Windows Phone 7 Jail Broken App Demonstrated

Just a week after an Australian developer discovered a way to run unauthorized code, the first ''jailbroken'' app for Window...

Just a week after an Australian developer discovered a way to run unauthorized code, the first ''jailbroken'' app for Windows Phone 7 has been demonstrated.

Blogger Long Zheng reports that WP7 developer Kevin Marshall has tapped into Chris Walshie's efforts to create a rudimentary augmented reality app, in the same vein as Google's Goggles app. The app uses a publicly-available Silverlight toolkit and uses the phone's camera to overlay information onto real-world objects.


Writing on a blog for smartphone development firm Clarity Consulting, Mr Marshall noted that the LG Optimus 7 offers similar functionality via its Scan Search application, but developers outside LG are not allowed access to the tools to develop similar apps.

''Ideally this would be accessible to everyone somewhere between now and really soon. Sometimes I think Microsoft doesn’t want developers to have fun on this platform,'' he wrote.

''Seriously, everyone needs to write a letter to their local Microsoft representative and demand some access to all [t]he cool APIs blocked for 3rd party apps. That or whine about it on Twitter.''

But as noted last week, users shouldn't expect to see the Windows Phone equivalent of Cydia popping up anytime soon. For the time being, unmanaged code can only be loaded onto developer devices, using a particular sideloading method not available to consumers.

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