Reviews of the Top Sites to do an Untethered Jailbreak

by admin on October 12, 2012

Welcome to JailbreakUntethered.Net, the official Jailbreaking News Blog! Today, we’ve got a special treat for you – our reviews of the top 3 sites to do an untethered jailbreak! 

Note: This review is in-depth and comprehensive. If you don’t have time right now to read the entire thing, you can Click Here to Visit Our Current #1 Favorite Software to Jailbreak Your iDevice.

Now, out of the 13 sites that we reviewed, these top 3 have a few things in common. Most notably, each one provides a verified, automatic untethered jailbreak. All 3 are updated daily by their technical teams to ensure that all software is as up to date as possible with the latest iOS and baseband versions. And finally, the process for each of these 3 is fairly simple – that’s an important criteria for us!

None of these require more than a few minutes from start to finish to complete a jailbreak. Once you sign up, you log into their member’s area, download the software, connect your iDevice, and then start the jailbreak while you walk away to get a drink.

On the other hand, there are a few differences between these 3 sites that made the final cut as well. They differ in precisely how tech-savvy you need to be to complete the jailbreak, as well as in the quality of their customer service and their price point among other things. If you’re interested in finding out what the differences are among these sites, and which WE recommend you choose, then please read on…

It’s important to get one thing out of the way before we move on to the ins and outs of these 3 sites. It IS possible to do an untethered jailbreak for free, and to complete it without buying any software. However, as someone who’s been jailbreaking iPhones both privately and professionally since 2007, when the first jailbreak was released, I want to caution you against going this route. Going “hacker style” and jailbreaking without using any software requires a lot of technical know-how.

You need to dig through thousands of lines of code, and if one comma is out of place when you re-compile the code, you need to be comfortable enough with iOS development to fix your device when it gets bricked. If you’re a techie, then by all means feel free to jailbreak on your own. But for anyone else, I highly recommend using automated software.

Anyway, without any further rambling on my part, here are our top 3 picks to do an untethered jailbreak on your iDevice:

1) Jailbreak Unlock LLC

Overall Rating: 9.5/10

This site was the creme of the crop out of all 13 sites that we reviewed. You really have to see it to appreciate how professional and easy to use it is.iPhone 5 Jailbreak Coming Soon

As I alluded to before, I sometimes do jailbreaks on a professional basis out of the computer repair shop that I manage during the day. I used to use a different site for the jailbreaks that I did for customers in the shop, where I had to pay a $5 surcharge for each additional device that I wanted to use the software on. But after I found out how easy to use Jailbreak Unlock was, on top of the fact that they let me jailbreak unlimited iDevices for free, they’re now my go-to solution. They work flawlessly for me 100% of the time.

After you get logged into the member’s area of the site (which is beautifully designed btw – kudos to their web designer), you just download the software, connect your iPhone, and let the software do it’s thing. The entire process from start to finish takes maybe 4 minutes.

A few other things set this site apart from the rest of our top three. For one, this solution is a COMPLETE jailbreak. What I mean is that they unlock your iDevice (if applicable), in addition to jailbreaking it.

If you’re not familiar with the terminology, a jailbreak frees your iPhone from the restrictions put on it by Apple. It allows you to install 3rd party apps, to tweak the settings beyond what Apple allows, and to get free apps, ringtones, music, and more. An unlock, on the other hand, frees your iPhone from any restrictions put on it by the carrier or mobile service provider.

For instance, if you buy an iPhone through AT&T, your phone will be locked to their service – you can’t take it and use it on T-Mobile or Rogers without paying a huge fee ($600 last time I checked) to AT&T. A complete jailbreak that includes an unlock frees your device from these restrictions, allowing you to use it in whatever country and with whatever mobile service provider you choose.

Another added bonus for me is that Jailbreak Unlock proves that take the task of protecting your information seriously by using a secure checkout, with industry standard Verisign SSL. As you read on, you’ll find out that most sites don’t offer this.

Finally, we tested their tech support team by sending them a “test question”. I told them that I didn’t understand one of the steps in their instructions and asked them to clarify. The guy that wrote back, Frank, was extremely helpful. His response came via email less than 20 minutes after I contacted them. He provided an even more detailed instruction set, complete with video, that even my grandmother would have been able to follow. Needless to say, they got the full points for customer service in our little evaluation process.

In summary, the software is automatic and super easy to use, the site is Verisign secured, and customer service was spectacular. Did I mention that they also have the lowest price of the 3 sites that we review here today? We’re proud to recommend them as our top pick, and as of today, we’ve even added a permanent link to them in our sidebar.

Click Here to Get Their Untethered Jailbreak Now!

2) iPhone Jailbreak Plus

Overall Rating: 8/10

iPhone Jailbreak Plus is a solid site, with a few caveats. They placed just a little bit below Jailbreak Unlock in our ranking system, coming in with an 8/10 score overall. The site itself is a little ugly (let’s be honest), and a company that’s getting as much business as they are these iOS 6 Jailbreaking on iPhonedays should really invest a bit of money into a website redesign.

However, they do have a verified, complete jailbreak/unlock solution which works automatically on most devices. What more can you really ask of a jailbreaking site? Their member’s area looks a lot like their front end – it’s not the most well designed thing on earth – and the tutorials are a little on the long side. The one that I used for the iPhone 4 awhile back was over 2 pages long. The software is automatic, but there are a few steps involved where you need to click some buttons, so you can’t quite just “set it and forget it” and walk away to grab a drink like you can with Jailbreak Unlock.

On the whole, though, the site does what it promises. That is, it jailbreaks all of the iDevices and iOS versions listed on their homepage. Email them to find out if your device currently has a tethered or untethered jailbreak.

Like all of the sites that we evaluate, we sent their customer service team a test question. This time, I pretended that I didn’t know which iOS version I had. Their rep was based in the US, just like Jailbreak Unlock – not in India like most sites. And they responded to me in 6 hours and 15 minutes, which I thought wasn’t terrible, but could have definitely been better.

On the whole, we’re more than happy to recommend iPhone Jailbreak Plus as a great second choice. Use them if for some reason Jailbreak Unlock is down and you can’t wait to get your device jailbroken.

Click Here to Check Them Out Now for Yourself!

3) iJailbreak Tool

Overall Rating: 6/10

The #3 software package that we recommend for an untethered jailbreak is the iJailbreak Tool. If all that you’re looking for is a tool that does iPhone Jailbreaking Cydiawhat it advertises, with no bells and whistles, you’ll find it here. We tried their jailbreak on an iPod Touch 4G that belonged to one of our staff writers. As I said, it worked, but it wasn’t automatic, and it wasn’t entirely intuitive. The tool required about 20 steps, and needed user input at each one. So you can’t just walk away and let it do it’s thing. The price was reasonable – it’s about the same cost as our first 2 picks.

Customer service was maybe a 7/10. The answer to our test question came after about 5 hours (some of the sites that didn’t make the “top 3” cut had customer service and tech support departments that didn’t answer us at all.) The tech support rep’s English was decent, but you could tell that he wasn’t a native English speaker. The fact that his name was “Prajeet” kind of gave it away.

Anyway, not a whole more to say about these guys. If for some reason you can’t use Jailbreak Unlock or iPhone Jailbreak Plus, then this site should work for you.

Click Here to Check Them Out!

 

So that’s our semi-annual review! We sincerely hope that you found it useful, and that it helps you to make your decision when you’re trying to decide on which jailbreak software to use. Check back for further updates after the iPad Mini is released. Until then, take care!

Sincerely,

Ricky Anderson

Editor-In-Chief

JailbreakUntethered.Net

Note 1: The owners of this website may be affiliated with some products mentioned.

Note 2: Tethered vs untethered jailbreak status on these sites may depend on your iOS version. 

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Untethered Jailbreak for iOS 6 – When will it be released?

by admin on November 1, 2012

Untethered Jailbreak for iOS 6 – When will it be released?


While tethered jailbreaks are currently available for iOS 6 on the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPod Touch, no jailbreak has yet been released to the public for some of most sought-after iOS 6 devices such as the iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, or iPad.

Funny iPhone Jailbreak Thin Lizzy

A jailbreak is a hack that allows users to install applications unauthorized by Apple on their iDevice. While legal, it will pose a problem if the device needs to be serviced (the warranty will be voided). Naturally, the way to get around this is to restore the device to factory setting before taking it to an Apple dealer, so the warranty issue is not usually a deterrent for those users who want access to a wider variety of applications and tweaks. A jailbreak is considered “tethered” when upon restart, it requires a computer connection to work again. That is, every time your battery dies, the device may be rendered useless, leaving the user without access to applications, and perhaps even basic functions such calling and texting. Thus, an untethered jailbreak is always optimal, and most often, it’s the next step for hackers after an untethered jailbreak has been discovered.

iPhone 4S Jailbreak Unlock

Unfortunately, not even a tethered jailbreak exists for the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5, which makes users very nervous about the possibility of an untethered jailbreak being released anytime soon. However, there is some good news. A well-known iOS hacker, Planetbeing (who worked on the iPhone 4S jailbreak for iOS 5.1.1) tweeted recently that a tethered jailbreak for the iPhone 5 was imminent – but not without a catch.

Apple Jailbreak Untethered iPhone 5

Here’s the tweet:

“Upgraded the #failbreak with a kernel exploit so tweaks actually work on iPhone 5. :D Almost a full tethered JB, though need dev account.”

So what does this mean, exactly? It appears that the team is nearing a fully untethered jailbreak, but that an Apple developer account may be required to facilitate it (or what is now affectionately being called a “Failbreak.”) This may be an expensive endeavor for the average consumer who wants a jailbreak, as purchasing a spot in the Apple developer program costs about $99. Presumably, the developer account is needed to run code that the device would normally not allow. If this is the case, it may be a stepping stone to a better jailbreak, but would reduce the feasibility of a jailbreak for the average person, based on price.

Untethered Jailbreak Hack Different

However, those rabid fans with disposable incomes may find this to be a necessary (albeit inconvenient) move. Alternatively, it may mean that users will simply have to register the device UDID (unique device identifier), which can be done for about $7 or a little more. Normally, registering the device in this way would be done so that consumers can test beta versions prior to their release. At this point, it’s best to wait exactly what “need dev account” means before purchasing anything. It’ll also be interesting to note what, if any, of this information changes upon the release of iOS 6.0.1 and the 6.0.1 jailbreak.

Jailbreak 6.0.1

Another famous hacker, pod2g, also confirmed recently that the iPhone 5 tethered jailbreak may be on the horizon. Despite this news, there are no other details about a jailbreak untethered, tethered, or otherwise. While we are expecting a release date in the reasonably near future, it appears that hackers still have a way to go before an untethered jailbreak for iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 will be available.

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Latest News on the iOS 6 Untethered Jailbreak

by admin on October 25, 2012

Latest News on the iOS 6 Jailbreak

Updated News on the iOS 6 Untethered Jailbreak Here!

For those terribly impatient for more news on an iOS 6 untethered jailbreak, you may feel better knowing that the iPhone Dev team is still working hard in attempt to satisfy you. A jailbreak allows users to install applications otherwise unauthorized by Apple onto the iDevices, and it is perfectly legal to do so. Currently, there is a tethered jailbreak, which works on the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPod Touch 4G. The available iOS6 jailbreak works like this: (1) Download RedSn0w for either Windows or Mac, (2) run setup and the tool installation, (3) plug the iOS device into a computer, (4) launch the RedSn0w application, and (5) follow the instructions and wait.

 

This means if you have any of the aforementioned iDevices, you can perform a tethered jailbreak for iOS6. You can also jailbreak an Phone 4S running iOS5 using another iPhone Dev Team hack, called Absinthe. It is the only jailbreak app available for the iPhone 4S thus far, and this means that if you have an iPhone 4S running iOS6, you are **** out of luck. No bootroom exploit has yet been found for the A5/A6 devices (which also includes iPhone 5.) And of course, whichever device you have, you can’t have a tethered jailbreak – at least not yet. And it might be until after the end of year before it happens.

Untethered Jailbreak iPhone 5 iOS 6

A tethered jailbreak, simply put, means if you have to restart your device or the battery dies, you have to reapply the jailbreak via a computer. This can be a real problem if you are out and about, aware from your computer, and something disastrous happens. Sometimes this mean no access to unauthorized apps, and sometimes is means that you can’t even use your phone. Whoops.

Pod2G and iPhone Dev Team

As we eagerly await news for the iPhone Dev Team, we will continue to report whatever we currently know. We haven’t heard much lately, and hackers have been pretty tight-lipped on their progress. Thus, the possibility of an untethered jailbreak or even a tethered jailbreak for the iPhone 4S in the next few weeks seems remote.

Saurik Jailbreak Cydia Developer

For those unaware of what a jailbreak actually is, in a nutshell, it’s all about garnering control over the root and media partition of the device. This is only possible when /private/etc/fstab is readable and writable, and security checkpoints can be bypassed. Pod2G is a member of the iPhone Dev Team, and he has stated that they are still looking for a set of exploitable vulnerabilities necessary to jailbreak. These include: (1) a code injection vector, or vulnerability in the core components of iOS which may render unsigned code execution, (2) a privilege escalation vulnerability, and (3) a vulnerability in the kernel itself, which is the primary target of a jailbreak, and needs to have the signed code enforcement removed via a patch. If you don’t know what any of this means, that’s okay. Fortunately, jailbreakers make it easy for the rest of us to break into our iDevices without knowing complicated code or having great hacking skills.

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iPhone 5 Glitch: Static Lines on Keyboard While in App Store

by admin on October 4, 2012

iPhone 5 Glitch: Static Lines on Keyboard While in App Store

Some iPhone 5 users are noticing a relatively annoying phone glitch while trying to make purchases in the new App store. It appears that when some users attempt to enter their password before buying an app, static lines go through the middle row of keys on the screen. Different users may experience the lines in different places on their keyboard. Our testing only revealed lines on the numbers and punctuation keys, while the middle row of keys was not affected at all.

Static Lines on the iPhone 5 Keyboard While in App Store

While some may attribute this issue to the new app store, it seems to be associated only with the iPhone 5, as previous iPhone models: the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 3G, and the iPhone 3 are also capable of upgrading and running iOS 6 which features the new and improved app store.

Fortunately enough for users, the static lines only seem to be appearing on the keyboard while in the app store. Many users are still capable of using the app store in spite of the issue, but dealing with the lines on the keyboard while typing out an email? Most people wouldn’t be able to handle it for that length of time without getting frustrated.

iPhone 5 users hopefully will not have to deal with the issue for long. It is speculated that the bug will be addressed in the next iOS 6 update, which should be released within a few weeks—by late October or early November if Apple follows suite like they did with iOS 5 updates. The first iOS 5 bugs were addressed a month after the initial release.

The good news? You can update your operating system without being tethered to your computer using Apple’s new over the air, or OTA updates.

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Why You Should Wait (to Jailbreak) Until iOS 6.0.1

by admin on October 4, 2012

Why You Should Wait Until iOS 6.0.1

While serious tech geeks will rejoice in iOS 6.0 right away, early adoption always comes at a price, whether it is through paying more money to get what you have, or dealing with various headaches while bugs are worked out of the system.

There are plenty of reasons to update your devices to iOS 6, as this new system comes with a slew of updates—namely a major overhaul of a Maps system, deprecating the built in Google Maps app (yeah, that didn’t go well), Siri debuting on iPad, and the ability to book restaurants and movie tickets. Facebook is now integrated into the operating system, like we saw happen with Twitter in iOS 5.

Google Maps Vs. Apple Maps

Other more minor updates include changes to the background colors, slider designs, slight interface changes. Safari seems to have been updated to run at faster speeds, something we will all appreciate. The sharing menu has seen a major overhaul, with inclusion of text menus in addition to the previous icons.

However, Maps seems to be what’s getting the most attention since though it’s proprietary, it’s a great downgrade when directly compared to Google Maps. Want to get around this? Bookmark maps.google.com in Safari, and you’re good to go! If you are not happy with the current Maps option, you can always use this until the next Google Maps app becomes available.

Even though updating right when a new operating system comes out gives you access to all these new features—it comes with drawbacks. As millions of people all try to download the major system update at once, it bogs down Apple’s servers, and for long periods of time while the downloads catch up service quality can decline greatly. Many users get almost all the way through the download process, only to find their device with an error, requiring them to start the entire download process over again—sometimes the process taking hours to complete. This leaves people without access to their device—and can be quite frustrating for many.

iOS 6 Download

Once the update is complete—you expect everything to run smoothly. Why wouldn’t you? After all, the system is put through rigorous testing for months on end before even being released to the public, right? No matter how much testing and debugging Apple, or any other company for that matter, puts a piece of software under, it takes actual use for an extended period of time to be able to catch all the bugs. Apple has to wait for reports from users to determine patterns of problems to see if what they have missed, and then they have to take the time to code and test a fix for it by duplicating whatever it is the user reported caused the issue.

With iOS 5, we saw the operating system suck the battery life out of devices in no time and we saw people have issues with saving documents to iCloud. While these bugs did not affect everyone, they were bothersome for those who were affected—and while many bugs were fixed before users even realized they existed, the early adopters of iOS 5 shared frustration—frustration they could have saved themselves by just waiting a few more weeks until 5.0.1 was released to fix the bugs for them.

iOS 6 seems to be having it’s own battery issues, as you can see from this Apple Support Communities thread. A user called “Jag66″ says:

I am currently using an iPhone 4S and updated to IOS 6 last week.  Prior to that, with moderate phone use, perhaps an hour a day at most, I generally got about 2 1/2 days of battery life, although sometimes a little less.

Since “upgrading” to IOS 6, I am lucky to get 24 hours of a charge.  I generally charge for at least an hour past the 100% mark, and didn’t load any of the new apps.  All of the location and notifications setting were as they were with IOS 5.1.1, I am not a gamer so usage is pretty much just e-mail and phone.  Upon seeing the appalling battery life, I turned off all location services and I only have Mail, SMS and Calendar notifications running.

Otherwise, I kill the battery once a week to keep it conditioned, so the only change to its configuration has been the new IOS.  Anyone else experiencing this?  I have seen other boards who suggest blowing it out to defaults and re-building as a new phone.

 

One further reason to avoid upgrading might particularly appeal to readers of JailbreakUntethered.Net. You guessed it – ability of the new iOS to be jailbroken. If you’ve got a current jailbreak, it may behoove you to avoid updating for awhile. As it stands, iOS 6.0 only has a jailbreak available for iPhone 4, 3GS, and iPod 3/4. And it’s a tethered jailbreak rather than an untethered jailbreak to boot. If you don’t have one of those phones and you jailbreak, then you’ll be unable to downgrade to iOS 5.1.1 or 5.0.1, where you’re probably at now. That’ll mean that you cannot jailbreak your phone again until a jailbreak comes out for iOS 6.0.

Furthermore, if iOS 6.0 is unstable, jailbreaking could make it even more so. Jailbreaking is usually pretty fool proof, but in an iOS release that’s already not rock-solid, you could easily run into issues. On the other hand, if you stay on some version of iOS 5 at least until iOS 6.0.1 is released, you’ll have a better chance of there being an untethered jailbreak available for one of those iOS versions by that time.

If history with Apple has shown us anything, we know they are very quick about releasing updates to fix the bugs. It took about four weeks for the 5.0.1 patch to make its debut—and we expect about that long for it to take the 6.0.1 release to get here. Waiting it out just a few more weeks will save you a great deal of time and hassle — because if you already had iOS 6, you would have to run and install the update anyway.

Let the diehard tech geeks do all the work of finding the bugs for you!

 

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Apple & iPhone 5: Is the Success Over?

by admin on October 4, 2012

Apple & iPhone 5: Is the Success Over?

Over the past decade, we have seen Apple’s rise to the top of the technology world, with the iPhone and its successors, the iPad, the iPod, iTunes, and various other “I” products, such as iCloud, along with newer, thinner, smaller, and more robust desktops and laptop computers. While all of this wonderful for the technology inundated world—Apple is now entering the “post Steve Jobs” era, and it is not unreasonable to suspect that Apple’s reign over the market may soon come to a screeching halt.

iPhone 5 Up Close

According to Mashable:

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook surprised many on Friday by publicly apologizing for the company’s new maps application, which has been widely panned by customers and reviewers alike as inferior to Google Maps ever since it was introduced with iOS 6 a week and a half ago. In a letter published on Apple’s website, Cook wrote:

At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.

At first blush, it may have seemed like an insanely rare admission of failure from a company that not only prides itself on being insanely great, but insanely reluctant to concede its missteps. Yet, in the post-Steve Jobs era, Apple’s top executives appear to be making more mistakes and to be more willing to admit them. In fact, Apple has issued public apologies in each of the past three months of this year.

Technology is constantly growing and changing, and in order to stay current and marketable, entrepreneurs and computer geeks have to stay that way, too. Since the start of the technology age in the 80’s, we’ve seen four significant changes of the “power force” or the dominant company on the market. During each company’s stint on the top, other companies have had to fight to stay current to hold their market segment, just to continue their battle to get on top—and we’ve yet to see one stay there longer than 10 or so years.

1980’s: IBM and PC Compatible

In the 1980’s, personal computers made their market entrance, entertaining people with the idea that everyone could have their very own computer in their homes. Those who were around for this boom remember it was all the rage—and IBM soared to success when everyone jumped on board. Now, they don’t even make personal computers anymore.

1990’s: Microsoft and Windows

In the 1990’s, Microsoft introduced Windows as a way to make the awesome new personal computers more user friendly, so that even those who didn’t have extensive programming knowledge or computer science degrees could too enjoy what the computer had to offer. Soon, they displaced IBM’s reign for the top. And now, though they are still producing Windows, they have had to move into the smartphone, tablet, and app store space just to keep up with Apple’s current market dominance. They’ve also had to beef up their search game to compete with Google.

2000’s: Google and Web Search

With the dawn of the Internet in the mid to late ‘90s, Google soon came to the forefront of the game by making it easier to search the Internet to find what you want. While the search engine is still the most popular on the web, they’ve had to make great strides to improve search engine quality results, they have also had to move into the computer, smartphone/tablet, and ecommerce space to keep up with Microsoft’s attempts to overtake Apple as the dominant market force.

2000’s-Present: Apple

Apple took the world by storm with their new innovations. While there were a good number of Mac users (and still are) their products are nowhere near as affordable as the PC. Some may argue the PC’s price tag is only so low because they don’t last long, but we’re not here for a PC vs. Mac debate (although we might be up for a jelly bean vs iOS 6 debate!). With Steve Jobs no longer around to monitor how the company’s staying in his line with his vision, there is no telling what will happen next.

While we’re all happy with our Macbook Air, iPhone, iPad, and iPod, and don’t wish any ill will on the company—all we’re saying is it looks like the time for reigning the market is going to soon come to an end.

 

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Cool Multitasking for the Jailbroken iPhone Plus Samsung Verdict Influences iPhone Jump in Popularity

by admin on September 23, 2012

Cool Multitasking for the Untethered Jailbroken iPhone

iPhone4S-iPad2G-Jailbreak-UntetheredMultitasking for the iPhone was first launched in the iOS 4. This innovation came via a new multitasking tray which allowed users to switch back and forth between frozen iPhone applications with relative ease. However useful the current app switcher may be, over the last few years jailbreakers have attempted to the improve the multitasking interface, in an effort to make it faster, cooler, and more efficient.

Dash is a brand new, up-and-coming jailbreak tweak which promises to improve the multitasking process with a neatly designed fast application switcher for the iPhone. Upon installation, the new multitasking interface allows users to switch between iPhone applications using a variety of cool animations, such as TimeMachine, Cylinder, CoverFlow, Scroll, and rotary. Some probably remember ‘Aero’, which is another alternative application switcher created by the same developer. Also by this developer is ‘Deck‘, a jailbreak tweak which adds a hot bar to iPhone’s Springboard, are planned.

Using an activator action (for example, pressing the Home button twice) Dash can be launched. Once enabled, users are then free to switch between frozen applications using any of the aforementioned animations. The interface is so fluid, it seems to be part of the native operating system – not artificial and out of place, like the previous app switcher Imperium. Developed by Akhil Tolani (@Saltb0x), this tweak also aimed to replace the App Switcher using functionality spread across three pages – a running applications multitasker, system settings toggles such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and a launchpad.

Users also say it’s similar to another predecessor, Multifl0w. This tweak was developed by Aaron Ash, and described as a WebOS Cards-style multitasking interface .

To say Dash’s multitasking functionality is highly ‘polished’ would not be at all inaccurate. The purpose of the untethered jailbreak tweak was to recreate the multitasking process, not just enhance it, and that is exactly what Dash does. In addition to multitasking, Dash adds a few other features, such as the ability to close running applications with just a swipe up, and a full screen view of the applications.

This jailbreak tweak, now currently in beta version, appears to work very well. The few bugs inherent in the application switcher are still being ironed out by developers, and performance enhancement are likewise being added. With any luck, in the next few weeks users should see the official version release all cleaned up and coolly efficient. The beta version doesn’t offer much in the way of quite music control and access, but word has it that the final version will deliver.

Update: The new Dash application switcher and animated multitasker has recently launched in the Cydia Store. This means that users can can now enhance the app switching capabilities on their jailbroken iDevice – and at just $1.99, the price is certainly right. It is available for both the iPhone and iPad.

Samsung Verdict Influences iPhone Jump in Popularity

samsung-found-guilty-across-the-board-fined-over-billion-dollars

The guilty verdict against Samsung regarding the iPhone’s and iPad’s patent infringement has apparently been a positive factor in the popularity of iDevices. On August 24, 2012, Samsung was ordered to pay apple $1.05 billion. After more than a year of litigation, a jury of 9 found in favor of Apple and decided that Samsung had used patented Apple technology in their own products. Samsung countersued to the tune of $399 million, but apparently, the jury would hear none of it. Despite Apple’s big win, the original amount requested, $2.5 billion, was decided against, as claims involving two dozen of Samsung’s devices were deemed inadequate. A successful component of the claim included Samsung’s illegal use of Apple creations such as the “bounce-back” feature, and ability to zoom text with a finger tap. An appeal is expected. Representatives for Samsung say they didn’t violate any of Apple’s patents, and that other companies were responsible for the many alleged innovations claimed by Apple.

In recent years, Samsung has become one of Apple’s biggest competitors, and has overtaken Apple as the leading producer of smartphones. For example, Samsung’s Galaxy line use the Android OS supplied by Google, who entered the smartphone market when former CEO Eric Schmidt was on Apple’s board of directors. Since that time and up until his death, the late Steve Jobs was furious about the Android and claimed it to be a thinly-veiled rip-off of the iPhone. Samsung has sold approximately 23 million smartphones and tablets that may potentially be using Apple’s patented technologies. Combined, Samsung and Apple account for over half the global sales of smartphones.

Apple and Samsung combined account for more than half of global smartphone sales.

Recently, USA today cited sales figures (an increase in 50%) from Gazelle.com, and claimed more and more people are eschewing their Samsung smartphones for Apple iDevices. Chief Gadget Officer for Gazelle.com, Anthony Scarsella, told USA Today: “I think consumers in general could be shying away from purchasing [Samsung] devices going forward. Some people are panicking.” If not Samsung, the iPhone would be the next logical choice, given it’s popularity and comparative cost.

This is all great news for Apple, with the release of the new iPhone 5. Also referred to as the biggest product upgrade in electronics history, it is totally redesigned with a larger, 4-inch screen and thinner body style. It is also more powerful, uses the 4G LTE network, and a quad-core A6 processor with 1GB of RAM. In addition, the new iOS 6 will released in conjunction with the iPhone 5.

With iPhone 5 jailbreaking sales up and running, Samsung will be suffering, especially considering the Apple-requested ban on sales of eight of its smartphones, including several Galaxy models. Despite all the bad blood, apparently Apple will continue to use Samsung for its components. If Samsung loses the appeal, it will be huge blow to the electronics giant and mean huge changes may be afoot in the smartphone market. For the time being, it certainly seems as if Apple is winning the battle, even if they haven’t won the war.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Top 6 Things that the iOS 6 Should Fix But Won’t

by admin on September 20, 2012

Top 6 Things that the iOS 6 Should Fix But Won’t

Apple iOS 6 Untethered Jailbreak

With today’s release of the much-anticipated iOS 6, there is plenty of new functionality, but unfortunately, there are still a myria of problems that will continue to bug consumers into the next generation. Here’s a list of some of the most irritating aspects of the iPhone 5 that the new iOS 6 will fail to improve, even if you jailbreak iOS 6 untethered.

Widgets

The iOS 6 interface is still a bit inefficient when it comes to doing relatively simple tasks. For example, if you want to know the weather, you have open the Notification Center or some other application. Bluetooth and WiFi cannot be toggled outside of Settings. You still need to go into the Stocks application to get quotes. Little annoyances that should be taken care of by now, if for no other reason than for sheer simplicity and convenience for the consumer.

It seems like a easy thing to tweak…so why not, Apple? There is speculation that battery life may be impacted by widgets, and that’s why Apple is being so resistant to them. Still, it would seem that a limited number of icons for no-touch information wouldn’t cause a considerable drain on the battery.

Location- and time-based actions

Existing features like the Do Not Disturb function is pretty awesome – it permits users to stifle calls and notifications every night according to a preset schedule. While this is great, there can be much more similar functionality in applications, such as those offered by Smart Actions (Motorola). This application uses the best location- and time-based features from a variety of third-parties for use with the Android. One such feature allows the phone to be set so at a specific time, the GPS and other services will be disabled, the ringer will silenced, and an auto-replay to messages will be activated.

Actionable notifications

Simpy put, Smartphone notifications should be actionable. For example, if the user receives an SMS and wants to respond or mark is as “read’, why does the SMS need to be opened in order to do either one of those things? Ditto for email.

Sharing data between applications

3rd party applications are limited in iOS interaction by Apple, but APIs may compensate at times for this limitation. However, Apple hasn’t even breached the concept of 3rd party applications interacting with each other.

Auto-correct

In the past, Apple’s text-input correction feature was completely abysmal, and while the iOS 6 shows some meager improvement, it will not likely be referred to as “good”, or even “useful”.

Improved email client

Users still can’t drill down their inbox view to display only unread emails, mark as email read without opening it first, or navigate to sent items without backing out, scrolling, and making their way through main folders. Need we go on? The email client’s basic functionalities could simply be much more efficient.

Simple put, many of these annoyances could be easily tweaked, and in some cases, make sense if for no other reason than to keep up with other Smartphones. Users should be privy to no-touch options, easy email management actions, data sharing between apps, an a reasonably accurate and helpful auto-correct feature. It appears the folks at Apple currently think this is a bit too much to ask – so in the meantime, Apple fans are destined to patiently await the iOS 7.

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How to Get Paid Apps for Free, Plus Faster App Switching

by admin on September 8, 2012

New Jailbreak Hack Promises Better, Faster App Switching Capabilities

With the advent of multitasking on the Apple iPhone iOS 4, iDevice owners then had the capability of switching back and forth between frozen iPhone apps simply and expeditiously. Most owners were finally content with the multitasking abilities that were alloted them. However, since that time, jailbreakers have continued laborously in attempt to build a bigger better multitasking feature – or fast app switcher.

So far, the jailbreakers solution to this problem has been Dash, a jailbreak tweak that enhances the already existing multitasking function. After download and installation, using this hack will add a new and well-designed application switcher to iDevices which have previously been jailbroken. The Dash app switcher interface is then utilized to switch between iPhone applications which are frozen on the handset. Animations for switching include CoverFlow, TimeMachine, and Scroll.

Owners can use an activator action, such as pressing the Home button twice, to initiate Dash. Enabling the app switcher then allows rapid switching between frozen applications on the iDevice. While the jailbreak is still up-and-coming in beta mode, reviewers say that it works pretty well. Dash’s creator continues to work out little buggy aspects of the app, and at the same improving performance wherever possible. Look for a full jailbreak hack launch in the upcoming days to weeks.

Article Update:

The app switching application Dash has just recently launched in the Cydia Store, and so far, everything looks good. The animations look appealing and run great, and the hack itself is running very smoothly – not something that is true for all jailbreak tweaks. In additional to changing the visuals and the way the apps are revealed, it also changes app management and interaction. Dash changes the horizontal bar at the bottom of the iDevice screen by hooking into the iOS multitasking system and making everything larger and appearing in full-screen mode. The entire iDevice display is then utilized. The main interaction is then simply scrolling through apps, and each app get it’s own display showing the app itself – so the user can see what is in the app, and whether or not it should be switched. A swipe-up movement will also completely and easily and close an app.

Generally, the interface is relatively simple, but makes a notable difference in the interface used to switch between applications. While the new multitasking interface that Dash employs may on the surface seem radical, for the end user it should remain familiar, using the same methodology and visual cues. Therefore, Dash still retains something of the native feel of the iPhone, and invokes a natural progression of the pre-existing app switcher. You can clearly see the linen background featured, and recognizable elements such as page dots and fonts. The experience is thus altered, but not unintuitively so. The results overall are user-friendly, familiar, smooth, and pleasant.

Those iDevice owners interested in giving Dash a try can find it in the Cydia Store through the ModMyi repository for about $2.

How to Get Paid Apps for Free

Expensive applications for the iPhone are becoming increasingly commonly, and despite the cost, many users are looking to improve the functionality of their iPhones. However, this a way that user can get those sought after applications downloaded for free. Using the following methods, iPhone users are able to achieve just that.

Jailbreak Your Phone

One of the most popular methods for getting desired applications is to jailbreak the iPhone. An iPhone is jailbroken when it is compromised and altered to skirt the restrictions originally set by Apple or the carrier. One broken, the user can download applications not in the App Store, and not authorized by Apple. For example, the iPhone display settings can be customized. The only real disadvantage to jailbreaking an iPhone is that it voids the warranty. This means that Apple will not service a comprised iPhone. However, often iPhones may be restored to a default state before service, thus working around this potential problem. It is possible to download/install applications for free, but it is far easier with a jailbroken iPhone, hence the popularity of doing so.

Use Installous

Installous is another method that can be used to install free applications onto iPhones. Developed by docmorelli, Installous is application which permits user to download, install, share and updated iOS applications in a relatively neat and organized manner. As of the date of this article, it has been installed on at least 13 million iDevices.

Using Installous to download applications is a simple endeavor. Before using Installous, your iDevice must be jailbroken, as noted above. After jailbreaking, navigate to the Cydia app on the device and select Manage, Souces, and Edit. Add http://cydia.hackulo.us/ to the list of sources, and search for Installous. Once found, download the application. The user must subsequently reboot. This process makes Installous available to download applications on your iPhone. Warning: if you do not add the included source website, you will not be able to download Installous successfully.

After reboot, the user should find Installous available on their home screen. You can use Installous to browse through numerous free applications – in essence, Installous is a third-party app store not unlike the App Store already preloaded on iDevices. However, these applications are all free, which makes the difference.

Use iReSign

Finally, if you don’t want to risk your warranty to jailbreak your iDevice, you can also download apps for free using iReSign. iReSign permits iOS device unencrypted app bundles (aka .ipa files) to be signed or resigned with a digital certificate for distribution – and the user holds the corresponding private key. Thus, you can downloaded cracked applications without a jailbreak. Users can find and download iResign from different sources on the Internet doing a general search.

In summary, jailbreaking is a quick, easy way to get access to free applications for the iDevice. Installous is an optional but highly beneficial, and can make application search simple and clean. iResign can be useful for those who don’t wish to jailbreak their iPhone, fearing warranty issues or user error.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Untethered Jailbreak Hack Increases Battery Life – Plus – iOS 6 Vs. Jelly Bean

by admin on September 7, 2012

Jailbreak Hack Increases Battery Life

BattSaver-Main-ScreenThere are a myriad of iPhone apps and tweaks which have promised to increase battery life on iDevices such as the iPhone 4S. While some success has been reported, the current belief is that most of these apps are quite limited in their ability to generate significant increases. Despite this fact (or because of it) jailbreak programmers have still been actively looking for an untethered jailbreak hack which works well, and elicits an improvement far beyond the limitations of those currently.

BattSaver is a tweak that might just be the thing we’ve all been looking for. Similar in form and function to Carat, BattSaver actively identifies areas of the iPhone which are taking a toll on battery life, and then stifles them.

Among the major enemies to watch are Wi-Fi and cellular connections. The goal of the jailbreak hack is to more efficiently manage these potentially battery-draining features when they are either enabled or disabled. In theory, this would result in prolonged battery life for the user. Furthermore, the BattSaver feature gives users the option of choosing any 1 of 5 battery saving strategies. The jailbreak hack has preset 3 of 5 of those options.

The default mode is not surprisingly, Normal Mode. When your iPhone is sleeping, it will save batter life by stifling radio signals. However, for the email addict, the handset is able to check for new incoming mail every quarter hour. This could be very beneficial, but another mode, Aggressive Mode, may be the most interesting to jailbroken iPhone users.

A step up from Normal Mode is Aggressive mode, which completely cuts the data connection when WiFi is connected. The rationale for this behavior: if the iPhone has a solid WiFi connection, then why waste battery power on a cellular data connection which currently exists solely as a backup? Users concerned about calls and text messages, the GSM cellular radio on which those services rely remains untouched. Sleeping iPhones won’t receive notifications, but instead radios will be enabled every 45 minutes to refresh the email inbox and receive any applicable notices about activity.

As the name would imply, Ultimate Mode takes the most extreme control, and as a result, achieves the best battery-saving results. All radio signals are completely disabled, and works similar to Airplane Mode you see on smartphones. This may double your battery life.

Any of the 3 preset modes will undoubtedly save battery life, and depending on the user’s needs, they can pick and choose on a daily basis which mode best suits the situation. A fourth options is custom mode, where the user can manipulate the settings themselves, and instead of relying on the presets, can enjoy complete control and customization of battery-saving features. Finally, if you can chose the None option if you aren’t interested in currently extending your battery life for more battery-intensive activities.

If you’re a jailbreaker and have been so far been unhappy with the current battery savers on the market, BattSaver is currently available at Cydia Store for around $3. If you have an unbroken iPhone or chose not to break it, you can down Carat for iPhone for free.

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean vs. iOS 6

google_nowThe launch of the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and iOS 6 is the latest battle to ensue in the enduring war between Apple and Google. Both companies have revamped their mobile operating systems, and are about to release the latest versions with rich and advanced features. The following is a review of several key areas and how these two will compare.

Speech recognition

The Siri voice-recognition personal assistance hasn’t been the blockbuster that Apple was hoping for with the iOS 5. However, Apple will undoubtedly be including a significantly newfangled version of Siri with the OS. Among other lacking components, look for Apple to tackle language supportability

Also on the block is Jelly Bean’s Siri competitor, a.k.a. Google Now. While voice-based web searching has been nothing new for Google, Google Now is an expanded area of this feature, with intent to directly complete with the Siri assistant. Similar in function, lucky Android users running the latest version find that Google Now performs many of the same activities as Siri does on the iPhone 4S. Google Now has an important recent update, but the yet-to-be-seen new and improved Siri is still a bit of a mystery – therefore, a direct comparison of these two programs is not possible at this time.

Maps

Google Maps has been the leading map system since it’s advent, and it’s not just been the standard for Jelly Bean. Even Apple has been using Google Maps as the default system on its iOS platform. However, as competition between Apple and Google has steepened, Apple has decided it prudent to design and implement their own mapping system to compete with Google. Not unlike Google Maps, turn-by-turn navigation, traffic updates, and local tourist and interest information will be available on Apple’s new system. Extra features like Google Street View will, however, only be accessible through (what else) Google Maps.

Apps

Applications are of especially high importance in the ongoing Google-Apple battle, and not surprisingly, it’s a case of the more apps, the better. Apple has so far been winning that war, and as of the new version of the iOS, there are approximately 650,000 apps at the App store. Of those, just 225,000 are for the iPad. Google Play is the App Store’s Android counterpart, but currently offers only 600,000 applications, most of which are only available for tablets.

Browser Sync

Cloud computing has quickly become an integral part of the everyday life of the smart phone user. The convenience and redundancy of having one’s significant data stored in a cloud for on-the-spot accessibility provides users with a freedom never before thought possible. iCloud Tabs is a new feature in the iOS6 which allows users to unify browsing across all devices iOS and Mac. Data can be streamed to any device in the iCloud. Chrome Beta is a similar offering from Google, which likewise allows users to sync data with Android Jelly Bean devices.

Mobile payment

The Apple iOS 6 will offer Passbook, which uses APIs for centrally locating gift, reward, and incentive cards and ticketing. Google Wallet is the equivalent app for Jelly Bean, a much-publicized feature that will allow users to make payments at checkout counters using NFC (near field communication) technology. No word yet on whether the new Passbook will feature the NFC technology.

 

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