Should you jailbreak your iPhone? Here are some of the pros and cons...
Why You SHOULD Jailbreak:
You Can Use Carriers Other Than ATT - Notably, T-Mobile
ATT has an exclusive contract with Apple to act as a carrier for the iPhone. Talk about a monopoly! Their contract is up for renewal in 2012, but that's still a long time to wait. ATT has had major network issues, which gives a lot of people pause when considering an iPhone purchase. However, the latest jailbreak will let you use your phone with T-Mobile on their GSM network.
3rd Party Unauthorized Apps
The App Store has a lot of really sweet apps in it, but jailbroken phones can utilize even cooler apps that tend to be more creative than the official ones. Cydia is like the apps store for unofficial apps, and using it is one of the main reasons that so many people want to jailbreak their phones.
Fully Reversible
If you've been put off for some reason by worries about negative consequences when you unlock your device, or you end up just not liking the jailbreak experience, you can easily reverse it. All that you have to do is hook your phone up to your computer via USB and restore iTunes on the phone.
Why You Might Not Want to Jailbreak:
Getting Your Phone Bricked
As with any tampering of your iPhone, you run the risk of experiencing "bricking." Bricking renders your phone unusable and requires a complete wipe and restore to make it functional again. Not a big deal given the quick fix, but it does serve as a deterrent.
Warranty: Voided?
As of 2010, the fair use doctrine legalized jailbreaking in the US. However, it still voids your warranty. And if you don't have a warranty, Apple is under no obligation to cover damages or malfunctions with your device. So if you're a klutz or are prone to dropping your phone, or if your particular device is buggy - you might want to think twice.
Security Concerns
The website MacRumours has published a flaw that they've discovered in some recent jailbreaking processes that leaves a hole which hackers could exploit to plant malware onto phones. This exploit comes out of the IOS PDF app. They say "The remote website presents a PDF that has a specifically crafted font embedded, and it is the processing of the embedded font that has the security issue." Something to think about, you know?
Why You SHOULD Jailbreak:
You Can Use Carriers Other Than ATT - Notably, T-Mobile
ATT has an exclusive contract with Apple to act as a carrier for the iPhone. Talk about a monopoly! Their contract is up for renewal in 2012, but that's still a long time to wait. ATT has had major network issues, which gives a lot of people pause when considering an iPhone purchase. However, the latest jailbreak will let you use your phone with T-Mobile on their GSM network.
3rd Party Unauthorized Apps
The App Store has a lot of really sweet apps in it, but jailbroken phones can utilize even cooler apps that tend to be more creative than the official ones. Cydia is like the apps store for unofficial apps, and using it is one of the main reasons that so many people want to jailbreak their phones.
Fully Reversible
If you've been put off for some reason by worries about negative consequences when you unlock your device, or you end up just not liking the jailbreak experience, you can easily reverse it. All that you have to do is hook your phone up to your computer via USB and restore iTunes on the phone.
Why You Might Not Want to Jailbreak:
Getting Your Phone Bricked
As with any tampering of your iPhone, you run the risk of experiencing "bricking." Bricking renders your phone unusable and requires a complete wipe and restore to make it functional again. Not a big deal given the quick fix, but it does serve as a deterrent.
Warranty: Voided?
As of 2010, the fair use doctrine legalized jailbreaking in the US. However, it still voids your warranty. And if you don't have a warranty, Apple is under no obligation to cover damages or malfunctions with your device. So if you're a klutz or are prone to dropping your phone, or if your particular device is buggy - you might want to think twice.
Security Concerns
The website MacRumours has published a flaw that they've discovered in some recent jailbreaking processes that leaves a hole which hackers could exploit to plant malware onto phones. This exploit comes out of the IOS PDF app. They say "The remote website presents a PDF that has a specifically crafted font embedded, and it is the processing of the embedded font that has the security issue." Something to think about, you know?
About the Author:
Learn more about jailbreak software. Stop by Don Serrels's site where you can find out all about jailbreak software and what it can do for you.
The Communication Blog
No comments:
Post a Comment