Android moves swiftly to kill G1 jailbreak

by Stevie Smith - Nov 10 2008, 13:00

Much as was suggested last week, search giant Google Inc. has moved quickly to close a vulnerability loophole in its new Android mobile operating system that recently enabled the unlocking of HTC’s G1 handset.

Posted to the Net by members of the hacker community last Friday, the root-access ‘jailbreak’ method looks to have been a strictly short-term solution for those G1 users feeling unfairly tied to the mobile phone’s T-Mobile exclusivity.

Specifically, Google has unveiled the RC30 update for its Android operating system, which will patch the security gap in the software platform and prevent users from jumping T-Mobile’s ship in favour of other networks.

“We’ve been notified of this issue, and have developed a fix,” commented Google after the root-access jailbreak first appeared. “We’re currently working with our partners to push the fix out and updating the open-source code base to reflect these changes.”

Those armed with a HTC G1 handset should expect to receive the update patch OTA (over-the-air) in the coming days, according to IntoMobile.

Beyond the lack of network freedom, reports suggest G1 users shouldn’t be quite so disappointed by the patch and that times are considerably tougher for mobile fans attached to the likes of Apple’s iPhone.

This is, in the main, because the open Android platform already provides near carte blanche support for the majority of third-party software applications, and such access will not be affected by the patch release.

Conversely, iPhone owners must seek out a sustainable jailbreak exploit should they wish to enjoy software applications not pre-approved for inclusion to the official App Store by Cupertino-based Apple Inc.

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