T-Mobile G1 Updated to RC30, No More Jailbreak, No Weird Bugs

Google sure does act pretty fast when it’s concerning their baby Android huh? Only a few days after we first reported that the T-Mobile G1 has been ‘jailbroken’ and allowed root access to the phone, Google has come good with an update (build RC30) that prevents this from happening.

Google speaks:

We’ve been notified of this issue (Jailbreaking of Android) and have developed a fix. We’re currently working with our partners to push the fix out and updating the open source code base to reflect these changes.

 

Over at the Android Central Headquarters, we’ve already received the fix OTA and have been rocking RC30 for over a day now. The RC30 update also fixes that very weird bug that would reboot the phone every time you type r-e-b-o-o-t. Tell us if you got it!

[Gizmodo]

Google Android T-Mobile G1 jailbroken and uses Debian?

Google may have pushed out recent firmware updates for the Google Android T-Mobile G1, but it seems they weren’t quite quick enough for one hacker. Apparently Jay Freeman who just happens to be the author of such Apple iPhone programs as Cydia, Winterboard and Cycorder, has managed to get Debian running on the jailbroken T-Mobile G1.

The word is Debian and Android played along just fine with each other giving you a completely unassuming G1 by day but by night giving you a nerd G1 without losing any functionality.

Installation isn’t that easy as you would expect, but if you have the knowledge of installing Linux applications on other devices it shouldn’t be too difficult.

Source – modmygphone

T-Mobile G1 gets unlocked, though it loses a few features

And we’re off! Just 7 days after the G1’s release, some clever folks have managed to get the handset up and running on networks outside of T-Mobile’s grasp. Unfortunately, they’re also clever enough to go about it as entrepreneurs; if you want the unlock code, it’ll set you back $22.99.

Once you’ve given Unlock-TMobileG1.com some cash and your device’s IMEI number, they’ll give you an 8 digit unlock code. Once you’ve got that, it’s as simple as popping off the battery, slipping in the non-T-Mobile SIM card, and punching in the code they gave you.

The downside? Taking the device off of T-Mobile’s network seems to prevent you from connecting to Gmail or the Android Market. While the latter is a bit obvious (Once paid apps are available, how would they bill you?), the Gmail malfunction comes as a surprising disappointment.

While the haste on the part of the unlockers is impressive, I don’t really see the point of unlocking a G1 outside of a few special cases. With a good chunk of the handset makers dipping their feet into Android’s cool, cool waters, it’s a matter of months before all of the major carriers have an Android handset of their own. At the very least, wait until someone gets around to hacking up an unlock code generator and putting it up on BitTorrent.

[Via AndroidCommunity]

How to Turn your G1 into a tethered 3G modem

Though expressly against T-Mobile’s terms and conditions, some clever chap over at the TmoNews forums has put together a step-by-step guide to tethering the G1 to a computer so that it can be used as a 3G modem.

Now, in an ideal world, we’d run our own step-by-step guide to this process but, as we still haven’t been loaned a G1 review sample, we can’t – sorry. However, TmoNews poster bdogg64’s instructions seem pretty clear, if a tad convoluted (though he can hardly be blamed for detailing the process). More after the cut.

Essentially, bdogg64 explains how to connect a G1 - which went on sale just last week - to a Windows/Linux/Mac computer via USB before enabling a proxy server on the G1. A bit of a faff, sure, but we’re some will consider it worth it for the tethering ability. It’s also reminiscent of the method employed by NetShare on the iPhone, before that program was pulled from the App Store by Apple.

However, be warned again that doing this does violate T-Mobile’s terms and conditions. Note that we didn’t say 'might', as others are reporting: tether in this manner and you will break T-Mobile’s rules (and therefore face, er... well, we’re not sure – a call from a slighly-cross T-Mobile customer-services assistant, perhaps?). Here’s the pertinent bit of T-Mobile’s legals: "Remember that you can only use web'n'walk in the UK and you can't use your phone as a modem or use web'n'walk for peer to peer file sharing.". That’s about as clear as legalese ever gets, so T-Mobile can at least be applauded for that. 

source:mobilecomputermag.co.uk

Ways to get to root of your android G1

Many people were surprised that root was disabled on the production T-mobile G1's, and everyone knew that we would eventually get root access, but who knew it'd be this easy?!? Some users at XDA-Developers and android-dls.com have discovered a simple hack to enable root access.

Here are the steps you can take:

1. Download and install a terminal emulator on your phone. (Click here for Term.apk)
2. Make sure your phone is not connected to your PC and open up the Terminal Emulator and run 'telnetd'
3. Now telnet into your phone from your PC (run 'netstat' in the terminal emulator to get the phone's IP)
4. In the telnet terminal you are now root!

5. (optional) To permanently enable root access you can create an "su" command in /system/bin (Warning: creating su on your system could make you vulnerable to malicious software. You could name it something besides su, but you could still be vulnerable):

mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
cd /system/bin
cat sh > su
chmod 4755 su

Now you can fire up the Terminal Emulator and run "su" to be root.

It's likely that the next system update will fix this hole, but until then enjoy having full access to everything on your phone!

Source:helloandroid.com

A jailbreak for Google's Android

Hackers have found a way to circumvent controls in the Google Android operating system used on T-Mobile's G1 mobile phone, allowing them to get around restrictions created by the phone's designers.

The hack gives G1 users a way to read data on parts of the phone that are normally walled off and could be used to install new programs, or even a new operating system, on the mobile phone. Currently, programs for the open-source Android operating system must be written in Java, rather than other popular programming languages such as C or C++.

Details on how to gain superuser "root" access to the phone were posted Tuesday to an Android development forum. Step-by-step instructions have also been published online.

Source: hackinthebox.org