There have been a number of articles about why to jailbreak your iPhone (10 here, 10 more here, etc.), but none of them really focus on the average user experience. For example, SSH file access is a critical reason to jailbreak your iPhone, but for the consumer it means little, as setting up SSH access is too complicated. So here is a list of five reasons to jailbreak your iPhone that focus on things that an ordinary user with a standard iPhone would see and respond, “ahh, I get it. I want to jailbreak my iPhone now, too!” Check out the list after the break.

1. Themes

Clearly the thing that brings out the most oohs and aahs when you are using your jailbroken iPhone is a theme. There are literally hundreds of themes in the jailbreak app “store” program, Cydia (which, by the way, is as easy to use to add and remove programs as the official app store). The program you use to manage themes is called Winterboard, and it is as powerful as it is simple: You download a theme, and then see them all in a list in Winterboard. You click on the theme, a checkmark appears, and it’s ready to go.

Themes can be quite comprehensive, including the lock screen, the weather app backgrounds, and even the keyboard or SMS bubbles. It truly creates a customized iPhone experience.

Winterboard actually allows the inclusion of multiple themes, with the theme listed on top taking priority. So if you find an icon set that you absolutely love, and you want to combine it with backgrounds and other elements, you simply activate both and drag the icons to the top.

The theme to the left is the one that I use on my iPhone. A couple of notes as you look at it: ClearCam is an iPhone camera replacement that uses a better processing engine to create sharper photos (it is only available via a jailbreak but, alas, did not make the top five list). NemusSync is a Google calender sync that is lightyears better than any of the sync apps in the app store (again, didn’t make the top five but is darn good). Finally, if you take a look at the dock at the bottom you will see five icons there, when the standard iPhone only allows four. That is also courtesy of the jailbreaking process and a special app. That app would be in my top ten but didn’t make the top five.

2. System-wide copy and paste

One of the biggest complaints you hear about the iPhone is that it is an amazing device for utilizing text, from text messages to email to note-taking, but it lacks even a rudimentary copy and paste function. Apps like MagicPad in the app store allow copying and pasting within the application but not across multiple applications within the iPhone. Well, if you jailbreak your iPhone this problem is solved, and it is solved elegantly.

There are a few copy and paste solutions in Cydia, the jailbreak “app store.” My favorite is the simple to use Clippr program. All you do is click on the number/symbol toggle button on the iPhone keyboard, double tap the screen, drag your selection, tap the copy button, go to wherever you want to paste (either within the same application or somewhere else), and then tap the paste button. You can also copy multiple items via the “stack” command.

Simple, effective, awesome.

3.Video recording

In today’s multimedia phone world, quite a few people use their phone as a de facto replacement for their digital camera and–more and more–their video camera. Certainly users of the Nokia N95 can justifiably say they don’t need a digital camera or video camera. Users of the iPhone can live with the camera (and its preponderance on Flickr illustrates that fact), but they are left out in the cold in terms of video.  Not if you have your phone jailbroken.

The video recording app on the iPhone is free and called Cycorder. There is a paid app also available that has more functionality (upload to Youtube being one nice feature). The quality of both programs can’t hold a candle to a phone like the N95, but they are more than adequate for most usage. If you want a quick and easy way to take video of your life, from your kids at school to birthday parties, the iPhone video apps are probably good enough for the average consumer. As with the camera itself, the key is to take video in bright locations.

4. TV Out

Can you imagine if you were able to hook up your iPhone to your TV and use it as a multimedia gateway? The iPhone could be used as a new set top device that could play web videos, downloaded videos, and any media you are able to get on or stream through the device. Well, it can kind of do that now. The iPhone has had the ability to output its content to the TV for some time, but that functionality is confined to the iPhone’s built-in apps, and the reasons are obvious: This requires you to purchase your content via iTunes if you want to watch it on your TV via the iPhone and it also removes the iPhone from competing with Apple’s own Apple TV product. Well, you can remove those limitations if you have a jailbroken iPhone.

The TV Out app allows jailbroken iPhones to output practically everything to your television set via Apple’s TV out cables. Have a bunch of videos you took with Cycorder (see No. 3 above) and want to see them on TV? Now you can. Where this becomes truly powerful is when you combine this functionality with an app like Orblive. Orblive (available in the iPhone app store) allows you to stream media from your PC to your iPhone. Now you can also stream that content directly to your TV via the iPhone. Downloaded movies, TV shows, home videos–any multimedia content you can get on your computer can now be streamed directly to your TV via an iPhone.

While it seems like a minor bit of added functionality, the ability to output video from your iPhone to your TV turns the iPhone into a powerful multimedia gateway, bringing together web, PC, and television. And the fact that it can do it over wifi or 3G means there are no wires to worry about.

5. Running applications in the background/Wifi spoofing (tie)

Another major complaint from people is that they can’t start an application and then have it run in the background while they go off to use another application. Of course you can do this with the Apple applications, but you can’t use this for applications in the app store. Well, with a jailbroken iPhone you can via the Backgrounder application. So for those of you who are playing a game or using an app where a disconnect would be a problem, now you can just hold the home button down and have it run in the background. Bringing it back instantly is just a tap away.

Another annoyance for iPhone users is when they have an application that will only run under wifi. You’re paying for unlimited data with your iPhone plan, right? Why can’t you listen to your streaming music via the Boombox app under 3G? With the wifi spoofing app you now can. This application fakes the iPhone into believing that all data access is happening through wifi, even if it is using EDGE or 3G access. The developer warns that this may cause problems for some applications, but I haven’t found any problems yet.

Jailbreak, then browse Cydia

If you want to jailbreak your iPhone, the process is incredibly easy. In most cases it is as simple as installing a program on your desktop and then running it. A jailbroken iPhone is a few clicks away. Follow this simple guide if you use Windows and this guide if you are using a Mac. Cydia is the equivalent of the iPhone app store for jailbroken iPhones. It is installed automatically when you jailbreak your iPhones, and all of the above apps (and more) can be found there.