Sunday, April 15, 2012

Reason to Jailbreak Your New iPad

It didn't take long for the tech community to figure out how to jailbreak the latest iPad. Jailbreaking a Apple device like an iPhone, iPad is not "approved" by Apple and may cause problems with your device but it is relatively safe to do and can provide access to lots of cool apps that aren't available on non-jailbroken devices. Here are some of the things you can do with your jailbroken iPad.

Turn Your AT&T iPad Into a Hotspot

Tethering a mobile device usually refers to allowing other Wi-Fi devices like a laptop to use the phone or tablet's 3G or 4G wireless connection to connect to the Internet in cases where Wi-Fi may not be available. If you're going to be using the 4G LTE connection on your new iPad to "tether" your laptop to the Internet or provide other Wi-Fi users with Internet access than you might be better off with Verizon who allows iPad users to create a Wi-Fi hotspot for no additional charge although you'll want to keep an eye on your data usage. If you're on AT&T and want to tether you'll need to jailbreak your iPad and use a program like MyWi. The problem is that this is may get you into trouble with AT&T.
Fast Way to Change Settings
Jailbroken iPhones and iPads can use a program named SBSettings which provides a quick way to toggle things like Wi-Fi on and off. Using the SBSettings status bar is a quick way to check out things like memory usage as well as toggle features on and off.
Activator Controls Gesture Commands
If you've ever wanted to modify what different gestures do on your iPad, this app available for jailbroken iPads might be just the thing for you.
Customize Your iPad's Look With WinterBoard
WinterBoard is a free app the runs on jailbroken devices that allows you to customize the looks of you iPad or iPhone to your heart's content with themes, skins, wallpaper and more.
Better App Management
There are some popular apps the run on jailbroken Apple devices that help manage apps. One app that overcomes the limitation of 12 apps per folder is called Folder Enhancer With this app you can even nest folders inside other folders. Speaking of apps, it goes without saying that a jailbroken iPad will be able to run apps from a whole library of apps in the Cydia library. Of course these apps my not be as well "policed" as the apps in the Apple App Store to be careful what you load on your jailbroken device.


Play Other Media Formats Including Flash

Even though many sites are moving away from Flash there are still many sites that may show up with big black areas where Flash content is meant to be displayed. Jailbroken iPads can run Flash and in addition to running Flash, jailbroken iPads can also run video formats like wmv files that aren't supported by Apple.
A Fun Desktop Look
Barrel costs $2.99 on the Cydia store and lets you add a cool 3D look to screen transitions as well as changing the look of other screens.

Run FaceTime Over Wireless Connection?
We're not sure whether the new iPad will be able to run FaceTime over a 4G LTE connection like it can run over 3G on a jailbroken device. Apple normally restricts FaceTime to Wi-Fi only. If anyone has info about FaceTime on 4G we'd like to hear from you.
Jailbreaking Your New iPad; What You Need to Know
Although jailbreaking your iPad voids your Apple warranty and can cause problems, it's not illegal and you can usually "un-jailbreak" your device by simply doing a "restore" on it from iTunes. The better jailbreak solution involves a non-tethered jailbreak (not to be confused with Wi-Fi tethering) where you don't have to have the devices connected to the computer whenever you need to reboot it. Jailbreaks for the new iPad (3rd Generation) showed up soon after it was released but there is some confusion over which schemes are un-tethered or not. Once you jailbreak your iPad, you'll want to check out the Cydia site which is like an alternative app store where you'll find free apps along with ones you'll have to pay for all for jailbroken Apple devices. Android devices by the way has a counterpart mode called "rooting" which allows Android devices to run apps and do things that might not be allowed on an un-rooted device.


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