Okay, this is bloody amazing - a $2 app for jailbroken iPhones, tap your status bar and the camera is there in around half a second, without having to quit the current app. And there isn't a large memory hit to do this.
Hahaha, I just knew someone was going to post the OMFG WORMS SECURITY RISK! thing...:) Well, if you buy a house safe for your valuables and then leave the manufacturer's 1-2-3-4 combination on the lock, you deserve any theft you get. So people who jailbreak their iPhones and don't change the default passwords for /root and /mobile are inviting idiots into their data safe and I have little sympathy for them.
As to advantage:
<--- click to pop up larger version
Well, aside from basic visual tweaks (via Winterboard) such as black dock background, I'm using:
Lock Calendar (image 1) - see my appointments without unlocking Tap to Unlock (image 1) - swiping is harder when you're left-handed, for some reason Five Column Dock (image 2) - got what I want down there SBSettings (image 3) - bloody useful set of tools, top section is quick toggles for Wifi, Phone, Location, 3G etc., small buttons allow instant respring etc.; customisable, just swipe status bar to appear/disappear it.
What else?
• iRealSMS, a 'better Messages app' that pops up message alerts (even in lock screen) with a photo and scrollable message (inc. MMS), which you can tap to reply to in the same screen - portrait or landscape. • a proper download helper for Safari, that allows downloading of most useful file types; I have a phone file browser too • Backgrounder - that allows me to run any app I want in the background so it doesn't have to keep relaunching every time I switch apps (so long as there's enough free ram, see status bar for free ram amount) • Action Menu, which adds clipboard history, clipboard favourites, dial number, send as tweet (like we care!), more to follow, each one toggleable • a 5-row keyboard layout with my favourite characters on the top row (like comma, period etc.) which saves loads of time typing (shift for numbers), has an alt layout that can include cursor keys, for the loupe-challenged • QuickScroll which gives me a scrollbar to zip up/down long docs or web pages • I can send Mail attachments • I have Snappy now and can take a photo from anywhere in the phone within a second (this is seriously great)
The only one of these I haven't used regularly since I installed it is the mail attachments one, but I have used it a couple of times. The rest are valuable on a daily basis, and make my 3G a usable little mac. A very few of these are pay apps - I've maybe spent $6 in all. I've helped bug test a few.
So far, nothing I've installed has messed up my phone, or made it unusable. If it did, I can just restore to factory, restore from backup, and then use the handy Backup/Restore app, which has stored a list of all my installed jb apps in the iTunes backup, and will automatically reinstall them for me! I've only had to do that once, and that was because I thought the phone's ringer had been broken by something I installed (because I didn't know about the mute switch yet ).
So there's a reason why people write all these apps - because they find them useful, and then so do others. I think my phone would drive me nuts without all this stuff on it. Maybe if I had a 3GS that was that much faster at switching between apps, or loading up prefs or whatever, I wouldn't miss some of these items, but some of them are brilliant enhancements, not just speed shortcuts.
_________________________ If it's brokenless, don't suffix it...
So far I don't see anything *must* have there. Seriously. Let me break each example down.
Lock calendar: I guess I'm not busy enough to have to constantly look at my calendar. Wish I was sometimes...but I'm not.
Tap to unlock: Right-hander here, so swiping is easy and I don't like the idea of tapping to unlock. Seems like it would be easier to accidently unlock it. But my brother is left-handed, so I'll ask him about the swiping thing.
5 column dock: Guess I'm happy with the 4. Everything else that I use the most gets on the 1st page. And having the iPod icon down there is useless. Did you know that pressing the Home button twice brings up the iPod commands? And the option to go to the iPod?
SBSettings: so this is an app? I don't see it on your 1st page there. How do you access it? Basically this is the same thing as your Settings app, just different layout and access? Handy I guess if you really need to access such things. So far I haven't had the need.
That iRealSMS doesn't sound like it does anything different than the one that comes with the iPhone. I get Text messages that pop up when the phone is locked or when I'm in a different app. I tap to Reply or Close if I'm watching a movie, on phone, playing a game, etc. What do you mean "with a photo and scrollable message"?
download helper for Safari: what do you download through Safari? (just wondering) because I never see/find anything that I want to download. Usually things that I download are programs for my mac. Help me out here...where would that come in handy?
Backgrounder: ok...give me an example of something running in the background that you have to have running. Mail, Text, etc do PUSH notification, so they check while I'm doing whatever. I'm not sure where this would come in handy either, but perhaps I'm missing something? And how do you switch between apps without closing the one you are currently using?
Action Menu: Cipboard history & Favorites...well...I guess if you need those they might be handy. Or you could create a new note with those things. But so far I haven't ever had to use Clipboard history, even on my mac. The other things (dial number...see Favorites in your phone) (send as tweet...useless to me) are useless to me, but again, I may be missing out on something.
5 row keyboard? Holy crap! Can you even see a preview of what you are typing? Especially in landscape mode? 4 is enough for me. 5 would just make the window showing what you are typing even that much smaller...and I need that window.
Quickscroll: how is this easier/better than swiping finger on screen? So instead of using say your thumb to swipe up and down, you have to hit arrows on the scrollbar? nah, swiping is MUCH easier. Of course, I haven't seen the scroll bar on the iPHone, so I must be missing out on something here.
What attachments are you sending with your Mail that you can't do without this Quickscroll? I can send pictures, video, and Notes now so I don't know what else you would send as an attachment?
Snappy: Well, I guess that might come in handy, but so far I haven't run into anything that requires me to activate the camera within a second.
What are those little circular icons on the bottom left of the Phone and Mail icons?
I'm not saying people don't find them useful. I did when I hacked my iPod Touch. I just don't find anything useful in what you posted about.
You say that very few apps are pay apps, you only spend roughly $6. But some of the ones I see in your screen shot do. Ultralingua (french to english) - $19.99 ultralingua (french dictionary) - $19.99 PhotoForge - $4.99 feX - $1.99
So perhaps you meant $46? Unless those are obtained other ways, which brings up a whole 'nother thing about hacking the iPhone....
Hahaha, I just knew someone was going to post the OMFG WORMS SECURITY RISK! thing...:) Well, if you buy a house safe for your valuables and then leave the manufacturer's 1-2-3-4 combination on the lock, you deserve any theft you get. So people who jailbreak their iPhones and don't change the default passwords for /root and /mobile are inviting idiots into their data safe and I have little sympathy for them.
So there's a reason why people write all these apps - but some of them are brilliant enhancements, not just speed shortcuts.
Oh, and I forgot:
The first part of your quote: Obviously there are people who don't do this, otherwise this security risk wouldn't even be out there. I know when I did my iPod Touch, I didn't change mine.
And which ones are "brilliant enhancements"? I have yet to see one....
. And having the iPod icon down there is useless. Did you know that pressing the Home button twice brings up the iPod commands? And the option to go to the iPod?
Did you know you can reassign that button? He may have it set for something else and thus the iPod icon on the Home screen.
Quote:
What are those little circular icons on the bottom left of the Phone and Mail icons?
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