Still Jailbroken, Still for Good Reason

Long ago in a galaxy far, far away, the iPhoneWriter.com team was engaged in an epic battle with the Death Star. Our intention was noble and our cause was true, our desire was to be free from control by the Dark Side. Of course, this is a tongue and cheek reference to unlocking our iPhone for use on the T-Mobile network. What a difference a couple of years makes... now our contract has expired, along with the need to unlock our iPhone. That's right, the iPhoneWriter.com team has crossed back over to the Dark Side.

So far, it feels pretty good too. The network coverage for AT&T is a tad bit better in our area than T-Mobile's, which has meant having connections in areas where we didn't before. As an added bonus, we were now enjoying 3G network speeds vs. the Edge network speeds available with T-Mobile. Since being tied to a specific network carrier was no longer an issue and service was perhaps better than we had before, the question became whether or not we even needed to jailbreak our iPhone anymore. Initially, the question was lazily answered with a no and we moved on. Later though, the answer changed... whether or not to jailbreak is now answered with a resounding yes.

Why answer yes, if unlocking the iPhone is no longer required? Because of the app's. Because of the app's? Do we mean the App Store? No, we mean the app's in Cydia, not the App Store. For those that may not know, a major advantage to having a jailbroken iPhone is the ability to install 3rd party applications that are available outside of the limitations imposed (offered?) by the iPhone's App Store. Sure, there's over 100K applications available on the app store right now. With that many app's, what are the odds you'll ever need something that's not being offered in the App Store? Depending on your needs, the odds are actually pretty high.

Let's say you like to personalize things... you know, make them your own. Maybe you want a different back ground or custom icons for your applications, whatever. If your iPhone isn't jailbroken, your out of luck. How about an application to ... ... - sorry, nothing in the App Store for people like you. How about an application that blocks phones calls and messages from people you deem as undesirable (i.e., ex-girlfriends, bill collectors, unknown or blocked numbers, etc.?) Once again, you're out of luck at the App Store but in luck with Cydia (one of our favorite iPhone applications is called iBlacklist, and it's only available through Cydia.)

Long ago in a galaxy far, far away, the iPhoneWriter.com team was engaged in an epic battle. At the time, the battle was with AT&T more than it was with Apple, now the battlefront has changed but the war remains the same. One one side, you still have a Goliath, seeking domination and total control. One the other side, you still have David, wanting and fighting for freedom of his Apple iPhone.