If you are going to be moding your iphone for Geohot's (& friends) nifty hardware unlock, I would install a small magnetic reed switch inside the phone. These are small cylinders of glass with two metal blades in them. When a magnet is brought near the switch, the contacts close. The reed switch would allow you to perform the hardware unlock technique without having to open the iphone case each time.

Connect the reed switch across the two unlock wires. Insulate it and the connections with tubing, tape, etc. Tuck the switch into whatever nook and/or cranny it will fit in. Ideally, you want to mount the switch away from the speakers and microphone so that your unlock magnet does not mess them up. Make sure you orient the reed so that your magnet will close the switch.

Whenever you need to close the "unlock" switch during the proceedure, just place a small, but fairly powerful magnet on the iphone case where you mounted the reed switch. You can usually scrounge a suitable magnet from an earphone.

Ebay seller FITZUGRT has some likely looking switches for sale cheap (10/$4). They are very small. You might also try places like Radio Shack or burglar alarm suppliers.

Powerfulmagnet with ICs? You want to destroy the iPhone?

Originally Posted by sam

Powerfulmagnet with ICs? You want to destroy the iPhone?

We are talking about magnets that are like those in earphones and small speakers... absolutlely no way they will have any effect on an iphone (or your iphone would already be toast). You don't want to use some weak childs toy horseshoe magnet (it would probably work just fine though, those small disk shaped door alarm sensor magnets tend to be rather weak), but anything else should work just fine.

I have run my iphone and lots of other electronics across magnets several thousand of times more powerfull than anything thay you are likely to come across... absolutely no effect. A powerful magnet can damage a weaker magnet if forced N-N S-S. Hence, best to keep the reed switch away from the speakers if you are using a smash-your-fingers neodymium super-duper never-get-it-off-the-fridge wonder magnet. Play around with your reed switch and see what it takes to activate it.

Back in the before times, Hewlett Packard calculator hackers used reed switches/magnets to activate clock speedup circuits and card reader write protect bypass circuits. No problems whatsoever, and those early card reader systems were notoriusly fininky.

http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/2007/...hone-done.html

There will either be a software unlock or someone will figure out how to update the software without modifying the radio so I'm not too worried about it.

ok so if i get my iphone ( NIB ) unlocked the geo way by a pro at modding.... will i have to take it to him like every time apple updates? or could i just do it from home with software?

take it in everytime, unless he installs a switch that can be triggered from outside...

i read elsewhere that perhaps there are pins spare in the dock connector, so these pins could be tied to the 2 wires, and a switch made on the dock.

Why not just create two very small holes in in the plastic area, near the speaker as contact points. Next time you need a short just connect the touch points. Yeah this requires some drilling, but only on the cover...

my 2 cents.

Just found a reed switch 5,4mm long and 1,4mm in diameter. Probably the smallest one and there should be enough room in the iPhone for this
Available from a German distributor: http://reichelt.de - the website is in German only: http://www.reichelt.de/?ACTION=3;LA=...nr;OFFSET=1000

Originally Posted by Diet

Just found a reed switch 5,4mm long and 1,4mm in diameter. Probably the smallest one and there should be enough room in the iPhone for this
Available from a German distributor: http://reichelt.de - the website is in German only: http://www.reichelt.de/?ACTION=3;LA=...nr;OFFSET=1000

That looks like a vey nice reed switch for this application. Finding space for typical reed switches can be tough.

I scavanged two reed switches from a very tiny mil spec reed relay. They have been mounted in iphones already and work great. They fit perfectly in the RF compartment next to the NOR chip where the etch was scraped and down to the capacitor below the one where Geohot picked up the +1.8V power line. A small disk magnet triggers the reed just fine. An Apple earbud does not... no need to worry about accidentally triggering the reed by carrying the phone and earbuds in the same pocket (I would recommend checking that before buttoning up your modded phone).