With Apple about to let developers loose on the iPhone, we checkout what's already on the menu for "jailbroken" iPhones.
The software development kit for Apple’s iPhone is late – it was initially announced to be available in February, but as the Valentine month has slipped away from us, all we’re left with is an event that Apple’s hosting in its Cupertino offices on Thursday (US time) to “discuss the iPhone SDK and roadmap”. Sounds like more delaying tactics to us, and some pundits have opined that the actual SDK won’t be made available until the mid-year Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco.
That hasn’t stopped canny developers from tweaking at the iPhone’s edges, developing a wide range of applications, especially for unlocked (“jailbroken”, in the popular venacular) iPhones.
In the same vein, the fact that Apple hasn’t released the iPhone in Australia yet hasn’t stopped a flood of Apple fans from importing and unlocking these coveted bits of geek bling. If you’re in their exalted-but-cash-depleted company, you’re probably not all that excited about the SDK per se. It’s quite likely that the unlocked units won’t have access to the new applications in any case – at least while the jailbreaking arms race continues. Those with unlocked phones already have access to a bunch of interesting applications. Here’s five we reckon you should check out in advance of the SDK release:
AppTapp/Installer.app
Where it all begins; once an iPhone is “jailbroken”, the Apptapp/Installer.app package lets you get onto the iPhone application gravy train. Many unlocking routines include this by default.
Summerboard
While you’re grabbing Installer.app, don’t forget Summerboard – an extension to the iPhone’s "Springboard" interface that lets you create and use full custom themes to make your iPhone truly yours.
Touchpad Pro
Touchpad Pro turns your iPhone into a remote control mouse for any Windows or Mac OS X machine – or, in other words, instant multi-touch-capable media center.
Voice Notes
The iPhone has a speaker, microphone and plenty of storage, and so it naturally fits the role of a voice recorder – except that Apple, for whatever reason, left that bit out. Developer Erica Sadun’s Voice Notes adds it back in.
iTransmogrify!
One for the locked, unlocked and even iPod Touch crowd, iTransmogrify is a neat bit of Javascript code that works as a Safari bookmark, allowing you to view embedded Flash videos – the current model only supports watching such files on Youtube.com itself.