As soon as jailbreak for A5 iDevices was released, Cydia was flooded with new tweaks for iPhone 4S and iPad 2.
Let’s talk about SIRI, a digital voice assistant that was added in iOS 5 by Apple for iPhone 4S users. Jailbreaking community has added many new tweaks specially for SIRI in order to enhance voice command ability of your iPhone 4S. “OpenSiri” isa new jailbreak tweak that allows you to open Apple stock apps plus twitter and facebook using your voice command through SIRI.
Using this tweak is really simple, you can launch your desired apps using “launch” or “open” command. For example you want to open YouTube, just invoke SIRI and say “launch youtube”. Yeah its really that easy to open your apps using “OpenSiri”.
NO settings is required by this tweak and you can find “OpenSiri” on Cydia for free under BigBoss repository.
Instructions to install this tweak are:
Step 1. Go to Cydia on your Jailbroken iPhone.
Step 2. Search for “OpenSiri” under BigBoss repository.
Step 3. Install the tweak and Restart SpringBoard.
“The Dark Knight Rises” is the upcoming highly anticipated sequel to the blockbuster “The Dark Knight”. Previously this teaser trailer was illegally leaked and made available on the internet, now Warner Bros has officially released this trailer. See it after the jump.
As we can see that the real trailer was indeed leaked after which Warner Bros took action to remove it from everywhere. Now it is available and officially released by Warner Bros so feel free to watch it as many times as you want while you are waiting for this movie of the year. The Dark Knight Rises will be released in the summers next year. See the teaser trailer below.
“Motion” is a new jailbreak tweak that allows you to add visual effects to your iPhone’s Springboard’s app icons. It is available on Cydia for only for $1.
The tweak has several animation options like Rotation, scaling, skew, flip, jump, transparency, vertical wave, and horizontal wave, you can configure all of them by accessing the settings panel. All the animations can work independently and simultaneously.
If you like these types of tweaks then you must give “Motion” a try. Do note that it’s only compatible with iOS 4 and iOS 5.
Instructions to install this tweak are:
Step 1. Go to Cydia on your Jailbroken iPhone.
Step 2. Search for “Motion” under BigBoss repository.
Step 3. Install the tweak and Restart SpringBoard.
Are you tired of always having to navigate to finding the right setting in your settings.app? with the introduction of a neat feature in iOS 5 which lets you add homescreen shortcuts you can have your favorite shortcuts on the homescreen accompanied by a real well decorated icon. You no longer have to turn your wi-fi on / off with the extra press of a button and you can access a few of the settings.app features right now but considering this is a free tweak I would say that it is very generous.
I would like to mention that this tweak works on jailbroken and non jailbroken iOS 5 devices, the tweak will not work on iOS 4.3.3 so I had to borrow another iPod Touch on 5.0.1 for this tweak to work.
Step 1.
Open Safari and navigate to the following site without the quotation marks
“brdrck.me/settings/”
(sometimes you will get a 404 on the site, simply wait a couple of minutes or 5 – 10 minutes at max and it will be resolved.)
You will see the following screen below once the site is open.
Step 2.
Choose the icon you wish to add to your homescreen and then tap on the bottom center icon of Safari and choose “Add to Homescreen” and it will automatically take you back to the homescreen without any further delay.
Now whatever setting you tap on will be opened straight away without having to navigate through your settings.app page.
Credits and huge props go out to Jeff Broderick who is the creator of the webpage and the magnificent icons used in this tweak, I give him a hearty salute for making my wi-fi on and off one button less (yes I am very lazy).
I would like to add that this tweak was tested on an unjailbreaked iOS 5.0.1 iPod Touch 4G and it worked perfectly. As I said earlier the tweak is so simple a child can do it and unlike other tweaks posted here Jailbreak is not a must and iOS 5 is mandatory for the use of this tweak.
Post in the comments below on how helpful you found this tweak and whether you would like to see more like it in the future.
Sick and tired of looking at the same old boring home screen on your iPhone? We’ve got just the thing for you! Spruce up the look and feel of your springboard by installing our featured app of the day, Barrel!
This particular tweak, available from Cydia adds a 3D look to your springboard when you flick from one page to the other, it also offers a multitude of customization options through which you can completely change the look of your home screen. The default animation provides a state of the art cubical look that revitalizes your iPhone so that you can flaunt your style!
There is also a plethora of different animations available, each one unique in its own accord. The app is compatible with all models of the iPhone and iPod Touch, however, there may be a slight lag on the older models due to the slower processing speed. The good thing about this app is that despite its fancy animations, it doesn’t affect the performance of the device as one would assume. So what are you waiting or? Head on over to Cydia and install this amazing app and be the envy of all your friends!
Note: You need a Jailbroken iDevice to run this app. You can read our other tweaks here.
Amazon recently released their budget focused Android tablet priced at just $200 which tech analysts everywhere are expecting to be a huge success. Sure it’s no iPad killer but for the price it’s got no competitors.
Currently you are only able to use the Amazon app store but worry not developers have already found a way to use the Android Market on the Kindle Fire. Follow the guide below for the whole process but before we begin we must warn you that this whole process is very complex and certainly not for a person who doesn’t know what he’s doing, this process also requires you to Root your Kindle Fire (full guide here) which will possibly void your warranty so continue at your own risk.
Before we get started you need to downloading the following files:
Now the first thing you need to make sure is that you have Installation from Unknown Sources enabled which we presume you do if you followed our rooting guide but if you didn’t all you have to do is go to your Kindle Fire’s Settings and then enable the option in Devices.
Now onto the main procedure itself.
Step 1. Transfer the two applications (.apks) to your Kindle Fire, make sure to remember where you placed them.
Step 2. Start up Root Explorer and navigate to the applications you just installed.
Step 3. First install GoogleServicesFramework.
Step 4. After that’s done move the Vending app by long pressing it.
Step 5. Move to Settings, then App.
Step 6. Change RO to RW.
Step 7. Place the Vending app you selected here.
Step 8. Now long press on Vending again and select change permission, change them to RW-R-R so it’s the same as the other apps in the folder.
Step 9. Reboot your Kindle Fire.
Step 10. After your Kindle Fire has rebooted we need to install the launcher, so start root explorer once again.
Step 11. Choose Go Launcher EX or any other launcher you chose to download and install it.
And that’s it guys! You now have a working Android Market on your Amazon Kindle Fire. If you have any questions or problems feel free to ask us in the comments below.
If you are one of them who have encountered errors while Jailbreaking your iPhone 4S or iPad 2 with Absinthe app on your Mac, you will be glad to hear that the Chronic Dev Team has just released an update for the Mac version of Absinthe.
Following are the reasons which forced Chronic Dev Team to update Absinthe to version 0.2:
VPN setting.
iDevice not rebooting after activating.
White icons.
PlanetBeing (an iOS hacker who helped in developing the jailbreak) announced the update via twitter:
“…Mac version updated. v0.2: Tries to fix no reboot after activating VPN/tapping Absinthe icon. We also tried to fix white icons on SpringBoard after jailbreak.”
He also stated that even after using the new version of Absinthe you are still able to see white icons, just try installing an app from Cydia. Also if Absinthe crashes, just restart your device and try it again.
HERE you can find a step-by-step guide on How to jailbreak your iPhone 4S and iPad 2 with Absinthe for Mac.
Finally after months of excruciating wait the Jailbreak Dream Team has finally released the Untethered jailbreak for iPhone 4S and iPad 2.
Absinthe is the new tool for jailbreaking your iPhone 4S and iPad 2 on iOS 5.0.1. You can download Absinthe for MAC from HERE.
Let’s start with the step by step tutorial to apply untethered jailbreak to your iPhone 4S and iPad 2:
NOTE: Your iPhone 4S should be running on iOS 5.0 or 5.0.1 (build 9A405 and 9A406) and iPad 2 running iOS 5.0.1.
Step 1: Download, extract, and run Absinthe.
Step 2: Connect your iPhone 4S or iPad 2 via USB.
Step 3: Hit “Jailbreak” to run the Absinthe jailbreak. It will take a moment on the beginning part, and eventually your iPhone 4S or iPad 2 will look like it’s restoring a backup.“Restoring in Progress” will popup. This can be pretty lengthy but don’t worry, it’s working. Don’t touch your device until completely finished!
Step 4: Once completed, unlock your iPhone from the lockscreen and you should now see an Absinthe icon on the Home screen. Tap on it, it will load GreenPois0n site and after it your device will reboot. After reboot, Absinthe icon will be replaced with Cydia.
Congratulation, finally your iPhone 4S or iPad 2 is successfully jailbroken. Now you are ready to load up your iDevice with your favorite jailbreak tweaks.
Google is a sneaky devil when it comes to letting the geeks play with its awesome toys! Google is causing extreme discomfort to some hundred thousand geeks worldwide right now, the ones who couldn’t get the beta invites to its awesome new social network deemed “Google Plus”. The amazing new blue interface revealed itself to a chosen few, very gifted tech-people. The “First Wave” of invitees got the permission to invite their friends as the “Second Wave”.
They’ve tested the site thoroughly and we’ve have loved the features so far. The invitations are closed for now but Google is likely to open it in a few days, seeing how awesome the hype for the site has become. The million dollar question is, is this THE Facebook Killer? It’s highly unlikely that anyone could take Facebook’s place at this point in the online world, since Facebook is synonymous to Social Networking worldwide, but it’s going to be awesome seeing how Google expects to take the throne, if not, the second place.
The HTC Rhyme, codenamed the Bliss, is the first phone to come with HTC’s newest Android skin – HTC Sense 3.5. It’s also the first HTC phone to be dubbed a ladies phone, packing pretty average hardware which will surely turn off the hardware geeks but might prove to be more than enough for a modern woman. The Rhyme also comes with matching accessories, the most interesting of which is a charm. A Charm is kind of hard to explain, it’s a small box with an LED inside connected to the phone via its 3.5mm headphone jack. Its main use is to notify the user of any notifications, this comes in real handy if you carry your phone inside a bag.
Unboxing
Box
The HTC Rhyme come in a moderately sized box which contains the phone itself, a desktop dock, tangle free earphones, AC Power adapter with a removable USB cable, 8GB microSD card and the aforementioned charm itself along with the standard instruction manuals and warranty information.
Specifications
Quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G support (Also available in CDMA)
14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
3.7″ 16M-color capacitive S-LCD touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels)
microSD card slot (class 4 8GB card in the bundle)
5 MP autofocus camera with single LED flash; face detection, geotagging, HDR mode, image auto-upload
720p video recording @ 30fps and slo-mo videos (2x at WVGA)
Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
GPS with A-GPS
Stereo FM radio with RDS
Accelerometer, proximity and ambient light sensor
Front facing camera, video call
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v3.0
Hardware
The HTC Rhyme is no Galaxy Nexus or iPhone 4S, it’s meant for a more budget and feminine market so such powerful hardware won’t do a lot of good. The Rhyme runs on a single core 1 GHz Scorpion processor, Andreno 205 GPU and 768MB of RAM. It’s available in both CDMA and GSM but not in a two in one Global phone variant. The Rhyme sports a 3.7-inch S-LCD which has impressed me a whole lot, even though the resolution is kind of low, HTC has definitely done some work which makes the screen super sharp with almost no pixelation at all. The viewing angles are decent and you can very well make out the screen in bright daylight so I don’t really have any complaints.
The phone comes with an 8GB microSD card which makes the total storage 12GB (with 4GB of internal storage). The 5MP camera on the back is pretty decent for taking photos in daylight, in moderately dark situations though the pictures start to lose quality. The camera records videos in 720p at 30fps and in slow motion at 2x WVGA. Video quality is pretty mediocre and could definitely be better.
The Speaker is placed right beside the back camera on the Rhyme which produces moderately loud sounds; although you won’t be able to hear your phone if it’s inside a bag, one of the reasons you should always carry the charm with you.
Design
The HTC Rhyme has a pretty standard HTC design with a non removable battery, a trend they started with the HTC Radar. It measures in at around 119 x 60.8 x 10.9 mm and weighs 130 g which makes it a very compact and handy phone. The front is dominated by the beautiful 3.7-inch WVGA display with the standard Android four capacitive button layout below. There’s also a VGA camera for video calls and self photo shoots on the top right corner of the phone. On the back we have the 5MP camera, LED flash and speaker on top, with the HTC logo engraved on a silver strip which cuts off right above the removable battery cover. There’s also a trio of electrical connectors right below the camera used to connect the phone with the desktop dock. Under the battery cover you can find the microSD and SIM card slots above the 1600mAh battery.
The right side of the phone sports the volume button while the left side holds the microUSB protected by a rubber cover, unfortunately there’s no dedicated camera button. On the top of the phone there’s the 3.5mm jack and lock/unlock button. On the bottom of the phone you can find the sole mic.
Overall the phone looks exceptionally good, the build is solid and feels very good in the hands. Consider me impressed.
Video Sample
Still Photo Samples (Click To Enhance)
Software
The HTC Rhyme runs on Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread and is the first phone to come with HTC’s propriety skin – Sense 3.5 as we mentioned at the start of the review. It’s a minor update to Sense 3.0 which came with the HTC Sensation. HTC has greatly optimized 3.5 as compared to 3.0 which lagged even on dual core phones.
Sense 3.5 on the Rhyme has a newer look as compared to 3.0. The wheel on the bottom is now gone and is replaced by a menu and phone button on the homescreen, it’s still present on the lockscreen though. New widgets have been added along with old ones being updated. Sense 3.0 lagged a lot, this is where 3.5 shines the best – navigating Android on the Rhyme is smooth and there’s almost no lag at all. There’s also a new color scheme replacing the usual black in the menus and app drawer, which if you think about it should have been done a long time ago.
Battery life on the Rhyme is excellent, the 1600 mAh battery lasted me over 34 hours with moderately heavy browsing, gaming and watching videos.
You can also sign up for HTC Sense to get more wallpapers, themes and other neat stuff for your phone. The HTC Rhyme unfortunately doesn’t come with Beats by Dr. Dre but the Sense music player is pretty good, it even comes with a full blown equalizer which results in audio just the way you like it. Overall using Sense 3.5 was a wonderful experience, although TouchWiz is still my favorite Android Skin ,HTC’s latest effort comes in at a very close second. HTC has in short, has fixed everything which was wrong with Sense 3.0.
Performance
As I mentioned before the HTC Rhyme is a very smooth phone, I faced almost no lag whatsoever while using the phone so consider the performance excellent. It scored pretty well in the benchmarks too, in AnTuTu the Rhyme scored an impressive 2709. In CF Bench it did 3935 which is a bit off the previous vanilla Android flagship – Nexus S. The phone scored 1695 in Quadrant which is 400 points more than the Nexus One, which is also running a 1 GHz single processor.
Conclusion
The HTC Rhyme is a very good phone with beautiful hardware and HTC’s best attempt at a propriety Android skin. Initially though of as a lady’s only phone the Rhyme handled me pretty well. If you’re looking for a good looking mid range Android smartphone and do not plan to do major multitasking and gaming, then the HTC Rhyme could be the phone for you.
