14 DAY TRIAL // Last week we did a feature on the iOS 5 Camera app enhancements, one of which includes the ability to snap a quick photo right from the unlock screen. The function is already available for jailbroken users of iOS 4 devices, with iOS 5 still months away.
As Apple itself confirmed during the WWDC 2011 keynote address, iOS 5 will ad the ability to access the Camera application without having to unlock the phone.
By tapping a conveniently placed camera button next to the unlock slider, users can instantly take a picture of something around them.
“Since your iPhone is always with you, it’s often the best way to capture those unexpected moments. That’s why you’ll love the new camera features in iOS 5,” Apple says on the iOS 5 marketing page.
“You can open the Camera app right from the Lock screen. Use grid lines, pinch-to-zoom gestures, and single-tap focus and exposure locks to compose a picture on the fly. Then press the volume-up button to snap your photo in the nick of time,” Apple states.
Unfortunately, current iDevice users can’t enjoy this feature until fall 2011, when iOS 5 is scheduled to debut.
Actually, that’s not 100 percent true. They can, but they have to jailbreak their devices in order to gain this new functionality.
Coded by veteran jailbreak developer Filippo Bigarella, CameraLock not only adds the convenient camera button to your iOS 4 home screen, it also lets you choose which camera app to launch using it.
A good example is the powerful Camera+, a $0.99 app that features dozens more functions than the built-in Camera application in iOS.
Camera+ lets you take pictures with pre-set exposure, scene modes and flash, it lets you apply effects to your works immediately after they’ve been saved, and so much more.
Perhaps there are other photography apps that users will prefer. CameraLock will allow anyone to select which app to launch.
While we can agree it’s quite a great advantage to be able to launch your favorite camera application, the downside is the necessity to jailbreak.
Apple is no fan of jailbroken devices, even though the practice has been deemed legal in the United States. As such, users are to proceed at their own risk.