The Zohan

Help for an iPhone-virgin! I/we currently have Android so be gentle with me!

My other half wants an iPhone. She currently has a HTC Wildfire and i am guessing the iPhone 3GS is a step up in terms of speed/performance.
Been offered one of these iPhone 3GS thingies which is a few months old and i know little/nothing about them. She really uses her current phone for calls (funnily enough), facebook, email & Angry Birds. In addition wants to use the iPhone music player (most important to her) which will in turn mean i get my iPod back

Questions;
Are they easy to unlock, if so how much???
will it take a std. SIM card, any adaptor needed or do i need her current (on the three network) sim to work???
I have iTunes on my laptop (PC) which i use to put music on my iPod, will it see and sync up to more than one device?
If this iPhone is on another network once unlocked will it run Ok with a Three sim in it/problems with the software from the other network - you get my drift.
Are there any issues with he 3GS phone i should know about?

The other option is she upgrades to the Wildfire S (which i now have) which is much better in terms of performance and screen rez + HD video recording than the non 'S' model


Has anyone got one and their experiences.

Jaybird-UK

Needs to be unlocked by the network it's on/was on. Just ask them, they may charge a small fee. If it was originally purchased from Apple outright it may well be unlocked already.

It takes a standard sim

Yes, you can sync many devices to a single iTunes account and all share the same music

It'll work with a three sim if unlocked

3GS is now 2 generations old but still a very capable phone and you'll have access to a wealth of applications from the app store. A few are now enhanced for iphone4 but they are rare. 33GS camera is a little poor but not the end of the world

RobsyUK

iTrader: (2)

I DO NOT KISS APPLES **** !!! But in all fairness they are really easy to use. some great apps.

If I had to find a negative like I do with anything I right my Reviews on then the battery on MY 3g wasn't great - but then neither is my HTC...

She will love it though.

boxst

The iPhone is very good, even the 3GS which is two years old. With the new iOS 5 it seems to fly along and have all the new features. Some have complained of worse battery life, others the same / slightly better.

Unlocking is interesting. As far as I can tell, you have to have a network SIM (even a Pay as you Go) before they will unlock it. You will pay from free -> £20.

It takes a normal full size SIM.

You can sync multiple devices from a single iTunes account.

Snazy

I had heard the 3GS was not powerful enough to run iOS5, was that just marketing?

TinyTim

iTrader: (3)

Mine works just fine.

Snazy

Interesting.

Funny really because when I asked the Appluminati about getting a 3GS as a mess about I was told it was pointless, too old, wont run iOS5 and I should just get a 4 or 4S.
So there was me considering a leap of cheap faith, and I was put off. Now I know different.

What functions dont work?

SiPie

Mine too

Snazy

Im curious now, and tempted. Tell me more. What does and doesnt work from iOS5... Im assuming the lack of some hardware will cause limitations?

Iain Young

Just got rid of my 3gs and moved to a Samsung Galaxy S2. Much better phone. Battery lasts longer, it's a lot faster, was a lot cheaper than a new iPhone, you've got more stuff to fiddle with, and best of all, you don't get accused of being an iSheep .

iOS5 on my 3gs wasn't great. Slower than iOS4, a number of apps stopped working etc. It has never really worked properly since iOS3! Just using the phone as a backup iPod now

JackClark

Glad you're happy Iain, Apple products just didn't suit you. Enjoy fiddling about.

Iain Young

Not entirely true. My iPod is fine

Snazy

Fair play Iain, the other side of the coin shows

Ian

iTrader: (10)

my 3gs with ios5 feels mory laggy then before, and it doesnt change screens, open things smoothly like it did before

Snazy

So functional but not 'fine' ?
Tempted

johnlogie

iTrader: (4)

Depending on the firmware and current baseband that is on the phone it can possibly be unlocked by jailbreaking it which is fairly simple to do. I had no issues with iOS 5 on my 3gs but now have the 4s which is a lot faster and has an improved battery life

Daz34

IOS 5 runs fine on my 3GS. It can get a little sluggish if you have loads of stuff running in the background though.
With the Reminders app you don't get location based reminders like the later models.

Snazy

The plot thickens lol.

An0n0m0us

My Sons 3gs works better on ios5 than it did on 4 and the battery lasts longer.

Snazy there is no plot, just check the Apple website to see confirmation that ios5 runs absolutely fine on the 3gs, if it didn't Apple wouldn't support it on the phone.

http://www.apple.com/uk/ios/features.html

Snazy

lol I dont mean the Apple plot, I mean mine. With my consideration to get a 3GS.
I agree, I would not expect them to support it if it would not run properly. Im guessing the opinion on how it works depends on the interaction and expectations of the user vs handset.

Cheers for the link.

JackClark

Free with a contract the 3GS is a great device. I'd treat myself to a 4 if I were you, must be loads kicking around right now at bargain prices.

I'm looking forward to picking up my 4S on Friday, but it's a treat, mostly for the camera, my 3GS is still in perfect condition and just works.

Snazy

Have you loaded 5.0 on your 3GS then Jack?
Whats your opinion?

Ant

jack is hardly going to slag it off is he

Snazy

I dunno, I have always considered his opinion unbiased!

Trout

iTrader: (1)

As a peripheral Apple fanboy I would say my 3GS is slower at times with iOS5

Also iOS5 has a serious mail issue on my iPad!

JackClark

It's running better than I thought it would. Reacting to notifications could be faster, I'm running an iPad 2 displaying synced notifications, it shows me how it should be done.

Wireless syncing, iCloud backup and *iCloud in general is an improvement on Mobile Me, which was pretty good.*

Battery life is good and it's an old phone.

Scoobynet is still broken, the staff don't use iOS so they probably don't care.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Scoobynet works on my iPad 2 with iOS5.

There is an odd display error comes up in rendering the advert bar on the right of the page - but I get the same error on Firefox as well so I am assuming a source error rather than a browser error.

JackClark

It's annoying.

Snazy

So worth in punt in other words?
Dont know how many features I can honestly say I would use, but it would cure the curiousity I guess.

Whats the mail issue on the iPad Trout?