David is a technology enthusiast, iPhone user, and Texas-based police officer. This is how he uses iOS at work

Unlike most traditional jobs, I don’t have an office where I can spend 8 hours a day sitting at a computer doing work. My office is a Ford Crown Victoria, and it is constantly moving from one location to the next. I need to have access to varying forms of information on the go to effectively get my job done. That’s where my iPhone comes into play.

Lifeproof case

Police is a dangerous job and the Lifeproof case has already saved my iPhone more than once.

Being a police officer is a dangerous job; I know that’s probably shocking news right? We get into car chases, foot chases, fights, and occasionally worse. My point is, knowing it’s a dangerous job, I need to have my iPhone on me at all times. It can literally me a lifeline. So I need to protect it from the dangers of my job. The solution I have found to work for me is a Lifeproof case. Lifeproof cases will protect your iPhone from all the elements; water, dirt, snow, and shock. It’s waterproof up to 6.6ft, and can withstand a drop from 6.6ft. These are all important factors for me in my daily use since a majority of my time is spent outside in the elements. The Lifeproof case has already saved my iPhone more than once.

$79.12 Buy now

Spanish for Police

he Spanish for Police app helps me bridge that gap with words and phrases that I may have forgotten or never learned.

Working in Texas this is a must have. I took four years of Spanish in school, and I’m pretty good without this, but I am nowhere close to being fluent. The Spanish for Police app helps me bridge that gap with words and phrases that I may have forgotten or never learned. It covers subjects from traffic stops, to domestic violence, DUI’s, and much more. The great thing with this app is when you find the phrase that fits the situation you are in, just press that phrase and you will hear it read outloud.

$2.99 – Download now

Pill Identifier by Drugs.com

Pill Identifier by Drugs.com helps you figure out if someone is just carrying a bag of tylenol versus a bag of hydrocodone.

The war on drugs isn’t just about the typical illicit drugs that everyone thinks about. It also now involves prescription medications being abused. Often times suspects are arrested and found to have a baggie of pills on them. Of course there is no label on that bag, so we have to use the identifying information imprinted on the pills to identify what that pill is. Pill Identifier by Drugs.com allows you to enter the imprint number from the pill, and then it pulls up every pill in its database with that number and tells you what that pill is, and usually has an image of the pill also for further verification that you have the correct pill identified. It’s important to know if someone is just carrying a bag of tylenol versus a bag of hydrocodone.

$0.99 – Download now

Wiser

With the Wiser app we can identify any potentially hazardous materials and take the proper precautions.

Wiser is an easy to use version of the Department of Transportation – Emergency Response Guidebook. The purpose of the app is to identify hazardous substances. For instance, if we respond to a collision and it involves a tanker truck on fire or leaking, we obviously don’t want to get too close until we know what substance is in that truck. With a good set of binoculars we can look at the placard on the truck, read the number on the placard, enter it into the Wiser app and figure out what substance the truck is carrying, and what safety precautions need to be used for the first responders, and for the surrounding bystanders.

Free – Download now

White Pages

White Pages lets you find out a scary amount of information, but that's good when you're trying to find the bad guys.

The White Pages app is probably pretty common on most people’s iPhones. You can search for people, businesses, or do a reverse phone lookup. All of these things come in handy when looking for someone. It’s scary how much public information is available on the web, but it useful when looking for a bad guy.

Free – Download now

iMessage and ActiveSync

First and foremost, I use my iPhone as a communications tool. As a street level supervisor I receive several phone calls throughout the night from troops about how they should handle a particular call, or to brief me on things that require they notify a supervisor. For the times when a phone call can’t be made, we rely on sending iMessages or text messages back and forth to relay important information. Lastly, I take advantage of ActiveSync to have my Microsoft Exchange email and calendar information pushed to my iPhone. This keeps me up to date on the go of all important department-wide crime bulletins that are sent, as well as keeps my appointment schedule at my fingertips.

Safari

The Safari web browser is useful to look up important information on the go, such as Texas Laws

If I have a question about the penal code, code of criminal procedure, or even the transportation code, an answer is just a quick search away via the Safari web browser. There are plenty of apps available, but I guess I’m too cheap to buy them. I think the browser on the iPhone and the information provided on the State of Texas website fulfills my needs.

Conclusion

I know that there are many more apps out there that could be of use, but these are the primary ones I use on a day to day basis. If you work in emergency services and know of some great apps that may help others in the field, sound off in the comments with what you have so we can all get a look and benefit from what iOS has to offer.

Georgia recently wrote an editorial about the frustration she’s experienced using Cydia, the jailbreak app store. I’m a long time advocate of jailbreak and the benefits it brings with it. While Cydia may not be perfect, and it definitely isn’t the same experience as using Apple’s App Store, there are reasons for why it works the way it does, and some huge advantages that come along with it.

When you use an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, you expect your experience to be seamless and intuitive. Apple has long been known for creating devices that are extremely accessible to just about anyone, and work incredibly well with other Apple devices. It’s like training wheels or rails. As long as you stay on the track, everything goes exactly as it’s supposed to. When you decide to jailbreak, however, you’re deciding to go off that Apple approved track, and you have to realize your experience is going to change.

You’re not sacrificing much. Your iPhone will still make calls, your iPad will still be able to visit websites, and you can still buy anything you want from the official iTunes App Store, the same as always.

But you’re gaining a lot. You can tweak your device so it behaves the way you want it to, including providing quick access to settings and in-app SMS replies, and you can theme it so it looks the way you like, including icons and user interface elements.

A stock iPhone or iPad user is typically after the convenience and ease of use Apple provides. A jailbroken iOS user is typically willing to part with some of that convenience and ease of use in exchange for the additional functionality and control.

Cydia is not the App Store

One of the biggest frustrations new jailbreakers have to overcome is Cydia, the jailbreak app store. If you’ve decide you want more control over your iPhone or iPad, and the ability to install applications and utilities that are not given the Apple stamp of approval, there’s a price to be paid. You’re classifying yourself as an expert and a power user, and you have to take on the responsibility that comes with it. You’ve entered a different level and you’ll have to check some of your carefully curated expectations at the door.

While Cydia does play host to almost all available jailbreak apps, just as the App Store does for official applications, the similarities pretty much stop there.

The App Store is a simple “search, tap, enter password, and you’re done” experience. Cydia is not.

Load some vs. load all

First, Cydia takes a lot longer to load and update. There’s a reason for that. Cydia doesn’t handle data in the same way the App Store does. The App Store, for example, has chosen to only present you with 25 applications at a time. That saves time up front but if you’d like to view more, you’ll need to tell it by tapping to “View more” button and waiting again. And again, each time.

Cydia actually loads all packages at launch and you can page through every single one of them after the data is done loading.

The App Store also only loads data from one source — iTunes. Cydia typically loads data from several different repositories. With the App Store, you’re limited to that iTunes data source. With Cydia, you can add additional repositories if you wish.

Manually entering and managing repositories is a more complicated process than the App Store’s iTunes-only approach, but it means you have access to a wider range of software, including betas. Downloading beta software isn’t something the iTunes App Store supports at all.

It means you have access to cutting edge, even bleeding edge technology. If you’re willing to do the work, you’ll find ways to get iPad-like gestures (and more) on your iPhone, custom widgets and settings toggles in Notification Center, and other enhancements that may not come to Apple’s official iOS for months, if ever. (Apple does seem to take inspiration from jailbreak now and then.)

Cydia has long been the breeding ground for amazing apps and utilities. If I have to wait a few more minutes for packages to load or deal with an occasional error or instability, that’s a choice I’ve made and I’m okay with that trade-off.

Fragmentation vs. functionality

The iTunes App Store handles compatibility in a fairly straight forward manner. If your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch isn’t able to run the version of iOS an app requires, you can’t install that app. Developers list their requirements and if your device can’t meet them, you can’t have the app.

There’s still a lot of crap in the App Store, some buggy apps slip through (including major apps from major developers like Google and Facebook!), and older devices can glitch or crash more on the most cutting edge, most demanding games, but for the most part you don’t have to worry about whether or not an app will run on your device.

Cydia does things a bit differently. While some Cydia packages won’t allow you to purchase them if they’re not 100% compatible, others do not have this safeguard. There are many repositories you can add to Cydia that aren’t curated for compatibility at all.

Generally, the ability to download what you want to download when you want to download it is considered a huge benefit of jailbreak. But with great power comes great responsibility, right? In other words, you have to do your homework. You have to check and make sure what you download is compatible with your device and your version of iOS.

(Incompatible or conflicting apps are often the reason for jailbreak headaches, especially for new users.)

Read release notes and app descriptions, and ask in our Jailbreak Apps Forum and your Cydia experience will be a much more enjoyable one.

Payments and process

Even before Apple introduced the App Store, iTunes was one of the biggest online payment systems in the world. Now they can handle credit cards and other forms of transactions in more parts of the world than just about anyone. Because they completely control iTunes and the App Store, they can also make using their payment system incredibly streamlined and simple. You tap a button, you type in a password, and you’re done. One login to rule them all.

Cydia doesn’t have that luxury. Cydia is dependent on third-party payment systems, namely Amazon and Paypal.

Apple also has a massive cloud infrastructure so your iTunes account can be tied to all the apps you’ve ever purchased and those apps can be easily restored to any device you own, new or old.

Again, Cydia doesn’t have that type of account authentication system, so they’ve tied into Google and Facebook.

Apple’s way is simple, but it’s also without choice or option. You use iTunes or you use nothing. With Cydia you can choose to use Facebook or Google for account authentication, and you can choose to use Amazon or Paypal for payment.

Because the App Store is entirely controlled by Apple, they can store your credit card information and credentials and provide that really simple one tap, one password purchasing experience.

Because Cydia doesn’t control Facebook, Google, Amazon, or Paypal, it can’t store your credit card information and credentials, and so you do have to enter them more places, and more often, than you do with iTunes.

Again, it’s the price of operating outside the Apple approved process, and again, the complexity has drawbacks but it also comes with some benefits.

Conclusion

No system is perfect. Not Apple’s iTunes App Store and not Cydia, the jailbreak app store. I’m willing to overlook a lot of Cydia’s flaws because I benefit from the apps and utilities it delivers. Without Cydia, many developers would have no way to distribute their apps, and to earn enough money to keep developing them.

While I think what Cydia brings to the table greatly outweighs its problem areas, I do think there’s room for improvement. My biggest peeve is actually the organizational method Cydia uses. While discoverability on the App Store is a long standing problem, it’s not always easy to find something on Cydia either unless you know what you’re looking for or have a lot of time to browse through cluttered sections.

Making it easier to find really great apps and utilities is something that would make the initial Cydia experience better and a lot less overwhelming for new users.

If you’re a Cydia user, new or long time, what are your thoughts on its usability? What would you most like to see changed or improved?

Additional resources:

• How to use Cydia, the jailbreak app store
• Jailbreak starters guide
• iMore jailbreak forums

A set of the supposed iPad 3 parts, like the ones that have been floating around for weeks, have again been put them together, and again offered them up for the internet’s collective viewing pleasure. This time it’s M.I.C Gadgets doing the inverse-teardown (build-up?) and… there’s nothing much surprising. It looks like an iPad 2 that’s the tiniest bit thicker and has a more pronounce tapering around the edges. They do, however, think 4G LTE is unlikely at this point.

iPad 3, as we said before is the same size in terms of memory. 16GB, 32GB and 64GB are the flavors of the day here, no surprises. Readers will also be pleased to know that the price has not increased either. We at M.I.C. feel that this is because the rumored LTE will not be integrated. As indicated in our previous in depth article to Apple's mobile strategy, we said there was a very limited market for LTE at this time. Also, the LTE chipset adds an extra cost to each unit, which the normal Qualcomm 3G chipset does not incur. We also feel that it will most likely be added to the next model, as opposed to this one. Our sources concur with us on this as well.

The Wall Street Journal previously confirmed 4G LTE for the iPad 3. iMore heard it’s coming but not whether it would debut in the iPad 3 or later this fall in the iPhone 5.

If accurate, and now that we can rest doubly assured all the parts do indeed fit together, we can turn our attention to what will likely be the more interesting part of the iPad 3 event scheduled for next Wednesday, March 7 — the software.

New features in iOS 5.1? Siri? New Apple apps? Apple’s managed to keep those bits of news almost completely under wraps.

Source: M.I.C. Gadgets

Georgia, Seth, and Rene discuss Apple’s upcoming iPad 3 event, analyze the invitation, and round up the rumors; also: Adobe Photoshop Touch for iPad, Marvel comics for iBooks, and Nexia home automation. This is iPhone & iPad Live!

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Meta

• Mobile Nations Fitness Month round up!
• Editor's desk: iPad 3 release date, iOS 5.1 GM seed, new focus, new features
• How to take amazing macro photos with your iPhone

iPad 3 event

• Apple iPad event set for March 7, 10am PT
• Quad-core, 4G LTE iPad 3 rumored for next week… in New York?
• How to sell your old iPad before upgrading to the new iPad 3
• Apple TV 3 rumored to launch alongside iPad 3, "mystery accessory"
• Apple rumored to be working on both A5X and A6 chipsets for next generation devices
• Apple rumored to be working on a new audio format to enhance streaming and music quality

News

• Apple getting ready to ditch the traditional iPhone, iPad, and iPod dock connector
• Apple airs new commercial: iCloud Harmony

Apps

• PSA: Yes, apps can access and upload your Camera Roll too (but that's nothing new)
• Marvel comics now available in iBooks
• Transform your photos like never before with Photoshop Touch for iPad
• Apple acquires Chomp, set to revamp search and discovery for App Store apps

Accessories

• http://www.imore.com/2012/02/29/fitbit-review/
• Mercedes Benz to embrace the iPhone 4S and Siri in its new A-Class vehicles
• Fix the iPad's tiny, tinny sound with Zooka Wireless Speaker
• Nexia Home Security Bundle review: The future of iPhone home automation is now

Hosts

• Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie)
• Georgia (@GeorgiaTiPb)
• Seth Clifford (@sethclifford)

Credits

You can reach all of us on Twitter @iMore, or you can email us at podcast@imore.com, or leave a comment on the website when the show goes live.

We’re here every Wednesday night at 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern, 2am GMT at www.TiPb.com/live

For all our podcasts — audio and video — including iPhone and iPad Live, ZEN and TECH, Iterate, and more, see MobileNations.com/shows

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