While it is marketed as an accessory for the iPhone 4, this Sound Amplifier also works with the older models like the iPhone 3G and 3GS as well as the latest iPhone 4S model. According to the company website, this rubber accessory can add up to 12 decibels of sound to your iPhone speakers. In addition to this, the way the accessory is designed also makes it possible for the users to deploy it as a stand for your iPhone while listening to music.

I tried the Sound Amplifier with my old iPhone 3G and could readily notice the significantly improved volume from the iPhone speakers. Here is a video demo of the product although I must say that the video does not do justice to the actual improvement in sound quality that I experienced.

The Sound Amplifier for the iPhone is now available at WirelessGround for $9.95. You can check out more details about the product from their website by clicking here.

It will have an autumn release date

After all the rumours about summer releases, winter releases, 2012 releases – it seems the iPhone 5 will come about during the autumn/fall. Now this speculation that has seen guesses from a number of highly reputable sources like Bloomberg. They all suggest September to November release times which would also be the one we are going for.

iOS 5

The iPhone 5 will use the new Apple operating system – this is more than likely a given and probably the main reason for the later release date. The new iPhone will have all the new Apple abilities that the operating system, which was released last month, has introduced. This all comes together to form a new and more well rounded product, taking some of Android’s best abilities and combining them with Apple’s current ones as well as some new innovations to make an altogether fuller OS.

iPhone 4S

It may just be an iPhone 4S. It may be that the new iPhone 5 will not be an all new device, and just an update on the current one. This would bear a similar likeness to the leap from iPhone 3G to 3GS and in a way would make sense. This would mean no new body and not new major leaps in technology. Although with fairly reliable rumours of larger screens being ordered by Apple, perhaps it will not completely remain faithful to the design of the iPhone 4.

Dual Core

The new device is almost certainly going to be a dual core phone, keeping with the current trend of devices on the market. This would make the device even speedier and perhaps herald the call of super phone games that will utilise the devices near computer speed graphics. This dual core would be the same as the one in the current iPad 2 and this would certainly make a lot of sense.

New Camera

It looks likely that the new device will have a larger camera. Rumours suggest that it may have an 8mp snapper for use and this would certainly make sense considering the current market trends towards dual core phones with large 8mp cameras. There are rumours of 3D although this may not be the case as it could be considered a bit gimmicky for Apple’s tastes.

Follow the below mentioned instructions in order to unlock and jailbreak your iPhone 4 and 3GS running on the iOS 4.3.1

Points to be noted before proceeding further with the guide :

• Sn0wbreeze 2.4 supports ultraSn0w unlock for basebands (01.59.00 / 04.26.08 / 05.11.07 / 05.12.01 / 05.13.04 / 06.15.00).
• ultraSnow has no compatibility with the following bands (02.10.04 / 03.10.01 / 04.10.01 / 05.14.02 / 05.15.04).
• iPhone 3GS users will now be able to upgrade to 06.15.00 under the Unlocks section in Expert.
• You may loose your GPS if you upgrade your iPhone 3GS baseband to the 06.15.00 iPad basband.
• If your iPhone relies on an unlock then please do not update to the stock iOS 4.3.1 yet as there is no unlock available for it.
• Sn0wbreeze is a tethered iOS 4.3.1 jailbreak for the iPhone, iPad and the iPod Touch.

How to update iPhone 3GS to 06.15.00 baseband for unlock :

Unlocking your iPhone 3GS using ultraSn0w 1.2 requires it to be jailbroken with 06.15.00 baseband. A complete guide is available here (with PwnageTool) and here (for Redsn0w) to upgrade your iPhone 3GS baseband to 06.15.00 and jailbreak it on the iOS 4.1 or 4.2.1 before you begin following the below mentioned steps.

Step 1 :

• Jailbreak your iPhone 4 / 3GS using Sn0wbreeze  2.4 .
• Detailed step by step instructions are available here in order to jailbreak the iPhone 4, 3GS, iPod Touch 4G / 3G and the iPad running the latest iOS 4.3.1 firmware.

Step 2 :

On completion of the jailbreak process, you can now unlock your device on supported basebands using ultraSn0w 1.2 from Cydia :

• Start Cydia on your iPhone.
• Now touch on Manage tab located at the bottom.
• Next, touch on Sources.
• Touch on Edit and then Add.
• On being prompted to enter a url source, enter the following : http://repo666.ultrasn0w.com
• Now touch on Add Source.
• Cydia will automatically update all your sources by performing a series of automated steps.
• Once the installation is over, search for ultraSn0w 1.2 in Cydia and install the application.
• The application works automatically to unlock your iPhone so that you can use it on any carrier of your choice.

Step 3 :

Just perform a restart on your iPhone and that’s it. You now have a fully unlocked iPhone 4 / 3GS.

Here is a step by step tutorial helping you go through the jailbreaking process. Just follow the instructions below in order to jailbreak the iOS 4.3 GM on the iPhone 4.

Things that you will need :

• PwnageTool 4.2
• Access to iOS 4.3 GM firmware.
• iTunes 10.2
• MAC OS X.
• PwnageTool bundle for the iOS 4.3 GM.
• Universal Ramdisk Fixer.
• Tetheredboot utility.

Points to Note :

• Cydia fully works on the iOS 4.3 GM.
• The jailbreak is semi-tethered.
• Your baseband won`t get upgraded during the restore process.

Step 1 :

• Download the PwnageTool bundle for your version of the iOS device over here and extract the .zip file.
• On extracting you will find a .bundle file.
• Move this file to your desktop.

Step 2 :

• Download the PwnageTool 4.2 and copy it to the /Applications directory.
• Next, right-click and click on “Show Package Contents“.

Step 3 :

• Now navigate to Contents/Resources/FirmwareBundles/ and paste the .bundle file that you downloaded earlier in this location.

Step 4 :

• Download the Universal Ramdisk Maker and install it.

Step 5 :

• Download the iOS 4.3 GM firmware and move it to your desktop.

Step 6 :

• Start the PwnageTool by selecting the Expert mode followed by selecting your device.

Step 7 :

• Now select the iOS 4.3 GM firmware for your device by browsing for the location.

Step 8 :

• Click on Build to start creating the custom 4.3 firmware file.

Step 9 :

• The PwnageTool now creates the custom .ipsw file for the iPhone that will be jailbroken.

Step 10 :

• Close the PwnageTool once the custom firmware has been created.

Step 11 :

• Now start iTunes by clicking on you iOS device icon from the sidebar in iTunes.
• Press and hold the left alt (option) button on MAC or the left shift button if you are using the windows based keyboard.
• Click on Restore and then release the alt button.
• iTunes now comes up with a prompt to select the location of the custom firmware 4.3 file.
• Select the required .ipsw file created earlier and click on open.

That’s it, the rest of the procedure will be carried out now by iTunes involving a number of automated steps so please be patient while iTunes installs the new firmware 4.3 on your device. Once this is done, your device will be then jailbroken on the iOS 4.3.

Steps to boot in tethered mode :

As i mentioned earlier in this post that no untethered jailbreak solution has arrived yet for the iOS 4.3, you will have to boot in a tethered jailbroken state.

For this, you will be requiring a file named tetheredboot for the MAC OS X which is available here in .zip format.

Follow these steps for the booting procedure :

Step 1 :

• We will require 2 files from the custom iOS 4.3 GM firmware which are kernelcache.release.n90 and iBSS.n90ap.RELEASE.dfu.
• In order to get these files, first make a copy of the custom iOS 4.3 firmware that you created earlier and change its extension from .ipsw to .zip
• Now begin extracting this .zip file.
• Copy the kernelcache.release.n90 and iBSS.n90ap.RELEASE.dfu files which are located under /Firmware/dfu/
• Now move these files and the tetheredboot application to a new folder named “tetheredboot” on the desktop.

Step 2 :

• Turn off your device and start the terminal from the MAC OS X followed by running the following command :

sudo -s

• Next, enter your administrator password and after that type in :

/Users/Downloads/tetheredboot/tetheredboot

/Users/Downloads/tetheredboot/iBSS.n90ap.RELEASE.dfu

/Users/Downloads/tetheredboot/kernelcache.release.n90

• Now Press enter.

• You will be seeing some code running in the terminal window as well as it will be asking you to enter into DFU mode.

Please follow these steps to enter into DFU mode :

• Hold the Power and Home buttons for 10 seconds.
• Release the Power button but continue holding the Home button for another 10 seconds.
• Now your device should be in DFU mode.

Wait for the device to boot now. In the meantime, the terminal will be showing the message “Exiting libpoisOn“.

Your iPhone, iPad or iPod will now boot into a jailbroken tethered mode after a couple of minutes.

Happy jailbreaking once again fellows… !!!

Jailbreaking has become a sensation now a days right from the Play Station 3 to the Apple TV 2G and now the iPhone 3GS.

Here is one more jailbreaking tutorial for the iPhone 3Gs on the iOS 4.2.1. Please follow the below mentioned instructions in a step by step way to achieve jailbreaking success for your iPhone 3GS. The tool used in the entire procedure is the PwnageTool for the MAC system.

Step 1 :

• Make a folder by the name of Pwnage on your desktop.
• Download a copy of PwnageTool from this link. The file downloaded will be a torrent file, so make sure you have a torrent client such as utorrent or any other one installed on your system.
• Download the iPhone 4.2.1 firmware and save it to your Pwnage folder that you created.

Step 2 :

• Now double click the PwnageTool icon to mount it and then drag the icon into the Pwnage folder that you created.

• Now double click the PwnageTool icon from the folder to launch the application and click on OK if you receive a warning.

Step 3 :

• Select Expert Mode from the menu bar at the top.

Step 4 :

• Select your device from the list upon which a check-mark will occur on the selected device.
• Next, click the blue background arrow button located at the bottom right.

Step 5 :

• A menu with “Browse for IPSW…” appears.
• Click the “Browse for IPSW…” button.

• A pop-up window appears from which you are supposed to select your firmware that you downloaded, from the Pwnage folder.
• After selecting the firmware, click on Open.

Step 6 :

• Now a menu will be appearing with multiple choices.
• Under that, select the General option and then click on the blue background arrow button

• A General settings menu comes, which allows you to alter the Root partition size.
• Please put a check-mark on Activate the phone for a non-official activation or deselect it if your iPhone is genuinely activated. You can also select “Enable baseland update” to modify the baseland.
• On finalizing the settings click on the blue button.

• A Cydia settings menu appears that allows you to have custom packages in order to avoid manual installation of necessary items later.
• Click the Download packages tab.

• Next, click the Refresh button to display all the available packages.
• Double click the package you want to download an make it available in the Select packages tab.

• Under the Select packages tab, check-mark the ones you want followed by clicking the blue arrow button at the bottom right.

• Now the Custom packages settings menu appears listing the package settings for your custom IPSW.
• Leave these settings uninterrupted for the time being and click on the blue arrow button.

Step 7 :

• The Pwnage process is now ready to start.
• Click the Build button followed by the blue arrow button next.

Step 8 :

• Please save your custom .ipsw file to the Pwnage folder that you created on the desktop.

• The IPSW building process has now started, allow the process around 10 minutes to complete.

• Next you will be asked to enter your password, so enter the password and click on the OK button.

Step 9 :

• Please connect your iPhone to the computer once the IPSW building process is complete.
• On detecting your device, the PwnageTool will guide you through the entire procedure of putting in your iPhone in DFU mode.

• A messaage appears to hold the Power and Home buttons for 10 seconds, so do that.

• Next release the power button but continue holding the home button for another 10 seconds as guided on the screen.

• PwnageTool will prompt you to start iTunes the moment your iPhone gets in DFU mode.

Step 10 :

• After launching iTunes, hold the Alt/Option key and then click on Restore.

Step 11 :

• A new window appears asking you to choose a file.
• Go to the Pwnage folder on your desktop and select the custom IPSW that was created.
• Click the choose button.

Step 12 :

• The firmware will now be restored on your phone by iTunes, this might consume about 10 minutes.
• Once this is done, your iPhone will be rebooted into the jailbroken iOS 4.2.1.

Happy jailbreaking fellows….!!!!

Here is a short 10 minute tutorial briefing you with instructions on obtaining your address book. This guide is applicable for phones that are supported by 4 American carriers namely AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon and are having an active service on their present phone along with a gmail account (not required for Verizon wireless subscribers.)

Verizon Wireless Phones :

Transferring from an existing Verizon to a Verizon iPhone 4 is almost effortless. Verizon has a free program called Backup Assistant, so just register on Verzion`s website, install and run the application on your old phone first followed by the iPhone 4

Step 1 :

Register for the Backup Assistant application.

Step 2 :

Install it on your phone through the Get It Now store which is for feature phones or the App store for smartphones.

Step 3 :

Now load the software, log in and start backing up your contacts.

Step 4 :

Next, turn off the Wi-Fi radio on your iPhone 4 first as the application works only over a cell connection. Open the app store and install VZ Contact Manager. Now run this program and keep following the onscreen instructions.

Sprint Phones:

To transfer contacts from a Sprint feature phone, you will require a Sprint Mobile Sync and a gmail account. For a Sprint smartphone, only Google Sync is enough.

For Sprint Feature Phones :

Step 1 :

Register for Sprint Mobile Sync.

Step 2 :

Activate the software on your phone by navigating to Main Menu>Settings>Contacts>Mobile Sync>Activate.

Step 3 :

Now log in to Sprint Mobile Sync from your desktop computer and export all your contacts as .CSV file

Step 4 :

Log in to your gmail account and import the .CSV file

Step 5 :

Now install and run Google Sync on your iPhone 4.

For Sprint Smartphones :

All you need to do is just install and run Google Sync on your old phone first followed by installing and running it later on your iPhone 4.

AT&T  Phones :

For phones serviced by AT&T, if its a smartphone, the entire transfer process is free whereas a feature phone will be costing you around $1.99 for AT&T Mobile Backup.

For AT&T Feature Phones :

Step 1 :

Navigate to AT&T`s Mobile Backup Web Site which will be sending a link to your phone for installing the software.

Step 2 :

Load Mobile Backup from your phone and backup all your contacts.

Step 3 :

Log on to AT&T Mobile Backup from your desktop computer and export the contacts as  a .CSV file.

Step 4 :

Now log in to your gmail account and import the .CSV file.

Step 5 :

Lastly, install and run Google Sync on your iPhone 4.

For AT&T Smartphones :

Step 1 :

Install and run Google Sync on your old phone followed by the iPhone 4.

T – Mobile Phones :

Once again, transferring contacts from a smartphone is simpler whereas the same procedure becomes a bit more complex for a feature phone. The companies free contact backing software restricts you from exporting your contacts, but there is still a way to tackle this situation.

For T – Mobile Feature Phones :

Step 1 :

There is a preloaded application called Mobile Backup. Just load it and select “One Time Sync”.

Step 2 :

From your desktop computer, log on to the Mobile Backup Website and follow these instructions for exporting your contacts to a .CSV file.

Step 3 :

Log in to your gmail account and import the .CSV file.

Step 4 :

Now install and run Google Sync on your iPhone 4.

For T – Mobile Smartphones :

Just install and run Google Sync on your smartphone followed by the iPhone 4.

This could be a double-edged sword for Verizon since such an offering could attract a lot of users to sign up for their unlimited offering which is an attractive alternative to AT&T’s capped pricing structure. However, it is also worth noting that such an offering was primarily responsible for clogging the AT&T infrastructure – a problem that has afflicted Ma Bell’s network to this day.

It will be interesting to see how Verizon can cope up in a similar scenario.

The timing of this announcement is interesting considering that AT&T normally announces a drop in iPhone prices just a week or two ahead of new iPhone launches. It is possible that this move is being made ahead of the iPhone’s launch on Verizon that is speculated to happen in under a few weeks from now.

Consequently, a 16GB iPhone 4 will now cost £510 instead of the earlier £499. Also, the entry level iPad – the 16GB Wi-Fi only model – will now cost £439 instead £429. Prices of Apple’s iPod devices too will see an increase. The new starting prices for iPod Touch, iPod Classic, iPod nano and iPod Shuffle will now be £193, £197, £131 and £40 respectively.

A couple of domain names – iPhoneOnVerizon.com and iPhoneForVerizon.com seem to have been recently purchased by Verizon Wireless. The information comes courtesy the WhoIs records for these domain names that show Mark Monitor as the registrar with Verizon Trademark Services LLC as the registrant.

It may be noted that WhoIs records for domain names can be faked and hence this revelation is not entirely conclusive. Nevertheless, with rumors on a Verizon iPhone heating up, the latest revelation is quite interesting.