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You're right, but as a current iPhone 3G owner not getting updates, I can say that I had a great life for this phone (3.5 years and counting) and that I'm not m

You're right, but as a current iPhone 3G owner not getting updates, I can say that I had a great life for this phone (3.5 years and counting) and that I'm not mad Apple decided to stop supporting it. It's a very old device with very little memory - very difficult to support I imagine. And I'm okay with it because I know Apple has conservative product life cycles and will stick to it. And I know the next iPhone get will be supported for 2-3 years at least, as well.

masklinn 15y ago
> I can say that I had a great life for this phone (3.5 years and counting) and that I'm not mad Apple decided to stop supporting it. I think ajanuary is talking about the fact that the 3G was still for sale until right before the iPhone 4 was released (see black rectangle). So people who bought a 3G right before the 4 was released (not necessarily a smart move) got about 10 months of support (support essentially ended in March 2011, with iOS 4.3)
- watmough 15y ago
  I speak from experience when I say, putting iOS 4 on the 3G was just a terrible idea. The 3G should have stayed with the 2G in being restricted to iOS 3.1.3, which whilst no speed demon, at least runs reasonably well, even now. The 3GS is the lowest hardware that should have been given iOS 4.
  - frou_dh 15y ago
    I speak from experience that the 3G running 4.2.1 that I still use "whilst no speed demon, at least runs reasonably well".
  - tptacek 15y ago
    Didn't they address that in a subsequent iOS 4 update? My understanding is that 3G iOS4 support got a lot more tolerable.
    - Splines 15y ago
      The latest iOS 4 version (I think it's 4.2.1?) is better than iOS 4.0, but it's still slower than 3.1.3. The only reason why I had iOS 4 on my 3G was app compatibility. I eventually was frustrated enough to go back to 3.1.3 and it was like having a new phone again.
    - masklinn 15y ago
      4.2.1 did improve things significantly, but it only made the 3G go from "completely unusable" to "slightly painful to use". The device is still much slower and less smooth than on 3.1 due to higher base memory requirements (as a result, not only are most applications slower to load some will not load at all on 4.2 and will instead crash due to going OOM and not being able to clear out anything upon receiving an OOM signal).
      - watmough 15y ago
        I say this somewhat tongue in cheek, but you wouldn't say 'improve' if you'd ever seen my wife swearing at her phone. My own app FemCal, runs pretty well on 3.1.3 on a 2G, but I think almost everything is a struggle for iOS 4 on the 3G. In particular, the new Facebook app appears to be unusable on the 3G nowadays.
        masklinn 15y ago
        > you wouldn't say 'improve' Improve over 4.0, which was completely and utterly unusable. I still have my 3G, so I can see what it is daily. A 4.2.1 3G is generally slow and laggy, but for the most part it works (as far as I'm concerned anyway: all tapbot applications run acceptably, Instapaper, Wikipanion and Terminology work and so do most — though not all — of my games). Not saying it's great, or even good (compared to 3.1), but that I can use my phone is a net improvement over 4.0, which had essentially killed the bloody thing. > In particular, the new Facebook app appears to be unusable on the 3G nowadays. I wouldn't know about that. I have no use for facebook's application.
- ajanuary 15y ago
  If you bought an iPhone 3G any time before June 2009 you were buying the latest phone. On a 12 month contract that leaves you with 3 months unsupported, and on an 18 month contract 9 months.

masklinn 15y ago

> I can say that I had a great life for this phone (3.5 years and counting) and that I'm not mad Apple decided to stop supporting it. I think ajanuary is talking about the fact that the 3G was still for sale until right before the iPhone 4 was released (see black rectangle). So people who bought a 3G right before the 4 was released (not necessarily a smart move) got about 10 months of support (support essentially ended in March 2011, with iOS 4.3)

watmough 15y ago
I speak from experience when I say, putting iOS 4 on the 3G was just a terrible idea. The 3G should have stayed with the 2G in being restricted to iOS 3.1.3, which whilst no speed demon, at least runs reasonably well, even now. The 3GS is the lowest hardware that should have been given iOS 4.
- frou_dh 15y ago
  I speak from experience that the 3G running 4.2.1 that I still use "whilst no speed demon, at least runs reasonably well".
- tptacek 15y ago
  Didn't they address that in a subsequent iOS 4 update? My understanding is that 3G iOS4 support got a lot more tolerable.
  - Splines 15y ago
    The latest iOS 4 version (I think it's 4.2.1?) is better than iOS 4.0, but it's still slower than 3.1.3. The only reason why I had iOS 4 on my 3G was app compatibility. I eventually was frustrated enough to go back to 3.1.3 and it was like having a new phone again.
  - masklinn 15y ago
    4.2.1 did improve things significantly, but it only made the 3G go from "completely unusable" to "slightly painful to use". The device is still much slower and less smooth than on 3.1 due to higher base memory requirements (as a result, not only are most applications slower to load some will not load at all on 4.2 and will instead crash due to going OOM and not being able to clear out anything upon receiving an OOM signal).
    - watmough 15y ago
      I say this somewhat tongue in cheek, but you wouldn't say 'improve' if you'd ever seen my wife swearing at her phone. My own app FemCal, runs pretty well on 3.1.3 on a 2G, but I think almost everything is a struggle for iOS 4 on the 3G. In particular, the new Facebook app appears to be unusable on the 3G nowadays.
      - masklinn 15y ago
        > you wouldn't say 'improve' Improve over 4.0, which was completely and utterly unusable. I still have my 3G, so I can see what it is daily. A 4.2.1 3G is generally slow and laggy, but for the most part it works (as far as I'm concerned anyway: all tapbot applications run acceptably, Instapaper, Wikipanion and Terminology work and so do most — though not all — of my games). Not saying it's great, or even good (compared to 3.1), but that I can use my phone is a net improvement over 4.0, which had essentially killed the bloody thing. > In particular, the new Facebook app appears to be unusable on the 3G nowadays. I wouldn't know about that. I have no use for facebook's application.
ajanuary 15y ago
If you bought an iPhone 3G any time before June 2009 you were buying the latest phone. On a 12 month contract that leaves you with 3 months unsupported, and on an 18 month contract 9 months.