SubscribeWhy I decided to Jailbreak my iPhone
I have had an iPhone now, for about a year and a half, I absolutely love my iPhone and don’t see myself moving away from it anytime soon. Apple has an amazing product, but I find it somewhat limiting in some areas.
I used the iPhone un-jail-broken for over a year, and was very happy with it, but it did have some major issues that caused problems for me. After the jump, I am going to go through 3 specific programs/reasons why I decided to jailbreak.
Reason #1: iRealQuickSMS ($4.99 Cydia)
My girlfriend loves to text. We text each other probably about 100 times a day sometimes even more then that. One thing that really bugged me about the iPhone is that I had to quit an application to reply to a text. With applications becoming more and more advanced, we the user are starting to see significant startup times on some applications. One that comes to mind is Navigon Mobile Navigator ($89.99 iTunes) which takes about 45 seconds to 1 minute to startup. Well, if I am in the middle of a route, and I have a turn coming up then my girlfriend texts me, to reply I have to exit the app, reply, then reopen the application reload the route, and by that time, I missed my turn. With iRealQuickSMS, it just pops up with the message and a reply box so I can read the message type my reply and send it all without having to exit the app I am in.
Reason #2: GV Mobile ($0.00 Cydia)
I use my Google Voice number as my main business phone number, so I am dealing with Google Voice hourly. With Apple’s recent rejection of the Google Voice app, I found myself having to turn to my computer to much to make calls which is not good when I am on the road. GV Mobile allows me to make calls, send sms messages, and check voicemail all from my iPhone.
Reason #3: Backgroundr ($0.00 Cydia)
One of the things that bugs me so much about the iPhone is the lack of background apps. When I am following Navigon GPS directions, and someone calls, I don’t want to have to exit the application to answer the call or reply to a text, or browse my iPod. Backgroundr allows me to hold the home button on any application for 2 seconds then it will exit to the home screen, but the app is still running in the background. It works great, and I have not found an app it doesn’t work with yet. It is great also when you are listening to Pandora and want to play a game, or browse the internet.
There are other reasons I choose to jailbreak my iPhone, but those are the 3 main ones. In the future, I will post a list of my favorite jailbreak applications. Also, just because I have a jail-broken iPhone, doesn’t mean I am not supporting Apple or the iPhone developers, I still download and pay for apps from the App Store all the time, I just needed some additional function that Apple has forbidden in the App Store. Below are some screenshots of my current iPhone home screens.
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Nice approach to counteract the lack of background support on the iPhone. I agree with you as far as the GPS apps losing their position. I get frustrated enough when I use maps. The last time I went through a jailbreaking session the phone was a total loss, so I haven't tried since then. Before that, it was a 1st gen.
How much has the Jailbroken app scene evolved since the release of the 3G a year ago?
Yeah, jailbreaking has come along way. I had no problems with the process and it was very easy to do. I am going to do a post about how to jailbreak your phone this weekend so hang tight.
You can be sure that as soon as they release the 3.1 jailbreak for the 3GS, I will be doing it. I miss Backgrounder, Status Notifier, Quick Dismiss, and SBSettings. Hopefully the Dev Team will release it soon!
any cons to the jailbreak? if new iphone firmwares become available, you miss those features or have to do it all over again. any other downsides?
i may go through your guide step-by-step soon…
The only downside I see, is that you have to wait a few extra days after new firmware is released for them to update the pwnageTool. Other then that, everything stays the same, you still buy apps through the app store, and all your iTunes functionality is still there, you just have the option to download apps from Cydia (Jailbreak App Store.)
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