Last Friday, Rafael Rivera, Chris Walsh, Long Zheng launched a Microsoft-supported Windows Phone unlock tool. While the Mango update brought a number of requested features to Windows Phone, there are still a some important that are missing. The ChevronWP7 will unlock your device for $19 and allow the side loading of apps.
Without the unlock the only method to get applications to your phone is via the Marketplace. So have you taken the step to ‘jailbreak’ your WP7 device ? For those still wondering why you would want to, the team say they have spotted a number of interesting homebrew apps.
Screen Capture v3 – Take screenshots from your Windows Phone 7 to share a funny SMS or illustrate an app on a blog post - Webserver (Mango) – Why wouldn’t you run a web server on your phone? (be sure to download the “no-interop” version)
- Folders for Windows Phone Mango – Organize apps and settings into folders on the Start screen
- Mango Battery Status – Check your phone’s battery stat in a Live Tile and graph your battery usage
Screen Capture v3Unfortunately since launch, ChevronWP7 Labs has been experiencing a number of issues. The good news is that the guys have been doing a great job of keeping fans of the project up to date via the blog and twitter.
ChevronWP7 is currently in maintenance mode and the unlock service will not work at this time. The problem seems to step from a few places, but the most interesting is downtime with Microsoft’s SQL Azure.
Let’s hope the unlock is back up and running soon.
More information @ ChevronWP7
