Jail breaking an iphone, or Android at that, will mean you can install apps and utilities on it that Apple, the manufacturer or Telco has blocked or not yet approved/released...
This was one of my original bitches about the iPhone; the Steve Jobs censorship feature... That's why I opted for Android, so I didn't have to Jailbreak it to install what I wanted to install on it.
When I found out I couldn't upgrade to the new versions of Android on my Vodafone molested HTC Magic; I jail broke it so I could install the new versions. Essentially it's what made my phone so slow it was unusable, but this was more due to a combination of the Operating System port and the shit hardware...
Jailbreaking phones works, I've done it several times for other ppl... But if you upgrade the iPhones Operating System afterwards it will remove the jail breaking. Jailbroken iPhone Operating Systems are usually released some time after the offical release. You will need to wait for the Jailbroken version to be released.
I am pretty sure that your warranty is affected if you Jailbreak the phone and we all know that Apple hardware is not 100% reliable, especially the week after the warranty expires.
Personally I'm over the issues I had when I fucked with my last phone; I can't be bothered doing it again.
If you are thinking about Jailbreaking a phone, here are some questions you need to ask yourself:
- If there are apps that you just have to have and can't get from the apps store; go for it.
- If your telco has molested your phone; do it.
- If you bought your iPhone because every thing just works; don't do it.
- If you like to fiddle with computers and looking for a project; then do it, it's good experience.
Here are some pointers:
- Search the net and find some detailed instructions to follow, lots of people have done this already, their experience is invaluable.
- You can usually get phones de-bricked, but if you brick it, it's your fault.
- Backup your phone before hand so you can restore it if you need to.
- Have a spare phone ready to use if you kill yours.
