To 3GS or not to 3GS, that is the question...

[Fabienne]

For some inexplicable reason I have become consumed with desire to possess a 3GS. I have an iTouch, and loved it. Then I got a Blackberry 8320 from Cincinnati Bell (it was free). I loved it. It worked on cell tower and wifi to bring in my e-mails and is a tractor about that. Alas, it's GUI and fun quotient is far lower and less appealing than iPhone.

I have the kind of job where I do use the video and camera and voice recorder (to make podcasts), and it's great to have all that stuff in one device. Not to mention the fun of having a music player. The Blackberry can take nice pictures, pretty bad video, is difficult to play music on, and stinks at video (really stinks). Hence, I want a 3GS.

Now I am looking at what they have for sale on eBay. It appears that I can buy a nice 3GS for about $450 which has a "little" crack in the screen (disturbing because of crack propagation possibility...little crack grows when you push on the screen leading to a $100-$199 repair). You can buy a jailbroken one for about $525 (the cheapest I have found and I am mighty tempted). It has a tethered jailbreak. The seller warns not to use iTunes as it might brick the phone (I think that is not true but I could be wrong). You cannot power it off, just standby or else you have to re-jailbreak with blackra1n, which I have never done before (I am quite sure I can do it, it isn't rocket science). But tethered is a pain, and there are times you have to turn it off (on airplanes for instance).

There are loads of them running 3.1.3 for $450+ (both with cracks and pristine), but that does me no good at the moment as it's unlockable.

My big problem is that going to AT&T is not an option. I am totally with Cincinnati Bell (I know, they use AT&T towers etc but they are not the same company). So, I have to get a phone which is able to use CBW and that means unlocking and jailbreaking.

I have found a guy in town who can jailbreak and unlock for $25. I have never met him and don't know anything about him. I could try to do it myself.

My question: what is a smart thing to do? You have seen a lot of these cycles before so I am asking you.

-Wait until the G4 comes out (and 3.1.3 is broken by coders I hope)
-Buy the $525 phone and stop being such a sissy about tethering
-Keep on looking, there are plenty of great phones out there for under $500 right now, and jailbreaking is fun to learn
-Some other option which I had not thought about.

Thank you for your opinions on this matter. I don't know as much about iPhones as I feel I need to to make a really good decision and have lost out on a couple of deals on eBay because they just didn't quite feel right.

P.S. I saw an offer to sell a 3GS which was unlocked and jailbroken but running 3.1.3. I suspect that fact would make it impossible to go back to 3.1.2 if something were to go awry and/or lock me into one carrier (probably someone I can't use). Am I wrong about that?

Also, if I have a tethered jailbreak, how long would it take to reboot with blackra1n on the average? I haven't seen much information on that point. Is it a matter of under a minute, or half an hour? Thanks.

P.P.S. It is sad to see that the iPad (cheapest) can be had for $499, and a jailbroken 3GS is $500+

 

[JNickyJJ]

I bought the 3g over the 3gs simply because of it being cheaper and that I have an ipod touch! the idea of paying £100 for 8gb more and a speed increase (which isn't neccessary) seemed a bit stupid to me, hence why I think you should go with the 3g (losing video capture though)

 

[shoppy]

I brought a 4 day old 16gb 3GS for £295 cash. Which I felt was a bargain as it was pristine, I am getting o2 to unlock it for free. Keep looking around you can get good deals. I could not be bothered with the whole jail breaking scene anymore.

 

[Fabienne]

Looks like a 3GS for <$500 might be a pipedream unlocked, but there are crazy people out there. You also have to watch out for unlocked but upgraded to 3.1.3. I looked at some comment about Dev Team which made it sound like you better make sure you have a 3.1.2 or else.

 

[Mintin8]

I bought the 3g over the 3gs simply because of it being cheaper and that I have an ipod touch! the idea of paying £100 for 8gb more and a speed increase (which isn't neccessary) seemed a bit stupid to me, hence why I think you should go with the 3g (losing video capture though)

I found the speed increase to be vast going from the 3g to the 3gs. It really is noticeable. Obviously, if you have an ipod touch that doesn't matter but I would you reccomend the 3gs to anyone now. Obviously if you can wait, do so.

 

[jaforres]

I went with the 3GS and never looked back. For as much as the average user users their phones I would suspect that the cost difference really is negligible in the long run.

 

[Fabienne]

Well, I found a good deal on eBay and bought it. Made sure it was running 3.1.2 and it was already jailbroken and unlocked. Saved me some trouble I guess. Although I bet I will have to learn to reboot with blackra1n but I am really thinking there are other considerations. If 3.1.3 proves too hard to crack, that means that 3.1.2 are going to actually retain their value. So, I have joined the ranks of the 3GS folks, and can use my phone with CBW and be happy while surfing the net, using video, making voice recording and the rest of it all.