I’m Waiting For the “Next Big Thing” From the Jailbreak Community

Do I really need to jailbreak anymore? I’ve been thinking about that question since I got my iPhone 4S about two months ago. I know this sounds sacrilegious on iDB, but think about it: do we really need an untethered iOS 5 jailbreak?

After taking a step back from the jailbreak scene for awhile, I’ve realized that I don’t have a desire to jailbreak anymore. Why? I think that I’m waiting for the “next big thing.”
I’ve been jailbreaking for years, and I can’t remember the last time I didn’t have a jailbroken iDevice for more than a month. I love covering jailbreak apps and news on iDB, and I love the people in the jailbreak community and the innovation that jailbreaking spurs. I’ve invested countless hours into the jailbreak community, and part of my identity as a lover of technology and Apple is rooted there. I’m writing as someone who has been a jailbreaker and owns Cydia t-shirts, not someone who “kind of” jailbreaks every now and then for fun.

Since I got my iPhone 4S, I haven’t had a jailbreak for nearly two months. I’ve been using iOS 5 on all of my iDevices (iPad and iPhone) without a jailbreak since the software went public, and I’m not sure that I need to jailbreak again.

Apple added a ton of new features in iOS 5, including some of the jailbreak features I relied on before, like Xpandr. Besides biteSMS’s quick reply feature for messaging (which we all know Apple will implement eventually) and possibly a tweak like IntelliScreenX, I can’t find any tweaks that are worth jailbreaking for on iOS 5. I used to rely on MyWi and PdaNet for tethering, but now that carriers are cracking down on that activity, it’s not worth it for me anymore.

Notification Center answers a lot of the problems I had with the iOS notification system before, and while I’d like to install third-party widgets, I’m willing to wait until Apple officially opens up access to developers. While it would be “neat” to have folders inside folders and a scrollable dock, those types of tweaks aren’t necessarily worth jailbreaking for, are they? All of the little tweaks out there are just “neat” at the end of the day, not game-changing.

We’ve had a tethered and semitethered iOS 5 jailbreak since the software went public, and there’s been unprecedented anticipation for an untethered exploit that also works on iDevices with the A5 processor, like the iPad 2 and newly-released iPhone 4S. Why has the there been so much hype around the upcoming jailbreak? Perhaps it’s because of flagship iOS 5 tweaks, like IntelliScreenX, that have been making a splash. Or maybe it’s because many originally thought that jailbreaking would be nearly impossible after iOS 5, and an untethered exploit for all iDevices would reaffirm that jailbreakers are still in it for the long haul.

Several months ago I wrote that the cat and mouse game between jailbreakers and Apple was just beginning, and I still believe that. The innovation that comes from jailbreak developers can’t be denied, but in this stage of the game, I don’t see anything that definitively says, “I am the reason you should jailbreak your iPhone.”

To put my predicament into plainer terms, I’ll address a question I get asked often by non-tech savvy friends.

Every once in awhile, a friend that knows what I do will ask me, “Why should I jailbreak my iPhone?” This question usually comes from friends that just bought an iPhone, or from someone that’s bored with their iOS setup.

For years, I have been able to give some sort of reason that usually justifies why I jailbreak, or why the person asking should jailbreak. Usually, only SBSettings, biteSMS, MyWi, and now IntelliScreenX can convince someone that jailbreaking is actually worth it. All of the smaller tweaks, like Infinidock and even 3G Unrestrictor, are cool, but they don’t convert potential jailbreakers by themselves. It takes something big or a lot of small tweaks to get someone to switch camps.

Recently, I’ve had a hard time justifying why I should jailbreak. This is mainly because I can’t think of enough jailbreak tweaks to justify losing several perks in iOS 5. I know that there’s workarounds for these issues, but I like being able to update iOS 5 over-the-air and restore from iTunes backups. For the past couple of months I haven’t had to worry about any of the downsides to jailbreaking. I haven’t had to worry about new tweaks crashing MobileSubstrate or random Springboard resprings. It’s been refreshing.

SBSettings has been one of the main things I’ve missed since I got my iPhone 4S. But now that there’s multiple ways to get quick access to system toggles without jailbreaking, I don’t miss the once-invaluable SBSettings as much. biteSMS’s quick reply feature for messages would be nice, but I can live without it.

Maybe I’m just bored with jailbreaking. Being able to change app icons and have system settings on the lock screen is nice, but it doesn’t have that “wow factor” anymore. I believe that many people jailbreak out of a philosophical conviction, and I totally understand that thought process. Apple has placed restrictions on what we can do with our iDevices, and jailbreaking frees us from those restrictions. I’m all for that type of creed, but like I’ve said, it’s all starting to get boring.

I’ve had multiple non-tech savvy friends tell me that they would jailbreak to run Siri on the iPhone 4. There are plenty of reasons why a Siri port isn’t in the picture right now, but I think that something like a Siri port is the “next big thing” that the jailbreak community needs.

Veterans will continue to jailbreak every version of iOS regardless of the benefits and downsides, but potential converts need something of substantial magnitude to make the decision. In the old days, people used to jailbreak because that was the only way to download third-party apps. Once Apple launched the App Store, the jailbreak community became appealing for other reasons, like the ability to unlock your iPhone for free. You could tether over 3G for free if you jailbroke, and you could theme iOS to make it look like anything from the Android OS to a Mountain Dew advertisement. The real geeks like to have access to the iOS filesystem, and jailbreaking makes that possible. And let’s be real; a lot of people still jailbreak to pirate apps.

For the more adventurous, including myself, jailbreaking hasn’t been about a specific feature, but rather all of them put together. For many, jailbreaking is about the ability to modify and extend the usefulness of iOS. While I totally align myself with that mentality, I still feel like my iPhone is waiting for the “next big thing.”


Best Buy Completely Sells Out of iPad 2 Stock, Still Plenty of Android Tablets Left

With Black Friday finally over and the madness it creates beginning to dissipate, stores and online retailers are now taking stock and more importantly, counting the cash.

If Best Buy’s online store is anything to go by, Apple’s iPad has been the big seller this year, with all of the iPad 2 stock now unavailable to order due to high demand. Best Buy did offer a near $50 off discount on the iPad 2 yesterday.

But it’s OK, Best Buy still has plenty of of Galaxy Tabs available for purchase…
The news comes the day after Best Buy reduced all iPad 2 stock by $45 for the Thanksgiving sales, with plenty of buyers eager to pick up a perceived bargain from the retailer’s online portal.

It’s a similar story in the company’s physical retail stores, too. Electronista got on the phone to a handful of local Best Buy stores and were told that they too are out of iPad 2 stock. We’d call that a pretty successful promotion, to be honest.

News of stock shortages suggests that demand for the iPad 2 is still at a high level, despite reports that it may be on the wane. Analysts getting something wrong, you say? Surely not!

Now, how long before this stock shortage is taken as a sign that Apple is running inventory down before releasing an iPad 3 in early-January?

Headlines appearing in 3, 2, 1.

Add Seconds to Your Status Bar With ‘StatusBarSeconds’

I can honestly say that I think there’s a tweak for absolutely everyone on Cydia. Case in point: StatusBarSeconds — a new jailbreak tweak that allows you to add seconds to your iDevice’s status bar.

Who needs something like that? Someone, apparently. Check inside for a video walkthrough of StatusBarSeconds in action.
StatusBarSeconds features no app icons or settings panel; just install it and go. It’s free on Cydia for jailbroken devices.

Beware that the developer warns that the changing seconds could cause your battery to drain prematurely.

Have you given StatusBarSeconds a spin? Let us know what you think about it below.

How to Remove Icon Labels in iOS 5

Looking for a cleaner look to go along with your recent iOS 5 installation? If you’re jailbroken, then a recently released Cydia tweak might be right up your alley.

It’s called No Icon Label for iOS 5, and as you may have guessed, it removes the icon labels from all of your App icons on your iPhone’s Home screen.

Sure, other tweaks have done it in the past, but here’s a free standalone solution for those of you looking for no icon labels with no filler added.
Like most tweaks of this nature, No Icon Label for iOS 5 is a simple “install and go” affair. Hence, there are no options or settings to configure, and if you want to disable the effect, just uninstall the tweak.

Again, if your iDevice is jailbroken and you’ve given it a try, let us know what you think about No Icon Label for iOS 5 in the comments below.

Apple’s Black Friday Deals Revealed

Yesterday, we started seeing Black Friday banners pop up on Apple.com. The top of the image read “Every gift list has its day,” and was followed by a request for customers to return to Apple’s online store on November 25th for a special one-day shopping event.

Given Apple’s track record, we weren’t expecting the kind of deep discounts that other retailers will be offering this week. And it looks like we were spot on. 9to5Mac has gotten ahold of a copy of Apple’s Black Friday deals, and as last year, they seem fairly modest.
Aside from knocking $101 off of each of its Mac computers, Apple is also shaving between $41 and $61 dollars off of its iPads, depending on the model. The iPod touch is also being discounted according to capacity, with savings between $21 and 41 dollars.

Those with accessories left on their shopping lists will be happy to hear that Apple is also discounting its in-house supplements this Friday. Items like the Mophie Juice Pack Air and the iPad-compatible wireless keyboard will be receiving various price cuts.

Although the sale may not seem like much, you have to consider that Apple doesn’t typically discount its current-generation products. And if you are looking to snag an iPad or an iPod touch before the holidays, this is likely the cheapest price you’re going to find.

Do you plan on doing any shopping at Apple on Friday?

Sega Joins in on Major Holiday Game Sales

It’s the day before Thanksgiving, and most of you are (job-willing) likely on the verge of a three or four day weekend. You may spend the time embarking on a boring road trip, avoiding family members, or just hanging out at the house enjoying your days off.

Whatever the scenario, iPhone and iPad games can provide you with at least a brief stint of entertainment. And they happen to be extra cheap this week. We’ve just found out that Sega has joined Gameloft and other developers in a massive holiday game sale…
The publisher has discounted 15 of its most popular titles, with 11 of them falling to under a buck. Even the famous Sonic the Hedgehog series gets a 50% price cut. Looking to score one of the games listed below? Just follow the link to the App Store.

■Altered Beast
■Gunstar Heroes
■Samurai Bloodshow
■Sonic Spinball
■Sonic The Hedgehog
■Sonic The Hedgehog 2
■Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 1
■Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing
■Super Monkey Ball
■Super Monkey Ball 2
■Super Monkey Ball 2 Sakura Edition for iPad
■Streets of Rage
■Streets of Rage 2
■Streets of Rage 3
■Virtua Fighter 2
As the above image mentions, you have until December 1st to pick up these games at their discounted prices. But with a lot of free time likely coming up this weekend, why wait?

What do you think? Deal or no deal?

iPhone 4S Now the Second Most Popular Cameraphone on Flickr

The iPhone 4S’ rebuilt 8MP camera is one of the new handset’s most talked about features — other than Siri of course. It captures sharper images with much better color in low-light situations than its predecessor did, with 60 percent more pixels.

Apple has even been touting it as a point-and-shoot camera replacement, and it seems like iPhone 4S owners agree with it. The handset has just become the second most frequently used Cameraphone on the popular photo-sharing site, Flickr….
With over 50 million members and 6 billion hosted photos to date, Flickr’s image upload data is a great way to gage a camera’s popularity. The service knows which device a photo was taken with using the image’s EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) information.
As you can tell from the graph, the iPhone 4S has passed up the 3G, 3GS, and the HTC Evo 4G to become the second most popular Cameraphone on the site. It sits only behind the iPhone 4, which became Flickr’s most popular camera overall earlier this year.

Apple’s been criticized in the past for being behind the megapixel curve, releasing a phone with a 3.2MP camera when the competition had 5MP and a 5MP when others had 8MP. But it hasn’t hurt the device’s popularity — the top 3 cameraphones on Flickr are all iPhones.

Hidden Code in iOS 5 Contains Interesting iPad 3 References

They’ve done it again. The folks over at 9to5Mac have uncovered some interesting information hidden deep within the code of iOS 5. The site has exposed several secret features in the new software by code-digging over the last few months — including Siri.

Its recent find pertains to an unreleased Apple product, codenamed J2. The site believes that this could actually be the next version of the iPad. Not only that, but it thinks that this could be the Retina display-equipped tablet everyone has been talking about…
Apparently, the J2 codename matches up with a recent report from Digitimes, which also names a J2 device as Apple’s next tablet.

“Since Apple demands that the new iPad model will need to be thinner than the iPad 2, while raising the machine’s screen resolution to 2048 by 1536, upstream component makers have been working aggressively to adjust the device’s LED and panel module designs to satisfy these demands, but the work has affected the launch schedule fo the new tablet PC. Apple is currently giving two tablet PC projects codenamed J1 and J2 to its upstream partners for development. The sources revealed that the major differences of the new tablet PCs compared to the previous model are their size, specifications and technologies.”

9to5Mac believes that J1 and J2 are similar tablets, with the latter being the 3G model. It also thinks that Apple is already testing the device, as it has been referenced in iOS 5 since the early betas.

We’ve heard rumors that Apple was working on an iPad with a Retina-like quality screen before, but this is the first time we’ve seen any kind of evidence. However, it still sounds like Apple and its supply partners are struggling to produce the hi-res displays.

Due to manufacturing limitations, it’s possible that Apple could have to choose between an iPad with a Retina display that is slightly thicker than its predecessor, or a thinner tablet with a lower screen resolution. Which one would you rather see next year?

Check Out These Beautiful iOS 5 Settings Panel Shortcuts

Ever since our initial post that showed how to create shortcuts to some of the most used items in the Settings app, many have taken a lot more interest in the idea.

Considering that there is no jailbreak for the iPhone 4S, and no untethered jailbreak for iOS 5 in general, many are using Settings panel shortcuts as they wait for a jailbreak solution that works for them.

In the meantime, UI designer Jeff Broderick has taken things into his own hands, creating the most beautiful and detailed shortcuts icons we’ve seen to date
If you head over to http://brdrck.me/settings on your iDevice, you can download the shortcut icons for yourself. There’s only a handful of shortcuts available, but Broderick set out to capture some of the most useful ones like Wi-Fi, Brightness, Bluetooth, Hotspot, etc.

This is a great alternative to the IconProject method that we initially told you about, but if you want a list of all of the possible toggles, you’re going to want to check out our in-depth IconProject post.

Obviously, if you’re on a jailbroken device, you want to check out SBSettings, because that allows you to directly toggle certain features on and off. This is more of a workaround for iPhone 4S users, since there’s currently no iPhone 4S jailbreak to speak of.

What do you think about these newly designed shortcuts icons?

Springtomize 2 to Sell For $2.99 Initially, Will be Available on December 2nd

The developer of the popular jailbreak tweak known as Springtomize has given more details about the massive update he has planned. As we exclusively showed you last month, Springtomize 2 brings a whole host of improvements to the incredibly powerful jailbreak tweak.

Filippo Bigarella, the developer, has given more details on the upcoming release, including Cydia availability and cost.
On his personal blog, Filippo has stated that the iOS 5 update to Springtomize will be submitted to Cydia on December 2nd.

Filippo plans to have an introductory price followed by a regular and update price in Cydia. He also does not plan to offer a lite version.

There will be a “launch period” (first 10 days), where Springtomize 2 will be $0.99 for Springtomize for iOS 4 owners and $2.99 for anyone else.  After that period, the normal price will probably be $3.99 and the update price $1.49. Remember that this is a complete rewrite, from scratch, not a simple compatibility update. All the others updates will obviously be free.

Some overall improvements in Springtomize 2 include:

■performances have been dramatically improved from Springtomize for iOS 4
■new sections (Time Machine, Notification Center, Advanced management)
■new options for every section
■icons hiding
■on-the-fly settings reloading

Just Mobile’s Gum Max Supercharges Your iPhone and iPad On the Go

Our friends at Just Mobile have announced the Gum Max portable battery for Apple’s line of iDevices. The stylish, portable battery has more than enough juice to fully charge any device that sports an Apple dock connector or mini-USB port.

The Gum Max’s aluminum shell and LED indicators help it fit in perfectly with your other Apple products and accessories, and the battery itself can be easily stored in a large pocket or laptop bag.
Priced at $109.95, the Gum Max packs 10,400mAh of power. The iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch can be fully charged via the battery’s Apple dock connector, but other types of smartphones with mini-USB connectors can also be charged. Eight LED indicators line the Gum Max to let you know how much juice the extra battery has left.
If you travel frequently or always seem to be away from a power outlet, the Gum Max is the perfect tool for making sure you never run out of precious battery life. Having a fully charged backup in your bag can prove to be invaluable.