Apple buries hidden features within iOS

It's not often that Apple buries hidden features within public releases of iOS, but two previously unknown features within iOS 5 caught the attention of developers this week. The first, discovered on Monday by developer Conrad Kramer, is a panorama mode within the iOS 5 Camera app. The second, discovered Thursday morning by iOS hacker Sonny Dickson, reveals an "Android-like" autocorrect bar above the on-screen keyboard.

If you are a jailbreaker, however, developer Grant Paul has submitted an app called Firebreak to Cydia in order to enable the panorama mode. Thanks to research done by self-proclaimed hacker and 9to5Mac researcher Sonny Dickson , anyone running iOS 5 on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch should be able to access this hidden feature by following the steps below:

1) You'll first need to download a program called iBackupBot, which lets you modify certain settings on your mobile device through a backup and then restore that backup to the device.

2) After you've backed up your device, launch iBackupBot. The software should automatically detect and display all of the backups you've run in iTunes. Click on the backup you just ran. Among all the files listed on the right, look for one that says: Library/Preferences/com.apple.keyboard.plist.

3) The com.apple.keyboard.plist will open as a simple text file that you can edit. Add the string <key>KeyboardAutocorrectionLists</key><string>YES</string> to the file. Close and save the file.

4) Next restore the backup from within iBackupBot (right-click on the backup and select the Restore command). Turn on your mobile device and open any app where you can access the keyboard. Type the first couple of characters of a word, and you should see the autocorrect keyboard bar appear with a list of suggestions.

The autocorrect keyboard bar also appears if you choose certain international keyboards. I added and switched to a Japanese keyboard, and the autocorrect bar appeared. But of course it displayed Japanese characters as suggestions.