Screen Captures of themed iPhone

Something to ogle at, screen captures of the 'Glass Orb' theme on a jailbroken iPhone 3GS. Screen captures don't really do this theme justice, nor do the video files in the previous post.


You have to see it before your very eyes to appreciate just how beautiful these 3D video wallpapers + the glass orb icons make the iPhone look.

This shows the icons at 80% of normal size. The undocked icons are labelled whilst the docked icons below are not labelled.

Same theme, same 3D video wallpaper. However, the icons are now displayed at their normal 100% size.

This time, the undocked icons have their labels removed. Looks clean, less cluttered.

And this is a still capture of the 3D video wallpaper. It actually looks more like some organic cosmic twirling something something. There you go, I'm not sure how to describe it. Check out the video or do a search on youtube for video wallpaper (glass orb theme). It's really awesome.

Same theme, same unlabelled icons, but with a different 3D video wallpaper. 

Just the 3D video wallpaper. 


By the way, there is a way to have the iPhone play a video ringtone when someone calls in. For example, if your girlfriend or boyfriend calls, the screen doesn't just show the contact photo, but could instead play a music video of Mariah Carey singing 'Touch My Body". Of course, the ringtone would be the corresponding music video. And you can choose any music video stored in your iPod! 


No iTunes needed! Voila!


Have a great sunday everyone!

Theme your device

Been testing and using certain themes. They have been stable running on a jailbroken iPhone 3GS on firmware 3.1.2. 

A few short video clips on how a jailbroken iPhone may be themed to look like.

Glass Orb icons + 3D Wallpaper 

Just the 3D Video Wallpaper 

The next two videos have the same theme, same icons but a different 3D video wallpaper.

Another 3D Video Wallpaper + Glass Orb icons 

Just the wallpaper 


Cool? This is just the tip of the iceberg. I currently have 27 pages of home screens, each capable of displaying app icons with a configuration of 4x5 (standard is 4x4). My base dock holds 5 app icons as well. And in order to fully enjoy the theme, I shrank all the icons down to 80%. There is also the option of removing icon labels!

It's about time . . .

Aight, if you fit all of the following, you cannot jailbreak your iPhone device at the time of this posting. Perhaps in a month or so . . .


1. iPhone 3GS.
2. Firmware 3.1.3.
3. New bootrom (MC model). 
4. Device has never been jailbroken before.


Sorry boys and girls, all other devices, iPhone 3G, 2G iPod Touches running 3.1.3 are fine and can be jailbroken. 


Why jailbreak again? Let me show you a video of how a jailbroken iPhone can look like. As for what it can do, well, even an iPhone 3G can take videos! 


Will upload the video next post. 


Ice-cream time!

Top queries

1. How about jailbreaking non 3GS iPhones?
2. How to downgrade from 3.1.3?
3. When are you going to blog about the program which allows me to password lock anything on the iPhone including Photo Album, SMS, particular apps?
4. Jailbreaking + Unlocking my device.
5. The REAL reason why 3.1.2 3GS iPhone who have jailbroken their devices need to know how to do it themselves and why paying some other vendor to do it is dangerous.

Aight . . . how to FAKE it that you have firmware 3.1.3, & why

Ok, now what is all this talk about updating to firmware 3.1.3 on your iPhone/iPod Touch devices? Well, for one thing, 3.1.3 does not really do what it claims to do: better battery management, i.e. lifespan, capacity and what not.


And what about trying to download, install and/or update certain apps which require the latest firmware 3.1.3?


Well, now for all the folks who have been clever and patient enough to not update either by choice, intelligence or luck, I will now show you how you can 'Fake It' and fool iTunes into thinking you now have the latest firmware 3.1.3 and you are free to download and install apps which require this 3.1.3 protraction of the iPhone OS.


Let us begin!


Step 1
Your device (iPhone or iPod Touch) must be jailbroken. If it has not been, you may find resources other than here to do this.


Your device firmware should be the iPhone OS 3.1.2.


Step 2
Click on Cydia, and make sure you have the SOS iPhone Cydia source. If you do not have it, install it via Cydia > Manage Sources > Edit > Add and type in http://cy.sosiphone.com/

Step 3
Now, let Cydia download and install this source, reload and return to Cydia > Manage > and look for the new source you have added which is 'SOS iPhone Cydia'.

Click on the new source and look for 'Fake 3.1.3'.

Click on Install > Confirm.


Step 4
After the installation has completed, exit Cydia and go to Settings > General > About. Under 'Version', you should now see that your device firmware now reports as 3.1.3 (7E18)! However, your 'Modem Firmware' or baseband as it is often referred to remains at 05.11.07. This is of interest to people who have iPhones which are 'locked' to a particular telco, as this older baseband can still be unlocked, whilst the newer baseband which accompanies the installation of firmware 3.1.3 cannot be unlocked at the time of this posting.

Next post might be pretty lengthy. I might have to make a post about how to downgrade from 3.1.3 to 3.1.2 after all. Seems like many people have installed the new update by accident. This can happen even if you choose to 'Download Only' but not install the software update when prompted by iTunes. Apparently, the next time iTunes is started, certain user settings actually allow iTunes to proceed with the update when the iPhone is connected, all without user action! So, be careful! 

iPhone Battery Woes

Lifespan of the iPhone Battery
  
Well, specifically, I am referring to the lithium-polymer battery type used by Apple for the iPhone device.

A lot of users of the 3GS notice that they need to charge their device an average of once a day. Heavy users, and this I mean users who make a lot of calls, and do ACTUAL work with it may even need to charge their device more than once a day, and usually end up buying an external battery add-on like the much debated Mophie-Air, or Energizer Battery Add-ons. 

Apple had mentioned that the 3GS model will have a significant improvement on its battery life over the previous 3G incarnations. 
 
We are told that it (iPhone 3GS battery) can last for about 400 cycles while retaining up to 80% of its original capacity. That leaves some folks guessing 'What is one single cycle?", "Does that mean I have to use the device till it is nearly discharged (near 0% charge) before I can charge it in order to maintain optimal battery lifespan and power capacity?"

Well, simply put, one single charge cycle means charging the device from 0% (nill power capacity) to 100% (full capacity). If you decide to begin charging your phone when it has dropped to just 90% (of full charge capacity) till it reaches 100% (full capacity). That equates to charging it at one tenth (1/10) of one cycle. Which in turn translates into doing this 4000 times to mean 400 cycles before you start to experience a drop in the iPhone battery's standby, call and usage periods before requiring charging again.

According to Apple, the "iPhone 3GS offers up to 5 hours of talk time on 3G, 12 hours of talk time on 2G, 5 hours of Internet use on 3G, 9 hours of Internet use on Wi-Fi, 10 hours of video playback, or 30 hours of audio playback on a full charge at original capacity. In addition, iPhone features up to 300 hours of standby time." (http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html)

There are a plethora of apps available via App Store which indicates the current charge capacity of the device and in turn will also translate that into how much talk time, game usage time, web-surfing time and more. One such app is "Battery LED Free", which does all this and also indicates usage for 3G and 2G usage.

It might be a good idea to occasionally discharge the iPhone completely before charging it again as recommended by Apple. And once again, there are detractors of this. Read more about lithium-polymer batteries on this wikipedia page and make your own decision.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_polymer_battery

Amazing iPhone applications

Ever wanted to have more icons on each page of your home screen? Or you want more pages? how about 15, 20 or more pages? Want a wallpaper to appear? How about a scrolling home dock? And the ability to lock ANYTHING on the iPhone, from the Photo Album, SMS, Contacts, and any app you have? 


Of course all this is possible. Watch this space as I detail more of this in the coming weeks. Personal friends may contact me and if I have the time, I can do it for you. But only for devices which have not been updated to the latest 3.1.3 software via iTunes!


I will be taking a short break from blogging for a while.


Leave me a comment or contact me via email if there is a need.


Happy Lunar New Year to one and all!


Hugs,

iPanda.

男人！ Haha ... really amusing video!

Yes, I'm back with another YouTube link that I wish to share here with you.

(right click to open in a new tab, otherwise you will be diverted away from this page)

"拖手奇緣"

Another reason to visit your dentist once every 6 months?

Could this be another reason to visit your dentist at least once every 6 months?

Sometimes I wonder if things like this was truly an honest mistake or a deliberate attempt to make the viewer remember the ad. Certainly might for many of you!

I also want to wish everyone a Happy Lunar New Year of the Tiger! 

May this year shower you with Great Fortunes, Happiness, Love and Good Health!

(Singpapore readers, don't forget to buy Toto!)

Whenever you are feeling down, watch this!

This has to be the cutest, funniest and best video ever.

My thanks to 'Scrubbie' for showing me the video in the first place.

Suprised Kitty 

Hope this brings a smile to you. It certainly did for me, every time ...

Customizing Your Own iPhone Ringtones for Free!

Making your own custom ringtones right inside iTunes! It’s so easy you will be wondering why there are people paying money for this to be done. (Sorry if the screen captures appear small, simply hold down the Ctrl key and the '+' key to enlarge the page)

Step 1

Start iTunes. Choose the song which you want to make into your custom ringtone. For this illustration, let’s select 'Rise' by 'Samantha James'. However, it is better to select the song from the main music library instead of selecting it from a playlist.

Step 2

Choose a section of this song to be used as the ringtone you want to hear. This section must be 30 seconds or less. I am going ahead to start the ringtone from 1:03 and end at 1:31. Once you have decided upon the starting and ending points of your selected song, right click on the song, and click on “Get Info”. Go to the “Options” tab as shown in the picture and input the “Start Time” and “Stop Time”.

Once you have entered the times, click on the OK button on the bottom right of the dialogue.

Step 3

This step is easy peasy. Now play the song to test if this is what you want to hear as your custom ringtone. Make the necessary changes if you are not satisfied. Remember, the ringtone cannot be more than 30 seconds.

Step 4

Now that you are satisfied with the 30 second (or less) portion of your selected song to be heard as your custom ringtone, right click on the song and select “Create Apple Lossless Version”. On some older versions of iTunes, this might be “Create AAC Version”.

You will notice a new copy of the song appears directly below this (If you chose the song from LIBRARY). If you chose the song from a playlist like I did here, I will have to search for the song using the search query on the top right of iTunes. I can see that the section is 28 seconds long.

Step 5

Now right click on this new track and select “Show in Explorer”.

Inside the Explorer window, change the extension of the file from ‘.m4a’ to ‘.m4r’.

Cut and paste this file to the windows desktop.

Go back to iTunes LIBRARY (not the playlist) and delete the new song from the library, you do not need it anymore.

Step 6

Go back to your desktop. Double-click on the song and it will automatically play on your iTunes ….. but where is it? It now appears in the “Ringtones” tab! Congrats. Now wasn’t that easy, and free?

Step 7

Next time you sync your iPhone, make sure you select to sync “Ringtones”. When you want to select this tune within your iPhone, it can be found via this path > SETTINGS > SOUNDS > RINGTONE > CUSTOM.

On a lighter note . . .

Was having lunch at China Square recently when I chanced upon this Japanese restaurant. What got my attention was its name.

Now I am thinking, this is Singapore. Hokkien dialect speaking people might read this to mean "not making money" for the word "Botan/ぼたん". I was rather amused and just had to take a photo of it. And there you go.

Why I Chose to Jailbreak my iPhone 3GS

The premise was really simple. I had previously owned a 1st generation iPhone when it first was made available in the USA. Me being the gadget freak that I was, I soon got my hands on one. Alas, it did not allow me to use my SIM card. The device was locked to AT&T (copyright AT&T). 

What could I do? The shiny thing was screaming 'turn me on!' but all I could do was look at the screen which allowed me to only dial emergency numbers (which by the way, do not connect in Asia!)

I did some research. And finally managed to jailbreak it. Meaning, I could access the functions of the applications within the device, but was still unable to make calls. Not long after, I finally unlocked it and it worked fine with any SIM card I would insert into it. Awesome! I don't need the warranty, I'm not in the States. 

Now that I have the new iPhone 3GS, jailbreaking the device immediately raises the alarm in many people. What about the warranty? Would that not void it? Good question. 

Well, there are only a few situations when you would require servicing for your iPhone. 

1. Software issues. 

2. Changing the battery.

3. Hardware problems.

If there are any software issues and you bring your pristine phone to your telco. They are most likely to refer you to www.apple.com.sg and perform a software update. Telcos sell hardware, bandwidth, airtime. Not software coding, not software programs. Encountering software problems with an Apple device is very unlikely.

If, however, you suspect your device has a hardware problem, such as faulty camera, faulty earphone jack or the like, you would most likely to have it serviced ultimately at a licensed Apple reseller, who will honour the warranty. I might be wrong here. But that should be the case. If you encounter this problem try the following.

Step 1 

Perform a backup of your current iPhone. You should know how to do this by now.

Step 2

Click on "Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Content and Settings.

A red button appears warning you that all data and settings will be erased if you choose to proceed further. After you do this, the deleting process might take quite a while. 

Step 3

You have a choice to now set up the device using iTunes as a new iPhone. If you had previously made a backup as I had mentioned before jailbreaking your phone, you may use that and restore the phone to 3.1.2. 

Now you can send in your phone for hardware servicing. Please also not that you have to explicitly instruct the service personnel not to update your device software to 3.1.3. You only require hardware servicing.

Step 4

Have your fixed device back? Do your jailbreak again, and perform a restore. Your device will be back to the way it was. 

I have not personally encountered this yet simply because Apple products do not seem to break down. I have an iMac, a MacBookPro, an iBook, iPod Classic. No problems whatsoever. Go figure!

But first off, why did I jailbreak my device?

1. Free apps. I get to test any app for free. If I really like it and use it a lot, I would pay for it, seriously!

2. Access to powerful tools such as multitasking.

3. Changing the appearance of the user interface (my wallpaper transitions every 5 seconds).

4. I can lock any application on the device.

5. Customize my own ringtones (ok, you don't need to jailbreak to do this).

6. Customize sms tones (only for jailbroken phones)

7. I can even run Win 3.1 and Win 95 on the iPhone!

8. Play GBA (Gameboy Advance), NES64 games!

9. Anyone who picks up my iPhone and tries to insert his SIM card for his own use will find all the apps are locked. My device will brick. I can call him, because my device will send an sms to a number I have pre-defined showing me the other person's number.

10. The possibilities are endless.

How I Jailbroke my iPhone 3GS

Just a while ago, I started using the iPhone 3GS. I used to own the first generation iPhone a long time ago, but it got stolen whilst I was overseas. Upon startup, the speed of the device amazed me. It was perceptively faster in every way, including how fast the battery was draining. Not a joke, I had to charge this device once a day.

Not long after, I decided to try my hand at jailbreaking it. My original 1st gen iPhone was jailbroken and unlocked by myself. It was easy. Here is an account of how I jailbroke my iPhone 3GS. My firmware remains at 3.1.2. If you have recently updated to 3.1.3, the steps here are not suitable for you. You will need to downgrade your software back to 3.1.2 but the device's modem firmware will remain at 05.12.01. More on that in another post, where I will explain how to jailbreak an iPhone at 3.1.3 by first downgrading it to 3.1.2. This guide will also work for iPhone 3G and the iPod Touch on 3.1.2.

This guide is for jailbreaking the iPhone 3GS on firmware 3.1.2 running baseband 05.11.07 (not for new iPhones bought just recently). If you are looking to also unlock your phone to use with your local SIM card, this guide does not address this. Please search online, or ask me on how your iPhone can be unlocked. It can be done.

And yes, the following works. The following is an account of how I did it and is not meant to instruct or advise nor to encourage anyone else to jailbreak their Apple devices.

Step 1

Do not update your iTunes software nor the iPhone software. Make sure you have also have a copy of the 3.1.2 firmware on backup.

Step 2

You will now need to first create a backup of your iPhone. Make sure you have the latest version of iTunes. Not the latest software update for the iPhone, which is 3.1.3 (TAKE NOTE).

Open up iTunes, on the right panel, your iPhone will appear, do a right-click, and select 'Backup'. There, you're done. Make sure you do not select to have your iPhone backup to be encrypted! (This option appears on the main screen of iTunes. Do not encrypt your backup data!!)

Step 3

Download blackra1n RC3 for Windows or Mac.

> www.blackra1n.com

Step 4

Make sure your device is connected to your computer. Start the blackra1n application. If you are running it on Windows 7 or Vista, run the application with “Windows XP Compatibility” mode by enabling it from the “Properties” tab to avoid any errors during the jailbreak process.

At some point, your iPhone may call up and open iTunes. Close iTunes.

Step 5

A window opens up on your desktop. Click on “make it ra1n”.

The application will run. And it will wait for your device to reboot. A pop-up message will announce this twice.

On your device it will inform you to connect your device to iTunes to perform a restore. This is shown with an iPhone cable trying to connect to a globe. Ignore this. Do not open the iTunes application. Go file your nail or something. Long nails get in the way of using the iPhone interface anyhow. Grins*

Step 6

Finally, your device home screens are back (or a lockscreen) and you should now have a black teardrop icon appear. This is “Blackra1n”. You may close the Blackra1n application window on your computer. It's been what, 3 minutes so far? Easy!

From henceforth, you must never reboot your device, or do anything that will cause it to reboot. In doing so, you would need to perform the above steps to jailbreak your device again.

When boarding a plane, or entering a hospital, turn on AIRPLANE mode found within your "Settings" icon. Then click the top button on your device to turn off your iPhone. If you ever send your device to reboot or 'TURN OFF' using the red slider, you will need to repeat the entire top processes again to jailbreak it. You have been duly warned.

Step 7

Click on the teardrop icon. Install CYDIA and nothing else. And choose "Graphical User interface when prompted and perform a 'Complete Upgrade' to CYDIA when prompted with 3 choices.

You will finally need to restart CYDIA.

Your homescreen should look something like this now. With the Blackra1n and Cydia icons.

Startup Cydia, it should look like the following.

Step 8 (Changing your iPhone default passwords to prevent virus/worm intrusions)

Open Cydia. Install “MobileTerminal”. You can find it after clicking on ‘Featured Packages’ on the Cydia main screen. Scroll down to find “MobileTerminal”.

Install this.

Exit Cydia.

Step 9

Your home screen should now have a 3rd new icon.

Click on the Terminal icon. Time to do some fiddling with the insides of your iPhone. A black screen will appear with a command line prompt. As shown below.

At the prompt, type ’su root’ and tap return. It will ask you for a password, enter ‘alpine’ and tap return again. Alpine is the default password for every brand new iPhone out there, and every hacker knows this and will exploit this to get into your system. So let's change this. After you enter 'alpine', another line appears, this time, type ‘passwd’ and then tap return.

You are now telling the system you wish to change your password. Type in a new password, one that you can remember and tap return. Retype the new password to confirm.

Step 10

Now, while still running MobileTerminal, type in ‘passwd mobile’ and tap return.

You will now be asked to enter a new password for your mobile device, type that in, tap return.

Repeat to confirm the password.

You’re now all done. None of your device passwords are default, your device should be free from hacks. Press your finger anywhere on the black screen. Move your finger over to ‘CLEAR’. All the text should clear up now. Hold again, and move your finger over to ‘EXIT’. Tap YES.

DONE!

Step 11

Things to watch out for. Never ever, install anything which is aimed at changing the appearance of your iPhone screen, icons, themes unless you understand what you are doing. Once you do so, you may need to REBOOT. And you know what that means. You will have to re-Jailbreak. But if you do not mind the hassle and are willing to take the risk, by all means go ahead. I am not responsible should your device brick or go into 'Recovery Mode Loop'. The same goes for installing extensions and other items from Cydia which may not be compatible with 3G(S) using 3.1.2. Do your research before installing and implementing.

Step 12

Open Cydia. Click on 'Manage' at the bottom. Now, click on 'SOURCES', then on the small “Edit” button on the top right corner. Now, on the top left corner, tap ‘Add’.

In the screen that opens up, enter text so that the url will look like http://cydia.hackulo.us/ Tap on done and wait for the package to load. Accept the package, ignore the warning. You will now possess the “Hackulo.us Source”. Click 'Done'.

Click on the 'Hackulo.us' source. You will see the following screens, but without the green ticks.

The first thing you will want to install is “Installous”. This will allow you to browse, select, download and install paid apps for FREE. Seriously.

Click on that, and wait for the package to download and install.

You will then have the Installous icon on your home screen. Something like the following.

Click on the Installous icon. Its graphical interface is self-explanatory and go ahead, browse for what you like and download. But do take note that there are times when download speeds slow to a crawl and the download fails. Best times to download is during the day for us Asians!

(Note: Installous will be offline soon, you will be re-directed to Apptrackr instead)

Step 11

This next step allows you to install an application by dragging its *.ipa file right into iTunes.

Click on Cydia, go to Sources, select Hackulo.us, and select AppSync for OS3.1. Install this.

Next time you perform a sync with iTunes, drag a cracked app into iTunes 'Library Applications' panel. When you do a sync with your iPhone, the application will automatically install and appear on your device's 'Application' tab! EASY!

Now, you can search online for cracked app files or u can ask some crazy person who might have a lot of such app files and share them with you. This is the fastest way to install cracked applications, using just iTunes! Doesn’t that just make you smile the whole day? If you like an app, PAY FOR IT! I actually do pay for apps I can’t do without!

Thanks to Sayam Aggarwal for the AT&T screen captures, and many other sources of information gathered from the internet in compiling this guide.

iPhone OS 3.1.2 for iPhone 3G > Download

iPhone OS 3.1.2 for iPhone 3GS > Download

BlackRa1n

What's next?

Why should I jailbreak my iPhone? My warranty would not be honoured! Well, that is in the very next post of my blog.

What to do if your iPhone has a virus/worm? You will know something is wrong if your lockscreen asking for your password shows a photo of '80s Brit heartthrob Rick Astley, and/or your phone pad shows him as well (Ikee Worm). You have been infected with a worm. There are currently 3 versions of this and the 3rd and worse kind actually kills your battery life rapidly and siphons online banking data ("Duh" virus) affecting Dutch banking customers of ING.

How to have more than 11 pages of home screens on the iPhone? The solution is very simple!

How to fit in more than the usual 4 x 4 rows of icons on each page of the home screen?

How to have more than the usual 4 icons on the iPhone dock?

How do I customize my own ringtones? What about sms tones?

How to lock any application on your iphone? This is not the main device lockscreen. It is a custom lock for any application on your iPhone. It allows you to lock Photo Album, SMS, Phone Book, Mail, Chat programs which already have your stored passwords. Watch this space!

Haptic Feedback, this is useful for newcomers of totally touchscreen devices. Device will produce a slight vibration known as 'haptic feedback' whenever a key is pressed whilst dialing a number, writing an email, sms, so that the user feels he is indeed pressing on a key instead of feeling silly tapping away and not sure if he/she got it right.