It's like ice, only diet_
5 Jailbroken Features I Will Not Do Without
I have been a loyal iPhone user and AT&T customer since the dark ages of the iPhone. It took me almost two years before I jailbroke that original iPhone. The reason behind my decision to jailbreak wasn’t that I wanted to stick it to AT&T by moving my device over to the competition or that I wanted to run cracked or pirated software. It was OS 3.0 that finally made my decision. I simply got tired of being ignored by AT&T and Apple. It became painfully clear to me that these two corporations were never going to give me the features that I wanted but were available from other sources. (For the purposes of this article I have intentionally omitted jailbreaking methods, and software package names) So here’s my short list of features that I get on my jailbroken iPhone that I won’t do without:
- Tethering: this is a term used to describe the process of sharing your phone’s cellular data connection with your laptop. Blackberrys have done this for years. AT&T has strictly refused to allow this feature, going so far as to block the sale of legitimate applications that added this feature. Too, it appears that with the release of OS 3.1, we will no longer be able to use the mobileconfig workaround.
- Themes: Apple’s idea of iPhone customization is being able to change your lock-screen wallpaper. With a jailbroken phone every feature of your phone is customizable. Wallpaper, Icons, Sounds, Vibrations, etc.
- Removable Storage: It’s a feature on all iPods (except the touch), why shouldn’t I be able to mount my iPhone as a USB drive? Some legitimate applications come close, but it’s not quite the real thing.
- Background Processes: This is a slightly more technical feature. Basically, i don’t want my application to close just because I hit the home button. I want it to go to the background so that I can do another task and then come back to it without relaunching.
- System-Level Access: If you don’t know what this is, you probably don’t miss not having it. It essentially comes down to expandability and adaptability. With system level access I’m able to change any phone behavior I see fit, including services. It makes you iPhone behave like what it really is: a palm-sized computer.
PS – If any AT&T or Apple employees end up reading this. Please meet us part way on our requests. We, your customers, WANT TO USE YOUR PRODUCT. Make it the product we need.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Bryan Caudle on July 16, 2009 at 7:51 pm, and is filed under Technology. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
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iPad Password Lock
about 4 months ago - 2 comments
As a lot of you may recall, iPhone OS 3.x included the ability to alter settings through mobile safari. This gave rise to several popular patches called mobileconfigs, most notable of which was the tethering hack that was quickly closed by Apple. There was another that got some early attention but faded away because it simply wasn’t iPhone appropriate: the password lock function.
Enter iPad. Here we have a mobile device running the same(ish) iPhone OS but is being used to carry around so much more information. All you documents, email, contacts, and photos are being protected natively by the same 4-number passcode lock. With support for BT keyboards as well as the nearly functional soft keyboard on the iPad, it seems like an appropriate time for a strong passcode.
The Alpha-Numeric Password mobileconfig fits the bill perfectly and seems to work flawlessly on the iPad. Just like on the iPhone, you simply click a link to the .mobileconfig and click install. From there, it’s simply a matter of selecting a strong password.
WARNING – There is NO password recovery feature on the iPad. Don’t forget your password.
For those of you as untrusting as I am about the things you download off of the internet, I have included the payload contents of the mobileconfig below.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>PayloadContent</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>PayloadDescription</key>
<string>Configures security-related items.</string>
<key>PayloadDisplayName</key>
<string>Passcode Settings</string>
<key>PayloadIdentifier</key>
<string>com.passcode.profile.passcode</string>
<key>PayloadOrganization</key>
<string>DietIce.</string>
<key>PayloadType</key>
<string>com.apple.mobiledevice.passwordpolicy</string>
<key>PayloadUUID</key>
<string>C14AB949-EB69-4DE4-B76A-98CBA250D309</string>
<key>PayloadVersion</key>
<integer>1</integer>
<key>allowSimple</key>
<false/>
<key>forcePIN</key>
<false/>
<key>maxFailedAttempts</key>
<integer>100</integer>
<key>maxInactivity</key>
<integer>0</integer>
<key>maxPINAgeInDays</key>
<integer>60</integer>
<key>minComplexChars</key>
<integer>0</integer>
<key>minLength</key>
<integer>0</integer>
</dict>
</array>
<key>PayloadDescription</key>
<string>Enables alphabet passcode.</string>
<key>PayloadDisplayName</key>
<string>Alpha Passcode</string>
<key>PayloadIdentifier</key>
<string>com.passcode.profile</string>
<key>PayloadOrganization</key>
<string>DietIce.</string>
<key>PayloadType</key>
<string>Configuration</string>
<key>PayloadUUID</key>
<string>626F98F4-3D96-4726-8F1B-6A15006BDDD3</string>
<key>PayloadVersion</key>
<integer>1</integer>
</dict>
</plist>
3.x Memory Leak?
about 10 months ago - No comments
I seems that there is a rather severe memory leak somewhere in iPhone OS 3.1.2. Since I have started using CalDAV I can watch my available memory drop off throughout the day. Has anyone else experienced problems with memory using CalDAV? Workarounds or fixes?
5 Reasons to Downgrade Back to 3.0.1
about 10 months ago - 2 comments
I, like so many others have upgraded my jailbroken phone to 3.1. And also like the others, I regret it. But is it worth the time and effort required to downgrade back to an older version after spending so much time on the upgrade? Yes, and here’s why:
- PDANet was great back in the day of the 2G, but now we’re grown and we’ve tasted the sweetness of actual tethering through the mobileconfig hack. Using PDANet just seems like a step backward at this point.
- Network Glitchyness (is that a word?) seems so much worse on 3.1. I know that AT&T sucks, boo AT&T but I think that the software is more to blame than the network in this case. Some of this is supposed to be fixed in 3.1.2 but I just don’t think that I’m brave enough to soldier on here. I’m getting fewer bars and my phone is dropping out of 3G coverage in places where I’m accustomed to getting full service. And as always Visual Voice Mail breaks constantly.
- Memory Issues are a new problem in 3.1. I’m using about 30% more memory to run processes under 3.1 than I was using to run the same processes under 3.0.1
- Frozen phone, unexpected app crashes = fail. General instability issues have frustrated me from the day I “upgraded.”
- This is just personal paranoia but I feel that 3.1 has many more “Big Brother” features than previous versions. For instance all the aggressive anti-jailbreaking efforts on the part of Apple recently, the way Apple is trying to push of software management to carriers, and the way data is broken down in the setting menu. I just gives me the overall impression that Apple has forgotten who provides their revenue stream. Apple’s anti-user tactics make me nervous and using old software makes me nostalgic for simpler times where Apple wasn’t quite as super evil.
I haven’t arrived at this descision easily. Certainly, any software change on the iPhone is a big deal. It means hours of downloading applications, music, tweaking settings, and finding new solutions to old problems. But seriously, F^#* 3.1, you can keep 3.1.2 because I’m going back to 3.0.1… it was a simpler time.
iPhone mobileconfig Settings
about 1 year ago - 3 comments
If you follow iPhone news in any way you are probably aware of these tricks, but just in case you’ve missed out here you go. In iPhone OS 3.0, Apple added the ability to make changes to your iPhone’s settings through Mobile Safari. This is significant, seeing as how making these changes does not require jailbreaking your device. These custom settings are stored in Settings > General > Profiles.
My preferred method of installing these settings is to navigate to this post and open these links using mobile safari on your iphone or ipod touch. Some people have also reported being able to install them by emailing the files to the account they check using their device.
AT&T Tethering Workaround: (Off-site link) I saw this for the first time right after the release of OS 3.0. Network tethering is part of the new OS, and frankly is a feature we’ve all wanted for some time. This mobileconfig enables the tethering menu located at Settings > Network > Tethering which is disabled by default in the United States. NOTE: This will supposedly be disabled in OS 3.1 so if this is a feature that you can’t live without, don’t upgrade your device
Alpha-Numeric Password: I first heard about this here. Basically, this mobile config replaces your standard 4-number lockscreen with an alphanumeric lockscreen with a length of your choosing. I have modified the origonal file for the password to expire after 60 days, rather than the default 1 day. Preferences for this under Settings > General > Passcode Lock. NOTE: It seems that the only way to uninstall this mobile config is to restore your device.
about 1 month ago
Excellent read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little research on that. And he actually bought me lunch because I found it for him smile So let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch!
about 1 month ago
Jailbreaking allows a user to add necessary feature sets to their phones and the jailbreak community drives apple innovation. Also it is a 100% reversible process. So, in the event that warranty work is required, you can restore your phone using iTunes to a non-jailbroken state.
about 1 month ago
Why would anyone jailbreak their iphone? It voids the warranty!
about 1 month ago
It\\\’s pleasant here. good study. I have been looked this kind of info for a while. thanks
about 7 months ago
I wanted to thank you for taking the time to come and comment on the iPhone Download Blog. I read some of your iPhone stuff. It’s good!
I’m always looking for people to join me on the blog, you know? If you’d like to share your iPhone views on my blog, you’re more than welcome to give it a try.
You have my email address so hit me up if you’re interested. Thanks and keep up the good writing
Sebastien