The other-half (had) has an HTC wildfire up until yesterday when a cup of tea suddenly decided to pour itself over the phone…doing all sort of odd things now but we managed to get all the data off that we needed.

Friend has an Iphone 3gs 32gb that he said we can have for £120

I have an Iphone 4 how much slower is the 3gs ? I know it doesn’t have a flash for the camera…is it any better than the HTC wildfre S ?

If we buy it are apple going to make it unupdatable in a few months oor is it just old tech ?

Any help much appreciated

Friend has an Iphone 3gs 32gb that he said we can have for £120

It had better be in very good condition

If we buy it are apple going to make it unupdatable in a few months oor is it just old tech ?

It will be sooner or later but who knows when.
I’ve been using a 3GS for about 3 years and it’s absolutely fine. Apple have been good with the updates and there’s not much that a 3GS can’t do that a 4 can. Arguably the 3GS was better made than the 4 – I’ve read quite a bit about the power button stopping working on the 4.

If they are a friend, they should let you have it for £80.

Does the speed really matter? 3GS is fine for phone calls, email, GPS tracking, Angry Birds, browsing STW etc so I guess it depends what you want to do with it. Currently it’s still supported by Apple so not sure that the ability to update is really an issue any more than any other phone. On the other hand £120 seems a bit steep to me – a friend of mine was recently given a broken one for free, £10 worth of new screen from the bay and a similar amount on a new switch and it was going fine.

If we buy it are apple going to make it unupdatable in a few months

No-one knows until it happens. It was rumoured that they weren’t going to allow it to update to iOS 6 – but they did, and it slightly improved performance on my ageing 3GS. Would not be at all surprised if it won’t update to iOS 7 when that comes though. Obviously the phone won’t suddenly stop working when that happens, but eventually you won’t be able to run the latest apps.

It was a good phone at the time, but a poor quality camera and (as you say) lack of flash let it down these days IMO. In comparison to your 4 it doesn’t have a high res display and web browsing might be quite slow but it is still usable.

And, as posted above, price seems a bit steep!

If its in really condition, boxed, original charger, no scratches, It’s worth £90 at the most I reckon (less if its the 16gb)

At £120 I would tell them no thanks and buy one off ebay.

The phone recycling are offering £70 ish for a 32gb 3GS last time I looked.
So that their other option if they want rid of it the easy way.

The 3GS is beginning to show its age – getting really quite slow.

The 3GS is beginning to show its age – getting really quite slow.

It’s speed hasn’t changed (or if it has you need to do something about it), it’s just that other phones have become quicker.
What, in reality, what are you doing on your phone that needs so much speed? Talking, texting, emailing, listening to music and even browsing don’t really need that much speed (the latter being much more dependant upon network) – the main differences are in the camera and its ability to take quality pictures/video.
iOS 6 has probably made my 3GS the snappiest I’ve know it.

As someone who recently went from a 3GS to a 4. It’s all about the screen.

I’m still using a 3GS. It seems to be working fine with iOS6. So good that I’ve not bothered upgrading to the 4 or 5 yet.

But as others have said, £120 is a bit steep. Used ones seem to be about £80-90 on ebay.

many thanks

its a 32gb model so plenty of storage and has cases etc leads for cars

£110 is the lowest he’ll go.

and has cases etc leads for cars

meh
£90

and hows the battery life on it ?

must be a fair age , they deteriorate pretty rapidly after about 2 years imo.

replacing the battery on a 3gs is a fairly involved operation unlike the 4 / 4s

I’d be tempted to go get yourself a 4/4s as they will be futures proofed for another year or so yet. My OH has a 3GS and it is getting quite slow in comparison to my newer iphone. A 4 can be had for just a little more that your friend wants for his 3GS

It’s speed hasn’t changed (or if it has you need to do something about it), it’s just that other phones have become quicker.

It has – the iOS needs more processing power and all the Apps are designed for the new iOS so they run more slowly too.

And yes, I know – my wife has a 3GS and I had a 4 until recently but have just upgraded to a 5.

its about 14 months old

maybe hunt out a 4 !

I’ve got a 32Gb 3GS which I’m planning on selling. It works perfectly but has a small crack on the screen & a few scratches etc. £60 if you’re interested.

Forgot to mention battery life. Mine is about 3.5 years old and battery life isn’t great. That’s probably the main thing that’s pushing me to upgrade.

mangoridebike you have mail

maybe hunt out a 4 !

I would.

It has – the iOS needs more processing power and all the Apps are designed for the new iOS so they run more slowly too

Well I certainly haven’t found this so YMMV.

Do you have a 4 or 5 to compare against though?

If we’re talking about the 3gs slowing down compared to when it was new – why would I need a 4 or 5 to compare it against.
Like I said… in my view my 3gs is the fastest it’s been in the 2 or 3 years I’ve had it. It’s obviously slower at some stuff than the 4 or 5 but that doesn’t really bother me.

My 3GS (with iOS6) is definitely slower than iOS4 or iOS5.

The OS is designed for more powerful hardware, so things take longer than they used to. Facebook App (and FB Camera App) are examples of this.

And the Google Mail app is horrendously slow now! Takes about 60 seconds to open up…

£110 is the lowest he’ll go.

Tell him to get used to disappointment.

Hmmm, Facebook takes 10 secs to open and 2 secs to open the camera from within Facebook.
My gmail goes to the built in mail app so can’t compare.
Maybe it’s because……. dunno!

I’ve got a 3GS had it since just after launch and I find it fine, its been replaced 3 times by apple so can’t claim its the original handset. Mrs has a 4 (s?) and its quicker but the screen is so much clearer while the camera makes the 3GS one seem laughable. Phones are not a priority to me so I do t feel the need to upgrade as the handset does all I want it too (& more) I won’t really consider swopping it unless it breaks or stops getting supported. I pay a sim only deal.

£120 seems way off the mark, i have seen mint ones go on eBay for £90. Standard condition ones about £75. Cash converters (or some shop similar) had a mint boxed 3GS with 3 month warranty for £99.99

Ok my 3GS next to her 4s both opening Facebook (latest version and both with latest IOS) on same wifi connection, 3GS 6 seconds of blue Facebook screen then 2 seconds of loading screen, Her 4s 3 seconds Facebook screen straight into news feed.

How sad are we…

You can run Windows XP on a new Intel i7…. yet also on an old Pentium 3. Same OS, just different speed hardware, which will obviously make a substantial difference.

What we consider ‘acceptable speed’ has changed over the years.

Apple only made iOS6 available to 3GS owners to keep them as Apple customers (who would then upgrade to a 4/4s/5 when their contract for the 3GS ran out…).

“Ok my 3GS next to her 4s both opening Facebook (latest version and both with latest IOS) on same wifi connection, 3GS 6 seconds of blue Facebook screen then 2 seconds of loading screen, Her 4s 3 seconds Facebook screen straight into news feed.”

dont go near anyone with a 5 then ….. the jelousy will be huge … its almost instant in every respect 🙁

cant justify it when my 4 works so well still even if its slightly slower by modern standards 😉

The OS is designed for more powerful hardware, so things take longer than they used to.

I guess this sort of thinking is a legacy of the way Microsoft used to behave, loading bloatware into their OSes. In reality a more recent OS should be better optimised than an older version. So OSX Mountain Lion goes faster on my iMac than Leopard did, Win8 goes faster on my PC than Vista did and for a given set of features iOS6 is generally faster on my 3GS than 5 was. On the other hand don’t confuse OS behaviour with application behaviour – apps generally are getting more bloated and will run more slowly.

A friend has a 3Gs and whilst the OS updates are still available a group of us tend to use the Whatsapp App – he can’t anymore and they’ve updated to a new version that apparently doesn’t work on his phone.

Not sure if there are other apps no longer supported on a 3Gs or whether you use apps much even.

dont go near anyone with a 5 then ….. the jelousy will be huge … its almost instant in every respect

Ha ha maybe, when my 3GS dies/lost I will prob replace it with a 4s if they aren’t too expensive.

Avoid, as much as I love my 3GS, it’s been a shite phone for the last 3/4 years. Was given a HTC desire to test over the last week, it works as a phone really well… I’ve never had so many inward calls (connect).
What I will replace it with though is probably a 2nd hand immaculate Iphone 4 some-one offer to me for £120, so avoid at that price!