New 4S & Old 3GS: What Next?

[Thudstaff]

I have a 3GS on AT&T and ordered a 4S on Sprint (going to my wife/kids' plan and saving ~$59 per month). In the confirmation information, Sprint says that my new phone will be ready to go upon receipt. I'll then need to cancel my AT&T account for the 3GS.

1. Is it pretty common for folks to use an older iPhone as an iTouch? I'm thinking I'll let it be my primary GPS in my car and also my primary music device. I'm using the Tom Tom app so the maps are on the device.
2. I have an iPad2 3G with AT&T. Cancelling my iPhone should have no effect on the iPad right? I've never even used the 3G on it but may need to at some point.
3. Once I get the new 4S, how is syncing/iCloud going to work if I have a 4S and a 3GS (as iTouch). I'm assuming they'll be treated like individual devices (like my iPad) and I can manage each device separately.

 

[zackawee27]

I have a 3GS on AT&T and ordered a 4S on Sprint (going to my wife/kids' plan and saving ~$59 per month). In the confirmation information, Sprint says that my new phone will be ready to go upon receipt. I'll then need to cancel my AT&T account for the 3GS.

1. Is it pretty common for folks to use an older iPhone as an iTouch? I'm thinking I'll let it be my primary GPS in my car and also my primary music device. I'm using the Tom Tom app so the maps are on the device.
2. I have an iPad2 3G with AT&T. Cancelling my iPhone should have no effect on the iPad right? I've never even used the 3G on it but may need to at some point.
3. Once I get the new 4S, how is syncing/iCloud going to work if I have a 4S and a 3GS (as iTouch). I'm assuming they'll be treated like individual devices (like my iPad) and I can manage each device separately.

Yes, people use their old iPhones as iTouchs
And Yes, you're iPad should still work as long as you just cancelled the iPhone line, and not you're whole account. Even if it gets deleted you'll just use it for wifi
You can have two accounts on one but, make them two different names such as: 4S, 3GS

Hope I could help!

 

[Nanci]

I'm so glad you posted this. I gave away my Touch to a needy friend when I got the 3GS. I just have a Nano in the car. But ALL my music is on the 3GS and I had temporarily forgotten about using it as an iPod! Thanks!!

 

[MustangLife]

To be honest if you are using a 3GS just for GPS reasons in your car. I would sell it and get a tomtom, magellan, garmin. I just sold my 3gs 16 GB for $180 on craigslist. I bought a bad ass 5inch TOMTOM from 2010 for $75 at a pawn shop. Than use the extra $100 or so for Iphone4S accessories. You will be much happier with a individual GPS rather than 3.5 inch display on a 3GS no matter what gps app you're using. Just my 2 cents

 

[EmceeGeek]

You don't want to use your 4S for the same reasons? Personally, I'd sell it and get a Tom Tom for $80 brand new on eBay. Keep a good $120 in pocket depending on your 3GS size.

 

[Premium1]

I have a 3GS on AT&T and ordered a 4S on Sprint (going to my wife/kids' plan and saving ~$59 per month). In the confirmation information, Sprint says that my new phone will be ready to go upon receipt. I'll then need to cancel my AT&T account for the 3GS.

1. Is it pretty common for folks to use an older iPhone as an iTouch? I'm thinking I'll let it be my primary GPS in my car and also my primary music device. I'm using the Tom Tom app so the maps are on the device.
2. I have an iPad2 3G with AT&T. Cancelling my iPhone should have no effect on the iPad right? I've never even used the 3G on it but may need to at some point.
3. Once I get the new 4S, how is syncing/iCloud going to work if I have a 4S and a 3GS (as iTouch). I'm assuming they'll be treated like individual devices (like my iPad) and I can manage each device separately.

If you cancel your 3gs the gps wouldn't still work since the phone would no longer be active and that is how it gets gps. Unless you are using something else to get it to work.

 

[noaim]

If you cancel your 3gs the gps wouldn't still work since the phone would no longer be active and that is how it gets gps. Unless you are using something else to get it to work.

the gps will still work.. gps is separate from a phone contract.. it just wont work with a program that requires downloading maps each time and TOM TOM does not the maps are on device

 

[Premium1]

the gps will still work.. gps is separate from a phone contract.. it just wont work with a program that requires downloading maps each time and TOM TOM does not the maps are on device

Yeah I figured that they had purchased an app like that to use.

 

[ivan1.ruiz]

Best thing would be to sell it and get a gps like Tom Tom or garmin

 

[Joe McG]

I have a 3GS on AT&T and ordered a 4S on Sprint (going to my wife/kids' plan and saving ~$59 per month). In the confirmation information, Sprint says that my new phone will be ready to go upon receipt. I'll then need to cancel my AT&T account for the 3GS.

1. Is it pretty common for folks to use an older iPhone as an iTouch? I'm thinking I'll let it be my primary GPS in my car and also my primary music device. I'm using the Tom Tom app so the maps are on the device.
2. I have an iPad2 3G with AT&T. Cancelling my iPhone should have no effect on the iPad right? I've never even used the 3G on it but may need to at some point.
3. Once I get the new 4S, how is syncing/iCloud going to work if I have a 4S and a 3GS (as iTouch). I'm assuming they'll be treated like individual devices (like my iPad) and I can manage each device separately.

OK, first thing: I assume you are porting your number from AT&T to Sprint? If so, DO NOT cancel your AT&T account. Don't even call AT&T. When you get your Sprint phone, complete the number porting process with Sprint and make sure your phone is working on Sprint before even thinking about calling AT&T.

If you cancel your AT&T service first, your phone number will be gone forever, and no amount of kicking, screaming, or calling the Pope is going to get it back for you.

OK, now for your other questions.

I see no reason for using the iPhone 3GS as a separate device. Your new iPhone 4S is going to be your main device, and all of your 3GS apps are going to sync right to the 4S. In fact, you should back up your 3GS and simply do a restore on the 4S from the 3GS. It will be seamless. So, you will then have your TomTom program on the 4S.

I was in a similar situation with my iPhone 3G, and it just sat around collecting dust for awhile before I finally caved and sold it.

If anything, you could give your 3GS to someone in your family, or sell it on Ebay/Craigslist to recoup some of the cost of the Sprint phone.

All of your devices live in iCloud and you can manage them separately, turn on/off features, backup options, etc. My iPad 1 and iPhone 4 are the 2 devices I have and both are running iOS 5 GM. Everything works great.

Also, I'm pretty sure TomTom will still work on the 3GS even when there is no data account. The 3GS uses aGPS which just uses tower signals to triangulate your position. No data required, as long as the maps are on local storage.

Hope this helps

 

[Thudstaff]

Thanks for the replies!

I'm still not sure what I'll do with the 3GS...perhaps sell it to Gazelle. The drummer in my band is doing that.

As far as the new versus restore: I'm leaning towards setting it up as a new device. That way, I can install just what I want on it instead of probably having to delete a bunch of stuff after the restore is completed. I had issues when I updated my iPad2 and my 3GS and tried to restore them. iTunes tried to install every app I'd ever d/l on both. I still haven't gotten the both cleaned up. It seems easy enough to just set my email accounts back up and sync everything.

Now the wait until it gets here...