My iPhone My Way

I love my iPhone. It goes with me everywhere. Leaving my house without my iPhone would feel just as unnatural as well. . .

It has become an indispensable part of my daily life. But as much as I love my iPhone, I loathe not being able to customize it my way; I am stuck adhering to the limitations Apple imposes on me.

Last week I took the plunge into what is called “Jailbreaking” your iPhone. What does this mean? In brief, jailbreaking means modifying your phone’s software to allow you to install 3rd party applications. Keep in mind that for my purposes, I AM NOT unlocking my phone to do anything illegal (no pirated software, no using it with unauthorized carriers).

I will not detail how to unlock your phone. Instead, I want to just share a couple new favorite things I can now do with my iPhone.

1. App Store Alternative. With the Cydia application, I am just a click away from a plethora of applications (literally thousands of them). Just like the App Store, some are free, some are paid. Cydia might not be as elegant as the App Store, but now I have a second choice for things I will NEVER see offered by Apple.

2. Themes. Tired of that black background? Or even worse, scrolling through page after page of application icons? After installing the WinterBoard app, I now have complete freedom to trick out my iPhone with themes. I can choose custom backgrounds and icons, control the page layout, add widgets to the “desktop” and use the Shrink app to change the size of my app icons. I can even use WinterBoard to turn on and off app labels and add additional columns and rows.

3. Dock. If you are like me, you want more of your favorite apps at hand instead of having to scroll through various pages to find them. With Infinidock I now have a dock that scrolls left to right. I can load it up with as many of my favorite apps as I want. There are even apps that allow you to add five or six icons to the dock instead of the default four.

4. Folders. One of my major complaints: scrolling through page after page of icons. No longer. With the application called Categories, I can now create folders on my iPhone, allowing me to sort my applications by folder. Yes, Apple promises this in their upcoming 4.0 software, but this has been available on unlocked phones for years.

5. Background Apps. Yes, another forth-coming promise by Apple. For quite some time, an app called Backgrounder has allowed users to leave multiple applications open in the background. The Kirikae app lets you switch between those applications, similar to what you can do with Expose on the Mac.

6. Tethering. Ever needed internet access from your computer when no internet connection was available? With the application MyWi, you can instantly turn your iPhone into a WiFi hotspot. Simply enable the feature, and your iPhone will show up on your computer just like any other WiFi source.

7. Settings. Ever get tired of digging through pages of preference just to get to your favorite setting? With SB Settings, you can put your frequently most used settings in one simple-to-access location.

Needless to say, I have just scratched the surface. There are applications for downloading files through Safari, sending and receiving email attachments, automatic tinyURL creation, animated backgrounds, and much more. There is even an application that will change the settings on your phone based upon the time of day, GPS location and calendar events. The possibilities are almost endless for what I can now do with my iPhone. As much as it was already an indispensible tool, it is now even more so. In a lot of ways, I have transformed my iPhone into a mini pocket computer.