Flashing your iBrick

 compalrede

I have some sympathy for those folks who have "bricked" their iPhone. Back when I worked in the mobile group I received one of the early Windows Mobile Smartphone prototypes to test along with a new software build to flash on to the phone. I consider myself pretty proficient with software upgrades having probably built a few hundred PC's in my time but phones....now that is a different thing altogether.

I followed the instructions diligently, flashed the bootloader, flashed the OS and the radio stack and prepared to power up the latest build of our shiny new OS. The device registered a charge but that was the only life it showed. I franticly checked the instructions, removed the battery, re-powered it but all to no avail. With no Ctrl Alt Del to be seen I resigned myself to the embarrassing fact that I would have to call my US colleagues the next morning and tell them I was a dummy. I left the phone on charge for the night and skulked off to bed.

Next morning, I had a quick glance, optimistically pressed the power button and to my surprise, delight and relief the unit powered up and worked a treat. The gadget gods had smiled on me and not for the first time. I've since had similar experiences with numerous iPAQ's and several other Smartphones,.

One thing remains though - these devices are quite simply small supercomputers of their time but with that size and power comes massive complexity underneath. Home phone flashing isn't for the faint of heart and I envisage a still bumpy road ahead for iPhone and other gadgets like them. Still, it'll keep folks like Jason and I in a job for a while :)

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