White 16gb 3gs iPhone with 3.1 - jailbreakable??

[helpmyiphone]

I have had my iPhone for just over a month now and was very pleased with it, until I bumped into a friend who's iPhone was "jailbroken". This has intruiged me but I would like to know if I am taking any major risks in doing so? Will all my other apps still work? Does this cause problems with my warranty and insurance? Also, what are the benefits? Is this something a lot of people do?

Another thing I was unsure about was whether i can actually do this to my iPhone with the OS that I have.

These are probably all questions that have been asked before but I would really appreciate a response, if anything for my peace of mind!

[Hawk]

You can read about it here: dev-team.org
That will give you the latest updates and such. As far as being able to jailbreak... That depends. If you have updated to the latest 3.1 firmware, then I believe the answer is no, you cannot jailbreak. if you are on 3.0 or 3.0.1, then yes, but I want you to make sure that you read EVERYTHING concerning jailbreaking.

Jailbreaking opens the phone to some extra capabilities that for some reason, Apple thinks we don't need or something. Mainly Theme-ing the phone with graphics, custom icons and custom sounds. That's isn't the only thing, but it seems to be the main reason people jailbreak their phones. There are tons of other apps out there that would never be "approved" by apple ( or the developer is thumbing his nose at apple), but using unapproved apps (as opposed to apps developed with the SDK) creates a small risk of crashing your phone.
I would tell you to do as much research as possible, and then do more. Jailbreaking is right for you if you feel comfortable with using Cydia, SSH, and repositories. Jailbreaking is not right for you if "hacking" ( and I use that term very loosely) isn't your thing.

I will say this: there is a trade off for jailbreaking. Depending on what you install after jailbreaking, depends on how your phone will perform. you might end up sacrificing both performance and decent battery life.

[kakofonix]

Jailbreaking does void the warranty. So if you have to return the phone to Apple for repair or any other reason, you should remove all traces of a jailbreak. This is as simple as a restore using iTunes. You probably need to check the fine prints of your insurance regarding jailbreaking or some other language regarding modification to the software. There other risks associated with a jailbreak but none so major that a restore will not cure, ultimately.

Jailbreaking is now so easy and useful, you literally double the productive (and resale) value of your iPhone. Browse the Modifications section of this forum and you will be able to decide if this is something you want to do. Great as the stock iPhone is, I just don't see myself using it that way again without my jailbreak apps.

[wildonrio]

Get 3.1.2, it is jailbreakable.

[Natethegreat]

U would need to update to 3.1.2 and then jail break it.. I have a 16g 3gs also and I JB it less then 10 mins and everything works a lot better