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Downgrading from 2.1 to 1.1.4 - should I?

V

VladM

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 23, 2008
177
0
Hi everyone, my first post here.

I recently bought the 1st gen iPhone (2nd hand), and when I got it it had the 2.1 FW (jailbroken and unlocked) on it. I played with the phone for a day, and saw the lag, after researching a bit it seems that this is a common 2.1 thing. I restored my phone, unlocked and jailbroken it again, didn't install Winterboard this time but the results were pretty much the same (maybe a bit better, but this may also be a placebo).

I have read a lot about downgrading to 1.1.4 and I am prepared to take this step, but before I do I would like to know if it is worth it? What features of 2.1 will I lose, are there any stability/radio improvements in 2.1 or is it mostly the appstore (which i don't use at all).

Also, how big is the difference? I am really busy these days, however the techno freak in me will always find time to do something like this (to my wife's immense displeasure :) ) But I wouldn't really like to do it if it will not be a significant improvement. I tried to find a video showing the difference between 1.1.4 and 2.1 and couldn't, so if anyone has done these measurements I'd love to hear/see it.

Thanks in advance,

Vlad
 
Well, I had the same issues as you are currently having. After getting frustrated with 2.1 over a month or so I finally purchased a first gen iPhone and downgraded it to 1.1.4. I then Jailbroke it. In my experience, 2.1 was like banging my head against the wall...it felt so good to stop. 1.1.4 is far more responsive (UI). At this point I am missing absolutely nothing. There is still an abundance of games and utilities available for 1.1.4. Although Summerboard isn't quite as cool and useful as Winterboard it still does the trick for me. My suggestion would be to go ahead and downgrade. Try it for a week or two and if you don't like it, simply upgrade again. I think you have nothing to lose.

So, in short, 1.1.4 is great. IMO of course...:cool:
 
Thanks for the reply man. Can you just explain to me what I can't do once on 1.1.4 that I can do now? Will cydia still be available, or is it only the installer? What other features are there in 2.1 that are not there in 1.1.4?

Also, most importantly how is the RF quality (reception, call maintenance) in 1.1.4? Same or worse than in 2.1?
 
VladM said:
Thanks for the reply man. Can you just explain to me what I can't do once on 1.1.4 that I can do now? Will cydia still be available, or is it only the installer? What other features are there in 2.1 that are not there in 1.1.4?

Also, most importantly how is the RF quality (reception, call maintenance) in 1.1.4? Same or worse than in 2.1?
Click to expand...

There should be no difference in reception or call quality as long as you do not change your baseband. Cydia is still available but it is an older version. You may have to search a little bit for sources for Installer but there are many ways of getting new apps onto your iPhone.

You will, of course, not be able to use the App store from Apple as it is only available to 2.x firmware users. There are other minor features that you may be missing such as being able to search contacts but I think, if you Google, you can simply look at new features for 2.x and that will give you a good idea of what you might be missing.
 
You see, everytime you reply I have another question ;)

I am a little confused about the baseband issue - is it something that HAS to be done for the phone to work (this is the impression I got), or is it optional (i.e. I can skip that step)?

Also, the iClarified tutorial suggests that iLiberty is used to unlock and jailbreak the phone - do I have to use this, or can I use the same version oe quickpwn that I used to unlock 2.1?
 
VladM said:
You see, everytime you reply I have another question ;)

I am a little confused about the baseband issue - is it something that HAS to be done for the phone to work (this is the impression I got), or is it optional (i.e. I can skip that step)?

Also, the iClarified tutorial suggests that iLiberty is used to unlock and jailbreak the phone - do I have to use this, or can I use the same version oe quickpwn that I used to unlock 2.1?
Click to expand...

when I went from 2.1 to 1.1.4 ( done it a couple of times ) I left all options to modify the baseband alone.

You can use iLiberty to unlock but I used the old version of the pwnage tool, the latest version will not work on 1.1.4.

I did however use iliberty to kick the phone out of a strange restore mode after step 10 ( I think ), I kept getting issues until I did this. I then put the phone back in restore mode and use ( the old ) pwnage tool.

I did have to do a bit of searching around to get the old pwnage tool, the wiki link appears to be broken.

I have now gone back to 2.1, because the microsoft exchange support is very usefull to me for work; 2.1 is still a laggy nightmare though.
 
One more question before i dive in: when posting on forums text input is very slow and keypresses lag. Is this also a " feature " of the 2.1 firmware, or will this be the same in 1.1.4?
 
Personally, I prefer 2.1 over any previous version.

In my experience, every update since 2.0 has created better performance, and less lag. I suspect the same will be for 2.2.

My biggest complaint is the instability of Safari. It crashes like a mother. Then again, I've found that to be an issue since I've had my iPhone. :shrug:
 
it's so inconsistent it's crazy. I've never had safari crash, but i've got major lav, and the text entry slowness on forums is annoying as hell.
 
Looks like Ebony answered your questions. You asked one more regarding the key type lag however. The answer is yes...1.1.4 is MUCH more repsonsive than 2.1 (again, in my experience. I have to give that disclaimer so someone doesn't flame me :p)
 
Doing it now...hold thumbs, will report back (hopefully) soon.
 
It all seems to be luck of the draw on lag these days. Since 2.0.2 I've had absolutely NO lag whatsoever, but ever since I first bought my first gen if you have safari and ipod up at once safari will crash almost never fail every time.
 
Ok guys, need some help...I got to the step where it gave me the "correct" error, and now I am trying to get it out of that recovery mode. iLiberty doesn't want to do it, it is just sitting there with that screen with a plug and iTunes...

what do I do?
 
VladM said:
Ok guys, need some help...I got to the step where it gave me the "correct" error, and now I am trying to get it out of that recovery mode. iLiberty doesn't want to do it, it is just sitting there with that screen with a plug and iTunes...

what do I do?
Click to expand...

Need to know...Is iLiberty seeing the iPhone? In other words, is the Jump out of recovery mode button active?
 
rotobadger said:
Need to know...Is iLiberty seeing the iPhone? In other words, is the Jump out of recovery mode button active?
Click to expand...

Yes it is seeing it, and when I click the button it just says kicking out of recovery mode and sits there forever...
 
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