5 excellent reasons to jailbreak your iPhone

Following the release of the Evasi0n jailbreak tool -- the first such tool for the iPhone 5, iPad 4, iPad mini, and fifth-generation iPod touch -- there's been a resurgence of interest in jailbreaking and what it has to offer the iDevice owner.

While jailbreaking is not be compatible with BYOD, for those who use their devices for personal use, it is a great way to add new features to a device.

While many of you already know of the benefits of jailbreaking, others are curious as to what jailbreaking has to offer.

Here are five excellent reasons to jailbreak your iPhone. And believe me when I say that these apps are just the tip of the iceberg.

One of the primary reasons why people jailbreak their iPhone is to be able to customize the look and feel of iOS with themes and icons. This might seem lie putting form ahead of function, but customizing the platform is actually a good way of personalizing the platform, and making it easier to sue.

One of the best tools for doing this is WinterBoard. Once installed, it allows you to customize the look and feel of your iPhone by downloading and installing themes.

Price: Free.

Source: Cydia.

One of the biggest complaints I hear levelled against Apple is that the company has chosen to bury important--and much used--settings under layers of menus. For example, take something as simple as switching Bluetooth or Wi-Fi off and on.

SBSettings changes this by putting the settings that you want close to hand.

Price: Free.

Source: Cydia.

This is the app with the simplest user interface of all the ones I've listed here, but it does something that is literally priceless—it gives JavaScript a massive speed boost.

Apple's Nitro JavaScript engine is restricted to apps such as Safari and iBooks, but by installing Nitrous, any app that uses the WebKit engine is given access to Nitro. This means that third-party browsers such as Google Chrome benefit from a performance boost of up to 300 percent.

Price: $0.99.

Source: Cydia.

The iOS task switcher—the little pane that pops up at the bottom of the screen when you double-tap the Home button—doesn't really do that much. But take the time to install Auxo and you are given access to a whole host of new and interesting features. For example, you can preview the app, delete it with a swipe of the finger, and even delete multiple apps simultaneously by using multiple fingers.

Auxo also gives you access to improved media playback controls, as well as access to system controls such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and brightness.

Price: $1.99.

Source: Cydia.

While Android and Windows Phone both make use of live widgets, they are noticeably absent from iOS. Dashboard X rectifies this, adding a whole slew of widgets, animations, and themes.

One of my favourite Dashboard X features is its ability to create transparent floating widgets that are available from the home screen.

Once you install this app on your iDevice, you'll be fiddling with it for hours.

Price: $1.99.

Source: Cydia.