Does No Jailbreaking or Rooting Makes You Mediocre?

Last night, I jailbroken my iPhone 4S with the latest jailbreak just released yesterday, and this evening, I was still working on tweaking it. This was my first jailbreak attempt ever. I did it, because I wondered what it was like, and I was only curious. I must say it was a bit interesting. However after discovering that I had to do all the grunt work to have it customized it the way I wanted it, I began to find it inconvenience. I mean... a smartphone is just a fooking smartphone, and that's that! That's when I began to realize it's not worth it anymore. Some of the apps from Cydia weren't perfect to begin with. I read somewhere on the other forum (*cough* Mac *cough* Rumors) last night that some people said that the iPhone can catch a virus, and if that happen, then I'm screwed. I can't afford that risk since I already shelled out $99 for Applecare (I know you are probably disappointed in me, but I was under a lot of pressure when I was the first person in the line for the iPhone launch). Also, from my understanding, I must download several packages from the sources in the repositories to be able to install the apps. When I was doing that, I suddenly felt like I was tweaking my Linux box. I felt like I should be better off conserving my energy for my Linux box instead. So, that's when I realized I cannot verify if the sources are trusted or reliable without conducting proper research, which added another stress to my paranoid state of mind. The difference between jail breaking my iPhone and tweaking my Linux box is that I have books and background knowledge on one and not the other.

I just want to know if anyone else feels the same way. I mean I'm an IT guy in his early 20s, and I'm suppose to breathe in this jailbreak stuff without a cough, but I just can't get myself motivated since my iPhone already served its purpose. I'm not too crazy about customized themes. I still use the default wallpapers on both my OS X Lion and Windows 7. I'm only interested in the availabilities of the useful tools it can offer. If I want to hack, I rather use my netbook or my PC. Why make an iPhone something it doesn't need to be? That's not how I roll, but I just wanna know how many of you think something's really wrong with me. I'm open to honest feedback. Maybe it's time for me to realize IT is not for me anymore as I may be slowly losing interest without realizing it. I do envy my friends' customizations, but I don't think was jealous enough to get it.

EDIT: Forgot to add. I just restored my iPhone back to normal.

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Comments

erpadmin

I don't know if not knowing how to root or jailbreak a phone makes one mediorce, but I do know that if you don't have a reason to do either, (especially if you're unsure even how to) then it shouldn't be done. A friend of mine just recently jailbroke his phone and called to brag to me about it like I was supposed to give a ----. My response to him was "I guess they did teach you how to read at such-and-such expensive Catholic university." He's one of those pseudo-technical folks who thinks tech is easy, but yet ----s up his machine and calls me to save the day. He had a reason to risk his warranty though and all I advised him to do was to make sure he can undo the jailbreak if the phone breaks.

Same thing with me. I rooted my Android phone because I have a wifi tablet. I needed the free wifi tether app so I didn't have to pay Verizon $30 a month. So I searched, researched and made sure I had a proper way to root my phone (without changing the stock O/S...was not interested in some 12 year old's idea of how a O/S should look like) AND return the phone to stock in case I needed to return the phone to Verizon. So far, I love life. I get Internet in my car or ANYWHERE else where I need to check an email OR look up something. I don't use my phone to check emails anymore...all of the apps that I use are now on my tablet. It goes where I go and I always make sure my phone is charged when it does (have to since battery life on that thing is like 6 hours.....and if I use wifi tether, it's even less.)

Bottom line, always make sure you have a backup in case something goes wrong. That's just rule #1 in the tech game. Sounds like you are back to your walled garden and all is well.

SteveLord

I've never felt a reason to do so. Dropping Droid3 and going to iPhone 4S this week. Looking for more speed and simplicity + I issued my staff iPhones + wife has one.

The Droid3 came with so much bloatware junk apps, the cameras on it suck (8mp/1080P ripoff) and the "omgz gotta have it" dualcore cpu is not impressive at all. Best part about it is the keyboard. Just realized in the span of less than a year, I go from Blackberry > Android > Apple.

Turgon

I must say Im unable to keep up with any of this but I could never find the spare time anyhow. For me a phone is a mundane thing used to speak to people and receive the occassional text and Im happy with that. Aside from a browser on my PC and an email client I hardly use applications at all, except for corporate ones, Putty and MS office.

NinjaBoy

To be honest, I can't really be bothered with jailbreaking my HTC (home mobile) or my iPhone (work). I can make calls, check e-mails, basic web browsing, text, etc on my phone(s) and if I need better web access when I'm out and about I connect my HTC to my tablet and surf that way.

Turgon

NinjaBoy wrote: »

To be honest, I can't really be bothered with jailbreaking my HTC (home mobile) or my iPhone (work). I can make calls, check e-mails, basic web browsing, text, etc on my phone(s) and if I need better web access when I'm out and about I connect my HTC to my tablet and surf that way.

I know what you mean, and what with work and things on at home I dont have time to fiddle about with phones and other gadgets. Time consuming business. Oops now I have to run after our crawling one year old

NinjaBoy

Turgon wrote: »

I know what you mean, and what with work and things on at home I dont have time to fiddle about with phones and other gadgets. Time consuming business. Oops now I have to run after our crawling one year old

You just wait, I've got a very active 4 year old...

jibbajabba

The only reason I jailbroken my phone was custom ringtones for texts. I am on call every now and then and I preferred a proper ring tone for texts as alerts are being received that way.

Another thing I am missing on the iPhone, which is available on Nokia phones since day #1 and droid too, are profiles. Whilst I don't need location based profiles droid offers, I do like the idea of timed profiles. For instance, the phone is set to silent and then timed until 8am on loud (until on call ends) and then goes silent again at 8 etc.

iOS 5 can now have ring tones as text tone too and I just left my current job so no on call for now - hence no jail braking for me right now.

I also noticed that my old jailbroken iPhone 4 was a lot less stable and used more battery.

Turgon

NinjaBoy wrote: »

You just wait, I've got a very active 4 year old...

I have one of those as well. Busy life here.

hiddenknight821

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Sorry if my original post was vague or not on the point, but the title of the thread pretty much speaks for itself. I figured it's best to go with the old saying, "If it ain't broken, then don't fix it." I also have a wifi-only iPad at home, and I was thinking the tethering feature from the jailbreak would probably come in handy, but my iPhone 4S still have the short battery life issue. I have not yet find a reason to use my tablet outside of my home since I only have it for two weeks so far. The iPhone 4S can do pretty much what the iPad does, so I don't need the iPad with me when I'm out and about.

jmritenour

I've rooted both Android phones I've had, but it's been more about getting rid of the stock Sprint Apps that I have no need for, and suck up the limited amount of onboard storage - I can do without a 12MB NASCAR app, thank you very much.

I do run Cyanogenmod, but only because that extends the functionality of my phone to the level I want. Nothing less, nothing more.

tpatt100

I need to root my Razr primarily to get rid of the garbage apps Motorola put on my Razr. I can't uninstall the NFL app, Netflix, and a slew of other junk.

SteveLord

tpatt100 wrote: »

I need to root my Razr primarily to get rid of the garbage apps Motorola put on my Razr. I can't uninstall the NFL app, Netflix, and a slew of other junk.

I hear ya. My Droid3 is full of crap...and I get pegged for updates to them what seems like every other day.

Devilsbane

I don't think so. My current phone isn't rooted, although I had previously done it. The added features are nice, but I felt like after enough tweaks had been done my phone was slower than it had previously been. Plus, like you, I found it to be a lot of work for not an abundance of use.

PC509

Depends on what kind of person you are. All my phones, tablets, etc. are rooted or jailbroke. I've been taking things apart and modding them since I was a kid. All my consoles are modded (except for the Xbox 360), and I gain functionality from it. Many times I do it just to do it.

Yea, they are just phones and are tools and I can accept that. But, I like playing with things, even if I do screw them up! Hell, if I screw it up that means I get to fix it! A great learning experience. It is really that worthwhile? Sometimes. Rooted Nook Color becomes so much better than stock.

veritas_libertas

I've got better things to do than mess around rooting my phone. There, I said it!

blargoe

I guess Mr. Veritas and myself are both mediocre, then. I never saw the need to root my phone.

networker050184

veritas_libertas wrote: »

I've got better things to do than mess around rooting my phone. There, I said it!

My thoughts exactly. Not worth my time to mess with something that works perfectly fine already.

PC509

Some people love skiing or surfing or whatever. I spend my time playing with stuff.

I'm still mediocre when it comes to this stuff, though.

Dustin

veritas_libertas wrote: »

I've got better things to do than mess around rooting my phone. There, I said it!

RobertKaucher

I have never bother to root my phone and I am completely mediocre. So it must be true!

tpatt100

I was a noob when I got my HTC because of articles on Endgadget and Lifehacker that said things like "you should root your Android phone as soon as you get it". So I did and then realized all the "cool" stuff I could do did not really interest me at all lol.