iPhone 3G gets unlocked under 3.0 OS, iPhone 3G S still waiting

23 June, 2009

The iPhone Dev Team has finally released the utility needed to unlock the iPhone 3G under iPhone OS 3.0, which will allow current users in illegitimate carriers to upgrade to the latest version of the iPhone OS, which brings about over 100 new features.

The new ultrasn0w utility is available for download through Cydia and Icy software repositories, which are both installed during the process of jailbreaking. To jailbreak your iPhone 3G running 3.0 OS you need either the Pwnage tool (Mac OS only) or the redsn0w utility, which was already released by the iPhone Dev Team 3 days ago.

Activating a factory unlocked iPhone 3G S doesn't need any utilities of the sort

To make things simpler, here are the most common scenarios that you may encounter with your iPhone 3G and 2G:

YOU HAVE an iPhone 3G running 2.x OS and you are upgrading to 3.x OS

If you only want to jailbreak (factory unlocked handset or legitimate carrier use scenario) use redsn0w utility (Mac and Windows) AFTER you've updated to 3.0 OS the regular iTunes way.
If you are using a 3G iPhone unlocked with previously released yellowsn0w and rely on yellowsn0w to obtain cellular service, DO NOT use redsn0w. Instead use PwnageTool to jailbreak your iPhone 3G with a patched 3.0 firmware and then use Ultrasn0w from Cydia to unlock it. If you don't have a Mac handy, you can also download a Pwnage Tool patched firmware uploaded by other users but pick your sources carefully. After you've found such a patched firmware, simply make iTunes use it for updating your iPhone 3G.

YOU HAVE iPhone 2G running 2.x OS and you are upgrading to 3.x OS

Simply use redsn0w utility (Mac and Windows) for both jailbreak and unlock after you've updated to 3.0 OS the regular iTunes way.

Reader comments

Dhir
30 Jun 2009
utd

http://www.pcworld.com/article/167495/apple_iphone_3gs_overheating_reports.html?tk=nl_wbx_h_crawl1 after reading this article i don't think iphone is such a cool phone after all.

LiLo
30 Jun 2009
v%H

The iPhone's icon-based interface is mostly unchanged from version 1.0 of the ROM. Sure you can have multiple panels of icons and any icon can be moved around, but these aren't huge changes. I STILL can't better organize my many pages of icons into c...

Anonymous
30 Jun 2009
vCC

Yes 3.0 is slower and eats up more battery on the older iPhones. My 3G battery runs down like there is no tomorrow and it's slow as a pig. Especially when compared to my iPod Touch 2G which is silk smooth. Thank goodness for the 3G S.