Apple just seeded a new build of iOS, version 4.3, to developers, and it looks like they finally dropped support for the 2008 iPhone 3G. The device is indeed not listed on the iOS developer website, and nothing makes us think that future beta versions will be released for that model. The latest OS for the iPhone 3G may be iOS 4.2.
AT&T discontinued the iPhone 3G last June. Several users who installed iOS 4 on the iPhone 3G last year lamented that the OS was slow and unusable, mainly because of the slow processor and less RAM on the 2008 device. Apple tried to make things better with iOS 4.1 and 4.2, but the iPhone 3G was clearly showing signs of its age.
Update: there’s iOS 4.3 for iPod touch 2nd generation either.
A group of hackers managed to successfully install and run the latest version of the Android operating system, version 2.3 labelled “Gingerbread”, on an old iPhone 3G. This is not the first time the 2008 iPhone gets Android and Linux ports, as the OpeniBoot software tool allows hackers and developers to inject any other OS into the device’s memory and execute it.
As you can see in the video below, it all looks pretty slow and definitely not ready for a public release — we’re not even sure actual functionalities such as Bluetooth or WiFi are working on that. Still, if you have the required patience to install it, wait for it to boot and use it with laggy multitouch gestures, you can show your non-geek friends that you have an iPhone that runs Google’s Android.
Slightly updated charts from Flickr, which show Apple’s iPhone 3G (released in 2008) is still the most popular camera amongst Flickr users. The iPhone 4 had a rapid increase in the Popular Cameraphones category, with the 3GS stable right below it.
Also, notice the perfect symmetry in the iPhone 4 and 3GS charts.
As noted by 9to5mac last night, AirPlay went missing on the iOS 4.2 GM for iPhone 3G. The feature was there in the previous betas and was working fine, allowing users to stream audio (no video to Apple TV yet, it needs an update) to AirPlay-compatible devices.
Apple apparently removed the feature when releasing the GM build on November 1st:
After speaking to multiple developers and users testing out the iOS 4.2 betas, we have determined that AirPlay did in fact work on the iPhone 3G at one point, meaning the AirPlay functionality was definitely removed from Apple’s two-year-old iPhone at its GM stage. The reason this is an issue is because Apple states, even on their own website, that AirPlay is supported on ALL iOS 4 devices.
The guys over at TiPB thought it was about time to take a second look at the 2008 iPhone 3G and see how it would perform on the upcoming new version of iOS, the iOS 4.2 Apple is rumored to be releasing sometime this week. They installed the GM build on the iPhone 3G, and as you can see in the video Apple’s engineers really did everything they could to optimize the OS for the slower device (it’s got a Samsung ARM 412 MHz processor and 128MB of RAM).
Scrolling seems smooth and fast, typing is ok, there are a couple of slowdowns when trying to pinch and zoom on webpages but no big deal. When iOS 4.0 came out in June iPhone 3G users were left out in the cold with a terribly slow OS that didn’t run exactly “well” on their devices. I saw one and trust me, it was slow as hell
iOS 4.1 made things slightly better, but it looks like 4.2 it’s going to be the ultimate optimized operating system for 3G. And it wouldn’t be surprised if it was the last one, too.
