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iPhone Jailbreaking Still Going Strong
snydeq writes "Despite the productivity promises of Apple's forthcoming 3.0 firmware update, jailbreaking should continue to push the iPhone's productivity envelope, as users increasingly demand the Holy Grail of smartphone power use: applications that run in the background, InfoWorld reports. Copy and paste, video recording and streaming, Internet tethering, and content search are just a few of the features over which iPhone users have sought to jailbreak their devices — a practice Apple itself has done little to crack down on. Jailbreak apps circumvent hardware and software restrictions that Apple says ensure a consistent, responsive user interface and optimal battery endurance. In particular, jailbroken phones can run apps in the background, a capability Apple reserves for its own apps but prohibits in third-party programs. Jay Freeman, creator of the Cydia iPhone installer and Cydia Store, however, believes a free-market approach is the best way to satisfy power users' demands for features without compromising the performance of their iPhones. And given Apple's App Store overcrowding, it seems likely that jailbroken phones and app venues like Cydia Store will continue to be popular with iPhone customers and developers, even after the 3.0 firmware ships."
Yes, and why should it not? It is similar to the how users run Mac OS on non-apple computers. If users want to do something, they should be allowed too! Consistency of user interface is no excuse, because it wouldn't even affect users with non-jailbroke phones. Apple just likes to control what users see and do, and jailbreaking is just evidence that some people don't like being told what to do!
You have to first jailbreak the phone if you want to unlock it. But I recently switched to Google Android so I don't have to deal with this. It's a less nice experience, but I imagine a lot of people who are willing to go through the trouble of jailbreaking a phone are also willing to put up with the less polished UI.
Seriously? The two items that comprise the Holy Grail of smartphone power use are background apps and Infoworld reports?
Just look at the source of the TFA -- it's Infoworld themselves! Methinks they have a slightly overdeveloped sense of self-worth.
Also, I'm not sure why I would need to jailbreak my iPhone to access Infoworld, they must have some serious issues in their web design department.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
They know not what they do, tinkering with the perfection of Jobs' vision. Apple will have to work even harder to cryptographically protect them from evil...
i swear there was a story last month how Apple had it in the newest SDK EULA that you can't make jailbroken apps with it. Apple gave up a technical solution and just told people that if you want to write jailbroken apps then do it from scratch and don't use their code
Apple's prohibition on 3rd party software running in background is probably the best line of defense against spyware infecting the average idiot/user's phone. Once you let un-vetted apps run in the background, you create the opportunity for keyloggers, spam software and all the other fun stuff that runs on PCs to infect the iPhone without the user even being aware. Plus you end up going down the path of requiring anti-virus and security software to run on the phone all the time, reducing the battery life. What's basically going on is that no one is willing to pay the costs that would be required to develop a "trusted application" framework where Apple could test and approve 3rd party apps. Plus, there's always the paranoia factor that someone's great idea would get stolen as part of the approval process.
But given the state of windoze computing these days, I'd say Apple's approach has to be viewed more as a security feature than an anti-competitive fair trade violation.
We are the 198 proof..
How about "faux-tech-neo-nerd-speak"?
What?
The reason i have a jailbroken iPhone (legally unlocked, bought it in Italy) is the way the App Store apps are crippled. The apps from cydia have much better functions in many cases, as a simple example the flashlight app, the one from cydia can override the screen brightness settings, which makes it actually work, whereas the official doesn't. Also apps like intelliscreen and others like it make it clear that I will still jailbreak my phone at 3.0.
iPhone is great, but a jailbroken iPhone is AWESOME! Oldschool emulators (Genesis, Nintendo), bash terminal, custom text ringtones, scp/ssh ... it's a fantastic device by itself, but without restrictions it's unbelievably good.
You have to first jailbreak the phone if you want to unlock it. But I recently switched to Google Android so I don't have to deal with this. It's a less nice experience, but I imagine a lot of people who are willing to go through the trouble of jailbreaking a phone are also willing to put up with the less polished UI.
Given that Jailbreaking is essentially an O(1) operation over the life of the device, and day to day use is O(n), I'll take the better UI thanks!!
On Android you also still have to deal with hunting down apps not approved for the store, just like looking at Cydia apps on the iPhone...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
2. Ad Block. Either by the shareware Adblock or a hosts file.
3. Emulators. The GBA emulator has gotten quite good.
Except it's not a faux tech expression. It comes from breaking out of a chroot jail. Lern2Unix plox.
The trouble is that as soon as you have arbitrary apps deciding to run in the background, you have to look *very* closely what they do. Because if you don't, these apps will suck at your battery until it is empty.
And most normal users most certainly don't want to have to do that. At least with the appstore apps you can rely on them to stop doing anything as soon as you return to the home screen or click the phone "off". And Apple has done a really good job when it comes to power management. You may easily overlook this fact on an iPhone, but if you look at the iPod touch this thing runs (sleeps) for weeks if you press the off button. Having apps running in the background and then return to an empty battery two hours (or one day) later surely is *not* in the interest of the users. Constantly having to check for (and kill) running apps in some task-manager is no solution either.
Say what you will about Apple, but power management is one thing they are very serious about, not only with the iPhone. The new MacBook is able to even put most netbooks to shame when it comes to minimum power draw and this is not due to magic but just to lots of hard work and smart hard- and software. I've seen my MacBook drawing about 6 watts from the battery with WiFi on, display on 50% and writing things. This is outright impressive, they must have some really clever people working on that while most other hardware vendors just don't care and either stuff fat batteries into their machines or give you two hours of battery life. Limitations like "no background apps on the iPhone" are there for a good reason, so be careful what you wish for.