“So it’s come to this” I thought as I held down the white iPhone’s power button. A frustrating task because it took time, and any time not spent doing what I wanted was time wasted. I only had the bastard for a few days when all of a sudden its data feed died, going out while I I clamored to log in to Evernote before the moment to grab a picture passed before the moment to grab a picture passed. The 3G indicator was still on, but the cursed phone just sat there, miniature hamsters spinning away to no avail.

“Fuck you” I silently cursed, waiting a moment before I pressed the power button again to complete the reboot cycle. But it didn’t work as its wont to fail. A third press, this time longer, and the phone woke from its slumber. A full thirty seconds before it sprang back to life, but spring back it did with its data stream intact. I shrugged. “What causes such a strange 3G outage?” I wondered, as if my phone were a patient and I were its confused doctor.

I thought about how every phone I’ve owned has required reboots and shut-downs and airplane-mode cycles to fix various issues and stability problems. They’re like Windows PCs in the 90s, requiring a dozen reboots a week to keep the wheels greased and moving smoothly. As phones became more complicated and smart, so did the need to reboot them rise accordingly. That is, until the iPhone, when there was a noticeable drop in the frequency of such reboots. And now, my iPhone runs days, if not weeks, without needing to sleep, clamoring on with only the occasional hiccup.

“The value of a mobile device is inversely proportional to the frequency of its required reboots”, I concluded. One may wonder why such reboots are necessary at all, and why radio issues and platform stability can’t be addressed in a way that doesn’t force the user to lose a minute of their time on a boot sequence. And I wonder this too, but right now I’m busy capturing a scene into Evernote.

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The iPhone 4 is indeed a great phone, and Shawn Blanc summarizes how he uses the phone quite nicely over at his blog. In contrast, here’s our take.

Unlike Shawn, we were a gadget-junky for phones for much longer. We started on the original Sprint cell phone back when they only had a single model, then moved to a much smaller model before switching from Sprint to T-Mobile. On our new provider, we picked up a Sony Ericsson T610, which we kept for quite awhile before getting a Sidekick 3. Our last phone on T-Mobile was the original iPhone, which we used until the 3GS was released, prompting our move to AT&T. After the release of the iPhone 4, we upgraded again. Since at least 2004, we’ve also carried a Nextel and a several models of Blackberry phones for work, so we’re certainly well acquainted with what’s out there.¹

We’ll echo Shawn’s comment about the iPhone 4 being our best phone to date. To be fair, it’s not the phone we used the most², or even the smartphone we used the most.³ But it’s the most feature-rich phone, and not just on paper. That is to say, it has the most features that we use:

• We also carry the iPhone 4 case-free for the most part. Typically, we slide it into a microcloth baggy, but we stopped using Apple’s bumper awhile ago. We dropped the phone a couple times, and there’s a small dent in one order, but otherwise the phone has proven its durability. Cases and bumpers really take away from the phone’s aesthetics, and the size is too perfect to alter with a clunky enclosure. By far, this is the most beautiful mobile device has ever shipped, and if the renderings of the iPhone 5 out there are accurate, we think the iPhone 4 will hold onto this title for another year.

• We disagree that the battery life is great. Maybe for stand-by use, but not if you’re actively using the phone. That’s not to say that the iPhone 4′s battery is worse than the competition, because we don’t believe that’s true but merely that the state of batteries in the modern mobile space simply isn’t that great. When we’re using the internet, or the GPS, for a couple hours, the battery life really takes a hit, so on days we’re traveling that the phone gets real use, it’s dead before the day ends. Thank god for car chargers. But Shawn is correct in saying that on a typical day, the iPhone doesn’t need a charge until we hit the sack,

• The camera is indeed great. It’s the only one we typically use, and we’re more likely to ignore our more expensive Lumix when we travel just because of how easy it is to snap pictures with the iPhone. Plus, we love our novelty photo apps like Hipstamatic. The iPhone camera is the perfect compromise of portability and quality, and if the iPhone 5′s camera is another major improvement, then that alone practically justifies an upgrade. Thanks in part to the flash, the iPhone 4 is the first phone that we religiously use as a camera. Before this, we didn’t bother much with phone cameras on account of the resulting picture quality.

• The retina display is indeed awesome. We notice it more often when we have a few minutes to spare somewhere and load up iBooks. Compared to reading on the iPad, the iPhone 4 reading experience is simply beautiful. We were so-so on the idea of upgrading our iPad 2 if the only major improvement was a retina display, but now we’re not so sure.

Will we upgrade to the iPhone 5? If money were no object, then certainly yes. But better camera aside, we’re not so sure just yet, because as great as the iPhone 4 is, a chunk of our iOS use has been taken up by the iPad, so whereas pre-iPad the iPhone received an enormous amount of use, a lot of the stuff we used our iPhone for in the past is no longer a function of our phone.

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When Deutsche Bank’s Chris Whitmore claimed Apple would release a second iPhone model, we considered it just another random claim. After all, people have been saying for years that Apple would release an iPhone variant model, be it smaller than the original, or otherwise watered down. John Gruber weighed in on the claim and considers it a matter of fact; to Gruber, a second iPhone is just a matter of time.

Examine the history of the iPod to see how this will play out. They’ll press technologically at the high end, and they’ll expand into the mid-range market with lower priced models. Why not now?

The difference with the iPod is that all the iPod models did the same thing: they played mp3s. Some had larger storage options than others (just as the iPhone already does), but functionally they were all equal. The biggest difference between them, and still today, is storage, which comes down to a matter of form factor choice, not features. The only reason the iPod Shuffle lacks features (a visual screen) is because the form factor takes precedence. Just look at the iPod lineup today. The choice boils down to how much music you want at your fingertips, and how small you need your music player to be. The only exception here is the iPod Touch, which is the exception because it’s a phone-less iPhone; if storage costs weren’t an issue, then the Touch would replace the iPod Classic without consideration.

Taking the iPhone along a road similar to the iPod is problematic because the success of the iPhone isn’t in the core phone software. That is to say, the iPhone, unlike the iPod, is not a one-trick pony. It does a lot of things well, whereas the iPod did one primary thing well: play mp3s. This means the iPhone experience can’t be replicated by watering the device down and selling it for cheap, because customers will still want the iPhone experience, which means downloading, and using, all the same apps that other iPhone users have. That means the hardware needs to stay pretty much the same in every iPhone sold, which means the form factor can’t be tweaked too much.

Cellular telephone carriers have had success in selling older iPhone models for cheaper prices, this much is true. That’s because the features these devices offered weren’t too far different from the features available in the latest iPhone. So long as Apple rolls out the next iOS version and doesn’t abandon last year’s iPhones, everyone gets to play with the latest apps, even if there’s slight degradation in performance.¹ So Apple could just keep up production of last year’s iPhone when a new version comes out, and use that as a lower-cost alternative. But beyond that, there’s not much Apple can do to offer a next-gen, low-cost iPhone without cutting too many experiential features. Nixing things like the camera, gyroscope, or GPS would detract from the iPhone experience, and Apple wants to maintain consistency of user experience as much as possible across their lineup, which is why the only alternative versions of the iPhone we’ve seen to date have been storage or carrier based.

Moving to a smaller form factor doesn’t make much of a difference either; Apple would still need to cram all the latest technology into a smaller package, with maybe the only fair trade-off being storage. But that likely wouldn’t make up for the cut in price, and graphically, the device would have to fit at least the original iPhone’s resolution into a smaller screen. Not to mention, who’s complaining that the iPhone is too big? It made sense for Apple to offer smaller (and lighter) iPods for those wanting to take their tunes into the gym or on the trail, but the iPhone is a different beast.²

Maybe Apple will brand a totally different phone as an iPhone lite, but why would it sacrifice the very things that make the iPhone awesome just to sell a phone that’s cheaper? If carriers can sell the iPhone 3GS for $50 with a two-year contract, then Apple can figure out a way to keep up production of older iPhones models for another year or two just to make sales to those who still can’t afford a new iPhone. But for the time being, don’t expect “lite”, “mini”, or “nano”-like branding for a future iPhone variant.

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The iPhone case frenzy has officially become retarded, thanks to entries like Snow Peak’s new titanium cover. Not only does it come in at $120, but it degrades cellular reception.

But it’s the desire to encase every gadget in plastic or metal that has us really confused, and it’s a bandwagon we found ourselves on after we replaced our 2G iPhone with a 3GS. Previously, we never seriously thought about getting a case for any of our devices, from prior cell phones to notebook computers. We did at some time use cell phone holsters, but never a full case. Why add unnecessary bulk to a device that’s already not too comfortable in a front pocket?

Apple’s changed their iPhone design to make cases less important, but people don’t seem to get this. From Gizmodo’s report on the aforementioned Snow Peak cover:

The cover slides on the back and is designed to protect the glassy exterior from scratches, dents and dings.

The whole point of the glassy exterior of the iPhone, outside of an aesthetic design note, is that glass doesn’t dent or ding. So really, what these cases do is protect the glass from scratching ¹, which while possible, is much less likely than if the exterior were made of plastic or metal. Really, the only areas of the iPhone 4 that can get dinged or dented are the antenna and plastic around the edge of the device. Apple’s so confident that typical use-induced abrasions are a non-factor with the iPhone 4 that their official “case”, the iPhone bumper, adds minimal bulk by merely elevating the glass exterior a small amount from any surface the iPhone is set down on. Arguably, the bumper does more to combat people’s antennagate conspiracies than serve as actual protection for the device, because the latter isn’t much of a concern. Who’s setting their iPhone down on sharp, jaggy surfaces, anyway?

We didn’t buy a case for our iPhone 4. We did get the free bumper, and did use it for a short while. Ultimately, we took it off because the bumper made docking the iPhone more difficult in our car, and ultimately we remembered what we did with our iPhone 2G: keep the phone in a microfiber pouch. It’s a pouch we scavenged from an old pair of Oakley sunglasses, and the pouch keeps the iPhone mostly smudge-free. When that cleaning doesn’t happen automatically, at least we have a microfiber cloth on-hand for dealing with that, and it’s also useful when we’re out and about with our sunglasses that also tend to get dirty. The best part is that this adds even less bulk than the bumper, and it’s far more useful.

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The Washington Post reports that the government is adopting high tech devices faster than in the past, but is missing a key element to the equation: security. That’s not to say that there isn’t always a security concern when it comes to newer technology, but the devices we’re talking about are wireless in nature, and that’s where things get messy. It’s one thing to go from Windows to OS X, or even the Blackberry to the iPhone, but when we’re dealing with government policies that restrict use of wireless devices for classified work, then you can forget about seeing government Operators using an iPad to take notes during interviews, or snapping pictures of a bad guy with a government-issued iPhone. These are both examples of how the government could be more efficient in terms of how it gets the job done, and how much money could be saved long-term by consolidating devices and materials, but ultimately, examples with little real-world merit.

It’s because devices like the iPhone and iPad, whose AppStore libraries are enormous and already aid thousands of people with work tasks already, make use of programs that haven’t passed scrutiny by government security experts. And even if the apps somehow did pass such scrutiny, the fact that these devices are capable of transmitting data wirelessly means that they’re already banned from use in classified contexts, and why they can’t even enter a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) where highly classified information is typically handled and kept. That’s why government computers held in a SCIF lack wifi capabilities, and when procured, must have respective hardware removed before going online. And naturally, they can never connect to an open network, for fear of their contents being transmitted to unintended recipients.

And it’s not just wifi that’s the problem, either. Pretty much any device that’s able to record audio, take pictures, or even tether to a desktop to exchange information is a no-go in a SCIF. Which doesn’t leave many devices for consideration outside the staple pad-and-paper.

So for iOS devices, or similar smart phones and tablets, to be used by Shady Land’s most sensitive Operators, several things would need to happen, all of which are highly unlikely:

1. Variants of devices would need to be manufactured that do not include hardware like cameras, microphones, wifi transmitters, etc.
2. An infrastructure would need to be put in place to push approved apps to all such variant devices.
3. Some mechanism would need to be put in place to transfer information between the device and a classified computer, so as to download information from the device to SCIF-housed computers.

Mind you, current-gen devices could be used by Operators that don’t need to enter a SCIF. The only obstacle in this scenario is the determination by some individual that every app utilized by an Operator is without major security concern, such that information gathered by the Operator is not clandestinely exfiltrated from the device wirelessly.

While the Washington Post paints a pretty picture of the government picking up their pace when it comes to high-tech, the reality is a little different, with bureaucratic obstacles in place, and legitimate security concerns slowing down adaptation considerably. The press is quick to point out that the President himself uses an iPad, but it wasn’t long ago that he was required to get a secure Blackberry in order to conduct business. In reality, the iPad he’s using is not intended for use with any classified information, and is likely more of a personal toy than it is a workhorse for national security matters. It’s a shame that such devices can’t be used in classified situations yet, but hopefully someone’s exploring a way for us to get there.

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Catching up on weekend news reveals quite a number of blog posts concerning the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger, with arguments being made both for and against. But why does anyone care if the merger happens? We’re not saying that the merger would necessarily be good for the industry, but we’re far from saying it’d be bad, either.

We love T-Mobile. We were loyal customers for years, and when T-Mobile didn’t offer the iPhone in 2007, we stayed with them anyway. When jailbreak/unlocking tools were available, we picked up an iPhone and ran it on T-Mobile with much satisfaction. We held out this way playing the jailbreak cat-and-mouse game up until the iPhone 3GS was released, when we finally decided that EDGE was too slow for us and that a better camera and GPS were enough to sway the boat in AT&T’s favor. In all respects though, other than the speed improvements, our switch to AT&T meant more dropped calls and a slightly larger service area (noticeable to us on a practical level), but by far the greatest effect on us was that T-Mobile effectively became a non-factor in the wireless game.

They’re still a non-factor; they don’t offer the iPhone. Without going into a pro or anti bend regarding Android, let’s just come to terms with the fact that the iPhone is the pre-emptive mobile device and has been for almost four years; for those of you who love your Android devices, more power to you, but you have a second-fiddle device (and that’s not a bad thing: it’s just a fact that the iPhone offers more apps and is at least perceived as a friendlier device for mass-consumption).

Right now, Verizon is the bigger wireless beast between it and AT&T. With a T-Mobile merger behind it, AT&T swaps places with Verizon. Big deal. At the end of the day, it doesn’t change the fact that AT&T and Verizon are still the largest wireless monsters in the country, with lowly Sprint still sitting at the number three table wishing they could eat with the big boys. T-Mobile subscribers, meanwhile, get the iPhone. They get access to a larger network and the shining star of mobile devices. Let them have their cake without pissing about whether AT&T grabs another 10% market share or not.

Those of you crying that this is bad for innovation: T-Mobile lost that game when it had to rely on Windows Mobile and Android devices. These wireless providers aren’t creating devices themselves, anyway. They just make deals with manufacturers and occasionally throw their own branding on new gadgets. The innovation in this space is handled by Apple, Google, Microsoft, RIM, et al. All these telecoms are doing is providing a network for devices to run on. The innovation the telecoms control is in speed, availability, and pricing, and T-Mobile’s already fallen behind on the first two. If they can gain those and somehow influence AT&T in the third, it’s a win for everyone involved.

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While we may not think that the 4G iPhone is an enormous upgrade, it’s all about the cameras, and that’s specifically the area we’re hooked on. So for some 5 megapixel camera love (plus flash and HD video recording), the new iPhone has us interested. We bought the 3GS upon release, so we should be eligible for the discounted upgrade, but… we’re not.

We pre-ordered our iPhone 3GS to replace our 2G iPhone on T-Mobile, activating it on day one of 3GS availability. About half a year later, we converted our plan to a family plan, and then added a line for our girlfriend. There was also some hooplah about converting the plan to be region-free, since we both ported numbers from different area codes. During all this reshuffling, her phone somehow became the “primary” number on the account, which was inconsequential until today.

When we checked to see if our phone was eligible for the discounted upgrade, we were told it wasn’t, and that we would have to wait until February. The second line we added, however, even though activated half a year later, was already eligible, even though the reverse should be true. Apparently, AT&T can’t fix this in the system, because even if they switch the original phone back to be the primary, that switch alone causes a three-month penalty for future upgrades. So because AT&T didn’t set things up the way initially requested (presumably because it was easier for the salesperson who set up our second phone), I now can’t upgrade at the lowest cost possible. Why AT&T can’t simply swap upgrade eligibility between phones remains a mystery, considering that both phones are on the same plan, billed to the same person.

For us, this is a major complaint against AT&T, especially since the customer sales representative we spoke to today had major attitude when we politely addressed the issue and the reason for our dissatisfaction. This from a company we’ve defended from daily onslaught by other iPhone users. Thanks, AT&T. You have one more year from us, and then you better hope you’re still the only US iPhone carrier.

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One of the common quips about the iPad is that it’s nothing more than a “large iPod Touch.” It’s a statement the naysayers are fond of making, along with those who lash out at anything made by Apple as though Microsoft were still the only developer putting out a useful, solid operation system anymore; it’s not 1999, people.

We’ve now had an iPad since Friday, the day the 3G iPads were released, and we’re quite happy with it as a replacement for our now-sold 17″ Macbook Pro. We’ve fielded numerous questions, but the most common is, “Why would someone want an iPad?” And that’s a loaded question, because it comes with a pre-established bias. But let’s answer it anyway: “Maybe you don’t. Not everyone would.”

That answer isn’t side-stepping the argument, either. The reality is, if you’re already happy with an existing portable computer, or you don’t need a portable computer in the first place, then the iPad isn’t for you, just as a roadster isn’t the ideal car for a family of four. If you’re in the market for a portable computer, however, and what you need it to do is the same thing 99% of computer users need a computer for, then the iPad fits the bill splendidly. It’s a fantastic entertainment and news device, is great for writing, and the distribution system for apps makes the iPad a headache-free device which you won’t need to reformat every six months because something’s broken.

And for techies who need the latest and greatest, and have the disposable income to make that need a reality, then the iPad is an obvious choice over an existing sub-notebook: it’s snappier, has a great app library w/associated distribution system, has a longer battery life, and has a data connection built in.

With four days of iPad use behind us, we’re not disappointed with the device at all, and look forward to the benefits that OS 4.0 will bring later this year. One side-effect of using the iPad, however, is our changed perception of using the iPhone. Quite simply, the iPhone no longer feels as revolutionary, or as spectacular, as before. Indeed, we’re making an effort to not run iPhone apps on the iPad, because most simply don’t look great when scaled up. That’s not to say that the iPhone still isn’t the best smartphone on the market, but merely that the iPhone now feels more like a phone with cool features, and less like a backup computing device; the iPhone feels almost cluttered now, what with its dense app icon distribution on the SpringBoard, and the lack of “whitespace” in apps.

In this respect, the iPad has set for the computing industry a new standard. What early, greyscale sub-notebooks were to their later, more powerful notebook brethren, the iPod Touch is to the iPad. In other words, the iPad isn’t a big iPod Touch, in much the same way the modern Mini Cooper isn’t just a bigger version of the old Mini. Yes, there are keen visual similarities, but one was effectively a prototype for the other. In the end, the Touch is a smaller, more restricted version of the iPad, which is a more apt description if any can be made, and it pinpoints the answer to the aforementioned question as to why one would want an iPad: early iPod adopters didn’t ask why they should pick up an iPod instead of one of the many non-Apple mp3 players on the market. Rather, the reason was obvious: the iPod was better, not because it offered much more functionality, but because it was highly polished. Those who didn’t see this would end up buying an iPod a year or three later. Same with the iPad: if you don’t get it now, just wait a couple years when the early-adopters have made the reasoning all to clear.

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While we brought the Joo Joo up in passing, Rob Enderle proclaimed that the former CrunchPad could crush the market for tablet computing, thereby souring Apple’s entrance into the market altogether. The only problem with his assertion is that the Apple tablet isn’t the same beast as the Joo Joo, and to say that the latter will quell consumer desire for the iTablet is like saying that Motorola’s Razr savaged the Apple iPhone.

Enderle is really comparing apples to oranges (no pun intended); all of these non-Apple products are extremely limited: the Kindle is first and foremost an eBook reader, the Razr is just a cellphone, and the Joo Joo is a web-surfing tool. For those like Enderle who still don’t get it, the Joo Joo is a one-trick pony. It’s not a media monster running iTunes, it isn’t a keyboard-less computer with the capacity to run OS X applications, and it certainly doesn’t have the potential packing of the print industry to push forward with digital distribution of magazines and newspapers.

Most consumers probably haven’t even heard of the Joo Joo and its developer, Fusion Garage. The Joo Joo will cost $500, and for what’s probably just twice that, users will be able to own an Apple-polished product that does significantly more. So even if news of the Joo Joo does trickle down to the average computer user, we’re not so sure anyone’s going to care, especially once Apple announces their own tablet (which will be an actual computer and not just a web-browser).

But what can we expect from a tech analyst with such stunning gems as this:

[It] sounds way to close to JewJew with implications that could offend a wide variety of buyers…

You’re right, Enderle, that’s what’s going to make the Joo Joo fail.

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Since we picked up an iPhone 3GS a couple months back, our jailbroken/unlocked 2G iPhone has been sitting on a shelf collecting dust, as though a forgotten relic in the battle against Big Apple. Now forced to use AT&T, which drops calls at an alarming rate compared to our experience with the 2G iPhone on T-Mobile, we’re still happy with our service overall, if only because the iPhone user experience, occasional dropped call or not, is still better than using any other cellular phone in the United States. Yes, that’s how great the iPhone 3GS is, and why Apple’s market dominance in this area continues to swell.

That said, the iPhone isn’t perfect, and one of the imperfect things about it is the fact that Big Apple is doing its damndest to keep the iPhone user experience consistent, and in doing so, limiting the types of applications that developers can release in the AppStore. Now, admittedly, the need to jailbreak an iPhone in order to run third-party “homebrew” applications is no longer what it was when we first decided to hack our 2G iPhone two years ago. Quite simply, the AppStore has evolved into a pretty nice store, with a great selection of apps that do most everything we need to. And where it doesn’t offer a particular app that we’d like it to, in most every case, that kind of app isn’t available in Cydia either. That is, except for three that we consider must-haves, two of which we mentioned in our mendax.iphone article. Specifically, we’re talking about Backgrounder (which lets us run any application in the background), SBSettings (a quick way to toggle settings on/off), and the more recent GV Mobile (the infamous Google Voice client).

While our experience using GV Mobile hasn’t been flawless (the app crashes consistently when changing forwarding numbers), an update is on its way. With no word on whether Apple will ultimately approve or deny the official Google Voice app, GV Mobile is our only hope for using Google Voice on our iPhone today. Having access to SBSettings again is a fresh walk down memory lane, and significantly reduces the need for us to jump into Settings to enter airplane mode, as we can now easily turn off select services when we need to save some battery life. Plus, we can now disable everything except wireless, which is nice if we want to use, say, Virgin America’s in-flight wireless (even though, realistically, we’ll almost always have our MacBook Pro with us for such trips). But Backgrounder, assuming it works as well as it did on our 2G iPhone, is the cornerstone of the must-have jailbreak scene. Finally, we can keep Pandora running while switching to Google Maps (or a GPS application), or keep active any other audio programs while fiddling with whatever other apps we need to.

But enough about why we decided to jailbreak again. Let’s get back to how. While the process for jailbreaking is amazingly easy these days for older iPhones, the 3GS has been a different story. Until very recently, jailbreaking tools developed by the iPhone Dev-Team didn’t work on the 3GS. Even now that they do, how to upgrade a non-jailbroken 3.0.x iPhone 3GS to 3.1 and put a jailbreak in place isn’t a solution readily advertised. Even the guides at iClarified aren’t entirely accurate. After spending too many hours this past weekend figuring it all out, it’s time to share our procedure.

1. Obviously, back up your iPhone and sync it with iTunes before you begin.
2. If you haven’t already, download the 3.1 iPhone update via iTunes, but don’t install it.
3. If you no longer have it, download the 3.0.0 iPhone update. The iClarified guide says you can alternately use the 3.0.1 update, but it did not work for us.
4. Jump into a terminal window, and type the following commands:

   cd /etc/
   sudo pico hosts

   You’ll have to input your admin password at this point, after which you’ll be in a simple text editor window. Use the arrow keys to get down to the bottom of the document, and add the following line at the end:

   74.208.105.171 gs.apple.com

   Hit Ctrl+X to exit, press Y to save, and hit return to overwrite the old hosts file. What this step does is redirect iTunes to a jailbreak-friendly server for firmware updates, instead of relying on Apple’s servers to control which firmware updates you’re allowed to receive and use on the iPhone.
5. Download redsn0w v0.8 and run it. You’ll be prompted for the 3.0 firmware file. Follow the prompts, and at the end of the redsn0w process, you’ll have a jailbroken 3.0.0 iPhone 3GS.
6. Now, download PwnageTool 3.1.3. Run it, and click on the expert mode icon. Select the 3GS icon, and proceed with the program. Make sure the program uses the 3.1 firmware update. Refer to Step Six of this second iClarified guide. If you are an AT&T subscriber, ensure that “Activate the phone.” remains unchecked. If you check this box, you will be unable to get new carrier settings from iTunes. Also, it’s not likely that you need to mess with the partition size, so don’t worry about it.
7. You can follow the rest of the iClarified guide, but don’t worry about putting your iPhone in restore mode. Instead, once PwnageTool is done and has output a custom 3.1 firmware package, jump into iTunes, hold down the option key, and click on the Restore button from the iPhone screen. You will be prompted for a firmware update: choose the custom firmware file, and let iTunes do the rest. When your iPhone finally reboots, it will be jailbroken, and Cydia/Icy will be installed.
8. You can now sync the phone from your last backup to restore all your old apps and such. You’ll also be prompted for the 5.5 AT&T carrier file, which you’ll need to install to enable MMS.

At this point, you’ll have a fully-jailbroken iPhone 3GS running at the latest firmware revision. Jump into Cydia and install jailbroken apps to your hearts content!

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