well here are the screenshots I got from my apple iPhone 3G, during one of my drives in Alexandria, Egypt. GPS is great, and couldn't believe the results I got especially in Egypt. This proves that apple, did some hard work, and good team-work too with Google. And if it worked in Egypt, then .......... you know .......... it works anywhere !!
Picture-1 : Waiting in traffic.
Picture 2/3: You can see Alexandria Bibliotheque on the upper left.
Picture 4/5: Driving to Alexandria's lovely Beach-side.
Picture 6-10: Driving along Alexandria's lovely Beach-side.
Picture 11/12: Stanley Bridge - On the other side.
Picture 13: In front of Mercure Hotel.
Picture 14-17: Driving to Alexandria's lovely Beach-side.
Picture 18/19: El-Hurraya Street - Abu-Keir.
Picture 20: Entering Zizenia - Signal Weakening.
How did you use Gps while itis banned in egypt ??!!
ReplyDeleteThat's what they say. GPS can't be banned anywhere. It's like digital satellite channels, can they ban these signals/channels. If they could, why wasn't anybody able to ban the unnecessary explicit channels?
ReplyDeleteSo actually GPS reception can be anywhere, all you need is the device in your hand, and how to use it. Regarding the iPhone 3G and its GPS capability, I got it from the US and unlocked it. While the versions sold in Egypt consists of the GPS hardware, but it's locked in the firmware, i.e. the software that is responsible of the GPS, and all communications chips. So who got it from Egypt will need some help with such an unlock, if someone reaches to it.
I'm planing to buy an iphone 3g from vodafone soon , is there a way that would make me able to use the GPS??
ReplyDeleteWell, till now I can't find much information on the iPhone 3G sold in Egypt. Not many are buying it, and who bought it, isn't sharing any data about it. Maybe they're getting it because it's just an expensive phone, but it's not. That's why apple was sooooo direct and simple, when they called it the iPhone - intelligent phone {Another word for smart-phone, but INTELLIGENT is smarter than SMART}.
ReplyDeleteAnyway not to get off the subject, I need resources to search for such an unlock, or even work on it, I need to see it by myself maybe. So I'm planning to do that one day soon. Anyway, the only thing - for now - I can help you on, is unlocking it, using sim-unlock method, which is what I'm using since a long time on my iPhone 3G. And as you can see on my blog, I updated too soon to 2.2, without any problems, and working on both Mobinil, and Vodafone.
So as a conclusion, for now you can't use GPS, but you can just get a view of the location you're in, since the software also uses something call position triangulation through cell towers. So for example, if you are in top of the pyramids, if GPS was unlocked, when you open Google maps on the iPhone, you’ll find a blue dot on top of the pyramid. But in the locked version, you’ll only find a big blue circle reaching till El-Haram street. So of course the precision is much higher in the unlocked version. Wish us luck that an Egyptian will get to unlock it, before anyone else, or we won’t look that good.
thanx for the useful info and i wd like to ask something else ... is jailbreaking would allow me to use more than one sim?? or it just allows me to download lots of apps but nothing more??
ReplyDeleteJailbreaking, is just giving you administrator rights on your iPhone. In other words, if you log into windows, through a guest account, the operating system will prevent you from viewing, editing system files, setting-up programs, etc. This is due to the limited privileges given to the guest account. While the administrator account, gives him full access to much everything. So Jailbreaking is giving you the right and full control to do mostly anything with the iPhone. But of course that might void the warranty, cause it might be risky, and damage "somehow" the iPhone.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the unlocking, of course it needs a jailbroken phone in the first place. Unlocking the phone, is by editing not only the OS {Operating System}, but also the firmware on the chip responsible of the communication {they call it baseband most of the time}. So by unlocking the phone, the baseband will be open to work on any carrier, regardless what it is. Right now, there’re two major unlocks.
1-The hardware sim-unlock, which acts as a converter between the iPhone and the baseband, tricking it, that it's on the same carrier that the iPhone is locked on. So if you got the iPhone from the US, as in my case, and used it in Egypt, using the sim-unlock. The sim-unlock will trick the baseband, as if you're using AT&T, although it's just Mobinil. And this is the only available unlock for the iPhone 3G right now. If you need any help on that, email me.
2-The software unlock, which changes the firmware on the communication chip, giving it the option, not to look to a specific carrier. This is still in the way for the iPhone 3G, and is taking sometime, to be hacked. But the iPhone 2G is fully un-lockable right now.
Hi my dear,
ReplyDeleteActually I have just mailed you, I got the 3G from MoBinil and it was my worst ever decisions, it's locked phone, GPS is disabled (I know the HW is still there) it's also upgraded to 2.2 so I can't use the windows version of Quick PWN. So I'm unlucky, I don't know if you
can see a light at the end of the tunnel, because I'm really sad that I got this phone from here :(
You can mail me back by my ID on the blog
@Brave Heart,
ReplyDeleteYep, got your email, and replied to your query.
Hopefully, we can search for light together. I want to understand if you were the one who upgraded to 2.2, coz the FW was released after the iPhone reached Egypt. And even in the US you'll find most of the iPhones still on 2.0 and fewer are on 2.1, but none on 2.2.
Another correction, QuickPWN totally works on 2.2, the latest version does, and the PWNage tool too.
@moro4u , 1st of all your blog is pretty interesting and I hope you keep up helping us more in this field ...
ReplyDeleteI've taken the decision to buy an iphone , but I've some questions ...
will it be a good idea to buy a vodafone locked iphone from here , jailbreak it and lose my warranty and wait for a solution for the GPS issue??
or wait till i find a way to get it from italy or Australia for example where it would be officially unlocked and enjoy GPS ..but in the same time I'll lose the data plans offered by vodafone and of course no warranty ....
also I wanna ask ... do you have an idea whether I'd pay any taxes or costum fees if i buy an officially unlocked iphone through ebay or internet generally ??
thanx
@Dr. Mido,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your flattering comment -:)
1- First of all, in Egypt the iPhone is more expensive, for the 16 GB you get it for $825, while in the US you pay $300 + Cancellation Fee=$530, and both of them are locked, plus the US version has GPS working.
2- The warranty is not a guaranteed issue, you might know what I mean, the most popular word here is MISUSE, and sorry we can't change it for you FREE, you'll have to pay.
While in the US, I have a friend who changed it twice with a brand new one, coz he broke the sim tray while inserting the sim card, IMAGINE the misuse here!!!!
3- Add to that the iPhone customer support needs a lot of training, coz it's not a Nokia. Of course they'll get a hell of training here, right??
4- Jailbreaking is not that obvious, you can always restore your iPhone before going back to where you bought it. And in the worst case, if it got BRICKED, they will never know it was jailbroken. Coz when an iPhone gets bricked, it totally freezes and stops booting correctly.
5- Who said GPS doesn't have a solution? To Be Continued in my upcoming posts!!!
6- The advantages of course will be that you'll find some support, and of course it will work with one carrier smoothly, hopefully that is!!
7- If you plan to get from Italy, Australia, Honk Kong, BEWARE, the officially unlocked iPhones are not ALL officially. And that's one of the reasons apple introduced the new baseband firmware update. Some of these phones, has a small sim unlock, ex. TurboSim soldered inside the iPhone, so when you insert any sim, it works with any carrier. But not because it's officially unlocked, but due to the sim unlock. The new firmware prevents this trick from occurring. That's why there are rumors around the net, that FW 2.2 locks some of the officially unlocked phones. And Apple never said anything or replied, coz THEY know the TRUTH!
To check if any iPhone is officially unlocked or not, you have to compare the Model from the Settings --> General --> About with this link:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1937
8- The carriers’ packages are not that impressive; it just gives you more data for free or less price, not a big deal!
9- If you don’t have someone to help getting the iPhone from somewhere else, then get it with extra money from Egypt. If you trust someone to get it from the previously mentioned countries that will be great. But my advice is to make sure in can be updated to FW 2.2, and baseband 2.28, without any problems, coz that will guarantee it is officially unlocked. Plus you can use the above attached link to compare its model no., to the country you bought it from, and if it’s officially unlocked or not. You can jailbreak it, and we can help you unlocking it {at least by using a hardware unlock method}, and activate the GPS too, and installing a lot of lovely apps, and games.
10- The last point, through eBay, there’s no tax paying, since the price includes it most of the time, if not mentioned. If there are any taxes, it will be mentioned, but usually it’s only included when you get it from a specific apple store, or any other store.
thanx so much Moro4u for all this helping info ...you really cleared lots of things to me ....
ReplyDeletei guess I shall buy it frm here ...and i'll wait for your ways to unlock the GPS ...
and really thanx so much :)
You Dont Used Egyptian Sim ( Vodafone or Mobinil )
ReplyDeleteIf You Used it , When You Active Your Iphone The Gps Will Disable
LOL !!!!!
ReplyDeleteThat's what Apple {Haneeem!} wants you to believe.
Anyway, the egyptian Carrier name {Menawaraaa } on the top left, and the blue dot {GPS} appearing beside the very well-known Alexandria Library.
You can activate the GPS by one of the following ways:
1- Using a reliable Sim-Unlock, Ex. Yessim, turboSim, etc...
2- Using the software exploit already discussed in this blog.
Goto: Great News Everyone - Happy New Year with the Totally Unlocked iPhone 3G --------- on 17-December-2008