Hands on with the first NZ hacked iPhone

Imagine two people walking into your office on a relatively slow news day. One is the Pope, and the other is carrying the first hacked iPhone that works on the Vodafone network. It's pretty clear who you’d want to talk to first.

John Ballinger, director of IT company Bluespark, received the iPhone as a gift from one of his clients, Vivienne. The phone was purchased in the US and found its way to John’s desk a few days later, he then proceeded to take apart and unlock the phone in a few hours.

"I was so excited when I made the first call and sent the first text message," says Ballinger. ”It took me over an hour just to take the phone apart, it is so beautifully built and no space is wasted. I used an online how-to guide, but I never realised how incredibly small the components were."

Ballinger says he needed help with the hack, but no soldering iron was required.

"You need these incredibly small needles to perform the hack. I brought some normal needles with me, and they were way too big and blunt, which gives you an idea of how small the components are."

Using a Norwegian based how-to guide, Ballinger managed to unlock the phone by installing certain software and performing a work-around on the hardware.

We quickly got our hands on the iPhone and had a play with the different features. We confirmed that everything worked, including trying conference calling and texting. We also had a play with the brilliant camera feature of the phone, and I for one was surprised at how easy the touch screen was to use.

While the iPhone operates happily on Vodafone’s network, there are certain features that have not been hacked yet. GPRS, the email client and the voicemail inbox have yet to get the treatment. The iPhone also does not natively support 3G.

Source:http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/products/