The Voice of Reason

While most people associate “forbidden” applications with jailbreaking, there are also a number of great tweaks in Cydia that will improve the way the iPhone works and how you can use it. These tweaks often change the way existing applications work and add useful features. In fact, one cannot help but wonder why Apple didn’t include some of these in the stock iOS.

Regardless, here is a list of 14 of some of the best tweaks available in Cydia:

1. AirVideoEnabler – this hack enables video streaming to Apple TV’s using AirPlay from any application. Normally, AirPlay is restricted to the YouTube app.
2. Cicero – allows you to add search engines directly to Safari. You can switch search engines by tapping the current engine’s icon and selecting a new engine. Supports Google, Wikipedia, Bing, YouTube, IMDB and more.
3. Cyntact – adds pictures to the list in Contacts.
4. CyDelete – lets you delete jailbreak applications from the springboard just as you would with official apps.
5. Fast Copy – Removes the animation delay after you press copy/paste/etc. Provides a much smoother experience.
6. Five Icon Switcher – changes the number of icons in the task switcher from four to five.
7. FolderEnhancer – let’s you break free of Apple’s limitation on apps in a folder. Offers pagination of apps and folders inside of folders.
8. FullPreview – let’s you get a “full preview” of a song before you buy it. That is, you can listen to the entire song rather than just a 30 second clip.
9. LiveClock – This fun tweak adds an animated clock to the springboard. The time shown is continuously updated and the second hand moves just as it would on a real clock.
10. MarkThatMessage – adds a timestamp to every text message received. Apple only adds the timestamp every so often and seemingly at random. This tweak is great for telling when you received a particular text message.
11. ReadMore – This package will optimize the UI of iTunes native app and integrates some new features like sharing albums or podcasts with your friends or searching for a cheaper price directly from iTunes.It also allows you to read the complete titles (not just a truncated title), find cheaper prices with an integrated search, copy the title, artist, link and feed URL for podcasts for sharing, and it changes some labels and backgrounds to optimize the UI experience.
12. Synchronicity – let’s you keep using your phone while you sync. However, the iPod app cannot be using during syncing as it may corrupt the music library.
13. WeatherIcon – Updates the weather icon to show live weather including temperature and conditions (sunny, rain, overcast, apocalypse, etc.)
14. YourTube 2 – lets you download and save videos from YouTube and even add them to playlists.

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading and check back soon for more iPhone and iOS related news and reviews!

Filed under: Apple iOS, Reviews, Technology | Tagged: apple, greenpois0n, ios, ipad, iPhone, ipod touch, jailbreak, limera1n, redsn0w |