Don't throw away that old iPhone 3G yet

Some parts of image from AreaCellPhone.com.

iPhone 3G and 3GS owners who aren't mesmerized by the new iPhone 4 still have some steam left in their existing hardware. iOS4 breathes a little more life into them.

iOS4 is the latest operating system designed for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch lines. It introduces a few refreshing features that will keep me loyal to my iPhone 3G for several months yet.

A week after installing, I am appreciating these in particular.

• Updated interface. My iPhone may be two years old, but it's trying to pretend that it has a Retina display with these smooth transitions and snazzy new icons.



• Integrated inbox. You no longer have to toggle back and forth between all your inboxes, trying to guess which one had just received a new message. Now it's easy. Everything comes into one screen.



• Email grouping by thread. This feature may have already been implemented, but I didn't notice it until updating to iOS4. It was switched off by default. As soon as I turned it on, I could quickly review the entire thread of conversations in my integrated inbox. I'll be leaving that one on.





• Folders. Until last week, I had five screens of unsorted free apps to sift through just to find what I wanted. Now they're organized into a single screen, grouped by action verbs.





• Improved auto-correct. Tired of your iPhone automatically changing Whitehouse to whorehouse, especially when you just sent a text message to your mom telling her how excited you are to be there? Maybe it won't do that anymore.



• Integrated spellchecker. This might be my favorite feature. The auto-correct (mentioned above) can only guess based on the number of letters you typed. The spellchecker actually lets you click to select from a number of likely possibilities. It takes missed keystrokes into consideration.



• New iPod interface. Music sorting and playing is a little easier with new track list styles and controls placement.



• And a few extras... Apple finally added a cent sign to the keyboard! That makes ¢s! You can access it behind the dollar sign by holding it down. They also now support holding down the international keyboard button to select from a list, instead of cycling through. (Again, they may have implemented that earlier, but I didn't notice until iOS4.)

iPhone 3G, I'm not finished with you yet.


Question:

Are you keeping your old iPhone for a while longer? If so, why?

See also

• AT&T's new rate plans benefit most iPhone users


• How Steve Jobs and Apple keep me coming back for more


• Gordon Moore's apple