German designer Philipp Tusch has come up with an interesting concept idea for iOS 7's weather app, which takes the look and feel of Android's offering and brings it straight to the iPhone. Not only does it look clean and crisp, but it is a vast improvement on the dull, monotonous, dated-looking native Weather app which currently graces every iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
The tablet and smartphone markets are certainly crowded, although all devices in these two categories perform the main task that is expected of them: allow users to browse the Internet on the go, even 36,000 feet above the ground. However, a new study by in-flight Internet provider Gogo suggests that a vast majority of its usage takes place on tablets, most of them Apple iPads.
In the current age of GPS and satnav dependency, smartphone users rarely consult the compass feature native to nearly all the major ecosystems. However, the ability to familiarize oneself with the functions and features of a compass is an integral part of orienteering, and a tweak by the name of DirectionBar brings the compass to your iOS device's status bar.
As well as establishing a vast inventory of impressive Web-based apps, Google has also developed a great number of mobile apps for smartphone and tablet users. While Android, being its own outlet, is naturally favored when it comes to priority and overall feature set of any given app, the search giant does eventually treat iOS users to some of its better apps. It should come as little surprise, then, that the Mountain View-based company has ported its Field Trip app through to those on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
The iOS infrastructure readily allows iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users to send and share images through various mediums, including email, social networks and Messages. However, the process is certainly not without its fair share of limitations. For example, if you're in the Messages app and want to send an image you have just taken, you must proceed through the rather tedious rigmarole of opening your camera album, selecting that last taken shot, and then tapping on it. The aptly-named LastPic tweak operates on the supposition that, more often than not, you'll want to be sending the most recent pic taken with your device's snapper, and allows you to do so without that additional navigation.
For almost as long as there have been casual iPhone and iPad games, Angry Birds has been one of the titles that every iOS user generally downloads almost immediately after purchasing a new device. For the first time, however, the original version of Angry Birds is now available free of charge for the iPod touch, iPhone and iPad, and you can download it today if the price tag was putting you off.
Since the introduction of Siri along with the iOS 5, there has been a strong number of Cydia tweaks based around voice dictation. In order to use Apple's system-wide voice dictation technology, you need to be in ownership of an iPhone 4S / iPad 3 or newer, but thankfully, the jailbreak quarters are considerably more accommodating. If you like the idea of text being read out by a voiceover software, you may like the Awake Speech tweak, which allows a custom message to be read out after you disable or snooze your alarm.
iOS devices are great for a variety of purposes, and although gaming, quality of apps and general speed and fluidity of the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch is getting better with every new release, said devices still make pretty solid e-readers. iOS does have its own Reading List feature allowing you to enjoy reading various Web content in a cleaner environment, but if you're a real bookworm, it's likely these features don't stretch far enough. Thankfully, if you do find the native offering a little scant in places, a jailbreak developer by the name of qusic has sought to enhance the experience with his heavily-featured Readr tweak. More details after the break.
The appearance of the iOS home screen has remained very archetypal since the first iPhone was showcased by Steve Jobs back in 2007. The icons sit in rows of four, and even though the iPhone 5 allowed for an extra row courtesy of its larger display, iDevice users could be forgiven for finding the unchanged look somewhat bland. The lack of any real native customization with iOS has seen jailbreak theming thrive, and although Springtomize 2 and Iconoclasm are seen as the go-to utilities when meddling with the home screen icons, the inherently easy-to-use CustomGrid is back for another outing as CustomGrid 2 (iOS 6+).
Apple proved themselves onto a winning feature with the introduction of the fabulous Do Not Disturb toggle as part of iOS 6. Some may argue that the functionality took more than a little design inspiration from a Cydia tweak before the announcement of iOS 6, but it's now regarded as an important part of iOS. As always, we look to developers within the jailbreak community to spot little niches where they can enhance Apple's mobile operating system, and there will be plenty who would agree that Flusterless is one of those important time-saving installations.
