iOS5 + iPhone 3G?

[Trivia Master]

Why would you want to?
The iPhone 3G runs slow as hell on anything higher than 4.0
It takes like 30 seconds to open things up. Imagine 5.0 on it.
It would be unusable.

Really? My wife and I both have 3G iPhones (8GB) on 4.2.1 and they are nowhere near as bad as anyone on here has said. I jailbroke both and unlocked them and they work fine. I just checked different apps and none of them take more than 4-6 seconds to start and load the screen. As a matter of fact, Safari, Mail, and Calendar open immediately. Maybe you have a ton of apps installed and it slows the OS down. I have about 46 including the standard apps that come with it. I even watch streaming videos on the EDGE network...not high quality, but very watchable.

The slowest app that I've noticed is the Camera. And I suspect it's because it loads the photo library in the background before it turns on the camera. It takes around 15 seconds.

I doubt we got so lucky that we somehow purchased the two best 3G iPhones in the world in separate transactions from different sellers on eBay.

Even so, I'm not going to even attempt iOS 5 on my 3G. There's no way it'll run smoothly on it. I might look for a 3Gs or iPhone 4 on eBay.

 

[SonaliNCSU]

I have a 3g on 4.2.1 and I absolutely hate it. Been wanting to throw it against the wall but luckily my iphone 4s will be with me tomorrow!

Is there any way to still keep my text messages on the new phone? Will I have a problem restoring from a backup that has ios 4.2.1?

 

[batting1000]

Well you can't attempt it even if you wanted to because iOS 5 isn't even for the 3G. It's for the 3GS and up.

 

[SonaliNCSU]

I know. I was wondering if I could restore a backup from a phone with ios 4.2.1 to a new phone with ios5?

 

[avocategory]

If your contract is up with AT&T, it's possible to upgrade to a 3GS for free at this point.

 

[OZinNY]

3G works best on 3.13

It became almost unusable when I went from 3.1.3 to 4.0. Since 4.0 the phone has been extremely slow. I love when I want to take a quick photo, and need to wait 35 seconds for the camera to load, then another 15 seconds for the camera to snap the pic.

I can't agree more. It took me a lot of effort to return my jailbroken 3G to 3.13 but the increase in speed was worth it.

 

[mgann20111]

ios 4.2.1

no ios 4.2.2 was the last update for the iphone 3g

Don't be a idiot man, learn your stuff... ios 4.2.1 is the last supported firmware for iPhone 3G.

 

[caalsio]

I'm having the same sort of problem here. I got a 3GS from my friend yesterday with ios5 already on it. When I tried to backup my 3G and then restore the 3GS using the backup, it says "backup does not exist." So, my understanding is that I'm pretty much screwed if I want to keep my texts and other things. (I want to keep my texts most of all)

But I was wondering if I downgraded the 3GS to something that would be more compatible, would I be able to back it up at that point, and then upgrade it back to ios5 afterwards?

 

[ericrwalker]

use whited00r...i have it on my 3g. it works brilliantly

I've been using whited00r on my wifes 3G. She loves how much whited00r sped up her phone after iOS 4 slowed it down. I didn't look to see if iOS 5 was available for her phone yet because I am going to get the 4S in the beginning of December and give her my 4.

 

[bignick666]

what is whited00r as i have already jailbroken my iphone 3g

 

[dontwalkhand]

This is not something I ever would recommend at all even if it were possible. The 3G already performs horrid with iOS 4. I recommend that since the iPhone 3GS is lower priced now that the 4S is out, get a 3GS and use iOS 5 on that.

The 3GS is still a great phone, but the 3G, I have seen people want to hurl into walls because of how slow it is.

 

[bignick666]

mine has been fine

 

[ijailbrakeu]

So I'm probably one of the only idiots left with a 8GB iPhone 3G (yes, not even a 3GS!!), my contract doesn't run out until December so I'm holding out until then for a new one.

When I did the last big iOS update with game centre and folders, it slowed my phone right down to the point where I want to throw it at the wall (It takes a good 6 seconds for something as simple as a text message to open, apps crash and close randomly, and lots more. I don't even have many apps installed).
I'm just wondering if I update it to iOS5 does anyone know if it will make my poor little iPhone even worse? I could probably deal with it remaining the same, but I couldn't cope with it getting even slower, and I don't want to go back to the old iOS. I'm just wondering if I should just ignore the update and wait for the new phone, or update it if it'll be ok?

I CAN HELP YOU IF YOU REALLY WANT IOS 5 ON 3G. (Whited00r 5)WELL IOS 5 LIKE FEATURES NOT OFFICIAL IOS 5 TECHNICALLY 3.1.3 REVAMPED. whited00r is a hacked firmware for 3g and 2g devices. I WOULD POST A LINK BUT I THINK THIS MIGHT NOT BE ALLOWED HERE. JUST TWEET ME AT @ijailbrakeu

 

[huntkent]

3G 16gb updated to iOS 5

So get this, I updated my 3G 16gb from 4.2.1 to iOS 5 without knowing it wasn't "supported" for 3G. WHY is that even possible??? I updated through Itunes on a PC and it just updated the phone as if it's supported. The result hasn't been pretty, the backup file isn't supported and I'm going to have to downgrade to 4.2.1 regardless of the backup restore situation because the IPhone randomly reboots repeatedly in One Infinite Loop...

 

[Hitmanvan]

I believe iPhone 3G is meant to work at best performance with IOS 3.1.3. Going higher than that would slow it down.

So you can just forget about IOS 5, that will include multitasking, SIRI, videocam and many other apps that are super processor intensive.

Actually I would recommend you to downgrade to 3.1.3 if that is feasible.

Or you can dowgrade to 3.1.3 and restore to Whited00r 5 and get all IOS 5 features except Siri.

 

[mrfixit19]

iPhone 3g

my iPhone 3g is running ios 4.21 and its running flawlessly i would like to find an ios 5 hack for it though

 

[ambushg]

my iPhone 3g is running ios 4.21 and its running flawlessly i would like to find an ios 5 hack for it though

Mine runs iOS 4.2.1 quite well, although sometimes a little bit slow. I Jailbreak it and put multitasking on it, can select which apps shall be killed if runs too slow..

 

[Crystal-RX]

So get this, I updated my 3G 16gb from 4.2.1 to iOS 5 without knowing it wasn't "supported" for 3G. WHY is that even possible??? I updated through Itunes on a PC and it just updated the phone as if it's supported. The result hasn't been pretty, the backup file isn't supported and I'm going to have to downgrade to 4.2.1 regardless of the backup restore situation because the IPhone randomly reboots repeatedly in One Infinite Loop...

The only explanation for this is that you have a 3GS and not 3G. Cosmetically, it looks the same except the wording on the back. if you don't look really closely in the IOS, you will not know if it is a 3G or 3GS.

Again, it is impossible to get any firmware beyong 4.2.1 onto 3G because fw is not exist and therefore, you can't put it on. (Period)

 

[MacTek360]

Not the only 3G left

I've 16 and my wife's is 8 - on IOS4x, it's often painfully slow. I notice it most with Google Maps and Facebook. Maps performance is intermittent. Does not seem to matter about where I'm at or my connection. Facebook is just about completely unusable. Even texting, sometimes, it just won't seem to recognize my typing. I can easily type a few words ahead and let me tell you I'm NOT fast. Very annoying. Trying to hold out for the Next rev of the phone, myself.

Now I'm concerned about losing my connectivity and syncing of calendars via mobile me. I expect 5 years out of my devices. I'd bet Apple expects us to trade in 2.5 years.

 

[Crystal-RX]

I've 16 and my wife's is 8 - on IOS4x, it's often painfully slow. I notice it most with Google Maps and Facebook. Maps performance is intermittent. Does not seem to matter about where I'm at or my connection. Facebook is just about completely unusable. Even texting, sometimes, it just won't seem to recognize my typing. I can easily type a few words ahead and let me tell you I'm NOT fast. Very annoying. Trying to hold out for the Next rev of the phone, myself.

Now I'm concerned about losing my connectivity and syncing of calendars via mobile me. I expect 5 years out of my devices. I'd bet Apple expects us to trade in 2.5 years.

Your phones issue actually not because of the phone but it is the 4.0 firmware on it. If you downgrade it to 3.1.3, then it will be back to normal and faster that what you are experiencing right now.

 

[EricHope]

Actually, you CAN install iOS 5 on a plain old iPhone 3G. I did.

I've actually done this very thing: Installed iOS 5 on a plain old iPhone 3G (no "S"), and it worked. And honestly, it works fine. Not even sluggish. It shouldn't be possible, but I did it. And I didn't even have to do anything sneaky to do it. It just went off without a hitch, as if my 3G were a supported device. I'm about to do a post about it right now. Look for it...

 

[Crystal-RX]

I've actually done this very thing: Installed iOS 5 on a plain old iPhone 3G (no "S"), and it worked. And honestly, it works fine. Not even sluggish. It shouldn't be possible, but I did it. And I didn't even have to do anything sneaky to do it. It just went off without a hitch, as if my 3G were a supported device. I'm about to do a post about it right now. Look for it...

Review my post I replied to your other post about this topic. Please check and let us know which phone do you have.

Again, it is impossible to upgrade 3G with firmware above 4.2.1 because the firmware is not exist. There are people mistaken 3G vs 3GS because they look the same.

 

[CharlieW]

So, my take is that if you have a 3G i-phone, DONT install ios4 ? Actually, I did do thsi about a year ago and everything slowed down badly. I took it to Apple and they said they couldnt revert the phone back to ios3 but said they would give me a new (or refurbished) 3G but with iOS4 so I reluctantly agreed. What they actually gave me back was a new (or refurbished, cant remember) 3G but it DID have iOS3.1.3 on it which it still has. Needless to say it ran must faster than iOS4. OK, it's slow but I'm loathed to do anything about it. Can anyone HONESTLY say that a 3G runs OK on iOS4 ? Cheers

 

[chri]

I dunno what you guys did to ******* your phones up so bad, but I've had a 3g since 2008, I'm running 4.2.1 and it works like the day I got it.

 

[Gent]

Slow 3G

I've got an old 3G, and was interested in the cloud, hence looking in here to see if it was possible.

Regarding those of you experiencing 3G slowness on 4.2.1, I understand your frustration. It is always particularly bad after a few sessions that used location services (especially map apps). I looked around for solutions without jailbreaking the phone, and these worked:

Settings>General>Home Button>Spotlight search - uncheck all of these items.

Next, get used to doing two hard resets in a row. Whenever I notice things dragging their heels, I do this. The theory as I understand it is that two hard resets clears out all the unnecessary background processes that are slowing down the ol' 3G. I consider my usage to be moderate, and I do the two reset thing about every 7 to 10 days.

I also tried removing unnecessary apps, podcasts, books, movies, etcetera; however, those things had no noticeable effect unlike the Spotlight search and resets tips I found.

Because I'm a hell of a guy, I got my wife the 4s. It's cool, and much quicker than my 3g but I'm not jonesing for one yet. I have hopes that the 5 might be worthwhile. I imagine some sort of Jobs tribute effort in the works.