There is a certain segment of the iOS device owning nation that feels as though Apple is too restrictive when it comes to the handling of the App store and which applications are allowed to run on their own device. This particular segment is always curious as to what the jailbreak community is currently up to. Well, the iPhone Dev Team has come out with another release; this time using Safari. Before we tackle that, let’s cover the basics.
What is jailbreaking? Well, jailbreaking has two aspects to it. The first aspect is the ability to install any applications, including those not approved by Apple, like Netshare or Handy Light. The second is the breaking of the baseband to allow you to use your iOS device on whichever carrier you choose. For those in the United States this is the more lucrative aspect since there is only one carrier, AT&T.
What negatives are there to jailbreaking? For one group, complete freedom is what they want and they do not see any downside to jailbreaking. Despite those who want unfettered access to their devices there are some downsides. The first is that Apple could decide to not support your device should you have an issue. The second downside is the possibility of downloading a rouge application. Since you are not always downloading from the sanctioned Apple store, this can potentially be a hazard. The third possible downside is that you will have to wait for updates. In certain cases this is not what users want, particularly if there is an application that they absolutely need on their jailbroken device, yet they want a new feature that Apple is offering.
Why Jailbreak? As stated earlier, jailbreaking is most commonly done for application that Apple does not allow or has kicked out of the App store. Back in the iPhone 1.X, 2.X and even 3.X days the biggest feature was multitasking. Having the ability to run multiple applications was something most users desired more than anything else. Onto what the latest jailbreak has done.
The iPhone Dev Team is the probably the most well known group of iOS device hackers. They have produced many of the jailbreaks for each of the iPhones and iPod touches. They have been doing this since the initial release of the iPhone back in July of 2007. The latest jailbreak provides a safari-based exploit that allows jailbreaking.
By simply visiting JailbreakMe.com you are presented with this screen:
In order to jailbreak your iOS device you just ‘slide to jailbreak’, wait until your device is jailbroken and you are good to go. The jailbreak should work for all iOS devices, from the original iPhone to the iPad and everything in between. Most users will decide not to jailbreak their device for a myriad of reasons.
Truth be told, I used to be amongst the jailbreaking community. I decided to jailbreak my original iPhone back in 2007 in order to get applications outside of Apple’s universe. I didn’t need multitasking, but I wanted more than calculator on my phone. Additionally, backgrounds and the ability to have your home screens scroll vertically was always a nice fto have
Jailbreaking is not for everyone. But if you really want to jailbreak your iOS device there is now a way. Do not forget that jailbreaking can pose some security risks particularly if you do not know about all the security implications that go with jailbreaking. The first iPhone worm began propagating through jailbroken iPhones where their users did not change the default SSH password. If you’re up to the challenge, jailbreak away.
