Even with the release of iPhone OS 3.1.3, you are not allowed customize the look & feel of the iPhone background and icons. The only thing that Apple lets you change is the wallpaper of the lock screen.

That’s not enough.

I know quite a number of iPhone users are convinced to jailbreak their iPhone because of this single application: Winterboard. Winterboard is one of the most popular applications in Cydia that lets you completely change the look & feel of your iPhone including background, icons, keyboard, sound, SMS background, etc. It’s just fun and makes your iPhone stand out from the crowd.

A couple days ago, Jay Freeman, the creator of cydia, has put up an updated version of Winterboard (i.e. 0.9.3154-1) with a number of bug fixes and some exciting enhancements. It has been a long time since Winterboard get updated.

The new version comes with a new configuration screen and it can be accessible via Settings. Here are the details for the update:

• Fixes a few 3.1+ specific issues
• Introduces a PNG theme optimizer to improve the theme performance
• Comes with a Summerboard Mode, that makes older themes more compatible with Winterboard
• Adds debug mode for theme debugging (specially designed for theme designer)
• Hide Winterboard from iPhone screen

Once launched, Winterboard will show you a new interface for configuration. You can accept all the default settings. To optimize the existing theme images, you can simply click the “Optimize Themes (v1.0)”. It’ll take a while for the optimization process. Just be patience and wait until it completes.

To change theme, you can tap “Select Themes” and select the theme you want to change. Then tap “Winterboard” button to go back the main screen and click “Respring” button.

If you are using Winterboard, go ahead to upgrade to the latest version. It’s now available in cydia and it’s still free.

One usual question I got from readers is how you can install cydia apps without WiFi on the jailbroken iPhone. For those who do not have WiFi access at home or prefer to install cydia apps via USB, cyder is the application you should check out.

In brief, Cyder is a cydia manager for PC. It lets you download cydia apps from your PC and install the apps to iPhone over USB. Cyder is a free application but it works on Windows only.

Procedures to Install Cydia Apps using Cyder

Before you read on, please note the procedures only works for jailbroken iPhone ONLY.

1. Download cyder from here and extract it using Winzip.

2. Connect your iPhone via USB

3. Launch cyder by double-clicking the cyder.exe

4. In the Source tab, add the following repositories:

http://apt.bigboss.us.com/repofiles/cydia/dists/stable/main/binary-iphoneos-arm/Packages

http://www.zodttd.com/repo/cydia/dists/stable/main/binary-iphoneos-arm/Packages

Note: These are just some of the cydia sources for downloading the cydia applications. If you find any other repositories, simply add the URL via this screen.

5. After adding all the sources, click the “Refresh” button to load the list of cydia applications

6. It’ll take some time to load the cydia application list. Once done, go to the Package tab and you’ll see all the cydia applications available. From here, you can select any of the cydia apps and cyder will show a short description of the apps. Simply click the checkbox of the app you want to download and click the hard drive icon to download the app.

7. Once the application is downloaded, go to the Synchronization tab. Here you can copy the app you just download to your iPhone. Select the package you just download and click the arrow button to copy the package to the AutoInstaller folder.

8. Next, click the arrow button to copy the app from computer to iPhone.

9. Wait until the app is transferred to iPhone. Then quit cyder.

10. Power off your iPhone and start it up again.

After reboot, you should find the cydia app you just installed.

What do you think about cyder? Does it work for you? Feel free to leave us comment and share your thought.

iBlueNova is a cydia application that lets you transfer any file (including photos, music, document, etc) from iPhone to other bluetooth devices. Formerly known as iBluetooth for iPhone OS 2.0, iBlueNova supports OS v3.0 or up. Same as iBluetooth, the bluetooth app is a paid application that is available for US$5.99. But it also offers a 15-days free trial period before you need to purchase the app.

iBlueNova claims to allow you to transfer any type of files on iPhone to other bluetooth devices including computer and mobile phones. The app is pretty easy to use. After launched, simply enable both “Enable” and “Visible” to activate the bluetooth transfer service. Then you’re ready to transfer files over bluetooth.

The app offers 4 types of file manager: Pictures, Music, Videos and Other files. “Pictures” lets you access your camera roll and photo album to select the photos for transfer. If you need to transfer songs from iPhone, the “Music” file manager lets you access those song files. To send video in iPod app, the “Video” manager will do it for you. For other kinds of files, you can use the “Other Files” manager which lets you access any system files on iPhone.

To transfer a file over bluetooth, say a photo, you can tap on “Pictures” and select any photo from camera roll. Then tap the lower-right button. This brings you to a “Select a device” interface. Tap “refresh” button on the top-right to discover all available bluetooth devices. Just select the device you want the file to transfer to and it’ll kick off the transfer process after the other end accepts the transfer request. You can always view the transfer activity to see the progress of transfers or stop a transfer.

The app also offers a comprehensive setting screen. You can add a PIN to require an authorization before accepting a bluetooth connection. If you would like to send out all the images as JPEG, there is also an option for you. On top of that, you can choose to save all incoming images to the camera roll.

I have tested the app for nearly two weeks. Overall, it’s pretty easy to use and work as advertised. I can transfer file to my Mac and PC over bluetooth. But the app still needs to be further polished as I experienced a number of crashes and transfer failure. Anyway, you have 15-days free trial period before you need to pay. If you are in search of a bluetooth app on jailbroken iPhone, remember to check out iBlueNova.

Note: Please note if you want to transfer file between iPhone, both iPhones should have iBlueNova installed.

To learn more about the app, check out the video for a bluetooth file transfer demo:

iPhone’s built-in accelerometer offers a simple way to switch between portrait and landscape mode. As all know, you can simply rotate iPhone sideway and it responds automatically to display content in landscape. The landscape offers better reading experience for most applications and a wider keyboard for typing. When iPhone was first released, the landscape mode was only made available to limited applications (e.g. Safari). In response to a large number of user requests, since iPhone OS 3.0, Apple opened up this feature and apply it to all built-in iPhone apps (e.g. Notes and Text).

I love this slick feature. At the same time, I find it quite irritating for a simple reason: I hate it turn sideway when I lay in bed to browse web and check my email.

I’m not the only one complaining about this. Someone even setup a Facebook group named “I hate when my iPod/iPhone turns sideways when I lay in bed and use it!” that has already accumulated to over 10,000 fans. Probably you’re already one of them.

Why iPhone Turns sideway when you lay in bed

The accelerometer measures the angle of iPhone relative to gravity, rather to the user. Due to this reason, iPhone rotates sideway when you lay in bed.

How to turn off Auto-Rotation Feature

Here, I’ll show you two ways to disable auto-rotation for iPhone. As always, these tricks are only applicable to jailbroken iPhones.

1. iNoRotate
First, let’s take a look at iNoRotate. iNoRotate is a tweak that lets you completely or selectively turn off auto-rotation on iPhone. It’s a free application that is available on cydia. Once installed, you’ll find a new option named iNoRotate in Settings. To disable auto-rotation, you can simply switch the “Enable” option to ON to completely disable landscape mode for all apps. The tweak also offers additional option to let you disable applications selectively. Say, you want to keep the landscape mode enabled for Safari, simply toggle its associated switch to OFF. Please note for any change in the options, you’ll need to toggle the “Enable” switch to effectuate the change.

iNoRotate gives you great control of iPhone’s auto-rotation feature. But some of you may still think that’s not good enough. Say, you are now using the Safari with landscape mode disabled. For certain reason, you want to re-enable it while you’re reading a web page. In this case, you need to jump back to home screen, tap Settings and re-configure the iNoRotate option.

So, is there any easier way that you can enable/disable while using Safari or other applications? Okay, let’s check out another cydia apps.

2. Rotation Inhibitor for SBSettings
The second app named Rotation Inhibitor is a plugin for SBSettings that also allows you to toggle the auto-rotation feature within any applications. For those who do not know about SBSettings [Full review here], it is one of my favorite cydia applications that brings toggles to iPhone home screen. While using any applications, you can simply swipe the status bar to activate SBSettings. With rotation inhabilitor installed, just tap the inhibitor button to enable/disable auto-rotation.

Both apps work as advertised and offers you a full control of auto-rotation. However, if you would like to toggle the rotation feature anytime, the Rotation Inhibitor is definitely the best app for you.

Do you find the auto-rotation feature irritating? Should Apple offer us option to turn off this feature and let us control it manually? Feel free to leave us comment and let us know your thought.