iPhone Jailbreak is a MUST DO!
So, after a few months of phoning I decided to go ahead and jailbreak my iPhone.
Wow… I should have done it as soon as I got the phone! I was a wuss… I was afraid that I might brick my iPhone.
I used QuickPwn from the iPhone Dev Team and had no problem. I already had the 2.2 and 2.28 modem firmware on my phone so I used iTunes to backup my phone and then went for it. I ran the installer (which was way more user friendly than I’m used to) and basically just hit ‘next’ over and over. It was a little strange on the step where you hold the iPhone’s home button and then the power button without letting go of the home button, but no big deal.
Cydia is awesome. It’s like the jailbroken equivalent to app store. Cydia is Much Much Much better than the apple app store when it comes to functionality. Finally a real package manager for my iPhone!
The first jailbroken iPhone app I went for is Cycorder (the iPhone video recorder) installable through Cydia. I can’t believe the iPhone doesn’t ship with a working video camera. Cycorder is cool but like the faq says… to get the best fps you need to have good lighting. Cycorder badly needs audio attenuation… I tried to record a live band and ended up with a seriously distorted audio track.
Next I installed categories… this is another functionality that is missing from the iPhone… a way to categorize your apps into folders. My only complaint about Categories is that it takes a couple of seconds for a folder to open from the springboard. No big deal.. keeps my springboard clean. Once I installed quickgold it was totally ok.
Quickgold is super efficient. Launch apps, bookmarks, make phone calls, etc etc etc all from a search box that pops up when you hit the home button from the springboard…. AWESOME! I use the hell out of lsxcommand on my windows computers (yes I still run litestep instead of explorer) and on my Linux boxes I follow suit, so this is the perfect iPhone equivalent for my computing style.
Before I publish this post I’ll also mention that winterboard and SBSettings allow me to really get the look and feel that I like. When you combine all of that with the homescreen winterboard theme that turns the lock screen into a “today” screen then you really have something special.
The iPhone is way to restricted out of the box. Lack of configurability and also the whole app store process is a F***ing joke if your an advanced user, but either way the iPhone is the best handheld or phone I’ve ever owned.
Anyway, don’t be scared. Jailbreak your iPhone.