October 16th, 2009
Five essential apps for jailbroken iPhones
I’ve been having a blast with my iPhone since installing the recently released jailbreak for OS 3.1.2 was released. Sure, the iPhone 3GS now has video recording, but it can’t broadcast video. And while you’re waiting for AT&T to make up its mind on tethering, you can have it today if you JB your iPhone.
There are a ton of interesting apps that make a compelling case to jailbreak your iPhone, follow are five of my current favorites:
1. Winterboard (pictured) – This app allows you to customize most aspects of the user interface on the iPhone or iPod touch. A veritable plethora of free theme options are available. Winterboard is developed by Jay Freeman aka Saurik, the developer of Cydia.
2. Backgrounder – This little diddy allows you to run any iPhone application in the background. This is especially useful when streaming applications like MLB At Bat 2009 and Pandora which normally quit as soon as you press the home button.
3. StatusNotifier – Adds tiny notification icons to the iPhone statusbar for just about every application that could possibly notify you.
- Unread Email
- Missed call/voicemail
- Calendar alerts
- SMS: MobileSMS / iRealSMS / biteSMS
- MMS: SwirlyMMS
- IM: BeejiveIM / Fring / Palringo / AOL AIM
- RSS: NetNewsWire, Byline
- Reminder (vibration/sound)
- Customizable options
- Silent mode (ringer off)
4. Qik – Sure, the iPhone 3GS can record and upload video, but Qik can stream video live from the iPhone to a Web site
5. MXTube – If you like YouTube videos but don’t have the patience to search for and download your favorites each time you launch the app, you need MXTube. This Cydia app allows you to download YouTube videos directly to your iPhone for easy playback on demand – even in airplane mode. If you’re really gung ho, YourTube ($2) patches the native YouTube app to allow for downloading.
Obviously this is only a partial list, it doesn’t include apps like PDAnet and PwnPlayer, iTypeFastR, etc. But that’s what future posts are for.
What are some of your favorite JB apps?
Jason D. O'Grady is the editor of PowerPage.org, which has been publishing daily mobile technology news since December 1995. For disclosures on Jason's industry affiliations, click here or to view Jason's full profile click here.
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