iOS 5.1 update released, jailbreak already available

The new iPad, or iPad 3, was revealed yesterday running iOS 5.1 – the newest update for iPhone, iPad, and iPod owners.

The new iOS 5.1 update, which was officially released yesterday, is available for download for iPhone, iPod, and iPads bringing a ton of "improvements and bug fixes".

The 5.1 update, which can be found on iTunes or through your device by hitting Software Update under the General section of the Settings app, is said to address bugs affecting battery life, add Japanese language support for Siri, and much more.

According to the release notes accompanying the download, the improvements and bug fixes include:

  • Japanese language support for Siri (availability may be limited during initial rollout)
  • Photos can now be deleted from Photo Stream
  • Camera shortcut now always visible on Lock Screen for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch (4th generation)
  • Camera face detection now highlights all detected faces
  • Redesigned Camera app for iPad
  • Genius Mixes and Genius playlists for iTunes Match subscribers
  • Audio for TV shows and movies on iPad optimized to sound louder and clearer
  • Podcast controls for playback speed and a 30 second rewind for iPad
  • Updated AT&T network indicator
  • Addresses bugs affecting battery life
  • Fixes an issue that occasionally caused audio to drop for outgoing calls

For information on the security content of this update, you can check out Apple's support website.

PC World, meanwhile, has said that developers at the iPhone Dev-Team blog have already managed to get a tethered jailbreak working, using redsn0w, for non-A5 devices.

The team had originally warned those with jailbroken iPhones, iPads, and iPods to not update to 5.1 due to the possibility of the firmware update may cause users to lose their jailbreak.  But it looks like they have now found a solution.

Anyone with an iPad 2 or iPhone 4S using iOS 5.1 can do a tethered jailbreak using Redsn0w 0.910b6, thanks tot he limera1n exploit by "geohot".  Owners of previous models or an iPod Touch can also try the new jailbreak, but with caution.  The team has said anyone with an old-bootrom 3GS can jailbreak without needing to tether the device.

Head on over to the Dev-Team Blog to download the redsn0w files.

In other news, the new iPad was announced yesterday; check out all of the details and new features here.