iPhone 4 jailbreak gets early update

If only Apple responded so quickly

The recently-released 'legal' jailbreak for the iPhone family has already been upgraded.

The web-based hack, which uses a flaw in Adobe's PDF file format to unlock the full range of Apple mobile devices, had issues with both Face Time video calls and and MMS messages, both of which have reportedly been addressed with the latest update.

Jailbreakme.com unfetters the iPhone from Apple's iron grip by allowing users to install third party applications which haven't been approved by Steve Jobs and his little army of censors.

The upgrade was released just days after the broken bits were reported, a speed of service which Apple itself would do well to replicate.

Whether or not jailbreaking your precious iPhone is a worthwhile exercise is open to debate, but Face Time calls over 3G networks could be the final straw for those who have stayed faithful to Apple's idea of what the iPhone should or shouldn't be allowed to do.

A recent ruling in the US has made fiddling with your iPhone's innards totally legal, the iPhone Dev Team insists that the process is completely reversible, and the installation is a doddle as one cheeky scamp has demonstrated by jailbreaking an iPhone 4 which was on display in an Apple Store.

Apple will, of course, continue to bleat about broken warranties and security issues but it looks as if the tide is turning against the Cupertino company and its closed smartphone eco-system.