> I'm just tired of people who complain about Apple's "closed ecosystem" and then turn around and suggest an Android system which usually involves rooting (Android's "jailbreak") and flashing a custom ROM. Android actually is more involved than jailbreaking an iPhone is as far as time, energy, and scope go.
Nothing about creating an app for Android or GoogleTV requires any of those things. "Jailbreaking" my phone involved plugging it in and typing two solitary commands. On my old phone it involved three. The Android set top boxes come with root out of the box and have no signature protection in recovery.
Well, jailbreaking an iDevice usually takes one click or a visit to a website. I was just noting that many people forget that "rooting" is, in principal, the exact same as jailbreaking.
Jailbreaking is not nearly as easy as you make it out to be, and you don't do anybody any good by exaggerating it like that.
A viable jailbreak for iOS 6 has only just become available, and all indications are that it will stop working with 6.1.3. Maintaining a jailbroken device is requires fairly substantial effort and research, and extreme care when it comes to OS updates and device restores.
I didn't mean to make jailbreaking sound "easy" or exaggerate the effort involved but my point still stands; to jailbreak iOS, the end user only really needs to do one step.
Sure, there are versions without jailbreaks and there are updates you can't use but that's beyond my point. I never said that jailbreaking an iDevice is easy for every version and that it's permanent; I said that only one button is needed to jailbreak a device. Remember, there are Android devices that can't be rooted, flashed, or updated, too. Risking the loss of updates comes with the territory of hacking any device (see Xbox 360, PS3, Hackint0shes, and more).
If you're talking about the exploits themselves, then I'd just like to say that I've watched the method to jailbreak progress from "one symlinked folder" to "6 kernel and user land level exploits." Discussing the complexities of how a jailbreak is achieved is beyond the scope of what I was saying, though.
So, uh, you had to restart the device? You're specifically talking about placing the phone in DFU mode which is restarting the phone and holding the home button while it's turning on. I really don't mean to sound crass, but that's hardly painful.
Assuming this was supposed to be a reply to me, I can't tell if you missed the part with the timer and the multiple attempts to get it right, or if you just don't think it's relevant, or what.
They're rarely "only one button" these days. Last time I jailbroke, I believe I had to, approximately, restart the device while holding down buttons in a precisely timed sequence (the jailbreak app actually had a built-in timer to help) while sacrificing a live chicken over the dock cable. (I did make that last part up.) I had to try it several times before I got it right.
For very creative definitions of "usually". I watch the iOS jailbreak scene as most of my friends have such devices. Exploits that easy haven't been around for a while now.
This conversation is quickly becoming pointless anyway.
It is amusing however to watch my karma bobble with intervals of 4 as people vote enmasse by username.
Nothing about creating an app for Android or GoogleTV requires any of those things. "Jailbreaking" my phone involved plugging it in and typing two solitary commands. On my old phone it involved three. The Android set top boxes come with root out of the box and have no signature protection in recovery.
I understand the tinkering mindset, I assure you.