CallBar and Apptivator [Jailbreak]

CallBar and Apptivator [Jailbreak]
CallBar and Apptivator are just two examples of the Jailbreak community being in full flurry this summer with what has been the most productive and innovative season of Jailbreak tweaks to date. At a time when people question the current value of jailbreaking with iOS 5 on the horizon, the jailbreak community have spoken up [...]

CallBar and Apptivator are just two examples of the Jailbreak community being in full flurry this summer with what has been the most productive and innovative season of Jailbreak tweaks to date. At a time when people question the current value of jailbreaking with iOS 5 on the horizon, the jailbreak community have spoken up and demonstrated that they continue to advance and innovate where Apple stops short.

With a vast amount of new Cydia tweaks, thanks majorly in part to @rpetrich’s TweakWeek challenge, I will be talking about only two recent tweaks that demonstrate to any non-believer that Jailbroken iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches are the way to go!

###CallBar (by E. Limneos & J. Tucker)

E. Limneos has been involved with TweakWeek and when J. Tucker approached him with this dynamite idea they made an immediate knockout hit that some consider an “essential” tweak to any Jailbroken device. What CallBar does is extend the concept of the nonintrusive notification to phone calls and FaceTime alerts, integrating it into what Peter Hajas developed for iOS with MobileNotifier (also a Cydia tweak) and Apple synthesized and adopted in iOS 5′s Notification Center.

Intrusive notifications have always been a weak point for iOS and have long since been taunted by the Android and webOS community. CallBar brings what iOS 5 only begins to unveil at a notification level, and that is a nonintrusive and clean way to receive phone calls – further solidifying the concept that our iDevices are small computers that happen to receive phone calls rather than phones that happen to behave like small computers. Writing an important email and a call ruins your train of thought? Not anymore. Watching the latest Harry Potter movie on your iPad and a FaceTime alert just interrupted an important scene? No longer a problem. CallBar demonstrates that Cydia tweaks are not just gimmicks and tricks, but truly useful, innovative, and downright essential to heavy iDevice users.

With a good amount of options to make any user happy, CallBar is available now in Cydia for only 3.99 USD.

Apptivator (by n00neimp0rtant)

Apptivator takes the functionality of Activator and applies it to your homescreen and icons, using a double-tap action instead of having to rely on multiple gestures.

For instance, you can set a double-tap action onto your phone icon to immediately call up the keypad or the contacts list – whichever you use most. You can also create events that allow you to double-tap an icon app to open up a related app instead – such as double-tapping the Camera app to open the Photos app. Using events currently possible in Activator, n00neimp0rtant demonstrated in his YouTube video of the tweak (see above) of double-tapping the iPod icon to start and top a current track. Better yet, you can trigger SBSetting toggles using Apptivator – such as double-tapping the MyWi icon to toggle MyWi on and off. The amount of customization this tweak brings is limitless. As powerful and innovative as Activator has been, it’s a breath of fresh air seeing Apptivator using the same principles on icons without the need to memorize gestures that are limited and can be unintuitive at times.

At first glance, this tweak reminded me a lot of the new feature in Windows Phone 7 Mango where you can now pin actions onto the homescreen – which some touted as a brilliant feature and very innovative on the part of the WP7 team. With jailbroken phones, we are able to see features from other Mobile OSes and see the concept further bloom and thrive, and Apptivator is a clear example of this.

On Twitter, @n00neimp0rtant informed me that more functionality is coming to Apptivator and I am more than excited to see what’s in store next.

Apptivator is available now in the Cydia Store for 2.00 USD.

Austin Bradley, better known as K. Nitsua, is the Jailbreak theme designer behind iNitsua Z Twilight 3volution. You can hit him up on Twitter @Kanaca_Nitsua