How To Get Siri Dictation On iPad 2 And iPad 1

In the ever-expanding and ever-changing world of consumer technology, less is more, meaning that achieving certain end-results by exerting less effort is definitely something that appeals to users. We are beginning to see this way of thinking make its way into our gadgets through the use of quick and simple gestures, apps and tweaks that automate certain tasks, as well as the production and development of software like Apple’s Siri assistant.
For those iDevice loving individuals who don’t have access to one of Apple’s supported Siri or voice dictation compatible devices such as the iPhone 4S or the new 3rd-gen iPad, worry not as Cydia has stepped in once again to act as the knight in the shining armor. Developer rud0lf77 has recently pushed his DictationPad tweak onto the unofficial app store and exists to bring the much loved dictation feature to those non-supported iPads that are running iOS 5 and above.

When installed, DictationPad alters the default iPad keyboard and makes itself at home at the left hand side of the spacebar key, manifested through a small little microphone symbol. The included microphone image was obviously been designed and included to mimic the official Apple offering that comes bundled with supported newer generation devices. After installation, the DictationPad tweak requires no further user configuration, meaning that no additional preferences bundles are created and no home screen icons are added. The only change to the actual physical appearance of iOS is the added dictation symbol on the spacebar key.

Tapping on the newly added symbol when the keyboard is visible on the screen will invoke the dictation features, turning the status bar red in color. Obviously the whole point of dictation is to allow the system to turn spoken words into on-screen text, so when the status bar turns red, you can take that as your cue to chat away to the iPad. Tapping the microphone for the second time will end the current dictation session and process any spoken words it has received before displaying it on-screen in the relevant field.
Although voice dictation is a popular feature on mobile devices, it is worth keeping in mind that all of the processing is done via an internet connection. DictationPad needs an active Wi-Fi or cellular data connection to be able to do its backend processing. The tweak is available from the ModMyi repository as a free of charge download and requires a jailbroken iPad on iOS 5 or above with Siri capabilities.

How To Jailbreak iPhone 4S, iPad 2 The Easy Way Using Redsn0w

With the iPhone Dev Team updating their popular Redsn0w jailbreak tool to include a method of downgrading A5-powered devices, it provides a perfect opportunity for those who may be sitting on the latest firmware with an iPad 2 or iPhone 4S to roll back to 5.0.1 once again in order to benefit from an untethered jailbreak. With pod2g closing in on his untether for Apple’s latest firmware and testing against the latest devices going all well, the need to roll back and jailbreak iOS 5.0.1 could be temporary, but the fact remains that a lot of users will benefit from this.

With that in mind, we have pulled together a quick step-by-step guide on how to achieve an untethered jailbreak on the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 using the Redsn0w tool, instead of using Absinthe tool, this is something which users seem to prefer and feel more at home using. At the time of writing, the latest version of Redsn0w was sitting at 0.9.11b1, however on the advice of the Dev Team blog for the purpose of a straight forward untethered A5 jailbreak on iOS 5.0.1, we have used RedSn0w 0.9.10b8b for jailbreaking until a number of bugs have been worked out.
Requirements:

• An iPhone 4S or iPad 2 running iOS 5.0.1 or above.
• Compatible version of Redsn0w.
• 30-pin USB connector cable.

Step 1: First of all, download Redsn0w 0.9.10b8b [Windows/Mac]. If you are already on iOS 5.0.1, then move on to Step 2. If you’re on iOS 5.1 or above and wish to downgrade to iOS 5.0.1 for the purpose of an untethered jailbreak then simply follow our downgrade guide posted here.
Step 2: As always, Redsn0w will download as a compressed file. Unzip the contents of the downloaded package on your desktop or any other location which is memorable and easy to access.
Step 3: Using the supplied USB cable, connect either the iPhone 4S or your iPad 2 to your PC or Mac. Once connected, double click the Redsn0w icon to launch the application.
Step 4: The main user-interface of the Redsn0w application will present you with two options, select the ‘Jailbreak‘ button to begin the process. Make sure that the connected device that is displayed at the bottom of the Redsn0w interface corresponds with the device you are jailbreaking.

Step 5: As soon as the ‘Jailbreak‘ button has been selected, an information window will appear and the connected device will also show an alert, prompting some user input.

Step 6: On the device, tap ‘Install‘, then ‘Install Now‘, when prompted for a password, leave blank and click on ‘Next’.

Step 7: The Redsn0w user-interface will now show some more information pertaining to the jailbreak, specifically requesting that the ‘VPN‘ is toggled on.

Step 8: On the main Settings screen of the device, a new VPN option will be available under Wi-Fi. Toggle the switch to ‘ON‘, which in turn will display ‘Connecting..’ as it goes forward to connect itself to the network.

Step 9: If any errors occur that relate to VPN, then these can be safely ignored and are expected to show up. The device will reboot itself and load back to the home screen in the usual fashion.

Step 10: After reboot, locate the newly installed Cydia icon on the home screen and launch.
So there you have it, a successful untethered jailbreak for iOS 5.0.1 on the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 using the ever-reliable tool, Redsn0w.