My significant other has an old iPhone (I want to say it's a 3GS ?) that is currently jailbroken on 4.3.3. It still has an unlimited data plan, so we usually just use it to run PDAnet to create a hotspot for our iPads when travelling (work requires her to use and pays for her Blackberry). Here is my question:

Given that the hardware is relatively old, is there any benefit from upgrading the device to 5.0.1 or will it become slow/sluggish and drain the battery even more quickly? Or have they made advances in 5.0.x that will increase the battery life?

If I decide to upgrade while I still can, I want to jailbreak it again, of course. I just downloaded the latest verison of redsn0w (0.9.10b4), and have read the two tutorials in this forum. Do I understand it correctly that I *must* create a customized IPSW file to jailbreak the iPhone, or is that only if I want to unlock the phone at the same time? Do I have to go through the "Extras" menu to create that custom file before going through the jailbreaking process itself?

And just to be on the safe side -- this JB is untethered, right?

I don't mean to kick your problem to another, but - may I suggest you ask this question over in our sister forum? It's at iPhone Forum.

Yes, the firmware is the same, but we mainly deal with iPads over here (we don't have to worry about basebands on the iPad).

So, given that, well, the iPhone is different because it's a phone, I'd hate to steer you wrong about upgrading. At our sister forum, all they know/talk about is iPhones, so you may very well find someone there who has done the same process and can help with specific advice.

There are great people there, so I'd suggest just cutting and pasting your query there and see what happens. Good luck.

Marilyn

Yeah, I figured as much... I was just hoping that maybe someone else has multiple iOS devices and might have already done it.