Few questions about my new iPhone - Thanks!

[TheNiceGuy]

Hey all!

-Are there any ways to deal withthe battery life? Any attatchable spare batteries or that kind of thing?

-Is there a way to copy parts of recieved text messages? At present I seem to only be able to copy the whole thing.

-Is there a way to make incomming text messages private? Preferably I'd like a password required. But at least for the text message to not pop up in full on the front screen for all to see when it comes in.

-Any OCR abilites with the iPhone? I'm mainly interested in OCR for Japanese characters.

-Jailbreak, unlock, etc..

Jailbreak: I had a vague idea what these do, but was hoping for an average Joe's explanation, and weather they are worth it for another "average Joe". IIUC, the main advantage (for said average Joes) of Jailbreak would be the ability to use Skype without wifi. Teh other main advnatage, tethering to a laptop, would, IIUC, get me in trouble with my provider (Softbank, Japan) ala $1000 phone bills and the like. Also, the apps avaiable through jailbreak, I still need to pay for them, right? So what exactly ar the advantages of Jailbreak, other than Skype? Can you tell me some specific apps an average Joe would have as 'must have' and are only available through Jailbreak?

Unlock: This is mainly for peopel who want to swap the sim card to other phones and what not? How about overseas/travel use? And again, is this the type of thing thats leads to people getting in trouble with their provider? I have seen several threads on another forum about people swaping sim cards and getting $1000+ phone bills from Softbank. So again, what's the 'must have' advantages of Unlock?

Thanks again for the info, and of course I realize the terminology is probably all off, but I hope you can understand the basic meaning of the questions I'm asking.

Thanks again!

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

- There are battery packs that are built into cases so it does add some heft and bulk to the phone.
- You would have to put it in notes or some other application to snip out what you wanted.
- Yes in Settings -> Messages -> "Show Preview"
- You would have to find an App for that.
- Jailbreaking allows custom sounds for text messages, some other backgrounds and themes.
- Unlocking allows you to use other carriers wherever you are and also tethering.

 

[secretanchitman]

hi there!

-as for battery life, tell us what settings you have on, like if you have bluetooth, wifi, 3G, location services, push, brightness, etc. that will give us an indication of what kind of battery life you are getting and how we can improve it. as chaotic mentioned, there are battery packs to attach onto it as well.

-as far as i can tell, there is no alternative to just copying parts of text messages. im in the same boat as you and wish there was a way to, instead of copying the entire thing and just deleting what parts i don't want.

-you can turn off message preview in settings. go to settings - messages - show preview - off . it will just show the person/number who sent it and display *text message*, with close or view as options. however, there isn't any way to disable a text message from popping up, unless you jailbreak (more on that in a minute).

-OCR i believe is only for chinese currently. you can actually handwrite characters, its pretty cool! for japanese, the only thing you can do for now is enable emoji using an app from the app store. maybe japanese characters will come in one day, and i wouldn't doubt it

-jailbreaking is just modifying the iphone so you can access all of its file contents. at stock, apple only lets you modify very basic and certain things (wallpaper, preset sms sounds, etc). with jailbreaking, you can customize literally any part of the iphone, as well as adding 3rd party applications. as for skype, if you are on at&t, they recently announced that voip apps will be able to use 3G and not just wifi. i don't know when that will go in effect though. jailbreaking apps are actually mostly free. only a small amount of the apps are actually paid. jailbreaking does void the warranty of the iphone, but its easy to remove - just restore in itunes. everything that the jailbreak did will go away and your phone will be back to stock, warranty and all. apple will have no idea that you jailbroke it in the first place.

well, im not sure if an average user might want to jailbreak, unless he is wanting to theme his iphone, wants a specific app or tweak but apple has banned it from the app store or hasnt added it in (example - google voice or sbsettings), or for a lot of people, to unlock. to unlock your iphone, you MUST jailbreak it first. otherwise, there is no other way to. for me, i jailbreak not only because i need to unlock my phone, but also because i use several tweaks that make my iphone a LOT more useful to me. for example, i use a tweak called sms helper, which puts a character counter in place of the send button, and also, if you tap the very top where the senders name is, a popup will display your current sent texts and will also tell you how much you've sent per month! in addition to sms helper, i use sbsettings, which conveniently puts all of my toggles, like 3G, wifi, bluetooth, phone, location all in one place, and is easily accessible with a swipe of a finger on page/app im in. i also use something called lockinfo, which not only tells you just the time/date on the lockscreen, but also information like the weather, email, calendar, etc. this list extends to having the weather and date show up on the iphone homescreen, as well as theming it (i use illumine, its a nice looking theme).

unlocking the iphone is exactly what you said - using different sim cards. this is mainly for people who either want to dump at&t and use their iphone on tmobile (beware that 3G data does not work on tmobile, only edge and wifi, due to different gsm frequencies), and who want to travel internationally and use their local provider there. for me, unlocking is useful because i travel to india a lot and i use their provider, vodaphone and airtel.

hopefully that helped! don't hesitate to ask about anything else

 

[TheNiceGuy]

Thanks guys!
I have wifi turned off as it kept stopping my apps everytime I drove by
site! I also turned of Bluetooth. Not sure what location services is for, photo tags?...do I need it? Screen settings, not sure but I Assume you mean to dim everything?
Sounds like an app will takecare of mail privacy.

Thanks for all the info dragonball
So there is one app for both Chinese OCR and scribeing? I may be able to get some crossover use.
Is there an organized way to find apps I may use? It seems a bit overwhelming for an average Joe. Searching apple store and cydia was a bit hit miss as search terms yielded mixed results, and the descriptions are from the guys trying to sell it - not exactly unbiased I'm sure. So far it's "hey, give this a try" from well meaning strangers on random forums. Free apps I don't mind trial and error, but pay, no.
It sounds as if jailbreak/ unlock is fairly limited? Someone left me with the impression that it was similar to the pc bittorent scene - apparently not. You still have to buy all the apps without being able to try them or what not.
I'm with softbank japan, and I have heard they cap usage and charge outrageous amounts for sim card swapping. Would they be able to tell for traveling to other countries as you mentioned with unlock? Also, if the phone is jailbroke Nd dies and you can't restore it, then I assume the warranty would be void when they try to fix it? Just trying to gauge the risk/value factor
thanks again!

P.S. - I'm using Shoutcast for radio. Its not bad, but the quality maxes out at 96k, and I can't listen while doing other things, like writing mails, etc. An app do this?

Also, how can I watch videos on my favorite sites? For example Ted.com?

Thanks again!

 

[Wonderful Pork]

Thanks guys!
I have wifi turned off as it kept stopping my apps everytime I drove by
site! I also turned of Bluetooth. Not sure what location services is for, photo tags?...do I need it? Screen settings, not sure but I Assume you mean to dim everything?
Sounds like an app will takecare of mail privacy.

Thanks for all the info dragonball
So there is one app for both Chinese OCR and scribeing? I may be able to get some crossover use.
Is there an organized way to find apps I may use? It seems a bit overwhelming for an average Joe. Searching apple store and cydia was a bit hit miss as search terms yielded mixed results, and the descriptions are from the guys trying to sell it - not exactly unbiased I'm sure. So far it's "hey, give this a try" from well meaning strangers on random forums. Free apps I don't mind trial and error, but pay, no.
It sounds as if jailbreak/ unlock is fairly limited? Someone left me with the impression that it was similar to the pc bittorent scene - apparently not. You still have to buy all the apps without being able to try them or what not.
I'm with softbank japan, and I have heard they cap usage and charge outrageous amounts for sim card swapping. Would they be able to tell for traveling to other countries as you mentioned with unlock? Also, if the phone is jailbroke Nd dies and you can't restore it, then I assume the warranty would be void when they try to fix it? Just trying to gauge the risk/value factor
thanks again!

P.S. - I'm using Shoutcast for radio. Its not bad, but the quality maxes out at 96k, and I can't listen while doing other things, like writing mails, etc. An app do this?

Also, how can I watch videos on my favorite sites? For example Ted.com?

Thanks again!

- Location services is the GPS, so if you want to use a Navigation app you should turn it on. It is also useful for Emergency Services to locate you.

- There are several app repositories websites where you can more efficiently search the App Store selection. There are also some apps you can download which do similar things, App Miner for one.

- Jailbreak/Unlock allows you to run un-approved apps & change your network, it is a growing community. It is possible to get "free" apps but that is not a discussion for this forum.

- As for warranty, jailbreaking/unlocking voids it, if they can tell you did it. If you restore the device they shouldn't be able to tell about a jailbreak. If the device is completely dead then I'm not sure how they'd tell either. If you take it in and its obviously themed & hacked they would turn you away, but I'll bet you can just restore and try again.

- You can download an app called backgrounder which will allow Shoutcast to stream in the background. It murders the battery life though. I don't bother using background apps unless I'm plugged into the charger.

- Websites such as TED.com which use flash video can't be viewed on the iPhone unless they re-encode their video (like YouTube) or have an application (also, like YouTube). I'm not sure if TED has an app or not, I'd imagine they would.

 

[secretanchitman]

- Location services is the GPS, so if you want to use a Navigation app you should turn it on. It is also useful for Emergency Services to locate you.

- There are several app repositories websites where you can more efficiently search the App Store selection. There are also some apps you can download which do similar things, App Miner for one.

- Jailbreak/Unlock allows you to run un-approved apps & change your network, it is a growing community. It is possible to get "free" apps but that is not a discussion for this forum.

- As for warranty, jailbreaking/unlocking voids it, if they can tell you did it. If you restore the device they shouldn't be able to tell about a jailbreak. If the device is completely dead then I'm not sure how they'd tell either. If you take it in and its obviously themed & hacked they would turn you away, but I'll bet you can just restore and try again.

- You can download an app called backgrounder which will allow Shoutcast to stream in the background. It murders the battery life though. I don't bother using background apps unless I'm plugged into the charger.

- Websites such as TED.com which use flash video can't be viewed on the iPhone unless they re-encode their video (like YouTube) or have an application (also, like YouTube). I'm not sure if TED has an app or not, I'd imagine they would.

pretty much exactly what i was going to type out. well said!

 

[TheNiceGuy]

Thank you very much! I'll look into it!

 

[Adam8281]

re: jailbreaking, here are some advantages that might be useful to an "average Joe":
-run the Google Voice app which Apple didn't allow into the app store. This app lets you send free text messages through Google, and use your Google voice number
-enable "backgrounding" of apps, so you can have multiple apps running at the same time. For example, you could keep Pandora playing music in the background while you browse the internet
-Miscellaneous tweaks: add a toggle switch to turn 3G/wifi on and off; add a toggle to enable/disable screen rotation; add a toggle to enable/disable the screen ever turning off automatically; set a custom background to display behind your app icons
-install pirated apps. Not condoning this, just saying it's very easy to do with a jailbroken phone; basically there are "app stores" you can run where all the apps (which cost money on iTunes) are free

 

[TheNiceGuy]

Thanks again everyone!
One more question: how can I be sure about safety with "unoffical" apps? And what are the risks? What could a dangerous program do? Charge me via my provider? I mean, for example, if I were to get a bad program on my PC its no big deal, as theres a limit to the damage that can be done. But my phone... not sure what could happen. For example, I've heard of several people on my provider here in Japan who suddenly got a $1000 bill (that they have to pay) from Softbank (I believe for data charges) because they had swapped the SIM card of tethered to a laptop or something. How about with apps for a jailbroken phone?
And another question about the basic process: if I Jailbreak the phone, it automaticaly installs the Cydia app, which is an Apple store alternative, and this is all I need to get Jailbroken apps, right?
Thanks again for the info everyone. Just want to be sure I'm safe before I get into the jailbreaking stuff.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Yes if you jailbreak your iPhone it will install Cydia and that is what you use to get jailbroken apps.

You just have to be careful with your data usage. Most jailbroken apps help to increase functionality of your iPhone, skin it, or do other things along those lines. The only harm you can do to with jailbroken apps can be simply fixed by restoring the firmware (official or unofficial). You may get some slower performance if you get a little too crazy with themes and such. The malware that people hear about are spread through hooking into wifi with another infected iphone and having SSH installed. If you change your root password or don't install SSH you will be fine.

 

[QueBert]

My .02 cents, iPhones may not have a removable battery, but with a Morphie Juice pack I get something that doubles my battery life and doubles as a nice case too. It does add weight, but the phones still far from heavy. And with one you have a smart phone with the best battery life out there - period. No other phone has such an elegant solution for an external battery. An external battery pack like this is far better than a 2nd battery you have to swap out when one dies (lame)

 

[dougp]

My .02 cents, iPhones may not have a removable battery, but with a Morphie Juice pack I get something that doubles my battery life and doubles as a nice case too. It does add weight, but the phones still far from heavy. And with one you have a smart phone with the best battery life out there - period. No other phone has such an elegant solution for an external battery. An external battery pack like this is far better than a 2nd battery you have to swap out when one dies (lame)

I just got the Juice Air for Christmas, and it's so nice. Flick of a switch and it starts chargin!

 

[TheNiceGuy]

Thanks guys, I'm convinced, I'll Jailbreak it pronto!
How exactly do people run into trouble with their provider? Ans what's the advantage of "unlocking" for use while traveling (I'm not really sure how all that works).

I guess I was imagining that Jailbreaking would open you up to possible PC style issues, i.e. credit card number theft, or possible charges to your phone provider, with the complication that you are possibly violating the providers contract. It all made me a bit leery. But it sounds like none of that is possible with Jailbreak\unlock.

Thanks again!

 

[lobbyone]

Thanks guys, I'm convinced, I'll Jailbreak it pronto!
How exactly do people run into trouble with their provider? Ans what's the advantage of "unlocking" for use while traveling (I'm not really sure how all that works).

I guess I was imagining that Jailbreaking would open you up to possible PC style issues, i.e. credit card number theft, or possible charges to your phone provider, with the complication that you are possibly violating the providers contract. It all made me a bit leery. But it sounds like none of that is possible with Jailbreak\unlock.

Thanks again!

Play it safe, when you have done jailbreaking your phone, download an app called "MobileTerminal" and use it to change your root password. Default password is "alpine" without the qoutes. As for the carriers, they won't know you have an unlocked phone, the unlock is when you want to move to another network.

 

[TheNiceGuy]

Thanks so much for your help! I'll give it a shot!