With firmware 2.1 now out for the iPhone and iPod touch we bring you the inevitable PwnageTool and QuickPwn response. Apparently, the DevTeam took offense to a previous posting where we questioned the relevancy of continued jailbreaks in the age of the AppStore and official, worldwide iPhone distribution.

So, we'll put it to you dear reader: as much as we respect these guys for their gen-1 iPhone unlocking and pre-AppStore era work, is PwnageTool and the ability to jailbreak your phone still as important as it was?

Update: By a three-to-one margin it's clear that you still love your Pwnage! As such, we'll continue to cover the DevTeam's exploits just as obsessively as before.

While the DevTeam rightly asserts that Apple can't undo the bug exploited by PwnageTool via firmware update alone, it's still subject to the whims of iTunes connectivity. In fact, iTunes 8 seems to detect jailbroken devices jailbreaking attempts and then stomps its feet and refuses to play nice. While the DevTeam says that fixes are in the works, the growing list of useful applications in the AppStore coupled with the global retail availability of the iPhone (and lack of a 3G unlock) makes PwnageTool less and less relevant with each passing day.

Update: The problem seems to occur when you try to restore to an iPwned ipsw from a non-iPwned device. Syncing to an already Pwned device works fine.

Editor's note: The sentence above which states that the Dev Team's efforts are becoming "less relevant" is not an opinion which is endorsed by Engadget. Quite the contrary -- many of the editors here are die-hard fans of PwnageTool and the Team's work, and believe that their contributions to the iPhone community are hugely important. Thomas -- who lives in The Netherlands -- has a point in regards to users who previously had no access to the phone and were forced to import and unlock, or more casual users who likely find the App Store more approachable. Personally? I don't update my phone until the Dev Team has worked their magic, and they have Engadget's full support and respect. -- ed.

Well, judging by the dozens of tips we just got, it's time to once again get your Pwnage on with version 2.0.2 (which was released to counter the, um, "fixes" in iPhone firmware 2.0.1). As usual, hit up the read link.

Update: WinPwn 2.0.0.4 is out as well.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

It's not the iPhone 3G unlock yet, but at least those of you who held-off from updating your iPhone to the 2.0.1 firmware are about to get a taste of improved stability and snappy keyboarding while early updaters will once again gain access to their jailbroken apps. Or so says the DevTeam who claim that PwnageTool 2.0.2 is "undergoing final checks and will be packaged, signed and should be uploaded within the next few hours, so count on it being released sometime on Thursday." The update will be provided via a direct link (which we'll pass along) and over the PwnageTool's software updater. So block out some time in your calendars, there's plenty of newbie hackery to be done later on today.

Update: Delayed, clearly, here's why.

Feeling a little left out after yesterday's Mac-based Pwnage Tool festivities, Windows users? Fret not, because the ever-vigilant, ever-studious hacking community has managed to come up with a series of steps to get you back on your feet again with a fully pwned first-gen handset. The whole shebang isn't necessarily for the most casual jailbreakers -- let's just say it isn't quite as straightforward as the Mac procedure yet -- but it'll allegedly get you going if you're starting with an iPhone running 1.1.4 (there are additional steps if you jumped the gun on 2.0, you impatient son of a gun, you -- think of it as penance). As always, exercise extreme caution, understand that this could cause your iPhone to spontaneously combust into a useless pile of metal, plastic, and ash, and let us know how it goes in comments.

[Thanks, Z-]

Sort of. Pwnage Tool 2.0 can't handle 3G iPhone SIM unlocks just yet, though jailbreaking should work just fine, and we're also faced with the teensy little problem of the Dev Team's server being totally destroyed by downloads already -- mirror please? -- but the friendly little jailbreak app has finally been unleashed upon the earth. We'd never suggest trying out software like this right out of the gate, but, um, let us know how it goes, yeah?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: We're seeing mixed results so far in the comments, but no bricked phones to speak of. Always a good thing. Oh, and plenty of mirrors to be found in the comments, thanks guys!

Update 2: Looks like 2.0.1 is already out with a few fixes!

iPhone unlocking is a little more cash-intensive now that Apple and AT&T are all contract-happy with the 3G, but it looks like would-be unlockers will have a little more time to save up those pennies -- the erstwhile hackers on the iPhone Dev Team say that while a forthcoming version of the sadly-named Pwnage tool will activate and jailbreak the iPhone 3G, unlocking is taking a little longer than expected, and they don't want to release the code until it's exactly right. The tool still unlocks first-gen iPhones running 2.0 and allows jailbreak apps to co-exist with the App Store, so if you're desperate to unlock right away, we'd say a first-gen unit is your best bet.

Just a few hours after we brought you the exclusive hands-on video with the DevTeam's PwnageTool... it's out! Mac only for now, Windows on the way shortly.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Although the iPhone Dev Team totally punked us on April Fool's Day, they were still nice enough to give us an early hands-on (in person!) with a pre-release version of their new Pwnage tool. Pwnage lets you load in any firmware you want, including patched firmwares not signed by Apple -- which could lead to everything from custom software distributions to totally new OSs ported over (like, say, Android or Linux). We did what most people are probably going to do, however: we took a brand new 8GB iPhone, unlocked it, and upgraded to the 2.0 firmware, while keeping it active on T-Mobile. It's not exactly a one-click process, but it's not all that hard either -- although we kind of cheated and had Dev Team members talking us through it. Peep the vid after the break, and check the read links in few hours to get your hands on Windows and Mac versions of the tool.

P.S. -Apologies for the blurry video for the first couple minutes, we didn't notice that our camera had gotten knocked out of macro mode. You're not missing much, trust us. Oh, and the only cuts are during loading bars and when we accidentally flashed a phone number and the iPhone's serial number -- we figured you didn't really want 20 minutes of listening to people sniffle during progress bars.

Read - iphone-dev.org (Pwnage tool creators)
Read - The iPhone Project (hosting the Pwnage tool)

[Thanks Andrew, Erica]

Update: Yep, it's an April Fool's joke. We're just going to go offline until April 2nd, peace.