What to do with an old iPhone?

July 11, 2008 3:04 PM

What should I do with my old iPhone? Upgrade the software, or go get the 3G?

Is the 3G so much better than the (upgraded) old iPhone that I should find a way to sell the old iPhone and get the 3G? (What are the features that should make someone decide to get the 3G?)

And if so, what's the best way to sell an old iPhone? I know jailbroken iPhones are going for hundreds on eBay, but I'd rather not spend time hacking the phone just for the sale.

posted by mark7570 to technology (14 comments total)

I decided not to go for the 3G iPhone. I have an 8gig first gen. The two big hardware features are 3G and GPS.

3G is good for internet speed only. It's utility is directly related to how much you use your internet in a "synchronous" manner. If it's just reading email, speed won't make a difference. If you browse the web, it will matter more.

GPS is cool if you often find yourself all over the place. If you travel, if you take road trips, and so on. It's cool to know exactly where you are, exactly. For my use, I rarely leave town. I don't mind typing in "80525" for Fort Collins, and just calling it good.

As far as the hassle of jailbreaking (and unlocking), it's easy. To do it to my 1.1.4 phone, it took 1 mouse click and about 20 minutes.

Also remember that the 3G's plan is slightly more expensive, so if that matters, work that in too. (about $150 total over 2 years if I remember right)
posted by cschneid at 3:11 PM on July 11, 2008

You can sell an old iPhone to Flipswap. You print out a shipping label, send it in, and you (or a charity) receive money. I did a quick search and they're paying between $150-$250 for iPhones, depending on the version.
posted by acidic at 3:20 PM on July 11, 2008

For your information only, you can jailbreak the iPhone in like 30 seconds.
posted by xmutex at 3:20 PM on July 11, 2008

Pros: 3G data speed and GPS
Cons: Shorter battery life and higher rate data plan

Caveat: Check first to see if you get 3G coverage in your area.

Personally, I'm sticking with my 2G iPhone. The 3G battery life is significantly reduced and with the introduction of the iPhone 2.0 software, I'll be accessing data more efficiently through apps and using Safari less. For example, previously, I had to download the entire NYT front page to browse the news which took some time. Now that there's a NYT app, I'm getting all of it much quicker because it's only grabbing the headlines and not rendering the entire website with graphics and ads. Same for a lot of the other popular websites I use frequently.

As for GPS, if you live in a dense city like SF or NY, it's not that useful because it isn't much more accurate than tower triangulation.
posted by junesix at 3:21 PM on July 11, 2008

Following Pogue and Mossberg, who got time to test it out: upgrade to the 2.0 firmware, see what it's like upgraded, then decide based upon your usage patterns and the ongoing costs involved in getting the 3G iPhone.
posted by holgate at 3:48 PM on July 11, 2008

Mossberg's review specifically mentions his experience that the 3G's battery life seems shorter, possibly because of the GPS.
posted by camcgee at 4:07 PM on July 11, 2008

I'm definitely sticking with the 2G iPhone. First, my area doesn't have 3G coverage and most likely won't for a year or more. Second, data plans are upped from $20 to $30, which means an extra $120 a year on speed I can't even use. Third, between home and work, I'm personally within a known WiFi range for about 75% of my day. Fourth, GPS isn't a big thing for me, especially without turn-by-turn directions I might use when I'm out of town.
posted by shinynewnick at 6:31 PM on July 11, 2008

Upgrade the software and then give $400 to charity. Everybody wins!
posted by anildash at 7:10 PM on July 11, 2008

I went for the iPhone 3G. I was running out of room on my 8GB iphone and I do browse the internet a whole lot on my iPhone (on the bus, bored in meetings, waiting rooms, etc) and I live in a 3g area and mostly travel to cities already with 3g. GPS was clearly a "nice to have".

Impressions after a few hours with it:
3g safari is great. It reminded me of the difference when I went from dial up to the cable modem. Wifi is still faster, but you can't always be in a hotspot. Receiving larger emails and sending photos to is much faster.

The GPS locks pretty fast and I was surprised it worked indoors from my sofa when my TomTom can't find the satellites. One annoyance (and the v2 software does this with the cell tower/wifi triangulation is it will always ask if it Ok if the app can use the location data -- nice for a sketchy app, but it would be nice to be able to have trusted apps like Google Maps and Photo)

I upgraded my old iPhone to the v2.0 of the software yesterday and the App store is awesome so having more room on it for more music and apps and the occasional movie when I'm on the road will be nice.

If you don't mind the EDGE speeds, don't need more storage, then by all means keep what you have.

You don't have to buy one this weekend. What I thought was going to be a two hour wait was a two hour wait to get into the Apple Store, and it was another 2 hour wait to get to the counter. Once at the counter it was a five minute process to upgrade my account and get it activated. The longest part of getting it activated was waiting for it to start up. Once iTunes saw it, it was activated in no time so that problem from this morning seems to be fixed.

I like the new iPhone and am glad I bought it, but if I could do over this afternoon, I would have skipped the line and waited for the hysteria to die down. It is a phone, not an artificial heart or live saving device.

The second your new iPhone is activated, your old iPhone becomes a iPod touch until someone else activates it. You can get more money if you sell it unlocked --- especially to people that live in countries that do not have an official distribution channel but you run the risk of getting burned...

I'm giving my old one to a friend.
posted by birdherder at 9:32 PM on July 11, 2008

I'm keeping my "old" iPhone. I absolutely love the new software and app store, and I don't want to pay more for service. I don't really need 3G, but GPS would be nice. I feel like I got a brand new phone today with the software update.
posted by santaliqueur at 12:03 AM on July 12, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Supposedly, the sound quality is much improved. Not just the speakers on the phone, but the actual quality of calls made over 3G networks (see David Pogue's review):

The third improvement is audio quality, which has taken a gigantic step forward. You sound crystal clear to your callers, and they sound crystal clear to you. In fact, few cellphones sound this good.

I'm probably gonna pick one up this weekend.
posted by mpls2 at 12:06 AM on July 12, 2008

I've had my shiny 3G for a full 24 hours now (GMT 1, EST 0), and looking at the usage tab, I've done 50.1Mb down, and 2.7Mb up over the 3G network. I don't think I'm going to be keeping up that pace forever, but the speed is good.

The GPS is much much quicker, and the mapping much much better than on the Nokia N95. For driving directions it doesn't come close to Tom Tom though.

I'm not sure what Pogue is on about though. The audio still blows.
posted by roofus at 1:37 AM on July 12, 2008

Thanks, everyone, for those great answers!
posted by mark7570 at 6:17 AM on July 12, 2008

I feel like I got a brand new phone today with the software update.

Very true.
posted by Rock Steady at 5:10 PM on July 12, 2008