When I got my iPhone 3GS I desperately wanted to jailbreak it. I loved the concepts of a customized lockscreen and themes, and that is just the beginning. I want side-loaded apps, a break from Apple’s confusing , and sometimes ridiculous, rules. Apple has not taken a very aggressive approach, but nonetheless one of my main reasons for not jailbreaking is their policy.  The two things stopping me were the loss of warranty associated with jailbreaking and the occasional sluggishness of having a jailbroken device.

When I bought my iPhone 4 i immediately opted for a SquareTrade protection plan in lieu of the AppleCare plan I had on my 3GS, even at that point I had a feeling the iPhone 4 would shatter, so accidental damage protection was a must; little did i know that just one drop would ring the death toll for Apple’s new beauty. while jailbreaking is technically not covered by SquareTrade, not having to deal with Apple provided enough peace of mind for me. The next hurdle was the sluggishness of a jailbroken device. the iPhone 4 ships with Apple’s A4 processor and 512 MB of RAM. this means that even though some sluggishness is still apparent, it is nothing like the lag associated with a 3GS or more severely the 3G. Jailbreaking was finally for me.

Jailbreakme.com is the single easiest thing I have done on my iPhone, just point Mobile Safari to the website, slide the slider and your IOS device is jailbroken.  right after I jailbroke, i launched Cydia and downloaded LockInfo and WinterBoard. I dropped all app labels, got a HTC Sense-like  clock/weather widget and live happily with my jailbroken iPhone. when I stop being cheap, I fully intend to grab Wi-Fi Sync,  and My Wi. My iPhone is finally free from the ridiculous App Store restrictions, yet if I want to access it I am fully able to.  all of these apps/tweaks were part of my plan for a jailbroken iPhone, but something I didnt consider was the fact that the majority of paid jailbreak apps have a try before you buy feature.  this is perhaps the most rewarding portion of the jailbreak for me, with developers winning me over after I let the app sit on my phone for a bit. with the recent addition of Frash to Cydia, I finally have a device that does what i want when i want it to, whether Apple likes it or not, this is the iPhone I have always dreamed of.

Overall jailbreaking has been an amazing experience for me, unlocking features for my phone that I had previously convinced myself I didn’t need, such as tethering and Flash support. I can send/receive texts from wherever I am in my phone, check email from the lockscreen, and play some flash games. Apple has a laughably terrible notification system, lack of app side-loading, and a rapid developer base. Jailbreaking brings all of these features together to make something that is truly worthy of the $300  I spent and the top smartphone crown.