iPhone 4: Now with added jailbreaky fun

iPhone 4 and Windows Phone 7 owners can now jailbreak their handsets. Users of Windows Phone unhappy to find themselves at the end of Microsoft's phased rollout of its latest update can now hack themselves a fix, and upgrade when they want to, rather than when Microsoft tells them to. Meanwhile, Apple customers who have …

[Arctic fox]

With regard to WP 7

I think that you will find that it is not MS (spelt with or without dollar-sign - up to you) who are preventing punters from getting their up-grade, at least not in the direct sense. When you have used this tool to enable your phone, where are you getting the up-grade? From MS obviously. This whole business effects customers who have bought their phones on contract via a carrier. The agreement between the carriers and MS is that they can delay one upgrade cycle in order to ensure that they do not fuck up the update when they pass it on to their customers. As far as I can see the carriers are exploiting this for all it is worth (in the same way they do with the Android os). If you have bought your phone sim-free you will get your update as soon as it is released by MS. This is a perennial problem for all owners of either WP7 phones or (as in my case, a largely happy Desire Z owner) Android phones. The carriers take the piss out of their customers big time. That is one very good reason why I personally prefer to (terribly old fashioned of me) save up and buy my phones outright. I have not bought a mob via a carrier for at least ten years and I have no intention of changing that!

[Anonymous Coward]

Which networks?

I curious about all this. I got the NoDo update for my Omnia 7 (on Three) on Saturday morning. A week after the MS site listed it as under evaluation by Three. So it didn't take too long to arrive.

So, is the "delay" being blown out of all proportion or are some networks genuinely holding the update back? From my experience Three aren't, is anyone out there on any other network and not getting the update?

I'd be interested in knowing which networks are being muppets, I can think of one in particular that might be...

I agree though, in Future I'd just by an unlocked one from Expansys.

[Arctic fox]

@Neil Weller

Oh I take your point Neil, I was of course generalising. When it comes to producers SE's recent mea culpa with regard to upgrades and the fact that HTC have clearly been getting their finger out with regard to the Desire family are positive straws in the wind. Furthermore, some of the smaller carriers may well also be attempting to differentiate themselves from the big boys when it comes to the way they treat their customers. My impression is that *some* of (although by no means all) of the worst offenders are some of the big American carriers - at least to judge by the howling I have read at some sites like Engadget! The issue with updates is IMO about control - many of the carriers see upgrades as a way to maintain a firm grip on their customer's gonads - the fact that many of their customers dislike such eye-watering experiences is perhaps something that is at last dawning on some of these companies!

:)

AF

[Anonymous Coward]

All a bit funny

So why is jailbreaking phones allowed under "fair-use" or whatever legal bollocks covers it, but hacking your PS3 is not?

I'm grateful as I can play some great retro gaming on my "broken" iPod Touch, I'm just curious.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: All a bit funny

"why is jailbreaking phones allowed under "fair-use""..."but hacking your PS3 is not?"

Because Sony have better lawyers, it would seem

[Robert Synnott]

RE: All a bit funny

It's probably a question of intent. The vast majority of people jailbreaking their Playstation are doing so for piracy-related reasons; the vast majority (or all five, in the case of WP7) rooting/jailbreaking their phone are not.

[Anonymous Coward]

RE: All a bit funny

BS. You can't prove intent (that they're doing it solely for piracy) without a trial. Just like harming someone can be a crime depending on intent and so on.