I've successfully upgraded my 1st gen iPhone to a jailbroken and unlocked version of the 2.0 Software. I did it using the PwnagTool from the iphone-dev team (this URL is blocked in China, BigBoss has a mirror that is not blocked). This tool is not for a beginner, but if you are resourceful and don't mind trying things 7 times, its not terribly dificult.

The must have feature is of course the AppStore, which works very well, albiet slowly here in China. It does require an iTunes username/password, which may be a problem for some. I have not been able to install the Chinese input yet. I have enjoyed a few of the Apps from the AppStore, like the Facebook app, and Midomi. From the jailbroken apps side, OpenSSH and Mobile terminal work well as before.

So for anyone who can't wait to upgrade your phone, it is now possible and works well. However, for most Chinese users, I would recommend waiting until a more universal tool is released, and We iPhone Dev team updates their excellent software for 2.0.

OK, this is big news for a lot of apple fans in China. I have confirmed that EDGE works fine on my 1.1.4 iPhone. It is using a normal China Mobile SIM card, and all I had to do to turn it on was configure the settings correctly (credit for the settings goes to Alison)

It works through the normal China Mobile GPRS mobile internet service. The fee varies from 2RMB per MB, to 15RMB/month for 160MB, to 200RMB/month for unlimited access (ed note: See update about the prices). As far as I can tell, any prepaid card should work, even the most basic.

 

 

 

 

 

To configure the service, navigate to Settings -> General -> Network -> Edge

Use the following settings:

APN: CMNET
Username:
Password:

That's right, just set the service name. The fees are taken directly from your prepaid card.

So for any of you out there who were just getting by on WiFi, feel free to upgrade. And if you are coming to China... don't even think about paying roaming fees. Just get a prepaid China Mobile card when you get here and use it for the duration of your trip. It costs a minimum of 100RMB (14USD) or so and that would be enough to get started, you can add more in 50RMB increments

Enjoy!

Update: I seem to be wrong about the prices, according to a chart on the China Mobile site. It says that 15RMB/month gets you 100MB, 200RMB/month gets you 2000MB, after that it is 1RMB/MB up to 500RMB. So that's 3USD for 100MB, 30USD for 2GB, with a max of 72USD a month.

Update2: The monthly package doesn't kick in till the next month so for a short trip, it doesn't make much sense. For those of you still interested, here are the instructions:

text "BLGPRS" to 10086
they respond with a list of choices
text "GPRS100" where 100 means the 100RMB per month service.
they should respond with a confirmation