A Jailbroken iPhone is a Better Device
I’m PISSED! I schlepped around for over 8 months with a squeaky-clean 3G iPhone, playing by all the Apple rules. The App Store kept me entertained with a constant stream of new games, utilities, various and sundry time-wasters and productivity tools. I was quite content for the most part (especially after the 2.1 firmware release made the device usable). What a dope I was. Since jailbreaking, I feel like I own a brand-new phone. Similar to the original Apple product I gave $299 for, but now with the capability to do so much more. I can now use my 3G iPhone as a router, take videos (and stream them live to Qik), display alerts, the weather and new e-mail on my lock screen, toggle nearly all the phone’s functions (3G, bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.) with a single touch and tailor the GUI to look almost any way I want. And the list of coolness just keeps getting longer.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “This tastes so good I could slap my momma!”? The inference being that momma raised me without teaching me about how good something could be. Transfer that sentiment to the iPhone and Mr. Jobs has a bitch-slap coming his way. Everything he did with the iPhone was right. He just stopped short of the mark.
I’m sure there are good business reasons (three in fact, A, T, and T) for not letting me share the iPhone’s 3G data connection with my Mac. I’m also sure that, for reasons of stability, Apple doesn’t want users tinkering with the device’s lower-level hardware functions. After all, they have to guarantee the thing works as advertised. On the other hand, I can’t think of one good reason why I can’t select the wallpaper of my choosing, CUT-AND-PASTE or use a different system font with an out-of-the-box iPhone. The general consensus is, “Steve doesn’t want you to and HE knows best!”. I’m reminded of the original Macintosh ad with the hammer flying through the screen, waking up the hypnotized PC drones. For a company founded on principles of individuality and creativity, Apple doesn’t seem to apply that credo to the iPhone.
Thank God for the dev-team! Thanks to their tools, virtually anyone can jailbreak an iPhone in less than ten minutes. I won’t go into the particulars here, there are plenty of sites for that. I would emphasize, however, the importance of using ONLY the real iphone-dev.org blog for instructions and to NEVER, EVER, PAY FOR A JAILBREAK APP! Anyone asking for money is a phony. The dev-team members are the real authorities on the subject of jailbreaking and they won’t even accept donations. Again, God bless them.
I understand how many of you might have reservations about monkeying around with your iPhone’s operating system. I must admit to a little apprehension before I jailbroke my phone the first time. After all, if Apple finds out you can kiss your warranty good-bye. But jailbreaking doesn’t do anything to the iPhone that can’t be undone with a simple iTunes restore. I guess it all comes down to a “risk vs. reward” decision on your part. I can’t help you there. I can tell you that Apple is going to have to come up with something extremely cool to persuade me to undo my jailbreak.
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