What type of database is the iOS 5 SMS db?
I've pulled my sms.db file of my iPhone 4S running iOS 5.0.1 (of off live system using scp) and was able to browse the DB as normal using the sqlite client included with OSX Lion. Possibly the current format is somehow incompatible with older versions of the client. The version of the client included with Lion is 3.7.7:

$ sqlite3 sms.db
SQLite version 3.7.7 2011-06-25 16:35:41
Enter ".help" for instructions
Enter SQL statements terminated with a ";"
sqlite&gt; .databases
seq  name             file                                                      
---  ---------------  ----------------------------------------------------------
0    main             /Users/tyr/sms.db                                         
sqlite&gt; .tables
_SqliteDatabaseProperties  message                  
drafts                     msg_group                
group_member               msg_pieces               
madrid_attachment          settings                 
madrid_chat                templates                
sqlite&gt; select * from settings ;
1|version|2.0.0
2|notificationCode|*N#
3|useNotifications|0
4|isDefault|1
5|compatibilityMode|0
6|useKeybCorr|1
7|useKeybCapi|1
8|useConfirmSend|1
9|nameorder|0
10|useShowAlerts|1
11|useStatusIcon|1
12|landscape|0
13|appSerial|0
14|lastMenu|0
sqlite&gt;