Well as a lot of you know the iPhone can be unlocked and jailbroken! But what does that exactly mean?! Well I’ll explain and try to make it so you don’t need a Ph.D from MIT either!

*For simplicity when I say iPhone I mean anything running on the iOS, such as iPad, iPhone 2G, 3G, 3GS, 4 and iPod Touch

What is Jailbreaking an iPhone?

Here is the Wiki Definition of Jailbreaking:

Jailbreaking is a process that allows iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch users to run third-party unsigned code on their devices by unlocking the operating system and allowing the user root access. Once jailbroken, iPhone users are able to download many extensions and themes previously unavailable through the App Store via unofficial installers such as Cydia. A jailbroken iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch is still able to use the App Store and iTunes.

for more info here is the link: Jailbreaking

In other words think of your iPhone as a consumer looking to buy some food. This consumer has two choices. The first is a store that is regulated by a governing body, which previews and approves products before they are packaged for sale. Think of Marsh or Walmart.

The second choice is a local market, where anyone can sell anything they like without any governing body or review process.

When you buy your iPhone you are restricted to purchase (food) from the App Store, Store 1 in the above example. However, when you jailbreak your iPhone you are installing a secondary App Store that is unregulated called Cydia (the local market in the above example).

*Jay Freeman also known by his handle saurik is the creator of the Cydia Store

That is what it means to jailbreak your iPhone and there are both benefits and drawbacks to jailbreaking your iPhone.

The obvious benefit of jailbreaking your iPhone is that you can download and install non-approved Apps. For example, there were apps on Cydia that allowed you to have a background wallpaper, turn by turn navigation, and MMS all before their counterparts were released officially on the App store or integrated into the iPhone OS.

On the other hand, with the good comes the bad, those apps wouldn’t always work and they would sometimes crash your iPhone making you reboot. One of the drawbacks of no-regulation and intensive testing. Furthermore, some of the restrictions (I want to emphasize some) Apple puts on the iPhone are needed.

For example,  multi-tasking was available way before it was officially released, but the usability was lacking and took away from the intended crisp and responsive experience of the iPhone, especially compared to the multi-tasking on the iPhone now, which is awesome! Another case is there was an app on Cydia that increased your antenna’s reception, the way it did this was route more power to the antenna, this conversely affected battery life and amount of heat the device radiated, sometimes it could get hot to the touch.

Also, every time an update is released you have to either wait for the update to be “jailbroken” by the hacking community (they are really fast sometimes within hours or days) before you install or you will lose all your cydia apps and accessibility to the Cydia store until the iPhone is jailbroken and restored to your previous image.

Lastly, the Cydia store is less aesthetically pleasing to the eye and requires a little bit more tech savvy to use, not much, but for some people an inch is a mile!

So in summation, Jailbreaking just means adding a second app store to shop from, Cydia, that is unregulated. Is it worth it? For me personally, I don’t jailbreak my iPhone, I have and its cool, but at the same time I really don’t get much use out of it because of the hassles of stuff not working 100% of the time and having to abstain from iPhone OS updates until they are jailbroken.

Nevertheless, I don’t want to sound like jailbreaking is terrible and I probably will jailbreak my iPhone 4 as soon I get one (I want a white one so it might be a while) because I want to be able to use Facetime on 3G and not just on wi-fi. I actually will jailbreak my iPhone once the new Jailbreak is released for the iPhone 3GS on iOS 4 (hopefully any day now). I shall let the Nation of Hypeness know how it goes!

One more thing to put the worry worts minds at ease, anything you do can be undone when messing with your iPhone software, so those stories about turning your iPhone into a paper weight aren’t true, and if they are then the people lacked the technical prowess to restore their iPhone back to a working capacity!

What is Unlocking an iPhone?

Unlocking and Jailbreaking are two totally different concepts and you don’t have to unlock your iPhone to jailbreak it. For example, if you are using AT&T sim card there is no reason to unlock your iPhone, at least no obvious reason.

Wikipedia defines unlocking as:

Jailbreaking is distinct from SIM unlocking, which, once completed, means that the mobile phone will accept any SIM without restriction on, for example, the country or network operator of origin. Jailbreaking, according to Apple, can void Apple’s warranty on the device,[1] although this is quickly remedied by restoring the device in iTunes.

The basics of unlocking are just that you can un-marry your iPhone from it’s locked carrier…i.e. use T-Mobile sim card.

The benefits are again obvious, not be limited to one carrier, but the drawbacks are also the same and whenever an update to the base-band changes you need to unlock your iPhone again.

Is it Legal?

Just recently, Monday to be exact, the U.S. Copyright Office ruled that jailbreaking your iPhone is no longer in violation of federal copyright law! So jailbreak with the piece of mind that you can do it without any repercussions from the authorities! OF NOTE: IF YOU ARE NOT TECHNICALLY INCLINED jailbreaking your iPhone does void your Apple Warranty! So if you don’t know how to restore your iPhone back to a factory image, I suggest you figure that out before you jailbreak your iPhone!

So what should you take away from this? Jailbreaking your iPhone just means adding another app-store that is unregulated. If you aren’t technically inclined, I wouldn’t recommend it. The risks for me outweigh the benefits if you don’t know what you are doing, but it is legal and advantageous is some situations! Leave some love in the comments for all the Nation of Hypeness!

For a more in-depth look on Jailbreaking check out this CNET.com FAQ: Click Here

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