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Use software to add missing functions to your iPhone

Elena Santos

Elena Santos

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Software apps to add missing functions to your iPhoneLast year I happily bought a first-generation iPhone, totally convinced that I was acquiring a state-of-the-art piece of technology. However, it didn’t take me much time to discover that my new phone had some ridiculous limitations and was clearly behind other terminals I had bought before.

Let’s face it: the iPhone is beautifully designed and has an amazing user interface that has turned the mobile industry upside down – think about all those mobile companies suddenly launching phones with multi-touch screens. But when it comes to functionality, Apple has left a bunch of basic features outside their cutting-edge device. I’m not talking about secondary characteristics here, like being able to customize user themes (which, by the way, you can’t do on the iPhone either) but about basic functions like being able to send a multimedia message or recording video with your camera.

Unfortunately the only solution to many of these problems nowadays is to jailbreak your iPhone and install the necessary third-party apps to make up for these limitations. While jailbreaking your iPhone is up to you, I’d like to review a few interesting apps you can find in alternative software repositories like Cydia and Installer, which can bring those basic functions back to your iPhone. Meanwhile I guess the only solution is to keep on waiting for official software tools from the AppStore.

Software apps to add missing functions to your iPhoneSwirlyMMS – A truly native iPhone app that enables you to send and receive multimedia messages. This app has become the de-facto standard for MMS messages on the iPhone. It’s published as shareware ($8) with a 14-day trial period. You can get it through Cydia.

Software apps to add missing functions to your iPhoneClippy – I still can’t believe the iPhone doesn’t support copy and paste. Luckily you can now have this basic function back with Clippy, a simple copying and pasting app available also in Cydia. Clippy is free and lets you copy and paste any selected text between different applications.

Software apps to add missing functions to your iPhoneiPhone Video Recorder – This app enables you to record high-quality videos with the iPhone’s built-in camera. Videos are saved in MOV or MP4 formats, and can be sent by email, downloaded to a computer or published to YouTube straight away. You can get this tool both through Installer or Cydia.

Software apps to add missing functions to your iPhoneiFlickr – With this app you’ll be able to upload photos to Flickr right from the iPhone without having your images scaled down. iFlickr also lets you rotate images, add tags, set privacy options and even geotag your pictures. iFlickr is available through Installer.

Elena Santos

Elena Santos

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