Category Archives: News

Supercapacitor Could Fully Charge Future iPhones and Smartphones in 20-30 Seconds

Published on May 20, 2013 by Richard Ker

How long do you have to wait before your iPhone gets fully charged? Quite long. But a teenager’s new invention could charge future devices in a blink of an eye.

The battery is probably one of mankind’s biggest challenges to improve. It was in 1749 when Benjamin Franklin, the U.S. polymath and founding father, first used the term “battery” to describe a set of linked capacitors he used for his experiments with electricity according to Wikipedia. Fast forward to 264 years later, the battery on our smartphones rarely last us more than a few days.

While scientists and engineers are working on to increase battery life, a young scientist named Eesha Khare, of Saratoga, California has invented a tiny device that allows fast and rapid charging of batteries. It fits nicely inside cell phone batteries, allowing them to fully charge within 20-30 seconds.

She calls the fast-charging device as supercapacitor, that can pack a lot of energy into a tiny space, charges quickly and holds its charge for a long time. It definitely sounds promising. Aside from that, this device also supports up to 10,000 charge-recharge cycles, compared with 1,000 cycles for conventional rechargeable batteries.

According to Khare, it was because her “cell phone battery always dies” that inspired her to work on energy-storage technology.

Khare participated the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair last week and the judges were impressed. She received USD 50,000 in scholarship funds for her ground-breaking projects, along with another student who also won the award for his research on the mysteries of astrophysics.

It will probably take a few more years before her invention can be applied on consumer products. In the meantime, we’ll just have to stick to our power hungry devices and to always bring a battery pack if you’re going to be away from the wall outlet for an extended period of time.

Image and news via NBC

Here’s Why Superior SIM for Unlocking iPhone 4 Baseband 04.12.05, 04.12.02, 04.12.01 is Fake

Published on May 17, 2013 by Richard Ker

Heard about this unlock device on tech forums or blogs recently? Don’t be fooled because it’s fake.

Not too long ago, using SIM interposer such as Gevey SIM was the only way to unlock iPhone 4. However, ever since officially iPhone unlock such as this one for AT&T became available to the masses, using Gevey SIM is no longer popular and officially obsolete. Consider yourself lucky if you were able to officially unlock your iPhone 4 as there are still many people stuck with if their iPhone 4 are on baseband 04.12.05, 04.12.02 or 04.12.01.

If you’re one of those folks who have been Googling for a solution to this problem, you’ve probably seen some websites appearing that they can now unlock iPhone 4 on baseband 4.12.05 and below using something called ‘Superior SIM’. Despite their claims, I can conclude that it’s fake after I did my own basic investigation. Mind you this isn’t the first time someone claimed that they can unlock baseband 4.12.05. DowngradeiPhone has scammed far too many people with their ‘baseband downgrader’ program and Rebel SIM once tricked people into buying their SIM interposer.

1. Fake Address

I won’t share their web address here to protect our followers and fellow readers. Just Google for the product name and it should appear on top of the list. So I went to their website and clicked on ‘Contact Us’. So, their office address is in London, UK. OK, great. Let’s Google for the address, shall we?

After checking Google maps for the same address, it is actually a dental clinic occupying the same address as shown above. Don’t tell me these dental practitioners are also selling iPhone unlocks!

2. Dodgy Facebook Page, Website and YouTube Videos

Unless if you’ve only been on the internet yesterday, I’m sure you can tell that their website looks a little bit too dodgy. The Facebook page is not really a ‘page’ but a ‘person’s profile’ who’s trying to be friends with everyone. Some of the YouTube videos trying to prove how it works are simply too unconvincing. I guess you’ll be able to judge that for yourself.

3. Our Reliable Supplier Said It’s Fake

I contacted our supplier for R-SIM 7+ for iPhone 4S/5 again today using WeChat just to be 100%. They said it’s confirmed to be fake because if it’s already available, they will be among the first to know.

Having said that, it’s up to you to decide whether it’s fake or not. If you managed to get yourself one of these and you can confirm that it’s working, please let us know. Who knows, I may be wrong.

Meanwhile, do check our online Store for possible official unlocking options for your iPhone 4 as there are many supported network right now, especially our AT&T iPhone unlock.

The ‘Unlocking Technology Act Bill’ will Make iPhone Unlocking 100% Legal in the USA

Published on May 14, 2013 by Richard Ker

iPhone unlocking is a gray area and US congress declared it as “illegal” last year. Here’s how to show your support so that this can be reversed.

The Librarian of Congress determined in October last year that unlocking mobile phones were illegal under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Any iPhone or smartphone that’s purchased or made after January 26th of 2013 cannot be legally unlocked unless permitted by carriers.

However, this act is deemed to be very vague and falls in a huge gray area. No one really understands what it means, at least for the general public.

Now, a bill called the “The Unlocking Technology Act” has been introduced by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), and co-sponsored by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) – that would completely fix Section 1201 of the DMCA, making unlocking and jailbreaking cell phones, tablets, and game consoles completely legal.

In order for to this happen, if you’re based in the US, you must sign this petition and show your support so that the bill can be passed.

This is important for anyone living in the US because unlocking your mobile phone, jailbreaking your iPad, or modding a game console can land you in court because of the DMCA’s poorly-written “anti-circumvention provision.”

The proposed bill would permanently legalize all such modifications, as long as the purpose of the modifications isn’t piracy or copyright infringement. The bill mentioned on fixthedmca.org has three main parts:

  • It amends Section 1201 to make it clear that it is completely legal to “circumvent” if there is no copyright infringement.
  • It legalizes tools and services that enable circumvention as long as they are intended for non-infringing uses.
  • It changes Copyright Law to specify that unlocking cell phones is not copyright infringement.

“Lock-out codes” are increasingly being implemented by vehicle manufacturers. These codes are used to prevent maintenance by independent repair shops. Again, no copyright infringement is involved in repairing a broken car, truck, or other device, but the DMCA’s vague language can make it a crime,” stated on their website.

You have the rights to do anything with your property so don’t let the DMCA take control of your life!

Since our business is located outside of USA, we are not bound by the law above and can legally unlock any AT&T iPhone or any US mobile phones. Beware of unlocking your iPhone with US-based vendors such as this one as there is a risk that you may be prosecuted!

 

Why Can’t You Google for ‘Downgrade iPhone Baseband 4.12.05 Solution’?

Published on May 2, 2013 by Richard Ker

You’ve just updated to iOS 6.1.3 and spent countless hours online to find a solution to downgrade your iPhone baseband but to no avail. Stop wasting time – it’s not possible.

If you found this blog by accident it’s very likely that you’ve been trying to find a solution on how to downgrade your iPhone 4′s modem firmware which has been updated to 4.12.05. Your ultimate aim is, of course, to unlock your iPhone 4 which is already on version 4.12.05. It’s a frustrating experience because you tried various online tutorials and read contradicting reports or blogs on how to downgrade your iPhone 4 baseband but none of them had helped you address this problem.

As I’ve mentioned earlier in this article, downgrading iPhone 4 baseband 4.12.05 to a lower version is not possible, and probably will never be. Apple, Inc., well known for their “superb ecosystem” of devices, patched the exploits since the iPhone 4 was first introduced. The main purpose of this is for “security”, but I believe it’s more for supporting their partner carriers so that people who are on one carrier can’t easily switch carriers. Each time there’s a software update, Apple will do anything they can do patch any potential exploit that will allow unlocking or downgrading of iPhone’s baseband.

The first unlock available for iPhone 4 was a few months after it was first released in June 2010. I still remember back then when iOS 4 was launched together with this product, hackers were busy trying to find exploits for jailbreaking the iOS 4. The first modem firmware that comes with iOS 4 was baseband 1.59.00. When the untethered jailbreak was made available, hackers were able to hack that baseband and it was unlocked with ultrasn0w. Sadly, that was the only baseband that was exploitable and can be unlocked. Hackers have been putting high hopes to iPhone 4 users saying that the newer baseband can be unlocked or downgraded. That didn’t happen.

Three years later, iPhones baseband still can’t be unlocked using software method. Now, notice that I mentioned software method here. This is because it was still possible to unlock the iPhone 4 using a small third party device called Gevey SIM. If you bought a used iPhone from someone else, you may notice in the SIM tray that there’s a SIM card like device with a small microchip on it. This was an interesting piece of device that was able to unlock baseband 2.10.04, 3.10.01 and 4.10.01.

However, there was one tiny exception. Early least year a glitch with Apple’s activation servers around the world allowed any iPhone to be unlocked using a jailbreak app called SAM Preferences. This exploit was found by a young Chinese hacker here in Beijing. Apple was quick to address this issue by patching all their activation servers around the world.

Today, there’s still no method available to downgrade your iPhone 4 baseband 4.12.05 to a lower version. You can save your time from searching more on Google because you can’t find a solution or worst, you might be scammed by this company who claims that they can downgrade your baseband. Maybe you should consider getting your iPhone officially unlocked instead, which is by far the most superior (and only) solution available to unlock iPhone 4 baseband 4.12.05.

How to Legally Unlock AT&T iPhone Made or Purchased After January 26th 2013

Published on April 28, 2013 by Richard Ker

There are many options available if you need to legally unlock your AT&T iPhone. Here are some free tips.

It was around this time last year when AT&T officially announced that they can officially unlock AT&T iPhone for eligible customers. This was good news to many, as AT&T had never officially unlocked AT&T iPhone prior to that.

iPhone owners have to resort to jailbreaking in order to unlock their iPhones. Hackers admitted that finding new exploits to allow unlocking becomes more difficult every time Apple releases a new iOS update. To-date, there’s no hack or software available to unlock either the iPhone 4S or iPhone 5. The only possible unlocking alternative to unlock them for now is to use an interposer SIM such as an R-SIM or X-SIM.

In the blog post I wrote about a year ago:

“Beginning Sunday, April 8, we will offer qualifying customers the ability to unlock their AT&T iPhones. The only requirements are that a customer’s account must be in good standing, their device cannot be associated with a current and active term commitment on an AT&T customer account, and they need to have fulfilled their contract term, upgraded under one of our upgrade policies or paid an early termination fee.”

If you have an AT&T iPhone that you wish to unlock, you can contact AT&T support to check if you are eligible to get a free unlock. I was able to unlock my AT&T iPhone 4 in about 48 hours after contacting AT&T. The whole process was easy and painless.

If you managed to talk with the folks at AT&T, sometimes they won’t give you a straight answer whether you’re eligible or not. If that’s the case, then you may want to double check if you have fulfilled AT&T’s unlocking policies.

One thing for sure is that US Military folks can unlock their AT&T iPhones with almost no restrictions based on AT&T’s unlocking policies:

AT&T will unlock an iPhone for an active and deployed member of the military who is a current AT&T customer in good standing and is able to provide AT&T with deployment verification; and for a person who purchased the iPhone from an authorized location at the ‘no commitment’ price and can provide proof of purchase.

While this brought joy to many, DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) announced early this year that it will be illegal in the USA to unlock phones that were made or purchased after January 26, 2013. There was a petition signed and potentially unlocking will be made legal again in the near future.

Since our business is located outside of USA, we are not bound by the law above and can legally unlock any AT&T iPhone or any US mobile phones. Beware of unlocking your iPhone with US-based vendors such as this one as there is a risk that you may be prosecuted! (They also charge at an over inflated price!)

If you have no other alternatives then get your AT&T iPhone unlocked with us – and it can be done really fast and more than 3,500+ AT&T iPhones have been unlocked since we started offering this service.