4th - Jailbreaking

Jail breaking one's iPhone used to be a touchy subject. However, after the court decided that jail breaking is completely legal, the question that remains in most people's mind is whether it is worth it or not.

 Now before you guys think that breaking out of prison with your iPhone (don't know how that would happen in the first place!) is legal, let me explain what jail breaking is. Jail breaking basically means to hack the iPhone / iPod touch's operating system to allow the usage of 3rd party apps. However, there are a few pros and cons to Jail breaking.

Pros:
As mentioned earlier, the ability to use 3rd party apps that Apple rejects is a very helpful feature. One of the most useful of these apps is GVMobile. This app allows the user to access Google Voice, which was originally rejected by apple's app store. Customization is also a big feature for jail broken iPhones. a jail broken iPhone's UI can be completely customized. It is not limited to just wallpapers. Pictured to the left is an Iron man themed iPhone interface. My colleague at work actually uses this theme. These jail broken themes can be much more exciting than the normal, "boring" interface. Jail broken iPhones also have the ability to access the official app store, allowing users to experience the best of both worlds.

Cons:
So with so many pros, why doesn't everyone get their iPhone jail broken? The biggest reason is because it nullifies the warranty. This means that if anything was to happen to the device, the user would receive no support from Apple. This is especially dangerous because another con of jail broken iPhones is the increased instability. Jail broken iPhones are known to freeze more often and sometimes even become "bricked."  Bricking is when a device becomes completely useless, or "as useful as a brick."

I personally have not jail broken my iPhone because I mostly use it for music and most of my app needs are covered by the free apps found in the official app store. I don't really care much about the warranty but would hate having to deal with freezes or crashes when all I want to do is listen to my music. However, for those of you who want to get more bang for your buck, jail breaking is a good option!