So the Verizon iPhone is finally here and you've ditched your stop-gap of an Android phone for what you really wanted all along. But wait—where are all your beloved Android features? Where's your awesome, free turn-by-turn navigation? Your retro game emulators? Your freedom? Welcome to the iPhone. We're here to help.
Note: We love Android. In fact, we've previously covered switching from iPhone to Android just like this. Nonetheless, a lot of people are embracing the iPhone on a carrier that (supposedly) doesn't suck as much as AT&T and this post is here to help aid that transition.
Before we get started, you should know that switching to an iPhone means there will be restrictions you'll never get around. You are never going to have the same flexibility as you would on Android, but there are ways to gain back the functionality you miss. Some of this functionality can be regained through apps you can find in the iTunes App Store while other functionality will need to be acquired through jailbreaking your phone. First we're going to take a look at the stuff you can do right now and then check out the jailbreak options that will give you full control of your iPhone.
Apps to Help You Make the Transition
Let's take a look at stuff you can grab from the iTunes App Store—mostly for free—to get back some of the stuff you loved about your Android phone.
Google Apps
While this wasn't the case in the past, most of the Google apps you've come to love on Android have made their way to iPhone. iPhone users have long had access to the Google Mobile app, which provides some nice features like voice search, and Google Earth has been available for awhile as well, but Google Voice is really the most exciting addition. Aside from all the drama surrounding its long-awaited appearance in the iTunes App Store, it was highly anticipated because it's awesome. While it can't become your native phone app on your iPhone, you can pretty much use it as a phone and text messaging replacement. You'll recognize the interface for the most part, even if it is a bit more iPhone-y, and you can enjoy using your main Google Voice almost as seamlessly as you did on Android by just dialing from the Google Voice app instead of the iPhone's native phone app. While a little less exciting, Google Shopper was recently announced so you don't have to give up the nifty product identifying features of your Android device.
Google Sync
I can't complain enough about how much I hate plugging in my iPhone to sync with iTunes (it's my biggest iPhone annoyance). I've gone so far as to try and avoid ever syncing with iTunes again, but no work-around is going to prevent you from syncing your phone once in a while. However, you can sync less-frequently by pushing certain information to your iPhone. Apple's MobileMe service is designed to do that, but it will inevitably screw up. It also costs $99 a year, which is reasonably price by Apple's standards but pales in comparison to free. Instead, you can set up Google sync by setting up your Google account like a Microsoft Exchange account. This will provide the push sync you're used to without the added cost of MobileMe.
Also, if you're a Chrome to Phone user, you can pretty much get that exact functionality on your iPhone with Chrome to iPhone. Chrome to iPhone now works with multiple browsers, so if you're not an iPhone user you still have options. If you're willing to pay, you may want to consider trying the more feature-rich MyPhoneDesktop.
Free Turn-By-Turn Navigation
There's nothing quite like Google Maps' turn-by-turn for the iPhone, but there are a few free apps that'll get the job done. Skobbler seems to be the most favored, what with its map caching (in cas you lose your data connection) and automatic re-routing (in case you get lost). It's far from perfect, but it's the best free option out there at the moment. If you've tried Skobbler and really don't like it (read our review to see the issues we had with it), previously mentioned MapQuest 4 Mobile is another free option that comes highly recommended.
Jailbreak Options
Jailbreaking is really what's going to bring you most of the functionality you want—at least in terms of customization and flexibility. You should know, however, that jailbreaking can void your warranty (if you're caught) and potentially brick your shiny new iPhone. I've jailbroken more times than I can remember and have never come across an unfixable problem, but you've nonetheless been warned. When you're able to jailbreak your Verizon iPhone, make sure you know what you're doing before you dive in.
To jailbreak, you're going to need the latest version of Greenpois0n. Once you've got it, use these instructions to complete the jailbreaking process.
Customization
Interface customization (aside from your iPhone's wallpaper) is basically impossible without jailbreaking, but boy do you get a lot of options once Apple's restrictions are removed. Cydia, the "App Store" of the jailbreak community, already comes with a bunch of themes you can buy. Another app called Theme It provides some pretty thorough and beautiful themes as well. If you want a beautiful implementation of true multitasking, check out Multifl0w, an app that gives you Exposé- or webOS-style app switching. Once you're jailbroken, you'll be able to search through Cydia for many more enhancements as well. Custom lock screens are a big favorite, and you'll find plenty of people creating custom lock screens on deviantART (or make your own). Basically, once you're jailbroken you can customize whatever you want. In some cases there will be really great tools to help you out, and in others you may have to dig into the filesystem yourself. Nonetheless, your efforts will be nicely rewarded with an interface of your choosing.
UPDATE: There may be some security concerns about the Theme It store, so read this to learn more.
Better Notifications
One of the best parts about Android is the pull-down notification bar at the top of the screen. With it, you don't get any annoying popups, and you don't have to act on a notification as soon as you get it. You can pull down the status bar at any time and see which notifications are calling for your attention, and deal with them when you want to. There are quite a few ways to get this functionality on a jailbroken iPhone (we've featured one before), but the best is probably an app called Notified. It doesn't stop the normal iOS notifications from popping up; instead, it works with them. You get notifications as normal, and it keeps your last 50 notifications in its drawer, and sorts them by application. The free version only lets you access those notifications by opening up the Notified app itself, though if you grab the $2.99 Pro version, you can access the drawer with a swipe, just like on Android.
Widgets
Like notifications, there are a number of ways to get widgets on your iPhone. They work a little differently than Android widgets; instead of being integrated in your home screen, they show up on your lock screen. We've previously featured an app called Intelliscreen that presents calendar, email, SMS, news, and weather on your lock screen in a very attractive way. It's a bit pricier than it was when we featured it—$9.99—but it has a free trial if you want to check it out.
If you're looking for something a bit cheaper, an app called SmartScreen does something very similar. While Intelliscreen's widgets integrate themselves very nicely with the lock screen (they almost look like they were designed to be there), SmartScreen's are much more widget-like. They essentially grab information—data, graphics and all—from apps like calendar, weather, and stocks. It even has a flip clock similar to the one that comes with HTC Android phones. SmartScreen is only $5, and also has a Lite version available which, among other things, limits the number of widgets you can use to three. Both are great additions to your iPhone if you miss the widgets feature of Android. Note that if you want to try SmartScreen, you'll have to add their repository to Cydia first, as described on their home page.
Quick Settings
While the above apps will get you quite a few great widgets, they won't get you (what in my opinion is) the greatest widget on Android: Power Control. The Power Control widget lets you save battery by quickly toggling settings like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Brightness, Airplane Mode, and other things. To get this functionality on the iPhone, you'll want to download previously mentioned SBSettings from Cydia. After installing, you can access quick settings by swiping to the right on your status bar at the top of the screen. You'll be able to toggle all sorts of settings right from a popup window without having to dig through menus.
Retro Game Emulation
The Android Marketplace is open, so finding and downloading a retro game emulator is easy. On an iPhone, it's impossible unless you jailbreak. We've shown you how to add an SNES emulator to your iPad—instructions that work just the same for iPhone—but you can get other emulators as well by searching for the platform you want in Cydia.
Wi-Fi Sync and Mobile Hotspots
While your Verizon iPhone comes with a mobile hotspot—a feature Android picked up quite awhile ago—you have to pay $20 a month just to use it. Simply put, that sucks. As an alternative, you can spend $10 on MyWi and use the data connection that you pay for however you want. Getting back to Android's wireless sync, you can actually get the best of both worlds with a jailbroken iPhone. One of the best jailbreak applications is no doubt Wi-Fi Sync. The current version is $10 and lets you sync to iTunes without plugging in your phone. It works very, very well. A new version is around the corner (which appears to be free for current owners of the original Wi-Fi Sync) which promises a bunch of new features, including easier connections, background syncing, and syncing over 3G. You might not want to actually sync over 3G because the speeds will be fairly slow, but remote syncing can be pretty handy if you're on a Wi-Fi connection at a friend's house and forgot to grab a few things you want synced to your phone.
Any features we missed that you love on Android and know how to get on the iPhone? Share 'em in the comments!
You can contact Adam Dachis, the author of this post, at adachis@lifehacker.com. You can also follow him on
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