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Samsung’s Galaxy S5 video tour takes swipes at iPhone 5s and Apple’s Retina display

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 30, 2014

Yesterday, four new feature tour videos cropped up on the Samsung Mobile USA channel on YouTube, showcasing the handset's full HD Super AMOLED screen, the selective camera focus feature, its ultra-power saving mode and the bundled S Health app. Unlike some of the conglomerate's previous promotional videos, these clips do a good job explaining how the four aforementioned features enhance experience for the user.

However, Samsung being Samsung meant the firm couldn't resist comparing its flagship to Apple's iPhone 5s in terms of the display size, image quality and pixel count. I've included that clip, along with the remaining three videos, after the jump...

AnyDrop 2: share any file using AirDrop

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 29, 2014

AirDrop is such a good feature, but on a jailbroken iPhone it's been turned into a great feature. That's because there's AnyDrop 2—a jailbreak tweak that supercharges the concept of AirDrop, and makes it accessible for any file on the native file system.

Imagine iFile with AirDrop sharing, and you pretty much have AnyDrop. It's more than that, though, because AnyDrop allows you to share media files from your Music app library, Video app library, and Photo app library. It even comes bundled with a hidden feature that lets you download and share YouTube videos called YouTubeDrop.

Needless to Say, AnyDrop 2 is a great jailbreak tweak to have if you're interested in getting more than the pedestrian experience out of AirDrop. Watch our video after the break to see what I mean.

How to access the internal settings for the Facebook iOS app

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 29, 2014

Feeling a little sneaky? Want to access Facebook's internal settings for its iOS app? If you're jailbroken, it's extremely easy to gain access by means of a handy new jailbreak tweak.

The aptly entitled Facebook Internal Settings is a brand new jailbreak tweak that just landed on Cydia's BigBoss repo. This free tweak makes accessing the super-secret (and super-confusing) internal settings a walk in the park. Have a look at our video walkthrough for more information.

Hold2Speak: send incoming calls directly to the speaker phone

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 29, 2014

As you might imagine, I'm pretty proud of this latest jailbreak tweak. Hold2Speak is a release that went from concept to reality in mere days, and it's pretty handy to boot.

Hold2Speak allows users to send incoming calls directly to the iPhone's speaker phone using a tap and hold gesture on the Answer button. It's an extremely simply upcoming release with no settings to configure, just like I stated on our original concept video.

Check inside to see how @isklikas and @sharedRoutine collaborated to make this concept a reality.

UnShaker7: unlock your iPhone with a shake

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 29, 2014

Unshaker7 is a new jailbreak tweak that was created to allow iOS 7 users to unlock their iPhones using a shake gesture. Although that's the intention of the tweak, the execution of the idea didn't exactly go as planned.

The tweak is extremely simple, and only contains a few options to configure, but it's flawed. Have look inside at our video walkthrough to see what I mean.

Search+ shows Spotlight search from anywhere

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 29, 2014

Search+ is a recently released jailbreak tweak that's available on the BigBoss repo. It allows you to invoke Spotlight search from anywhere on your iPhone by means of an Activator gesture.

With Search+, you can quickly search the contents of your device while at the Home screen, Lock screen, or while in an app. It's, by far, one of the easiest ways to search the contents your device. Check out our video review of Search+ after the break.

Appellancy: unlock your device using facial recognition

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 28, 2014

Appellancy—the facial recognition jailbreak tweak that unlocks your device—is now available for download on Cydia's BigBoss repo. The tweak, which is by far the best jailbreak tweak to feature facial recognition unlocking, worked very well in my testing of the final build that just hit Cydia.

I was a bit skeptical due to some issues that I had with the beta versions of the tweak (mainly crashing), but most of those issues seem to have been fixed. Check out our video walkthrough of the tweak after the break.

Facebook updates Messenger with video sharing, improved search and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 28, 2014

Social networking giant Facebook today has refreshed its iOS Messenger application, redesigned from the ground up last November, with a few new features you should know about.

The biggest news in Facebook Messenger 5.0, available free for the iPhone, is its newly added ability to exchange video messages from your library with other Messenger users. Previously, you could only share photos and short voice recordings using the app.

Other enhancements worth mentioning include easier photo sharing, improvements to the search feature, a tweaked user interface making it easier to send photos, voice messages and more...

Stride 2: unlock your iPhone with style on iOS 7

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 28, 2014

Adam Bell's much-loved Stride jailbreak tweak has finally received some love for iOS 7, and it comes in the form of Stride 2, a brand new upcoming incarnation of Stride that works on Apple's latest version of iOS.

Stride 2 lets users unlock their devices by drawing a password on screen using a finger. It's an elegant and individualistic method for unlocking a device. Have a look at our full video review of Stride 2 inside.

Concept: Hold2Speak – answer a phone call directly in speaker mode

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Every now and then I stumble upon a feature that I would like to have on the iPhone, but usually I end up forgetting about it, or just stashing it away for later. Sometimes, though, I get enough gumption to push for an idea to be brought to fruition. TypeStatus was a good example of that, and it turned out pretty well. Others haven't turned out so well, but it doesn't hurt to keep trying.

This latest concept is something that I've been marinating on for quite some time. It's called Hold2Speak, and it allows you to answer a call directly in speaker phone mode by tapping and holding the Answer button. Normal taps on the Answer button would still use the headset as a means of communicating with the other party.

I've created a video walkthrough for the Hold2Speak concept. Would you consider using something like this? If the demand is high enough, perhaps one of the community's developers wouldn't mind taking on such a project. Check inside for the video and details.

New speech synthesizing action added to latest Activator beta

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 27, 2014

As usual, Ryan Petrich has been on quite the tear with updates to the Activator beta. The latest update, which comes in at version 1.8.4 beta 11, adds a new speech synthesis feature to the fray.

What does speech synthesis do? We've created a video that shows you step-by-step how to use this new feature. Check it out after the break.

Convergance: a complete Lock screen replacement for the iPhone

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 27, 2014

Unless you've been living in an underground bunker in Siberia for the last month or so, you've likely heard of Convergance. It's the newly released jailbreak tweak that acts as a complete Lock screen replacement for iOS.

Along with the redesigned Lock screen interface comes widgets, quick shortcuts, custom themes, and HTML support for even deeper custom Lock screen features. Oh, and did I mention that there's an API for developers to extend Convergance's features?

Needless to say, Convergance is one of the most hyped tweaks of 2014. Does it live up to the hype? Have a look inside for the details.