Amazon Cloud Player has gone universal and now works on the iPad.

It has also had a visual improvement, and it certainly does look rather good.

Further to my original article on jail breaking I have reached a further conclusion on what tweaks to use. So what I have done is summarised below what I am using and what settings within the tweaks and the benefits.

Tweaks

Installed on both iPad and iPhone 5

Sbsettings – used to show date on statusbar and 24 hour clock and have settings toggles in notification centre. Removed battery icon as i had battery percentage showing. That’s all for this one.

Bolt – as battery icon gone, when phone or mini charging a lightning bolt shows

Opennotifier – adds notification icons into the status bar. I use it to show email, twitter, and 5 other apps. Great if phone on silent mode, since you can see straight away if you need to address something . Also adds silent icon in status bar if device on silent mode. To get the extra icons you need to buy opennotifer premium.

Protube – a universal app that does YouTube much better, downloading with quality choices , viewing choices of quality and more. Update. Video downloads on the iPhone version aren’t working for me.

Mapsopener – use this tweak to make google maps app open as default. A must have in my book.

ikegwi – 5 row keyboard. Don’t buy the iPad version. The keys are too small on the mini.

F.lux – during the evening changes the white screen to a softer halogen glow. Makes reading easier at night. I had thought this would be a gimmick but I really like it.

Auxo – not needed. But it makes the app switcher beautiful. Best watch a YouTube video on this. It adds larger icons, better music controls and a brightness slider and settings toggles. But again I could live without this, but as I paid for it, it is staying.

Springtomise 2 – changed lock animation to old TV. Simply love this. Made dock have 5 icons with cover flow. Lock screen you can now pull down notification centre. Lock slider I’ve changed the wording to say “unlock and fry” . On iPhone 5 changed to 5 icons per line. The Mini is 7 per line. Don’t do anymore on Mini. It crashes. Icons resized to 85% on all 3 options. Folders allowed 5 icons per line and auto close folder. Status bar changed carrier logo to 👹

When you install sbsettings or springtomise 2 , activator gets installed automatically. I used this app to mimic pressing the home button once by sliding from bottom of screen upwards. Really superb as stops wear and tear now on home button.

iPhone 5 – just one bespoke extra. Pdanet. Provides tethering via wifi from the iPhone 5 to Mini for free. App is free too.

iPad Mini – bespoke options

Full screen for safari. Allows to change to full screen plus adds loads of gestures. I just use for double tap to go full screen and some other gestures to go back and forward.

Splitscreen – provides same email split as landscape view

Retinapad. I have many iPhone only apps. With this app I select to always open app 2x size. It also on 80% of apps makes them look retina. Really amazed by this.

Screen shots are below.

Don’t try octopus keyboard. It’s a z10 rip off and I didn’t like it in the end. I also found winterboard and the ayecon theme not necessary so I deleted both. I also tried colorkeyboard. It’s ok but again not needed.

Apple sold 27.4million iPhone 5s and 17.4million 4S handsets in Q4.

That compared to sales of just 15.4million for Samsung’s Galaxy SIII.

Comes as Steve Wozniak warns Apple is losing ‘cool guy’ status.

On a recent train journey into London I counted 80% of people had iPhones. I only saw 2 Samsung S3 and 2 Blackberry’s. Whilst in UCL Hospital I only saw iPhones. And 1 cheap Nokia.

I didn’t see any Samsung Notes.

So there are the official stats and the unscientific observations. All come to the same conclusion. The iPhone is king.

For the first time ever I decided to jail break my iPad Mini and iPhone 5. It took 5 mins to jail break the 5 and 9 mins for the Mini.

I did a fair bit of research of the apps and tweaks I was going to install and I would say the end result has been really incredible.

Both devices had the following tweaks – activator, f.lux, mapsopener, opennotifer + premium, sbsettings, springtomise 2 and protube.

The iPhone 5 had the following extra apps – bolt, octopus keyboard, winterboard, ayecon theme, and pdanet.

The iPad Mini had the following additional tweaks – fullscreen for iPad, retinapad, splitmail.

So what have I found so far. Well on my iPhone 5 I now get icon notifications on my status bar, the blackberry z10 keyboard, a custom icon set and re skinned look using ayecon, 5 rows of icons and 5 rows in folders , resized icons made smaller by 10%, protube that offers downloads and tons more, a bolt in the status bar instead of a charging battery, the date in the status bar, newstand has gone, unused apps are hidden, pdanet gives me free tethering to my Mini, settings toggles in pull down notifications centre, and small tweaks using springtomise. And no reboots. I found that I preferred the default icons so winterboard is going to be deleted. But now the 5 does exactly what I want and I cannot see myself changing it. It really adds significant usability.

The iPad Mini has become a revelation. No themes installed just system tweaks. I have similar tweaks in the status bar, safari with a double tap goes full screen, protube as above , retinapad makes my old iPhone apps look retina and always load 2 x size. This has been amazing as now I can keep all my old games and apps that were just for iPod or iPhone on the Mini and most look crystal sharp. Splitmail gives me the same affect with the email app as the landscape view but in portrait.

Some of the tweaks that apply to both are mapsopener. Google Maps opens now instead of Apple Maps. Genius. F.lux is meant to adjust the screen to a softer light at night. Waiting for this to start but it looks slick. I also have an icon appear if the silent switch is on.

With the iPad Mini if you tried to go beyond 8 icons wide in landscape reboots would occur. Otherwise rock solid.

Below are some screen shots.

The iPhone 5 takes relatively good photos. With the aid of this novel click on polariser you will find you will probably take even better photos. Most DLSR cameras are recommended to have a polariser filter. Give yourself even sharper brighter more accurate colours on a bright sunny day. This seems like a clever attachments and only cost $20 from Photojojo.

Below is a photo comparison of the iPad Mini, new iPad 5 case and iPad 4.

Whilst there is no way to verify such a photo, I cannot see any reason why Apple won’t use the Mini design on its full size iPad. I just hope the can reduce the weight of the full size iPad as well.

Now this may seem a fruity idea, and it is, but it does have a charm about it. The Mango Case costs $26 and apparently solves issues you had that you didn’t even know about, your iPhone that is.

The case provides a comfortable way to grip and hold it, and also use it as a stand in both horizontal and vertical positions. Just check out the photos below.

Instead of “you’ve been tangoed” maybe it should be “you’ve be mangoed”.

The Mac Pro is now no longer available in European stores due to it not reaching new regulatory requirements. Apparently Apple might be releasing a new version from June but there has been no official confirmation.

From 1st March the Mac Pro is gone completely.

Somehow I won’t miss it and I have never really noticed it in an Apple store. Have you ever seen one in a store?