given an iPhone 3G, advice please

davethe11

davethe11

davethe11

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hi folks,

i've been kindly given an iPhone 3G (not an S), and it's my first iPhone! I have been told it is carrier unlocked too. I want to do a hard reset and wipe it, what I would like to know please is how do you recommend I set it up as in which version of iOS (do I even have a choice?), is there a recommended firmware (or is automatic via iTunes), is it worth jailbreaking (and what is the most painless way of doing it).

Even if you recommend jailbreaking I may leave it for now anyway and use the phone for a bit as it is. Will a hard reset affect the fact the phone has been carrier unlocked? Any other tips or advice would be much appreciated for an iPhone noob. I currently have a HTC Mozart WP7 with mango which I love, but i've always wanted an iPhone but could never justify the monthly cost - I'm looking forward to delving into the app store :)

dave
 
Yes jailbreak it and yet update it to the most recent firmware iTunes will allow. If you plug it in to iTunes you can just select restore, and setup as a new phone

Check out Modmyi or Redmond Pie for more info

FYI, jailbreaking is the first step towards Install0us.... that is all I can tell you. Google it
 
Jail breaking is now allowed on here :)

Ah just re read the new rule and we can't talk about doing anything illegal with the jail broken phone... Still want to know what I can do with my 4 open
 
thanks for the advice, I will consider jailbreaking, but could you enlighten me on versions of iOS on the 3G? Should I just put the very latest version available, or is there a particular version I should use (for stability and performance reasons).
 
The 3G only goes up to 4.1 I think, install that and read up about jailbreaking on those sites I mentioned
 
4.2.1 is the latest version on the 3G. iTunes will download it automatically for you.

What I would say is don't expect it to represent the 'true' iPhone experience, i.e. don't be surprised if it's much slower and more laggy than you were anticipating, especially if you've played with newer iPhones. I'm not trying to dash your hopes, but I have a 3G and can't wait to upgrade it. With the newer apps and the newer OS (which you have to run to get the newer apps) it's a pretty slow phone.

Is there a possibility of selling both the 3G and the HTC and getting at least a 3GS? Much more pleasurable to use :)
 
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I'd agree, sell the 3G and put a 4S on your christmas list.

If you go on Meerkat Mobile you can get £95 for your 3G. That should be a decent start in your 4S fund
 
as much as I like iPhones, I don't have any wish to purchase one, I'm very happy with my mozart, the 3G I was given was just a nice bonus to be honest :) I have being trying to get 4.2.1 on the device untethered and unlocked but no joy so far (I can get the official 4.2.1 on ok though), so many tools out there and conflicting information sometimes. Thanks for the advice though, it's much appreciated :)
 
You need to use redsn0w 0.9.6. That will give you an untethered jailbreak on 4.2.1 on the 3G. It won't do a network unlock, though. That is much harder - not even sure if it's possible once you've installed stock 4.2.1. (If the phone has been properly unlocked through the network, it will always remain unlocked.)
 
thanks for the info Mattus, I used sn0wbreeze and was having problems, but discovered that I had to run it in xp compatibility mode. I have it jailbroken and untethered now, the phone recognises my payg 3 sim, but it's not connecting to the network, wifi works fine though. It's my first day of playing with an iphone (other than playing a game once in a blue moon on a friends iPhone), so doing an untethered jailbreak isn't a bad start :)

If anyone has any suggestions regarding getting my 3 payg sim working properly then that would be great.
 
Are you sure that the phone is network unlocked? If the 3 SIM works in another phone but not in the iPhone, that would indicate that it's locked. In that case, in my experience it will appear to accept the SIM but will just not get a signal.
 
iOS 4 is slow on the 3G and it doesn't support multitasking. Personally I'd go for the latest version of iPhone OS 3 if you don't need the App support.
 
The minimum model you should get is the 3GS. The 3G is painfully slow and will not be a good experience, sell it and get atleast a 3GS.
 
I don't think it has unlocked, the 3 sim is not working, neither is an O2 or an orange sim, I don't know what network it is locked to as the phone was used in spain (but originally on a uk contract), after some reading it seems my only option is upgrading to the ipad baseband but at the cost of no gps, is there any way to tell what network the phone was initially on?
 
Can't think of a way to tell directly which network it's on. But if it was definitely a UK network, then by a process of elimination you only have two remaining options: T-Mobile and Vodafone.

You say it was used in Spain... if it worked with a Spanish SIM, then I'm going to guess it's locked to Vodafone, purely because Voda has a network in Spain and I'm fairly sure T-Mobile doesn't!
 
thanks again for all the help, it is locked to O2, the original O2 sim I tried must have a fault, i'm going down the official unlock route and have applied to O2 to unlock the phone.

dave
 
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