Successful update on a 3G--here's what I did

Question

I read a lot of threads here before deciding to take the plunge to update my 3G to OS4. I was able to update successfully thanks to the things I learned here, so I thought my experience might be helpful to someone else.
Here's what I did:
1. Installed the newest version of itunes.
2. When itunes asked me to download/install OS4, I chose download only.
3. While it was downloading, I asked it to transfer purchases from my phone to itunes. I copied all pictures to my computer and copied the itunes music folder to an external hard drive. And this became important later---in the itunes folder, there's a folder called Mobile Applications. I copied this to my desktop.
4. I synced my phone so there would be a new backup.
5. After some trial and error with the "update" button, I decided to go the "restore" route. I clicked on "restore" while holding down Shift, and it opened a folder for me to find the file I wanted to use. Vista puts the iphone update file in computer name/appdata/roaming/apple computer/itunes/iphone software updates. I clicked on the OS4 update.
6. It restored the phone as a new phone, which was pretty fast. Then it asked me if I wanted to sync using a previous backup, so I selected the backup I had done right before restoring. It put all my data and settings back during this process (about 20-30 minutes) but did not return my apps or music.
7. Once it finished restoring from the backup, I synced again and it put some of my apps and all of my music back on. A few of the apps wouldn't sync, so I went back into the Apps part of itunes (not the one within the phone, but in the itunes library) and saw that there were exclamation marks next to some of the apps. When I clicked on one, it asked me if I wanted to find the file. I found the copies I'd put on the desktop and clicked it, and it asked me if I wanted to do the same thing for all the apps whose files were missing. It restored all of them that way, and I was able to sync again and put them on the phone. Then I rebooted the phone, and that was that.
All said and done, it took <3 hours. When I'd tried going the "update" route a week or so earlier, after three hours the "backing up" progress bar had moved only microscopically. So this was, by far, preferable.
My phone is fast--no problems with lagging or slowness that I've noticed. I love the folders--I went from 7 pages of apps to three. The consolidated email is handy, and the ipod app now lets you edit playlists from within the phone. My only complaint is battery performance--I hadn't been impressed with the 3G battery to begin with, and now I think it's been reduced even further. But I didn't have any of the problems I'd been reading about here for the last few weeks.
I think Apple should do a better job of giving update instructions (not just "click update now") for older phones, rather than leaving it to user trial and error. But thanks to others' experience, my update was successful and I hope in turn to help someone else.
Message was edited by: Melissimo

Answer 1

I will post here, since this is a hot topic and I know people want help on this....I was successful with upgrading my 3G to 4.0 the first time out, got lucky I guess. I followed what was supposed to be the standard protocol and it took around 2 hours to complete without a hitch. However, I still noticed a significant lag in performance on opening most apps, iTunes, etc. I decided it was wasn't worth the few added features and after I was forced to downgrade my wife's 3G ( a brand new replacement phone one week old, since her camera had gone bad under the extended warranty - her's was crashing and hanging right and left after the 4.0 upgrade) I downgraded mine as well, and appreciate getting all the speed back. I did try the hard reset a few times, which did seem to help, but the speed is significantly better under the old 3.1.3 system from my experience.
I did lose my text messaging history, as well as pics and phone messages, but had the pics backed up, could call to listen to my stored messages and have a me.com subscription for syncing email, etc. so in the end all I lost was my SMS history, along with setups for passwords, networking, etc.
I will probably buy the new phone in a couple of months after it's stable, but I personally don't think the upgrade is worth the performance lag on a 3G. Who wants to stand around (or take your eyes off the road!) while waiting for a screen to load, so you can check messages, answer a call, etc.) Yes, I use a headset while driving, but still take calls when the road is clear, but the lag time was frustrating. Kind of like working on a Mac 20 years ago and waiting, waiting, waiting.....
The sequence for downgrading mentioned elsewhere in these threads worked for me with the option key selection on the restore button, and the use of the 3rd party software (rec? something? sorry) to force quit the phone at the end of the restore. It's been posted several times. Sorry to hijack this post in a way, but you should know that, yes, the upgrade can be performed successfully, and it may not be worth the loss of performance, and, yes, you can successfully downgrade, but you will lose some personal info.