Thinking about getting iPhone, few basic questions

[secretpact]

I hear you can't change the sms/email ringtones to custom ones. I searched this forum and found something called "ssh"ing into your iphone to change the ring files. Sounds easy, but do I need to jailbreak my iPhone to do this?

I make a lot of notes to myself in my car. This will be impossible without a tactile keyboard, so is there a way I could push a button and have my iphone start recording my voice?

What are the disadvantages of a jailbroken iphone? can I still use the apps I bought from the app store?

Thanks for your help, and I do realize that there may be a new iPhone in June, but I'm getting my phone in Nov, so no worries .

 

[geekmommy4]

I hear you can't change the sms/email ringtones to custom ones. I searched this forum and found something called "ssh"ing into your iphone to change the ring files. Sounds easy, but do I need to jailbreak my iPhone to do this?

I make a lot of notes to myself in my car. This will be impossible without a tactile keyboard, so is there a way I could push a button and have my iphone start recording my voice?

What are the disadvantages of a jailbroken iphone? can I still use the apps I bought from the app store?

Thanks for your help, and I do realize that there may be a new iPhone in June, but I'm getting my phone in Nov, so no worries .

Yes, you do need to jailbreak to ssh, and it is really easy if you are comfortable with that kind of stuff.

There are lots of apps that allow you to record your voice. I have iTalk and it works really well for what I need and was free. One app, YouNote lets you apply all kinds of media to notes, including voice notes, pictures, GPS location, etc. I think a jailbroken phone can be set to set the double-tap the home button to invoke any app, but I'm not positive.

Yes, you can use the App Store apps if you are jailbroken with no problem. The advantages of jailbreaking will be reduced after the 3.0 release, but there will still be some, like theming, running apps in the background, etc. I can't think of any disadvantages of jailbreaking except that you have the tiny little risk of having your warranty voided if you aren't able to restore before taking it in. I've never heard of that actually happening, though.

Good luck!

 

[bytethese]

I hear you can't change the sms/email ringtones to custom ones. I searched this forum and found something called "ssh"ing into your iphone to change the ring files. Sounds easy, but do I need to jailbreak my iPhone to do this?

Yes, you need to jailbreak so that you have unrestricted access to the file system, hence you can change SMS tones, etc. You do not need to jailbreak to change ringtones however.

I make a lot of notes to myself in my car. This will be impossible without a tactile keyboard, so is there a way I could push a button and have my iphone start recording my voice?

Don't type and drive, it causes accidents. There are however voice recorder apps available for the iPhone, some even free.

What are the disadvantages of a jailbroken iphone? can I still use the apps I bought from the app store?

Voids your warranty. Which for most tech people it's a moot point, however if this makes you uncomfortable, I might advise against it. You can still buy and use your phone as if it's a normal phone, just that you now would have added functionality.

Thanks for your help, and I do realize that there may be a new iPhone in June, but I'm getting my phone in Nov, so no worries .

Good that you will wait til Nov. Either way you'll have the current model (which is pretty damn good) or you get the latest and greatest.

 

[wackymacky]

The advantages of jail-breaking are diminishing with each new OS release.

How important is it customising SMS tones anyway?

Comming to 3.0

MMS
copy and paste
push notifications
etc.

Though as others have said there is no real disadvantage, as-long as you've backed up the stuff on your phone elsewhere, in case you screw something up and need to restore the phone's OS.

I

 

[secretpact]

Thank you for your responses. I was reading a little bit on jailbreaking and I didn't understand the part about activation. Does that mean that once I jailbreak, I can't go back to a normal iPhone OS? Can a jailbroken phone sync with itunes and does it have the same video/mp3 player interface that the normal iphone has?

Also, the silence switch on the side, can it be changed to do something else?