Sorry to my readers for the hiatus but I had a mountain of issues to work out and miles of road to cover (due to traffic). In between hurling insults at taxi and trotro drivers and finding laptops in MW3, I put my magnificent brain to use to think of what to blog about next.
And so it has come to pass. This past Christmas season presented me with an opportunity to get what I hoped to be the gift that keeps on giving.
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| And it would continue giving its 30 5.56mm gifts at 900 |
But all I could get was an iPhone 4. At a bargain too. 16gig model for 650ghc. Or £244. Or $385. Or ¥29,630. Or 80,524 souls. Sim locked of course but that's what Gevey and ultrasn0w exist for (again, somewhat sorry to you Apple). With that I could hand over my trusty 3GS to my brother and he could use his 3G to start payments on my cousins 3GS. And we've all come out the other end happy (well some more than others...).
Unfortunately the iOS that came with the phone was an improperly jailbroken 4.3.5 and since I couldn't downgrade, I was left with no choice than to go forward into the new realm of iOS 5. I won't stop thanking God for Dev Team's timely release (especially with the record development period) and here I have it. A jailbroken iPhone 4. Yaayyy.
There was a bit of hype with iOS 5 and after a month of use, I don't really see the fuss. I have fun with the notification center but before it came Android had it for yonks and jailbreakers (me included) for 3 yonks. That said, you really didn't want to be shackled with the default notification method before iOS 5. But people did, previous phone owner included and I wonder how. Android users go on forever about how they have a far better and open experience than iOS and I agree. My counterpoint is that after jailbreaking, that changes. I'll admit that by the time my tweaks are sorted the result looks like an iOS themed Android phone but hey I'm happy with it.
It doesn't stop me wondering why I'm still on iOS instead of Android. It's not like I don't appreciate it. Perhaps I fear that it is a bit too open and varied so as a result too easy to get hurt. I know some poor unfortunate sad souls that have killed their Android devices because they flashed the wrong kernel. Which for my non techie readers, is the equivalent of putting diesel into a petrol engine.
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| Well that's at least how they described it. |
I'm a somewhat experienced Android user and jailbreaker (read: Rooter) myself and can fully understand the risks (and by golly are there a lot of risks). iOS by comparison can be given a rudimentary jailbreak by an ape.
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| Ta daa!!! Presenting Homeus Genius |
This is not to say Android a super tight locked down system. That is contested between iOS and anything out of Sony. The tools that are used to jailbreak iOS are simply designed to be used by used the average ape.
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| Ta daa!!! |
Like I said earlier, the great variety of Android capable devices (iPhone included) make working on jailbreaks that more difficult to deal with. This makes the number of tools and necessary files used to work on the devices utterly nutterly butterly. There is a growing hegemony in the tools used but it's still miles away from the 5 or so tools that are used to hammer blow the Apple. Even then, Android is not the minefield I make it look like...
or is it?
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| If you don't see the similarity, that's your soul being digested. See a priest |
Could it be that Android itself has it's share of mines to worry about. The openness of the system has the effect of malware being capable of attacking the system. This has in my eyes turned Android into a portable Windows system
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| Virus hunters, this look familiar? |
Still that isn't the reason. I've avoided malware on my system for about 57 yonks, so Android won't be a problem. Not even Carrier IQ. Ha ha to Android and BB users. The few iOS users that are afflicted can turn it off with a flick of a switch. Here, enjoy some smugness: ʕ•̫͡•ʔ.
I think the reason I've stuck with iOS is the possibility of what jailbreak offers. Sure Android ships with and can easily get the features I want to find in iOS but there's something missing. It's not like I can program and write my own solutions. I know, I tried.
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| It didn't end well |
And to be honest there are solutions that exist that have made my iOS experience so much better that I can't imagine in Android. And please Droid users put your hands down, I've already acknowledged the open variety that you take for granted. But it's different when, the device is already "open". It's like when jailbroke my PsP and had amongst other tweaks, a book reader and a calculator for use in class.
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| The real hack came when I convinced lecturers that it was an educational tool |
Thanks to the jailbreak of iOS I've dipped a finger in the interface of Windows Phone 7. I can also send and receive via Bluetooth (Nokia users, stop sniggering in the back). I now rarely carry my laptop around (which is just nearly twice the size of the original iPad and several thousand jiggawatts more powerful). Not that it has replaced my laptop (LMAO!!! As if!) it's just that, I can dedicate the laptop to more intense simultaneous tasks:
- browsing 50+ tabs at once
- downloading 5 70mb files at a go
- rocking out a music/video playlist on 3 screens
- quickly completing a 20 page essay
- pausing work on the essay to save the free world in MW3
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| A diagram of my processor |
Actually there is one iOS jailbreak exploit I badly want and it's proven as easy to find as a virgin admitted a maternity ward. True direct USB access to the core filesystem. Again, Droid users put your hands down. iOS users will note that connecting any iDevice only exposes the camera folder. Searching and asking for solutions lead to a variety of solutions that would work just fine for me on my computer in my network.
Not the Windows XP using attendant of the 20 customer full wireless-less print shop
To make a tech story simple there are 3 major solutions:
- the apple favorite; share to wireless
- utilize some witchcraft and command prompt to SSH your way in
- install / run a program on your machine to open the filesystem
I've spoken to several programmers including developers of the most popular jailbreak tweaks and apps. Do you know how many understood and were working it? 1 and he doesn't even have a iOS device.
To be honest I sort of killed what would have been his 1st iPhone.
In the end, aside him, none of them understand the need for such a thing. I'd let that go but he was one of 2 Ghanaians living in Ghana I asked. The other is in Dansoman. I've asked him again and pending some contracts he has to fulfill, I can expect something in August.
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| In the end, I had to use this (artist's rendition). It was messy, he slobbered everywhere |
I can say I'm in a stable state with regards to my iOS and not likely to consider switching till WP7 comes and lingers a bit on the Nokia platform. So I'll leave you with some screenshots from my portable device. Just so you know they are (in order):
- My Homescreen
- Homescreen again
- Listed Cydia tweaks in Settings
- My multitask screen
- My notification center
-My lockscreen
Before posting this, I got my hands on a HTC Desire HD and I'm in the process of specing it up then I'll stem the gushing and write about the greatness of jailbreaking on ALL devices for another post, especially in the wake of this.
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