Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone, App Store
My Favorite iPhone Apps: Erica's Take
When it comes to the iPhone, it's really really difficult to narrow my app love down to just three picks. So with apologies in advance for all those amazing applications that didn't make this cut, let me jump in with three choices that I simply do not live without on my (jailbroken) iPhone:
Cydia. When Jay Freeman's Cydia first debuted, I was hesitant to use it. It sucked up the root partition space like a sponge and its interface was, at best, preliminary. And now, in 2.0, Cydia owns me. It's simply fabulous. From its command-line Unix support to its fully overhauled interface to its extremely workable update system, Cydia provides a powerful software distribution system, perfect for modern smartphones and a great competitor to AppStore.
Boss Prefs. Boss Prefs offers a wonderful services application. It lets me enable and disable services such as EDGE, Bluetooth and SSH from a central application. Because I only intermittently subscribe to data plans, Boss Prefs ensures that I won't accidentally start downloading a la carte data that starts at about $500 million (or so) per kilobyte. It also lets me enable and disable my mail accounts, so the iPhone works perfectly for whichever mode I'm in: intrepid TUAW blogger at large or private Soccer Mom on the go.
Othello. Othello is my current fidget-game-on-the-go. When I'm stuck waiting somewhere for a few minutes, I pull out Hongtao Guo's perfect take on Othello. With three playing levels, optional sound and a really nicely designed interface, Othello provides the perfect time waster. There are other free versions of Othello under various names on AppStore but I particularly like this implementation. Although I wish it would put me directly into the game board rather than the welcome screen, that's my only criticism of a lovely, free application that's a great deal of fun.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mehul said 5:53PM on 8-28-2008
Boss Prefs is the only app thats keeping me from updating my 1.4 firmware to 2.02. I dont have a data plan and I dont wanna go bankrupt with the data costs!
Does anyone know if there is a way to turn off edge without jailbreaking?
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jpcompagnone said 7:18PM on 8-28-2008
There is a workaround to disable data with 2.* software, check out this site http://www.unlockit.co.nz/. Works like a charm for me
Mitch Aunger said 4:36PM on 8-28-2008
too bad something like boss prefs isn't in the app store - I'd love to have something like that on a non-jailbroken phone :)
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mark said 4:48PM on 8-28-2008
Dear TUAW,
Many, many (dare I say *most*) of us have not jailbroken our iPhones. Yet, you continue to report about -- and even feature -- apps that are only supported on jailbroken iphones.
For the sake of clarity -- if nothing else -- would you please simply *indicate* after an app's title that it requires a jailbroken iphone?
For example, you typically follow links with "(iTunes store)" to inform the reader that the link will take him or her away from the browser and will open in iTunes.
Could you do something similar for jailbroken apps?
It is a waste of our time to read articles about apps that we naturally assume are available in the app store, only to have to discover -- on our own -- that that's not the case, because the article failed to mention that the app isn't an "official" one.
I'm not suggesting that you stop reporting on such apps; I'm merely asking that you *identify* these apps properly -- sparing us from reading about apps that don't apply to us.
In the name of efficiency. Please!
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Michael Rose said 5:14PM on 8-28-2008
Mark, I've added the parenthetical note that these apps are jailbreak apps at the top of the post. Your point is well taken, although usually it's clear from context whether an app is jailbreak or not -- we could be more explicit, and we'll try to be.
August said 5:23PM on 8-28-2008
OK list, but, as mentioned, the vast majority of us haven't got jailbroken iPhones anymore, now that the App Store is here. I think the jailbreak community is a dead-end now. I loved the jailbreak on my 1. gen iPhone with all the 1.1.x firmwares, but after 2.0 and my iPhone 3G, i just don't see the point in it anymore.
Far the most apps in the App Store are so much better than what you'll find in Cydia or Installer, and the apps that hasn't arrived at the App Store yet are coming at a very rapid pace.
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Duey Cheatham & Howe said 1:33PM on 8-29-2008
As long as Apple has dumbass restrictions on what an App can and cannot do, I don't see the jailbreak community slowing down any.
Ebika said 5:52PM on 8-28-2008
August, will all due respect, just because you do not have a reason for the jailbreak does not mean the community is a dead-end now. I am in the crowd of those that enjoy being able to access the internals of the iPhone, including the command line. I like having the option for customization with things like WinterBoard, tweaking the sms database to remove spam sms' from the view, tethering on the train when I need to have SSH access to support a work system, using standard tools like scp to store files, etc.
The Chad said 5:57PM on 8-28-2008
I gotta disagree; jailbreaking is just as important now as before. Apple has dumber down the SDK and capabilities far too much, and the jailbreak community is not hindered in any way. I hope they pick up the pace and perhaps get some investment money so we can see some real exciting stuff
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Anders Hovmöller said 2:17AM on 8-29-2008
I used Othello a while, until I realized I could not lose to the AI on the hardest difficulty. Even if I made random moves the first couple of moves. Then I found Morocco. The UI is way nicer, and the AI on hard is actually pretty nasty (I have only beat it a few times when set to the AI to being the first to act). Highly recommend switching out Othello for Morocco.
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August said 6:34PM on 8-28-2008
Ebika:
Sure, i see what you mean, but when i say that it's a dead-end, i look at it from a slightly different perspective. Three months ago, the jailbreak community had hundreds of thousands, if not millions of users. Why? Well because all the iPhones that were used non-official got jailbreaked when people unlocked them.
But now the App Store and the iPhone 3G has been released, and i bet that only a small part of the of the, yeah, millions of people are jailbreaking there phones today.
That is just my opinion and i have no problem at all with people jailbreaking there phones, or Erica posting news about jailbreaking and all that sort of stuff. I just don't see a bright future for the whole jailbreak community, but i might be wrong ;)
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Chris said 6:30PM on 8-28-2008
guys, you can jailbreak a 2.0.2 via the dev team's pwnage tool http://blog.iphone-dev.org/
their jailbreak is pretty safe, and you can ALWAYS restore if something goes wrong. (this is because of the method they use)
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moler said 7:14PM on 8-28-2008
Cmon Tuaw,
buy her an unlimited data plan!
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JKT said 8:10PM on 8-28-2008
I jailbroke my phone and got Cydia as part of the pwnage package. Problem is, I couldn't figure out what it benefitted me. I saw no command line, and when I browsed for apps for my jailbroken phone, I found little (most apps are for 1.x firmware, not 2.x). Can someone explain in more detail what jailbreaking my 3G really gets me? (Oh, the jailbreak process also took away most of the thumbnails from my iPhone's photos.)
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Bowei said 8:40PM on 8-28-2008
Erica,
I'm very disappointed to see that Snapture is not on your list of favorite apps. Have you seen the new Snapture yet? We worked so hard this time to build the best camera app out there. I can tell you that there is nothing in either jailbreak and appstore world that comes close to the usability of our app.
Please shoot me an email at contact@snapturelabs.com. Let me personally send you a license so you can experience for yourself what Snapture is all about.
Best,
Bowei
www.snapturelabs.com
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Phil said 7:20AM on 8-29-2008
Snapture was cool.. until it was $8
Kurt Tappe said 1:48PM on 8-29-2008
$8 isn't a whole lot of money. It's a single beer at a ballgame. It's lunch AND a drink in most towns. It's less than an adult movie ticket. It's a rather bad bottle of wine. It's a pack of Sensor razor blades...on sale. C'mon, don't go cheap on a proven-good app.
Edgar said 6:04AM on 8-29-2008
I read books and comics in my iphone, there is no official app that allows you to put any of your books or comics manually in your iphone. Until then I will have a jailbroken iphone :)
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Bob S. said 9:54AM on 8-29-2008
It's your money, but every book I've seen is available for free on Project Gutenberg,
Jerod said 12:05AM on 9-01-2008
I would agree about Othello. It is quick to play and highly addictive. Complaining about apps that require a jailbreak is useless. It is so easy to jailbreak and restore the iPhone now that it shouldn't matter.
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