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Why I think the iPhone iOS4.01 firmware sucks

Recently the official Jailbreak for iPhone iOS4 (firmware 4.0 and 4.01) has been released (go to http://jailbreakme.com) and I decided that it was time I upgraded by iOS 3.1.2 firmware on my iPhone 3Gs. Prior to upgrading, my phone's specs were these:

  • iOS 3.1.2 (iPhone 3Gs with old bootroom)
  • Jailbroken with Blackra!n. 
  • Installed Cydia software that make my iPhone Springboard more simple to use:
    • SBSettings
    • Winterboard
    • Lockinfo (with Twitter and Lock Weather plugins)
    • Backgrounder
    • Circuitous
    • Five Column Springboard
    • Five Icon dock
    • Infinidock
    • Pogoplank
    • OpenSSH
    • BiteSMS
    • AppSync 3.1
    • Activator
    • Multiiconmover




Apart from my mistake of clicking "Set Up As New" after the iOS4.01 restore, the whole process of upgrading was a piece of cake. Remember those of you who want to retain all your settings, namely your SMS, Last Calls, Notes, Google Maps favorites and Safari Bookmarks, DO NOT CLICK ON "SET UP AS NEW". Fortunately, I did backup my Notes manually via SSH, but my SMSes were all gone... So were all the other settings like Bookmarks, etc...

Anyway, off to the experience of iOS4.01 with Jailbreak. First of all, many of the Cydia apps I use to have or want to have right are still not fully compatible with iOS4. Here is a list of stuff I manage to install after the upgrade:
  • Winterboard ver 0.9.3211-1 (seems to work fine but user wallpaper isn't working). Althouth iOS4 does have background wallpaper working now.
  • SBSettings ver 3.1.0-1. Fortunately, this one still works. But there's a bug where you can activate it when in certain apps.
  • LockInfo ver 2.3.3.0 + plugins - Fully functional so far (fingers crossed).
  • OpenSSH ver 5.2p1-8. Fully functional.
  • Five Icon Dock ver 0.9.3202-1. Seem to be working well.
  • AppSync 4.0. No problems so far.
  • Activator (this is a prerequisite for installing SBSettings and LockInfo)
The other software that I want like Infinidock, Five Column Springboard (FCSB) and Pogoplank are not working yet. You might ask why I would want Pogoplank and FCSB for now that iOS4 we can create folders? I'll tell you why soon...

I did not install Backgrounder and Circuitous because iOS4 now supports apps backgrounding and has its own mechanism for app switching (you might have heard before?). Besides, there are reports that Backgrounder and Circuitous have crashed and produce weird behaviors in iOS4.


Ok, so why do I still want PogoPlank and FCSB when I already have capability to create folders in iOS4?
Here are the reasons, including other reasons why I don't like iOS4:
  1. Its a pain in the ass to drag icons one by one to folders one by one. With Pogoplank you get a list of apps and just toggle which one to appear in your folders! Even moving them in your iTunes is a pain when you have so many apps ( I have 240+ apps currently).
  2. Only limited to 12 apps per folder. Pogoplank does not limit. You can have 30 sports games in your Sports games folder or 50 social networking apps in your Social Networking folder.
  3. Multitasking / Backgrounding in iOS4 is really naive. You click the home button sometimes to close an app and it stays there! You can open and close 10 apps and they'd still be there. You'll have to manually doubleclick home and then hold the icons for 2 seconds and then press to close the app completely! What a pain! With backgrounder, you can choose as and when you want "background" the app. And with Circuitous installed, you have the same functionality to close the apps easily.
  4. Still no customizable ringtone from my own MP3 collections. Steve Jobs, WE WANT TO CUSTOMIZE! Although this would be easily done with some Cydia app (Phonezap).
  5. The limit of 11 pages is still there. Although I for one would not like to scroll so many pages just to find an app (hence Pogoplank or Folders).
  6. There is still no way to quickly toggle things. For example, WiFi on/off toggle, Bluetooth on/off toggle, Brightness toggle, etc. This is where SBSettings helps.
Here is my current home screen after tirelessly working on the folders for a few hours on the iOS4.01


I now have only 3 pages to scroll through to find my apps. Still, It could have been so much better if they had a mechanism to arrange your apps into folders. If not for the increasing number of apps update that require iOS4.x, I would not have upgraded. Otherwise, I already had the perfect phone.
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