I was responding to Acumowchek's question 'did it give you the advantages that you thought it would?' (which I realise wasn't aimed at me). I don't make claims for it to be universally useful, just explaining why it's useful to me, and therefore why it was worth the small effort of jailbreaking. Also for anyone here who might be curious as to why someone would jailbreak their phone, the above is a set of examples why I find it useful. Anyway, here we go...


I am. I have short work shifts in 3 different houses in 3 different towns. If I don't keep up, it's a mess. And that's just my work schedule, never mind my manifold social life.


I only explained it because it was on my screenshot. It's not very important, but makes it quicker for me to get in. Needs just enough of a touch never to have gone off accidentally.


As conjected above, I'm using my double-click for something else. Besides, hardware buttons have a tendency to wear out, so the less I use it the better, I think.


It's a background app that you pop up/away by stroking the statusbar from anywhere in the system. If you lived, as I do, in an area with weak signal, you'd find it saves a lot of battery life if you keep turning wifi and 3G and Location off until you need them. This takes about 1/10 of the time to do this way compared to going into the Prefs app, and therefore I actually do it more often, and therefore I have a lot longer between charges.


Well, it has a lot of features that I don't even need, more for business users, like the same folder structure as Exchange, and a blacklist, and templates and so forth. But the main things I like about it are the character/message counter, and the thing you're asking me to explain more clearly, which looketh like this:




Mainly a work thing - I have to access updates to policy/procedure documents as pdfs, docs etc. that are on a website, not emailed to me.


I have the SMS app backgrounded, so it doesn't have to get launched every time I switch to it. Similarly with my Calendar app - much quicker to add or edit events if it's up and running already.
There is actually an app that works like the cmd-tab switcher on a mac desktop, but I don't need that. This is just a way to keep my most commonly used apps running so that I have quicker access to info if I'm asked for it at work, for example. I still switch apps by closing the last one, but if it's backgrounded, it reopens again pretty instantly when I return to it.


Exactly - if it's something that's been indispensable on your mac, it's very much the same deal on the phone. If you don't use it you wouldn't miss it. I'm constantly having to repeat details in messages and emails, or forward someone's address to a few people at different times. this way I can save it as a favourite (so it's permanently available to paste in anywhere) or drop it out of the clipboard history. Plus you should remember that I suffer from arm/finger strain, so the less typing the better.


Nope, the 5 rows take up the same height as the old 4. And no, it isn't harder to type that way. Having quick access to .,;:'"?!/ without having to hit the 123 key every damn time is a stress-saver for me, especially since I type whole words in my text messages, with, you know, grammar and punctuation'n'stuff.


Yup, no arrows involved - there's a faint white scrollblob on the right edge, and one swipe on it can take me from the very top to the very bottom of the current doc, whether it's a 2-screen-long web page, or a 120 page pdf. Much better than swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe... and you can set it so if you tap on it 2/3 way down, you go 2/3 way down the doc, just like on the mac scrollbar. Arrows redundant, I never use them on the mac scrollbars. Not a big deal in short docs, very very time-saving in long ones.


Not sure what Quickscroll has to do with this, it probably just crept into your sentence. I can use the mail attachment thing to forward on docs that I've downloaded (or been emailed) and edited. Since the phone is jailbroken, I can send any file I can find on there, including any useful stuff I might have ftp'd onto the drive when I was at home and thought: oh, so-and-so may want a copy of this.


It's constantly happening to me - I see something I want to snap in passing, like out of a bus window, and the phone is too slow for the spontaneity. Useful for me.


That shows which apps are backgrounded - it's optional to show that.


Cool - I maybe wouldn't find most of the apps on your touch useful. We ain't the same people.


No, I just meant that hardly any of the jailbreak-necessary apps I listed above cost anything to use.

The thing is, I've got a particular way of using my mac which I tend to want to emulate on my phone - that's all to do with finding shortcuts. On the mac it's a leftover from my DOS days, when the hands sped up work by learning lots of key combos - I've never really let go of the idea that it's a waste of time/energy to have an app you're typing into that requires you to use the mouse too to make things happen, if you could do it all from the keyboard. So on my mac I use the iKey app and have numerous shortcuts set up. Ultimately this means less strain on dodgy wrists, fingers, arms.

Ever since I got the iPhone, I've found it frustratingly slow to get from place to place to do things. So I jailbroke it to get access to faster ways to work/play with it. The first thing I did it for was originally so I could tether it as my maodem when I didn't have broadband at home for 2 weeks, and then it was the 5-row keyboard that got me hooked on the possibilities.

Yes, there's a certain geek-factor involved. But until I can afford a faster iPhone, I'll just mkae this one faster to use instead.

I am really impressed with your setup. You've organized and gathered apps according to your needs and desires and it appears to please you tremendously.

What you've done is individualized and personalized the phone to your specific lifestyle. Isn't it great to do that.

If it appears someone seemingly and unintentionally tries to rain on your parade, I rather think they are forgetting the individuality and uniqueness we tend to have and differ from one another. My desires and iPhone setup would bore you to tears but I'm as happy as a bug in a rug.

I liked the whole post and it was very informative.

Roll on Paddy!

Kate

Paddy said:



Yes!!

Though I was tired and overwrought last night and responded a little 'snappily' to the questions, so sorry about that.

I have to admit I have the feeling that people who don't feel the need to jailbreak see people who do as insane. Not sure why that is. Jailbreaking is not that big a deal. It's reversible. It's either useful to you or it isn't.

Yes, you jail breakers are a rogue bunch, you should be shipped off to an island somewhere where you can't hurt anybody.

But pad's already on an island somewhere where he can't hurt anybody. Well, almost anyway.

But I'm on an island with... no, won't go there. Anyway, it's not like the USA isn't an island too .

You're right, pad, no man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.

A winter's day
In a deep and dark December;
I am alone,
Gazing from my window to the streets below
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

I've built walls,
A fortress deep and mighty,
That none may penetrate.
I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain.
It's laughter and it's loving I disdain.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

Don't talk of love,
But I've heard the words before;
It's sleeping in my memory.
I won't disturb the slumber of feelings that have died.
If I never loved I never would have cried.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

I have my books
And my poetry to protect me;
I am shielded in my armor,
Hiding in my room, safe within my womb.
I touch no one and no one touches me.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

And a rock feels no pain;
And an island never cries.

Very cool.
I've been happy with what the App Store has given me, but I always wonder what I'm missing.
I'm still waiting for the App Store 'dust" to settle before I decide to try and jailbreak my iPod touch.
I appreciate your input.