iphone 3g or 3gs?

[stopthenoise]

OH wants an iphone and has set himself a budget of around £100. Had a look on ebay and can easily get one in his price range. But can't decide between the 3g and 3gs. Now I don't know much about iphones but have heard that the 3g can't record video or send/receive mms. Is there much difference in them? It all seems very confusing so any advice appreciated!

I'd go for the 3GS - there's more difference between those two than there is between the 4g and 4gs.

Mms depends on the operating system (iOs) on the phone, not the phone itself - you need IOS 3.1 or later for it. You should be able to update it yourself - however you can't put the latest version (ios5) on the 3G - you can on the 3Gs, though you won't be able to use all the features. The 3G will only update up to ios4, though again, you won't be able to use all the features.

With video recording, you couldn't originally record video on the 3G, only on the 3GS. But now there is an apple approved app called ivideo which you can use for short videos - though it doesn't seem to have a very high rating on the app store.

Here's a page comparing the two and another comparing the 3G with a Samsung. This second one does state that MMS is not enabled on the iPhone 3G.

If the 3GS is within his price range, I would go for this just because it is a newer model.

Thanks, that's all really useful. Think we'll go with the 3gs!