It's been three days since the iPhone descended from the skies on a beam of heavenly light, and already the kids are making progress in the race to convert the locked device into an open hardware platform.
Last week, we asked you what application you'd most like to see once the iPhone is successfully hacked. The official Compiler vote is in, with the top three choices being the freedom to use any song as a ringtone, the flexibility of an unlocked SIM card and the ability to record incoming and outgoing calls. Other notables from the want list: a real IM client instead of the silly SMS option, a real web browser with plug-in support and a VoIP client a la Skype.
Well, the herds are busy getting their hands dirty, and it's only a matter of time before the slim cell phone is re-imagined as the device everyone wants it to be -- a customizable Unix-powered hand-held. Let's track the progress so far.
- The iPhone's root password has supposedly been cracked, but at this early hour, the efficacy of the crack is being questioned. [Hackint0sh]
- Here's a workaround for solving that "ineligible phone number" error during activation which prevents some Verizon users from porting their existing phone number over to the iPhone. [Apple Insider]
- The iPhone's OS system restore image is available as a downloadable (but password protected) zip file. [Hackint0sh]
- A de-bug mode -- possibly with command line functionality -- has been found in the firmware directory. [Hackint0sh]
- A "tv-out" listing appears in the device tree, implying that the iPhone has the capability to be hooked up to an external display. [Hackint0sh]
You'll notice from the links above that many of these hacks have been appearing on Hackint0sh. Track the progress there, as well as on the iPhone Dev Wiki. There's also an extensive rundown of the iPhone's guts over at EETimes.
If you feel more inclined to just work within the device's limitations by building webapps to run in the iPhone's implementation of the Safari web browser, then ground zero for you is the upcoming iPhone Dev Camp, which is being held this weekend at Adobe's San Francisco office.
