iPhone 2.0 firmware jailbroken with PwnageTool: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Recently, the iPhone Dev Team just released a PwnageTool 2.0.1, an update to PwnageTool 2.0 that was released yesterday.  This tool will activate, jailbreak, and unlock your iPhone with iPhone 2.0 firmware.  My first generation iPhone was successfully upgraded to iPhone 2.0 firmware and now running quite smooth.

What Works and What Not

• Currently, PwnageTool will activate, jailbreak and unlock iPhone first generation even though you had used ZiPhone, iJailbreak, or other methods.
• It works on iPod Touch.
• It will activate, and jailbreak iPhone 3G, but it cannot unlock it yet. So, if you’re with carriers that is not in partnership with Apple, you cannot use your iPhone to send/receive calls or messages.  

The Procedure

PwnageTool 2.0/2.0.1 will create a custom iPhone 2.0 firmware for you to upgrade/restore.  It will read from the original 2.0 firmware from Apple, the 3.9 and 4.6 baseband, and then create a custom firmware.  The new firmware will be located in your Desktop, by default.  Finally, you can use iTunes to restore your iPhone with the firmware that is created by PwnageTool.

Pre-requisites

In order to create a new firmware by PwnageTool, you will need the following:

• iTunes 7.7 or higher
• An original iPhone 2.0 firmware from Apple. You can download them through iTunes.  Choose “Download Only” as opposed to “Download and Install”
• 3.9 and 4.6 baseband files. You can download them here
• Last but not last, the PwageTool itself.

Upgrading Steps:

Make sure you remember where you save your 3.9 and 4.6 baseband files in case the PwnageTool cannot find the file.

• Start PwnageTool
• Choose which iPhone or iPhone touch you have.
• Select which firmware you want to use. By default, your downloaded firmware is located in ~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates
• Select the baseband files.  If PwnageTool cannot find the files in your computer, it will ask if you want to search on the web. Choose “no”, as it will let you search the files on your computer manually.
• Pwnage Tool will ask whether you are a legit iPhone user.  The difference is, if you choose yes, it will only jailbreak the iPhone.  Choose “no” if you want to activate, jailbreak, and unlock your iPhone.
• PwnageTool will ask you to reset your phone into a DFU mode.
• When your phone is on DFU mode, press “alt” and click on Restore.  Choose the firmware that PwnageTool created. By default, it is on your Desktop.
• When the restoring process finish, your phone will launch BootNeuter automatically.  This will upgrade your baseband to 4.6.  Your iPhone will reboot after it upgrades to 4.6 baseband.
• Voila, you can now happily running iPhone 2.0 firmware.

Conclusion

The Good

The are lots of new features that is added to iPhone 2.0 but I haven’t used all of them.  Apple’s website has a summary of these features.  But one thing that I like a lot is the “AppStore”.  I can download and install alot of iPhone applications and games.  Some other features I like is “Contact Search”. You can now search for your contacts rather than flicking it up and down (if you have lots of contacts on your phone, flicking takes time too).  Oh and their “Email Management” is awesome.  You can select multiple entries to delete/move emails as opposed to deleting/moving them one by one.

The Bad

If you have been on an unlock phone for quite some time, you must have heard about Installer.app.  Well, Installer.app is not compatible with iPhone 2.0 yet.  So there is only Cydia.  Some people might like Cydia, but personally I’m not looking to install Python or OpenSSL and some sorts on my iPhone (command line tools like these are the area where Cydia shines).

The Ugly

Now, this is the first time I’ve used PwnageTool.  Previously, I used iJailbreak to jailbreak and activate my phone.  One thing that really distracts my eyes is they changed the apple logo during boot time to a pineapple.  My first reaction was, “WTF?”.  But then I got a jailbreak 2.0 for free, so I can’t really complain.  I just have to live with a Pineapple’s iPhone, not Apple’s iPhone :P