Be aware of iOS 6 1 6 0 6 0 1 and 6 0 2 iPhone jailbreak scams

Apple iPhone iOS 6.1, 6.0, 6.0.1 and iOS 6.0.2 jailbreak scam websites

Currently, millions of users are eagerly awaiting an untethered jailbreak to be published for their Apple iPhones and Apple iPads running the iOS 6.x.x version. With this, several scam sites claiming to provide various jailbreak methods have also appeared. These websites typically ask the user to pay a fee in order to be able to either download a jailbreaking software or access a tutorial video with the procedures outlined. Some websites also claim to offer the jailbreak tool for free and asks the user to download and execute a file. If anyone happened to stumble upon one of the websites claiming to offer iOS 6.x.x jailbreak, then be very cautious. In the best case, you may simply lose some money, but in the worst case your credit-card information may be stolen or you may actually be infected by a virus when you visit the websites and in particular if you download any tools they claim to make the jailbreak available.

The true status of a jailbreak for iOS 6.x.x is actually that none exists today. I refer to my previous article which outlines the jailbreaks that do exist today. When an officially working jailbreak does become published, I will also correspondingly update my article with the procedure that is to be taken to successfully jailbreak an iOS 6.x.x device.True status of iPhone/iPad iOS 6.1, 6.0, 6.0.1 and iOS 6.0.2 jailbreak

The true status of a jailbreak for iOS 6.x.x is actually that none exists today. I refer to my previous article which outlines the jailbreaks that do exist today. When an officially working jailbreak does become published, I will also correspondingly update my article with the procedure that is to be taken to successfully jailbreak an iOS 6.x.x device.

We can be assured that the developers, and in particular the Jailbreak Dream Team is working hard to find an exploit that would enable jailbreak on an iOS 6.x.x device. Currently, there has actually been a video posted of an iPhone 5 running the IntelliScreenX Cydia tweak, but the specific procedure has not so far been published.

Recently, it was shared through the "Hack in the Box" conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that the Jailbreak Dream Team is attempting to find an exploit through several vectors. For example, pod2g is working on finding userland exploits and planetbeing is working on finding kernel exploits. In addition, p0sixninja is working to extract the encryption codes for iBoot in order to dump the bootROM. Having the bootROM available will greatly aid in the process of creating an untethered jailbreak when a exploit that triggers code execution is found. Of course, many more well-known iOS hackers are also investing considerable amounts of efforts into finding a jailbreak and hopefully with their joined efforts we may soon have an untethered jailbreak available to us.Conclusion: No jailbreak for Apple iPhone on iOS 6.1, 6.0, 6.0.1 and iOS 6.0.2... yet

For us regular mortal people, all we can do currently is to await official words from the Jailbreak Dream Team and be very cautious when surfing into websites that offer jailbreaking tutorials or tools either for free or for a fee!Recent updates

February 2013

As of February 4, 2013, an untethered jailbreak is now available through the use of the evasi0n tool. The jailbreaking process is relatively simple and this process is described and discussed in the guide that can be found here.

January 2013

It was recently communicated by iOS jailbreak hackers that an untethered jailbreak for the iPhone 5 and older models running the iOS 6 operating system, including iOS 6.0.1, 6.0.2 and even the soon to be released iOS 6.1, should be very possible and possibly even within the very close future. More details can be found in this article.

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How to Speed Up iPhone 3G 3GS

Best way to speed up iPhone 3G / 3Gs

When I bought my iPhone 3G, the only other viable options for smart phones were Blackberry and Windows mobile based phones. Over the last couple of years all that has changed. With the introduction of the Android operating system(OS), a huge number of new smart phone options have come to market. When the iPhone 4 was released, I was tempted to buy it, but I ended up holding back to see if there were going to be initial bugs. So now I find myself holding onto a rapidly aging iPhone 3G and feeling constantly disappointed in the speed that used to seem fast! Now it appears to struggle along while trying to open apps or check mail, apps crash randomly, and the poor old iPhone just can’t seem to handle all the new software, including the new OS. So I started looking for ways to speed up my iPhone.

What can I do to speed up my iPhone 3G?

The first thing you need to do is jailbreak the iPhone. Despite the illicit sounding term, be assured that this is a perfect legal act. For more detailed info look at the full article about the Library of Congress decision. Before this landmark decision came out, jailbreaking your iPhone was a difficult and potentially shady process, although it had gotten easier over the years. In the early days, you had to download software to your computer, run it and connect and disconnect your iPhone at specific times and hold down the two iPhone buttons in an arcane order for specific amounts of time. The process of jailbreaking in those days was also risky, if you didn’t do something right, you risked “bricking” (turning your iPhone into a brick, a non-functional paperweight) your iPhone. All that is behind us now, much to the woe of people who were making a couple bucks jailbreaking iPhones for others.

How do I Jailbreak my iPhone?To jailbreak your iPhone in the quickest and safest way possible, simply open your safari browser on the iPhone itself and go to http://jailbreakme.com. No holding down buttons no standing on one foot while waving a chicken bone. Just go to the site and chose yes, I want to jailbreak my phone. If you click on this link in a browser on your computer, you’ll just be redirected to a short faq that gives you a little more info about jailbreaking.

So now your iPhone is jailbroken, what does that mean? Is that all you need to do to speed up your iPhone? The main reason for jailbreaking an iPhone is so that you can now install apps that have not been approved by the invisible hand at Apple. You still retain ALL the old functionality you had before jailbreaking, but now you also have a new store to visit called Cydia. Cydia can be a little more cumbersome to navigate than the app store, but I’m going to give you directions so you won’t get lost. Scroll all the way to the bottom of this post to see the detailed directions for using Cydia.

How will this help speed up my iPhone 3G?

Now that you have access to all the apps that have been developed for the iPhone, which apps will help speed up your iPhone?

Here are the best Cydia apps to help speed up your iPhone

1. Backgrounder – Only iPhone 3g users need this one, IOS4 allows iPhone 3gs users to take advantage of the multitasking feature, but 3G users are left behind. Switching between apps without backgrounder is very slow. Backgrounder gives you a great way to speed up your iPhone.

2. SBSettings – This is easily the most useful and speedy app that I have, this app saves enormous amounts of time. SBSettings allows you to use a finger swipe or a variety of other opening methods to access a powerful toolset. You can toggle on and off things like location services, wifi, edge, or even phone. You can adjust the screen brightness as well which would otherwise take you at least 3 screens deep in the normal iPhone settings app. Being able to access these settings from anywhere, including inside other apps is a very powerful way to speed up your iPhone.

3. Action Menu – Another great tool to speed up your iPhone, this app gives you more options when you hold your finger down for a few seconds. Without this app you get a pop up menu with options like cut copy paste, this app gives you copy all, dial, favorites, and scroll options.Using Hacks to Speed Up iPhone

The biggest slow down for me is loading new screens on the iPhone 3g. What these three simple programs allow you to do is they give you access to tools and settings and functionality in the most efficient manner possible. By saving time, you are effectively speeding up your iPhone. If you are interested in getting into the nitty gritty details like modifying plist files and overclocking your processor, you should check out some of the really in depth books that are available on iPhone hacks. These books contain some material that isn't for the faint of heart, but if you know what you're doing they can give you some very powerful tips and tricks for speeding up your iPhone.

Other than new apps what other tricks are there to help me speed up my iPhone?

1. Restart your phone every other day or whenever you start to notice a slow down. To perform a hard restart hold down both the Home button (on the front of the iphone) and the power button (on the top of the iphone) at the same time. Keep holding them both down until your phone shows the little circle that lets you know it is shutting down.

2. Pro tip: if you let up on either button too early you will accidentally take a screen shot. Or bonus: if you just briefly press both buttons at the same time it will take a screen shot!

3. Hold fewer apps physically on your iPhone. The more apps you have on your iPhone the slower your phone will run. You can download apps either inside itunes or directly on your iPhone. Once the apps have been transferred to your itunes on your computer, you can choose which apps get transferred over to your iPhone during a sync. This allows you to only carry the apps you use most often, but also keeps you from having to redownload apps that you use occasionally. Anytime you need one of the apps you just choose to include it in a sync. The itunes sync interface even lets you choose where your apps will go on your screen and it much easier than organizing by hand on the iphone itself.

4. Delete old SMS/MMS messages, storing hundreds or thousands of messages is a processor hog. You may have noticed that when you open up your SMS app it takes a long time to load into the messages? You just need to clean house and you will see a significant speed increase.

5. Clear out your Safari cache. Are you noticing a theme here? Keeping your storage of all things lean and clean will help your iPhone perform faster and more efficiently.

6. Turn off push for your email accounts. The more things you allow your iPhone to automate, the more processor time that eats up. Unless you are expecting an important email or you use your iPhone for work, setting your mail accounts to fetch every 15 or 30 minutes should be as connected as you need. For me I use push during the day for work and disable push at home.iPhone Battery Life

Important note about battery life. The battery in the iPhone 3g is not great. IOS4 is a much bigger battery hog than any of the previous operating systems. You might consider investing in a higher capacity battery. In order to get the most out of your revitalized iPhone you need to be conscious of conserving battery life. In some cases using these tricks to speed up your iPhone can cause larger drain on the battery. Backgrounder is a wonderful tool and it allows you to do things like listen to Pandora while you are tracking your run using MapmyRun. The downside is that using multiple apps does consume battery life more quickly.

This is where you start to see the very real benefits of SBSettings.

I always:

1. Turn off location settings until I am using maps or Yelp. Since it is so quick to turn on and off using SBSettings, there is no reason to have it on all the time and you will see significant battery life extension just from this first tip.

2. Turn off wifi when you aren’t somewhere you plan on using wifi. Having wifi constantly scanning and attempting to connect to unknown wifi sources drains the battery. Again with SBSettings this is a quick toggle so there is no downside for having it off most of the time.

3. Adjust the brightness of the screen. In the dark there is no reason to have the screen at full brightness unless you are using the iPhone as a flashlight. Keeping the screen brightness down will do wonders for extending your battery life.Since I have made these few changes, I have had a much better experience. Although there are many tweaks and tricks out there. These are the most effective ways I have found to speed up my iPhone 3g.

Directions for using Cydia: Step 1.

Locate the Cydia icon that now appears on one of your screens:Directions for using Cydia: Step 2.

When you first open Cydia, it takes a minute to index all the apps and directories. I recommend doing this on a wifi connection.

Locate the tabs across the bottom of the Cydia interface.Directions for using Cydia: Step 3.

Click on “Sections”

Browse down to “System”

All three of my suggestions above are located in this section and subheading.Directions for using Cydia: Step 4.

Once you locate one of the apps, I will use Action Menu since it is the first one you will see, you’ll see a screen like the one here:Directions for using Cydia: Step 5

Click on the install button at the top right corner

This opens a confirmation screen giving you the size of the app

Click on Confirm in the top right cornerDirections for using Cydia: Step 6

You’ll see a series of Linux commands running and it will download and install the Action Menu app

After it is done it will automatically reload the data. After most installs you will be required to “restart springboard.” This basically stops and starts all services on the phone, similar to a reboot in either Windows or Linux environments.

Because this example was for a system app, it doesn’t always have a “desktop” icon. In order to tell if your install was successful, you can either open up a note and start typing and see what options you are given when you hold down your finger for a few seconds, or you can go back to Cydia and view a list of everything you have installed through Cydia.

Pro Tip: Cydia installs many things by default when your iPhone is jailbroken, so don’t be surprised to see many apps that you don’t recognize.

Since you can’t install a new processor, you need to find other ways to speed up your iPhone 3G. Although it is always great to get a new phone, it is also good practice to make the best of what you have. Finding ways to speed up my iPhone allows me to be more productive and efficient which in turns ensures that I am getting the most out of my original purchase of my iPhone 3G.

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Best iPhone Cydia tweaks Jailbroken

Barrel

'Barrel' will make your icons row all over the place, Barrel gives special effects when you scroll your home page;additionally the tweak allows you to vary the time it takes the icons to scroll,if you are impatient enough to whine about it.NC Settings

NC stand for notification center,

This will allow you access wifi on/off just with in a drag with ur finger,theres also a fast key for volume, birghtness, Mobile data etc.

This app makes setting so much easier and faster to access .

*Bonus* The tweak 'CustomNCbackgroun' allows you to change the background of you notification center.Activator

Activator allows you to map practically any button or touch gesture to an iOS action.

Scenario - Playing music, the phone is in your pocket by having activator you can set 'At Lock Screen/Home Button/Long Hold, Play/Pause.

Quick and easy.BiteSMS

Apple's built-in messaging app is good, but BiteSMS is way more efficient. BiteSMS basically is an app that will replace the Message app and it will make your reply to messages to friends&family fast and easy.

If you have a passcode then BiteSMS would be perfecto mucho(a)s for you beacause it will have a pop up on the lock screen, quick and easy reply without entering passcode.

*BiteSMS will not disable 'Messages' or anything (Both can be used at same time).Zeppelin

Zeppelin can turn your network logo/carrier logo into your ideal symbol, fancy some batman, your country flag or maybe a football team.

There are tonnes of symbol package you can get on Cydia.Applocker

Have something to keep your nosy friends out of your message?

Applocker will perfectly to do so. It has a reset code so if you forget your password it would give you a backup.IAPFree

Sick and tired of your friend making fun of you because your prowess in games, IAPFree lets you hack the coins and charged in-game packages, e.g. 'Bloons TD 5' - get your self unlimited coins and upgrade you monkeys to gold.

Surpise them with your high score XD

Enjoy"UDIDFaker

Tweaks from Cydia and still not free?

BiteSMS for instance is a trial app soon it will run out, enter UDIDFaker and find BiteSMS select and click 'Random UDID' restart your iPhone and your good to go.

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HowTo Step by Step Instructions Jailbreaking iPhone 4S and iPad 2 Absinthe

Finally, the wait is over and the untethered jailbreak for A5 devices has been released by the Dev Teams.

If you donot know what jailbreak is or If you are jailbreaking for the first time, Click Here.

Unlike previous jailbreak release, the iOS 5 has been significantly hard to crack and the hackers behind it has to appreciated. To know more : Click Here

Note: You must do this at your on risk. Jailbreaking your iPhone voids the warranty. For more information, Click here.Compatible Devices:

iPhone 4S - on iOS 5.0 or 5.0.1

iPad 2 - WiFi and 3G models supported - on 5.0.1

Unlocked iPhone 4s should be running iOS 5 in order to keep your unlock.How To Jailbreak Your A5 Device

The procedure for jailbreak is completely different than the earlier ones. So even if you have done this with other devices, Please do read this carefully before proceding.

Step 1: Download the Following File - Absinthe and Unzip it.

For Mac : http://www.filesonic.com/file/lHGOXu3

The file for PC will be updated soon.

Step 2: Plug in your iPhone 4S or iPad 2. It is recommended that you disable any lock code on your device.

Step 3: Open the Absinthe File and Click on Jailbreak.Step 4: Be patient and wait for the jailbreak to complete. It takes about 15 mins to complete. After some time, you will see a loading icon on the iPhone/iPad status bar.Later, your iPhone shows a "Restore in Progress Screen"Then your screen shows this.After Some time, your device will reboot. And you will be back at your lock screen. But do not unlock your iPhone yet.Step 5: Once the above screen appears, Unlock your device and find the Absinthe App.Step 6: Open Absinthe App and wait.

It may give a connection error, but keep trying. It will load up the greenpoison blog and then reboot.After rebooting, it will bring up the Lock ScreenIf you liked this tuitorial and want to hear more from me about iOS 5 compatible tweaks for iPhone 4s, Please do Like my Facebook Page.

Step7: Slide to Unlock and You will have Cydia. DONE!!MORE

To keep updated about the best jailbreak tweaks, hottest news and latest Tech News, Follow my Facebook Page.

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How to jailbreak iOS 6 1 6 1 1 6 1 2 and 6 0 x with evasi0n untethered jailbreak tool iPhone iPad and iPod guide

iOS 6.1.x and 6.0.x untethered jailbreak tool evasi0n released

On February 4, 2013, the evad3rs jailbreak team finally released the highly anticipated tool known as evasi0n which enables untethered jailbreak on all Apple devices that run iOS 6.1, 6.1.1, 6.1.2, 6.0.2, 6.0.1 and 6.0, including the newest devices from Apple, i.e., the Apple iPhone 5, the iPad of fourth generation (iPad 4) and the iPad Mini.

The untethered jailbreak process using evasi0n has been tuned and optimized to be easy to use for everyone who is interested into jailbreaking their device. In addition, there should be very few risks associated in performing the jailbreak. In this guide and article, the iOS 6.x.x untethered jailbreak process will be described using the evasi0n tool. In addition to the walkthrough of the untethered jailbreak process, hints and tips will be provided that are helpful for those that are interested in performing a jailbreak on their devices.Guide on how to use evasi0n to perform untethered jailbreak on iOS 6.x

As mentioned above, the jailbreak process is fairly straight forward. The evasi0n tool is available on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. In this section, achieving an untethered jailbreak on an iPhone 5 using the Windows versions of evasi0n will be used as an example, although the jailbreak process using evasi0n is identical regardless of the operating system used. In addition, as discussed previously, the evasi0n tool does support untethered jailbreak for all Apple devices that run the iOS 6.1, 6.1.1, 6.1.2 or 6.0.x version, i.e., iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 4, iPad Mini, iPad 3, iPad 2 and iPod Touch of fourth and fifth generation.1. Requirements and preparations for evasi0n iOS 6.1, 6.1.1, 6.1.2 and 6.0.x untethered jailbreak

Before we start the evasi0n tool to perform the untethered jailbreak, there are a few things we need to check and prepare:

1. [IMPORTANT] Backup your device using iTunes: This is the single most important step when performing any kind of jailbreak or modification of your device. Connect your device to your computer, start iTunes. At the top bar, select your device and look for the Backups window in the Summary tab. If your device is set to backup to iCloud, it is strongly recommended that you perform a full backup onto your computer as iCloud only backs up certain important files. To do this, select the option This Computer and click Back Up Now on the right hand side in the Backups window.

2. Checking the current iOS version: The evasi0n tool is designed for iOS 6.1, 6.1.1, 6.1.2 and 6.0.x, therefore, before attempting to jailbreak, ensure that you are running an iOS 6 version on your device. The iOS version can be accessed by starting the Settings app, touch About, and scroll down to the line stating the Version.

If your device is running iOS 6 (iOS 6.1, 6.1.1, 6.1.2, 6.0.2, 6.0.1 or 6.0), then you can skip to the next step. If your device on the other hand is running an older iOS version such as the device on the screenshot figure to the right, then you will need to upgrade your iOS version. As known, there are currently two ways to upgrade your iOS version since iOS 5, which are full upgrade and the OTA (over the air) upgrade. When it comes to jailbreaking, it is strongly recommended that you do not upgrade your device using the OTA option. Instead, connect your device to iTunes and upgrade your device to iOS 6.1.x from iTunes. This can be achieved by navigating to your device at the top bar in iTunes and clicking the Update button.

3. Disable the Passcode Lock: If you have setup your device to have a passcode that needs to be entered to unlock it, then please disable the Passcode Lock. To do this, touch and start the Settings app, scroll down and touch the option Passcode Lock and set it to Off (see the figure to the right).

4. Shut down iTunes and Xcode on your computer: In order for the untethered jailbreak to be successful while using evasi0n, please ensure that iTunes and Xcode (developer tool for Mac OS X systems) are not running in the background.

5. Download the evasi0n untethered jailbreak tool: Finally we will need to download the evasi0n tool which is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.2. Using evasi0n to jailbreak your iPhone, iPad or iPod untethered

Now that we have prepared and ensured that we fulfil the requirements for using the evasi0n tool to achieve an untethered jailbreak on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, we can start our jailbreaking process. This section aims to guide you through the jailbreak process using the evasi0n untethered jailbreak tool.

1. Start the evasi0n jailbreak tool: The evasi0n tool window will appear which will prompt you to connect your device to your computer (see the screenshot figure to the right).

2. Connect your device to your computer: Once your device is connected, evasi0n will automatically detect the device and its iOS version to ensure that it is running an iOS 6.x version. Simply wait until the screen shows "Click Jailbreak to begin".

3. Click the Jailbreak button: After you have clicked the Jailbreak button, evasi0n will begin uploading the exploits and executing them on your device. This step may take several minutes and you can see how far it has gotten from the progress bar in the evasi0n window. During this time, it is recommended that you do not touch your device or your computer to prevent failures.

If, however, a failure does occur, do not panic as you can restore functionality on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch by rebooting it and simply try the jailbreak process again.

4. Once the evasi0n tool has finished, you will have to unlock your device and start the newly added Jailbreak app on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch which will reside on the last screen in your home window.

5. Once you have started the Jailbreak app your screen will briefly go black before it returns to the home screen. Once this happens, the evasi0n tool on your computer will detect that the Jailbreak app has started and update its status to Jailbreak Complete! Note that this step may involve your device rebooting several times automatically. Do not interfere with this process. Once the process is truly completed, the device will boot up normally.

If everything worked out the way it is supposed to, after following the above steps, you will now have a completely untethered jailbreak working on your iOS 6.1, 6.1.1, 6.1.2, 6.0.2, 6.0.1 or 6.0 device. This can easily verified by looking for the app Cydia on your home screen.Visiting Cydia on your iOS 6.1 and 6.0.x jailbroken device

After your device has been jailbroken, the first thing you will notice is that the app Cydia will have been added to your home screen. For those of that are unfamiliar with Cydia, it is an alternative repository (app store) and also the main repository for tweaks and apps that are not allowed on the Apple App Store for one reason or the other. The tweaks could be as simple as adding the date on your status bar, but can also be very advanced, such as automatic phone number lookup when you receive a call. There are thousands of tweaks and apps available, and most of them will provide a functionality to your device that would never have been possible through the Apple App Store due to their strict rules on what an app may do to the iOS system.

In any case, having access to Cydia means that you will have the freedom to do whatever you want with your device instead of what Apple wants, this feeling alone makes it very motivated to jailbreak for many people.iOS 6.1, 6.1.1, 6.1.2 and 6.0.x iPhone/iPad/iPod untethered jailbreak conclusions

In conclusion, the jailbreaking process using the evasi0n untethered jailbreak tool is relatively easy and anyone with a compatible device (iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 4, iPad Mini, iPad 3, iPad 2 and iPod Touch of fourth and fifth generation) and iOS version (iOS 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.2, 6.1, 6.1.1 and 6.1.2) should be able to jailbreak their device without much trouble. This article guides, describes and discusses the procedure and in addition provides some hints and tips that are worth to consider when attempting to jailbreak using the evasi0n tool.

Overall, the evasi0n untethered jailbreak tool is among one of the most polished and well made tools. The jailbreak hackers have truly done an amazing job in finding the exploits that make an untethered jailbreak possible and bringing this tool to the public completely free of charge!

Happy jailbreaking and feel the freedom of having a jailbroken device!

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Jailbreak your iPhone in Minutes

What is Jailbreaking your iPhone 4 mean?

In simple words Jailbreaking your iPhone pretty much means getting rid of the limits Apple puts on their devices running the iOS operating system. Jailbreaking allows you to download various apps, themes, tweaks, utilities and more that are not available on the itunes store. So follow these steps and you will be on your way to making your iPhone unique to all of your friends and family who are also iPhone bearers.Step 1: Prepare your iPhone

To prepare your iPhone all you need to do is simply make sure your iPhone is up to date on the iOS software. You can usually update your iPhones iOS software through your iPhone if not through iTunes.Step 2: Download & Install Absinthe

So first off you will need this specific program to begin your journey to a Jailbroken iPhone. The program is called Absinthe. Go to their website (http://absinthejailbreak.com/) and download their latest version of Absinthe. After, downloading the latest version of the program go ahead and install it onto your desktop.Step 3: Plug it in & Jailbreak your iPhone

Finally, all you have to do now is open Absinthe, plug your iPhone in and click "Jailbreak". Wait a couple minutes and BAM! your iPhone is now Jailbroken.Step 4: You're Done!

After jailbreaking your iPhone you should not have an app called "Cydia". Cydia will be your base for installing all the apps, tweaks, utilities and more.Step 5: Lets Get Started!

So now you have Cydia! To get started off I suggest everyone install WinterBoard first. Winterboard is an app use to "respring" your device. Respringing your device is sort of like restarting it. When you download new themes, icons, or anything of that nature the new additions to your iPhone will not apply until you respring it! Next, I would also recommend you download a great app called "Installous". Installous is an amazing app. The app allows you to virtually download any apps on the iTunes store for free! Yes, you read correctly for free. So now you can get all your Angry Birds, Doodle Jump and more apps for FREE! There are plenty of great apps out there. So don't be scared to venture out and give every tweak, app, utility and more a test drive because you can always get rid of it if you don't like it.

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Amadeus Consulting Discusses My Four Kids Blackberry iPhone Android and Windows Phone 7

My Four Kids

A "father?s" perspective on iPhone, Android, Windows Phone 7, and BlackBerry

I?m the CIO at Amadeus Consulting, a custom software development company based in Boulder, Colorado. I?m fortunate because I get to work daily with my four adopted children: BlackBerry®, iPhone?, Android? and Windows® Phone 7. Of course they are not my real human children, but they all have their own personalities and characteristics that make them as unique as any two people.

As CIO I oversee many projects that involve creating custom mobile apps for these platforms and I regularly help clients decide which platforms will best fit their needs. This is a brief overview of "my children" and how they are suited to custom mobile app development.

BlackBerry

Brief History: Created by Research in Motion, BlackBerry has been around since 1996 and was the dominant player in the smartphone market for some time. However, newer and more nimble competitors have since overtaken BlackBerry?s market, forcing it to reevaluate many of its key functions and capabilities and provide better tools to independent developers.

Most Current Major Version: BlackBerry OS 6.0, launched August 12, 2010

Demographics: BlackBerry originally appealed to business users who needed to stay connected to email while on the go. Over time it expanded its range to include many students and more casual users, but it has always remained a primarily business-oriented device.

Distribution: 100 Million units sold

Share: Approximately 27% of the Smartphone market, 8% of the total US cell phone market

The Good and Bad: BlackBerry has recently reorganized some of its internal structures to make it more developer friendly, as well as modified pricing limitations and standardized the share it receives for app sales. This makes it more accessible for consumer apps, but it still presents challenges as multiple versions and varying device capabilities threaten compatibility and complicate development.

Also, BlackBerry is quickly losing ground to the iPhone and Android platforms as people renew their mobile carrier contracts and are able to upgrade their phones to a newer model. This presents a hard case to those looking to invest in mobile application development for their company since they will be launching in a shrinking market by launching in BlackBerry first.

Even so, BlackBerry has a very strong security background, including heavy mobile email encryption, which makes it preferable to security-conscious individuals. Also, the inclusion of a physical keyboard and other features make it especially popular and useful in many situations.

App Recommendations: BlackBerry is still a very strong platform and the new OS version does provide some interesting features. In other words, if not for the popularity of the iPhone and Android, BlackBerry would still be a strong choice for app developers. For BlackBerry app development, we generally recommend launching new apps on a different platform and then porting them over to the BlackBerry once the demand and market have been established, since the app store is still generally weaker, and other platforms provide greater distribution potential.

This may not be true in all cases, as some business and productivity apps are very well suited for the BlackBerry (and now Windows Phone 7 too), and the BlackBerry audience, and we would be happy to make recommendations on a case-by-case basis, if you would like to contact us.

iPhone

Brief History: The iPhone was originally launched in 2007 and has been growing rapidly ever since. In addition to its advanced features and ease of use, it also brought the concept of the "app" into mainstream use.

Now developers could develop and easily distribute single-purpose apps to a very broad audience. This meant that for a relatively small investment (ranging in the tens of thousands, rather than in the hundreds of thousands or millions, in most cases) companies could create consumer-ready software and be able to reap a profit from it.

Also, it meant that Apple® only needed to focus on creating a good environment for independent developers, rather than trying to create every feature itself. Subsequent versions of the iPhone, and OS upgrades, have provided additional features and capabilities without causing severe fragmenting (yet) as is seen on many other platforms.

Current Version: iOS 4

Demographics: The iPhone started out as being characterized as a product for the young and rich, which has shaped its image ever since. However, as far as smartphones go, it is widely distributed among different audiences and is very popular internationally. For app publishers, the ability to reach younger audiences through the iPod and wealthier audiences through the iPad are also a bonus.

Distribution: Approximately 10 million iPads, 74 Million iPhones (all types), 50 million iPod Touches sold to date.

Share: Approximately 28% of the smartphone market, or 8.2% of the entire US cell phone market.

Good and Bad: Although suffering from some criticism of obscure app store rules, Apple has responded by clarifying submission guidelines, and providing better feedback to apps that are rejected. However, Apple?s guidelines are still the most stringent of any app store, which means that certain types of apps will not be accepted.

The iPhone also suffers by being wholly tied to AT&T, which means that many potential customers do not purchase the iPhone simply because they prefer their current carrier. This may be solved in 2011 with a new iPhone model that will run on other carriers, but for now it is somewhat limited. Even so, app compatibility on other OS4 devices (the iPod and iPad specifically) provide improved accessibility to teenage markets, and unique media opportunities on the iPad.

Another challenge to the iPhone market is that there are already hundreds of thousands of apps on the market, which makes it harder for your app to stand out without marketing your product. However, iPhone app development is still a very powerful and capable option, and has been very successful for many app developers and publishers.

App Recommendations: The iPhone is an excellent place to launch an application, especially a paid application. Users are more accustomed to paying for apps, and are much more willing to buy apps than they are on other platforms. Apple also has the largest potential market for app distribution, although Android is catching up, which provides a very large potential audience.

There are some technical limitations that in some cases make other platforms more attractive (such as being able to run apps in the background), but really the iPhone has the popularity and performance most publishers need for a solid launch.

Android

Brief History: Originally independent, Android Inc. was purchased by Google? in 2005. However, it wasn?t until the end of 2007 that the mobile OS was announced, and devices running Android didn?t really start appearing in mainstream markets until 2009.

Even with its relatively late start getting a product to market, Android is quickly becoming the largest player with dozens of devices, and is anticipated to overtake Apple in 2011. However, this is mostly achieved by taking market share away from BlackBerry, rather than from Apple, and by converting a larger share of former feature phone users as they upgrade.

Current Version: Android 2.2

Demographics: Thanks to a wide variety of devices, including many low cost options, Android has the broadest distribution of any smartphone OS.

Distribution: Approximately 70,000,000 Android phones have been sold to date, and Google is currently selling over 200,000 phones per day, which makes it the fastest selling mobile OS on the market today.

Share: Approximately 23% of the smartphone market, or 6.7% of the entire US cell phone market. It is projected that Android will overtake the iPhone in 2011.

Good and Bad: The Android platform is by far the most open mobile platform with very few content restrictions, although a maturity rating system is being implemented to provide age-appropriate levels for some apps. Android also allows "beta" apps to be uploaded to the market and tested, and allows users to install non-market apps without hacking the phone. This can be helpful for development, but it also means that there are a lot of very poor quality apps in the market.

Also, Android comes in many shapes and sizes meaning that there are a lot of options for consumers, but different screen sizes, different resolutions, and varying capabilities make development challenging. Even so, most phones fit within three or so categories, so for most applications very few changes or modifications need to be made to include most new Android devices.

Another unique characteristic of Android is that users are much more accustomed to free apps, and on average download far fewer paid apps, and fewer apps in general. This is because Android comes preloaded with many of the most popular apps (Google Maps, Gmail, Web Browser, YouTube, and in some cases Facebook and Twitter), all of which are free anyways. This leads to a lot of free/trial version apps with upgradeable options, as well as more ad supported apps.

App Recommendations: As Android quickly becomes the largest smartphone platform, Android app developers are finding that they have a huge market for launching new apps. Its open nature and large demographic range make it appealing to a broad range of apps. Android is also very receptive to high quality development especially since there is a large amount of poor quality apps on the market. This benefits quality developers and designers who can produce high quality apps and interfaces because they immediately stand out over others. However, there is still a lot of competition on the app store and so it is a good idea to plan out your mobile app marketing strategy before launch.

Windows Phone 7

Brief History: Launched in 2010, Microsoft® is revamping its mobile operating system to remain competitive in today?s market. Microsoft has been in the mobile market since 1996 with various versions of Windows Mobile and Windows CE, which still remain popular in industry specific devices and kiosks.

However, Microsoft seems to have learned the most from its competitors and has tried to take the best of everything that the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry systems have to offer.

Current Version: Windows Phone 7

Demographics: Unknown at this point, but it is designed to appeal to a range of people from business professionals to gamers.

Distribution: Windows Phone 7 reportedly sold 40,000 phones its first day, with steady but slow sales since. Distribution may be limited by availability issues as many retailers reportedly do not have any in stock, but it may also be impacted by the massive numbers of people in the US who have already renewed their contracts this year to take advantage of new iPhone and Android models, and who are now unwilling to switch devices again.

Share: Currently less than 1% of the smartphone market.

Good and Bad: Windows Phone 7 is a great addition to the phone market and I personally have very high hopes for Windows Phone 7 in 2011 and beyond. WP7 also benefits from integrating naturally into Microsoft?s other products, including Office, Outlook, Windows, XBOX, and many others. For users, this means that they can easily set up and sync their device to their computer without the need for additional dongles, data charges, or a tech degree.

For Windows Phone 7 app developers this also presents many opportunities to provide productivity applications which take advantage of its cross platform syncing ability. Microsoft has also set strict device requirements for manufacturers which will help limit fragmentation in the future. In fact, the current minimum standard for WP7 phones currently exceeds the raw power and capability of most of the phones on the market. In other words, these phones will all be very powerful and capable.

App Recommendations: Launching into a new platform is always a little bit risky since your app?s success depends heavily on the success of the platform, which has only been out for a month as of this writing. We?re confident that it will do well because of how well it incorporates current technologies and brings them together into a very usable interface. By using familiar technologies such as .NET and Silverlight development languages, Microsoft has made it very easily accessible to a huge range of developers, which will help its success.

For new app publishers, Windows Phone 7 is definitely a platform to keep an eye on. Its ability to easily interface with most Microsoft technologies makes it very appealing, as well as the ability to publish private apps (apps for only your employees, for example) make it the only phone that can do proprietary industry apps.

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