iPhone Update Arrives, Re-Locks Hacked Handsets

At last, it's here—the software update that'll bring Wi-Fi iTunes downloads to the iPhone. Of course, the update also forces iPhone unlockers to find their discarded AT&T SIM cards and put 'em back in.

Released earlier this afternoon, the hefty software update (about 150MB) includes a slew of new features, not the least of which is access to the Wi-Fi iTunes store for music purchases and downloading. Among the other improvements include (supposedly) louder speakerphone and receiver volume (I'm at the DigitalLife show in New York, so I won't have a chance to try it myself till later today), the ability to turn off EDGE when you're roaming internationally, mail attachements that you can view in portrait and landscape mode (why not e-mail messages themselves?), and tweakable alert volumes. You'll also get some of the new features that we saw in the iPod Touch, such as double-clicking the Home button to bring up the iPod mini-player and—wait for it—TV out.

Of course, the big question is whether the update will wreck hacked iPhones, as Apple ominously warned earlier this week. So far, the word is that while the patch isn't breaking unlocked iPhones for good, it requires an authorized AT&T SIM card for reactivation. Also, MacRumors confirms that the update is breaking all native third-party apps.

Anyway, if you do decide to update your hacked iPhone, better be sure to have a working AT&T SIM card at the ready—and if you really want to play it safe, you might want to wait until a promised iPhone re-locking app hits the Web.

Related:
Apple Releases iPhone 1.1.1 Update [MacRumors]