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Does Anyone Still Use The iPhone 1ST Generation from 2007 as their Daily Phone?

Inframan

Inframan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 18, 2013
342
129
Los Angeles, California
Im just curious, if anyone here literally has not upgraded their first iPhone from 2007 and still uses it as a daily phone?

If yes, which OS are you running? How are things working out?
 
I'm sure there are some people, but I was just thinking how painful that would be earlier today. It was so darned slow for so many things compared to even something like the 3Gs.
 
mightyjabba said:
I'm sure there are some people, but I was just thinking how painful that would be earlier today. It was so darned slow for so many things compared to even something like the 3Gs.
Click to expand...

I remember when I got the 3GS, it was still probably the happiest day of my life. I thought that phone was absolutely lightening fast and the design was gorgeous. The 3GS could easily still hang with some of the phones on the market today and I still think its a great looking phone!

But yeah, I'm sure the iPhone 1 is probably a really slow machine, I would be curious to see someone chime in who still uses it daily!
 
I find it quite unlikely. I noticed that most of the 3GS and below models started to disappear a year or two after the iPhone 4 came out, as Retina was a massive upgrade to phones. On the other hand you can find a significant number of people still hanging on to their iPhone 4/4S, which is pretty amazing when you realize that these phones are already 3-4 years old.

Anyway I'm one of those people who clung onto the iPhone 4 and only decided to change this year. While it has served me well, it's really beginning to show it's age and it struggles to run many applications. iOS is laggy, many websites on Safari are extremely laggy, Google maps is laggy when navigating the maps, applications take a long time to load and often crash due to lack of memory or unresponsiveness.

And you have to consider that the iPhone 4 is miles faster than the original iPhone, just like how the iPhone 6 is miles faster than the iPhone 4. Given that my iPhone 4 struggled quite a it in day-to-day usage, it's a pretty fair assumption that the iPhone 2G would struggle far more.

The iPhone 2G was also designed with a very different intention in mind. Back then, most people didn't subscribe for data plans yet. It was meant to be a phone that was capable of doing occasional web-surfing and checking of email. The way people used their iPhone 2Gs were very different from the way that people use their iPhone 6 today.

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Inframan said:
I remember when I got the 3GS, it was still probably the happiest day of my life. I thought that phone was absolutely lightening fast and the design was gorgeous. The 3GS could easily still hang with some of the phones on the market today and I still think its a great looking phone!

But yeah, I'm sure the iPhone 1 is probably a really slow machine, I would be curious to see someone chime in who still uses it daily!
Click to expand...

I felt bad for the 3GS owners when the iPhone 4 was announced. It was like, bam, every single phone just became obsolete overnight. Every phone screen looked like utter crap and looked completely outdated after I saw the beauty of a retina screen.
 
cathyy said:
The iPhone 2G was also designed with a very different intention in mind. Back then, most people didn't subscribe for data plans yet. It was meant to be a phone that was capable of doing occasional web-surfing and checking of email. The way people used their iPhone 2Gs were very different from the way that people use their iPhone 6 today.
Click to expand...

Well, all of the original iPhones actually had unlimited data. That was just part of the package. It's just that it was slooow.
 
mightyjabba said:
Well, all of the original iPhones actually had unlimited data. That was just part of the package. It's just that it was slooow.
Click to expand...

Heh smart marketing. Even at maximum data rate 2G can only consume up to 2.6GB per month. In comparison my telco provides me with 12GB of data.

But yeah, in that era most phone owners used their phones very differently. They were mostly used for calls, texting, playing music, camera/video functions, and occasional games. People rarely accessed the internet on mobile. In contrast, everybody would probably be bitching within 5 minutes if a telco's 3G/4G network went down.

I would be extremely surprised if there are still people using the iPhone 2G on a daily basis.
 
While I don't use it as a daily phone, I do have a perfectly functional unit in my desk drawer. There was a 2 week period between the time I broke my iPhone 4S and bought my Galaxy S4 where I used it. The only word I can think of to describe it is frustrating. It was running iOS 3.1.3 and it was incredibly laggy compared to what we're used to today.
 
Inframan said:
Does Anyone Still Use The iPhone 1ST Generation from 2007 as their Daily Phone?
Click to expand...

wide-eyes-gif.gif


Sure hope not... that is some cruel and unusual punishment right there!
 
i just want one to put it in my iPhone collection, i started from the 3GS


currently i have the 3GS, 4S, 5S, and 6 (used my brothers upgrade, for some reason he didnt want it, but i needed it for testing apps anyways, lol gonna get the 6S and hand this 6 to my brother later on)
 
A friend does. Top part of the LCD is only gray pixels, it's laggy as heck, taking a photo takes several seconds each... But it still works and still makes and receives calls and texts just fine. No data plan either though Wi-Fi is fine. It's in rough shape physically so it'll never be worth anything as a collectible.
 
A friend took one of our originals just last year as a replacement for his 2007 model, and yes, he still uses it--I think he's crazy, but he's obviously happy enough as long as it works. Mine still runs, when I remember to charge it. Which I should probably do now, while I'm thinking about it. LOL
 
My mom used her 2G until she upgraded to 5S about 6 months ago. She still used it daily but it barely held a charge so it basically needed to be plugged in all the time.
 
I'd be very surprised, though it is possible.

I resurrected my old 3G for a younger sibling to use as their first phone.

For them it's fine. I've locked down a few apps, and it is great for basic stuff.

But yeah, I wouldn't recommend it.
 
It is funny how our standards have changed in just 7 years. Leaving aside things like shortened battery life, the original iPhone probably performs as well now as it ever did, but it seems pretty primitive compared to just about all of the models that followed it.
 
I don't think a 1st gen iPhone can still be functioning 7 years after launch.
 
Sure it can. There are no doubt hundreds of thousands of them still in functional shape. But it doesn't make much sense to continue using one when you can get one that's a lot better for very little money.
 
cathyy said:
Anyway I'm one of those people who clung onto the iPhone 4 and only decided to change this year. While it has served me well, it's really beginning to show it's age and it struggles to run many applications. iOS is laggy, many websites on Safari are extremely laggy, Google maps is laggy when navigating the maps, applications take a long time to load and often crash due to lack of memory or unresponsiveness.

And you have to consider that the iPhone 4 is miles faster than the original iPhone, just like how the iPhone 6 is miles faster than the iPhone 4. Given that my iPhone 4 struggled quite a it in day-to-day usage, it's a pretty fair assumption that the iPhone 2G would struggle far more.

The iPhone 2G was also designed with a very different intention in mind. Back then, most people didn't subscribe for data plans yet. It was meant to be a phone that was capable of doing occasional web-surfing and checking of email. The way people used their iPhone 2Gs were very different from the way that people use their iPhone 6 today.
Click to expand...
One thing you have to consider is that iOS (and likely apps, too) on the original iPhone hasn't been updated in years. iOS and apps have become increasingly bloated and steadily require more processing power (in line with hardware upgrades). I reckon the original iPhone would probably beat the iPhone 4+iOS 7 in terms of UI responsiveness. Web page rendering, etc. is very slow on the 2G (it's been like that since release, anyhow) but it's surprisingly decent for being a 7-year old phone. Camera does suck majorly, though.

Alas, you probably won't be able to use it as a phone on AT&T come next year.
 
Yet another thing to consider is that, at least in the US both AT&T and T-Mobile (the only carriers in the US that support the original iphone) have refarmed nearly all their original GSM/EDGE spectrum for UMTS/3G and LTE. There is VERY LITTLE spectrum left behind for GSM/EDGE, and nearly all of it is being used for embedded devices like alarm system panels, ATM machines, and so on.

Therefore, anybody still on these networks is going to experience very spotty network performance. I actually wish I could flip my iPhone to EDGE only to see just how bad it is now.
 
Hi, I am an iPhone collector. I have the 2g in my collection, and it is pretty slow. Its running on iOS 3. I really couldn't imagine using it as a daily phone!
 
Still have my 1st gen iPhone, no I do not use it as a phone I have my 5 for that waiting for my 6 plus.
I did a restore on it to wipe it out and can't get it to do anything now not sure what I'm gonna do with it now.
 
Sorry to dig up this old thread, but I saw it and I have an answer. Yes. I am still using my iPhone 1st gen everyday. It still works, and it works much better than people think. You just need the older version of the Opera Mini web browser, Safari isn't any good.
 
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