LG CU500 Hacks

I obviously won't be able to take pictures of this, but I'll at least explain things the best I can. So about 2 months ago, I was swooned by the iPhone craze and after seeing my combat bot friend George Hotz unlock the first iPhone, it got me thinking about what I could do to my phone. I'm not ready to go knee deep and break the thing in half, but I wanted to see what type of movement there was for my fairly recent phone.

I have the LG CU500 flip phone, which boasts a nice 1.5 Megapixel cam (Can take up to 1280x960 resolution pics), bluetooth, and a basic mp3 player. Also it is one of the first phones from Cingular/AT&T that has 3G capabilities. 3G is their high speed data network. It's actually really good.

So what is there to modify?

Well, for one thing.. anytime I use a Java app such as Google Maps, Gmail, or Opera, it has a nagging question about permission rights. It becomes a PITA real quick. Also, I don't like some of the stock tones on the phone (whenever it completes anything, it has a lil happy tone).

So, I googled up a few things, and came across 2 relevant links:
http://comerford.cc/wordpress/lg-cu500-hacking-turn-off-confirmation-tones-and-more/
http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=981113&highlight=cu500

After buying an OEM data cable on ebay for a dollar and downloading BitPim, I was on my way to a better phone. I've modified the text message tones (can't be modified normally) so now I have all Simpsons style quotes. Currently I have Homer screaming about the Boogeyman. The Java nag has been removed as well. My phone is silent when confirming things as well. In the links there's a link to blank files to replace the confirmation tones.

It's a fairly easy to perform on your phone if you can pay attention. Otherwise your phone can essentially "brick".

Also, I haven't messed with it much, but dialing 277634#*# on the phone gets you the field service mode. Some nifty admin things that I'd prolly brick the phone if I messed with it.