Upgrade
by Tommy
(Photo on the right was taken with a 2G iPhone – on the left: a 3GS)
I decided that after 16 months of loyal usage, I’d retire (sell) my old iPhone 2G and upgrade to the 3Gs.
A lot of people have asked me why I didn’t just wait for the 4G which is due out around the first week of June. The answer is that if it followed the course of the 3G and the 3Gs, it would reach Irish shores a couple of weeks after that and then o2 or Vodafone would swallow it up and you’d have to lock yourself into a super expensive contract if you wanted to get your hands on the device.
As a student with no source of income - locking myself into a contract is neither financially feasible nor logical.
And so when I caught wind of someone selling their iPhone 3Gs on Twitter I jumped at the opportunity. We were both in Dublin so we organized to pick it up and I’m a very happy camper with my new phone.
I’ve found myself saying that “I’m glad I upgraded just for x feature” about 7 times. 3G is much faster than EDGE, the camera is improved and the recessed headphone jack (or lack thereof) are all pluses. The biggest bonus, I think, even if I haven’t noticed it yet, is the fact that I am now a legitimate iPhone user.
My 2G came from Northern Wales, where it’d been bought from o2 UK. Them being selfish, they locked it up so that without jailbreaking & unlocking, you could only use it on an o2 UK SIM. Unlocking was a messy and time-consuming business which always carried the risk of turning the phone into nothing more than an expensive paper-weight. This led to my not upgrading software (as to do so would undo the unlock I placed on it) unless necessary. I stayed off O.S. 3.0 for as long as I could, until developers started phasing out support for those not running Apple’s 3rd software release. However, the 3GS I bought was purchased from o2 Ireland, which means I can upgrade to my heart’s content without the need for unlocking hijinx afterwards. iPhone O.S. 4.0 is out in less than a month and I’m super looking forward to it :)