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up vote 5 down vote favorite

I upgraded to the iPhone 3G 2 years ago from the first iPhone and will (hopefully) get the iPhone 4 at some point. I was thinking of just using my old one like an iPod Touch or just keep in my speakers for music. I also considered jailbreaking (maybe it would help me get better with programming?) or reselling it as well.

What do you recommend I do with it?

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6 Answers

up vote 9 down vote accepted

You could:

  1. Sell it: Gazelle is a good place to sell old gadgets.
  2. Use it as a regular iPod Touch (I gave my old iPhone to my teen to watch iTunes U videos for school).
  3. Jailbreak it.
  4. Test Custom Apps
  5. Turn it into a neat personal project (remote control cars/planes, house automation). Blog about it too.
  6. Donate it
  7. Replace your car stereo (this one is fun).
  8. Make it your portable DVR; load it with your favorite shows and watch them when you have time (I know you can do this with you new iPhone, but it'll save on battery life if you use a second device).
  9. High tech alarm clock (I know, that one's silly).

Sorry if I repeated any suggestions. I was doing a quick brainstorm. It's fun finding new ways to use old gadgets. Good luck and let us know what you do.

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up vote 4 down vote

Donate it to someone who needs it.

Or, do what you planned... Use it as a music player / remote / toy.

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1  
I wouldn't give an iPhone to soilders - it needs to be recharged far too often! – Casebash Sep 1 '10 at 1:59
up vote 4 down vote

If you are a developer than certainly keep it as a device to test iOS apps on.

I have kept mine because of course apps will run relatively quickly on my iPhone 4, so I test on my iPhone 3G to see how about half of my users will experience my app.

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up vote 4 down vote

If you're in the UK, O2 pay a reasonable price for old iPhones - they have a 'Recycle' page on their website (try O2 Recycle). We used it recently to get something back for a 16Gb 3GS and an 8Gb 3G - they were both still boxed, in great condition, and we got about £350 for them.

The prices vary from day to day, and they may make an adjustment based on their evaluation of the phone once they get it, but the service is pretty quick and we had a cheque back from them within a week of sending them off.

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up vote 3 down vote

You can also use it as a Remote for iTunes or a “joystick” for x-plane with X-Plane Remote ;)

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1  
+1 for this. Rowmote Pro turns any iOS device into a great device for controlling any computer in your house. regularrateandrhythm.com/rowmote-pro – Scottie Sep 1 '10 at 12:26
up vote 3 down vote

The development answer posted above - I wouldn't keep iphone 3G for testing simply because there will be no 3G users left - most will have transferred to iPhone 4 or 3GS.

I was doing some research and I found that 3G market share was 20% - and that was before iPhone 4 was introduced. Considering that a lot of people with 3G will upgrade to iPhone 4, I can see 3G install base drop. On the other hand a lot of people are selling 3G phones...so they can be snapped up by non-iphone users very quickly.

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