I've been an iPhone user for roughly a year, and when the Absinthe jailbreak came out a few weeks ago, I grabbed it and jailbroke my phone.

I've been using my phone outside of Apple's reach ever since, and I think I'll keep it that way.

Click here to see why >

My jailbroken iPhone (which only has a few tweaks in place) feels like the iPhone that Apple should be selling to its customers. It's a phone that's totally customizable and takes full advantage of the hardware it contains.

I have one-button access to a bunch of settings that usually take several taps to get to. I'm making FaceTime calls over 3G. My phone is now a mobile hotspot. And I'm playing old school NES games on it too.

Let's be clear -- I really enjoy the App Store and some of the native functionality offered to iPhone customers. But I also like the stuff that isn't offered.

That's why jailbreaking works for me.

SBSettings is just about essential

This is a feature that Apple should have built into the iPhone.

It's a heads-up display of sorts that gives you one-touch access to all kinds of settings and widgets. I have mine set up so that a triple-tap on the home button brings it up. I have instant access to my Bluetooth, brightness, and WiFi settings instead of milling around in the Settings app.

You can get rid of the annoying default iOS apps

You're not actually uninstalling them, but SBSettings will hide the default iOS apps like Stocks and Reminders if you never use them.

MyWi is totally indispensable

Instead of worrying about whether a coffee shop has WiFi or not, I can get my iPad online no matter where I am. MyWi turns my iPhone into a hotspot, and I use it all the time.

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