expose the "find my phone" API or if they milk it for more money.

Secondly, the app denial shenanigans continue. In a story here (also on Ars) it appears that all apps relating to Google Voice are being pulled and any apps which feature Google Voice are being denied. The scuttlebutt is that AT&T is pulling the strings here. Some disagree, but my vote goes towards AT&T.