Early access to Apple's iOS 5? Nice idea in theory, stupid for most of us
The big tech news today is that you can upgrade to Apple's iOS 5 without a developer account. Developers got access to iOS 5 on Monday and it was quickly accessed via a backdoor for the masses. This move sounds great in theory, but the average bear should steer clear.
There is one significant caveat though: Once you get Apple iOS 5 you "will not be able to connect to a carrier." That disclaimer is one huge caveat.
Gallery: iOS 5 hands on (photos)
Naturally, the tech press is all over it. You download an iOS 5 IPSW file and get rolling. We've got screenshots of iOS 5 all over the place. We've got code pointing to iPhone and iPad updates. And we've got a lot of yapping about iOS 5. Read these accounts and this early access to iOS 5 almost sounds like a good idea.
What does this mean for you? Buyer beware.
- For starters, you're accessing an Apple security flaw to get iOS 5. This flaw will be patched if it hasn't been already.
- The how-to is basically making you a hacker, which can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing.
- If you happen to be a paying iPhone customer downloading iOS 5 will get you a bandwidth free device since you can't connect to your carrier.
- It's not quite clear how you will reconnect to your carrier.
- And unless you happen to have two iPhones lying around it makes absolutely no sense to try this iOS 5 thing.
In other words, iOS 5 is great for the headlines today, but most of us can wait until the fall for it.
Related:
Apple copies a bunch of features from Android, calls it iOS 5