THE NEW iOS 4-formerly iPhone OS-brings a slew of great features to the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Multitasking, home-screen wallpapers, and app folders are all features that jailbreak users have been enjoying for a long time. Now that they're officially part of the OS, are there any reasons to continue hacking your iPhone? We think there are--as outlined below.
'Obsolete' Hardware
If you have an iPhone 3G, you may have been saddened to hear that iOS 4 would not be bringing any of the new multitasking goodness to your device. Apple claims that the 3G's old ARM6 processor is not capable of running multitasking. But as jailbreakers have known for a while, the iPhone 3G has always been perfectly capable of running multiple apps simultaneously, albeit with a hack.
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Now that iOS 4 is out and the Dev Team has already created jailbreak tools for the new firmware, iPhone 3G users willing to tinker are comfortably running the 3GS version of iOS, bringing Apple's own slick multitasking interface to their "obsolete" hardware. I'm fairly certain it won't run as well as on the 3GS or iPhone 4 (and I wonder about the effect on battery Life). Such considerations could partly explain why Apple wants users to experience multitasking on faster devices. All the same, Apple's stance sure smells as if it has more to do with an interest in selling new hardware.
The AT&T Problem
Have an iPhone but think that AT&T is just the pits? Join the club. Even Steve Jobs took a couple of well-deserved jabs at the carrier giant during his iPhone 4 announcement. It's a little disappointing that the Apple/AT&T exclusivity agreement has seemingly been extended, but fear not! If you are willing to hack your phone (thereby voiding your warranty), unlocking your iPhone can bring you to potentially greener pastures--in the form of a carrier such as T-Mobile. Unlocking works on all existing iPhone hardware, including the 3GS; we have yet to see whether Apple has adopted further measures to thwart unlocking on the iPhone 4.
More Apps, Please!
Don't think the App Store has quite enough apps? Cydia, the unofficial app store available only to jailbreakers, might be just the thing for you. Cydia contains thousands of apps that won't be approved by Apple anytime soon. Sometimes this translates into unstable apps with weird user interfaces; but in many cases, Cydia apps deliver functionality that Apple chooses to block. With iOS 4 (especially if you have a 3GS), there are definitely fewer apps to jailbreak for, but as long as Apple hand-picks the apps to be sold in its store, a niche for alternatives will exist. Dying for Flash (and don't care about stability or battery life)? Jailbreaking is still your only recourse.
--Mike Keller
iPad and Velcro--a Great Team
Speaking of iGadgets, iPad owner Jesse Rosten devised some clever uses for the iPad, with the help of a little Velcro. Just slap one side of some industrial-strength Velcro to the back of your iPad and slap the other side onto anything that you please (for easy transportation from one place to another); on your wall to display photos; on the dashboard of your car or motorcycle to display GPS navigation; or on the top of your oven for play-along cooking videos.
Jesse's video--which got posted on Apple's site--shows these and some other really creative uses for putting the two together. Check out the video at find.pcworld.com/70338.
--James Mulroy
Source Citation
"Does jailbreaking still make sense with iOS 4.0? The new features in Apple's mobile operating system may not end iPhone jailbreaking." PC World 28.9 (2010): 20. Computer Database. Web. 1 Sept. 2010.
Document URL
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Gale Document Number:A235406533
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