It has been quite a while since we heard from MuscleNerd, a prominent member of the iPhone Dev Team that makes the popular jailbreak tool redsn0w. Earlier today MuscleNerd revealed via Twitter that he is going to release a new feature packed update of redsn0w for download by Monday. By far this is the most extensive update to redsn0w as it does come with a couple of exciting new features.
The most amazing feature in redsn0w's upcoming update definitely has to be the fact that redsn0w will no longer require you to point it to the IPSW file. Meaning that now you don't have to download those large IPSW firmware files whenever you want to jailbreak your iOS device using redsn0w. Apart from that, the latest update of redsn0w will also let you submit your SHSH blobs to Cydia's servers.
You might think how latest redsn0w update will jailbreak your device without needing an IPSW file. MuscleNerd explains that redsn0w will automatically detect and download important files needed for jailbreaking your particular iOS firmware and device from Apple's servers. Using these downloaded files, redsn0w will jailbreak your device swiftly because once it has downloaded these files, redsn0w will cache them and won't need to download them all over again should you want to run the jailbreak one more time. That's not all, the new redsn0w will automatically detect your device as well as the type of jailbreak its compatible with, be it tethered or untethered.
The fact remains though that these awesome new features will not be compatible with iOS 5 beta firmware as it is not officially available to the public. However, if you have a device that is running any firmware up till iOS 4.3.5, redsn0w will automatically apply the appropriate jailbreak for your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. To jailbreak iOS 5 beta firmware using the new redsn0w, you'll have to manually point it to the iOS 5 beta IPSW, just like old times. Do keep in mind that this isn't compatible with the iPad 2 which can only be jailbroken on iOS 4.3.3 using JailbreakMe 3.0, for now.
We knew that the iPhone Dev Team was bound to release an all new version of redsn0w, considering the fact that Apple's latest major iOS update is going to release publicly in the next couple of weeks and one must not forget that iOS 5 changes the jailbreak game quite a bit significantly. However things look promising with this new redsn0w update and it looks like jailbreaking iOS 5 won't be so hard after all.
MuscleNerd says that he is planning to releasing this update of redsn0w by Monday at the earliest. He has also said that a lightweight version of redsn0w not exceeding 15MB is also planned for release but will released a bit later on down the road. Check back with us on Monday as we'll be breaking news when the latest redsn0w update is released for download.