3g advice

[The Bossman]

I have zero issues with my own gear, but a co-worker asked if I could upgrade his 3g for him to a newer firmware. He uses T-mobile and his phone is already unlocked and JB at 3.0.1 (7a400) baseband is 4.26.08.

What firmware would you recommend to upgrade to. Any other suggestions short of telling him to get a newer phone would be appreciated.

 

[ylerT]

You can definitely upgrade to the latest version without losing his old baseband. For Windows you can use snowbreeze, for Mac you can use pwnagetool. Those will both allow you to create a custom IPSW but will disable the baseband update.

However, I can't comment on having that old of a baseband paired with a new version of iOS like 4.2.1. Since I've never used the 4.26.08 baseband with 4.2.1, I can't say if it will be stable. It may not even work at all but I'm not 100% sure.

IMO the best thing to do would be to upgrade to either 3.1.3 which will give you the 05.12.01 baseband...or if you have SHSH blobs, upgrade to 4.0 which will give you the 05.13.04 baseband. After you do this you can then create a custom 4.2.1 IPSW and save one of those basebands which are 100% compatible and reliable with 4.2.1.

 

[Carl G35c]

IMO, when I upgraded my iPhone 3G to 4.0, it runs like garbage. I would stay where they are or upgrade to 3.1.3

 

[awadeee]

I have zero issues with my own gear, but a co-worker asked if I could upgrade his 3g for him to a newer firmware. He uses T-mobile and his phone is already unlocked and JB at 3.0.1 (7a400) baseband is 4.26.08.

What firmware would you recommend to upgrade to. Any other suggestions short of telling him to get a newer phone would be appreciated.

If you're going to upgrade, I wouldn't do any higher up than 3.1.3. Once you hit 4.0, the phone runs like molasses. I especially wouldn't go anywhere near 4.2.1.

Go up to 3.1.3 and you won't have to worry about preserving basebands.

Back up the iPhone in iTunes, manually download the iPhone 3G 3.1.3 IPSW from http://www.felixbruns.de/iPod/firmware/ and then hold the shift key (option key on a Mac) and click restore in iTunes. Select this firmware. Restore from backup. Jailbreak with Spirit and install Ultrasn0w.

 

[ylerT]

IMO, when I upgraded my iPhone 3G to 4.0, it runs like garbage. I would stay where they are or upgrade to 3.1.3

Agreed, 4.0 is by far the most sluggish version for the 3G. I think 4.2.1 actually runs fairly well. It's definitely not as snappy as 3.1.3, but it's good.

The only thing OP needs to take in consideration is app compatibility. I would think this is a possible reason his friend wants to update his phone. A lot of developers are only focusing on iOS 4 and above.

 

[The Bossman]

Thanks for the advice. I will do the upgrade to 3.1.3 and he will just have to love that. I actually kept my original 3GS on 3.1.3 all the way up to December, and loved it.

Thanks again.

 

[Applejuiced]

IMO, when I upgraded my iPhone 3G to 4.0, it runs like garbage. I would stay where they are or upgrade to 3.1.3

Exactly.
The iphone 3G runs like crap on anything higher than 3.1.3
Tell him to stay where he's at or go up to 3.1.3
If he wants all the newer features tell him to get a 3GS or iphone 4 cause the iphone 3G with its old and outdated hardware cannot handle the latest firmware.

 

[awadeee]

The only thing OP needs to take in consideration is app compatibility. I would think this is a possible reason his friend wants to update his phone. A lot of developers are only focusing on iOS 4 and above.

If they really need the iOS4 apps, an iPhone 3Gs or 4 should be purchased.