Good evening fellow Retroers, it's me again with some "rather obscure device in 2025"!
But first, i wanna open this topic with a matter that goes straight to my heart, and should be much more of a concern for all of us: overproduction and related e-waste. You all can see that not just in yearly cycles we all get to have new devices, many people change their phones even twice a year. Technology developoed rapidly within the past 20 years, and we became the developments victims. For those older or around 30, you will have seen the rise and fall of so many technologies, so many devices, computers, gadgets, consoles, that made their appearance, that made their hype, and suddenly were replaced by a newer model and got obsolete - but does that make the device useless? No, of course not. Many of you, as retro game fans, will hold older generations up and preserved for a future far ahead, and will hold it forever in its former glory.
Nevertheless, especially after the millenium, devices, especially handsets, phones, computers, made big jumps nearly every year. Thus, older hardware was left out without any chance to keep it up sides the manufacturers, and once expensive devices were considered obsolete. Other major technological leaps ultimately gave obsolete devices the rest, and there it is, an 800 dollar paperweight.
Me, a geek through and through, loving to experiment around all kind of devices, repairing, restoring, preserving, always looking to give devices back their former glance and shine, always seeing still good in what is packed in even the outdated devices. When you keep in mind how many decades of development and research were needed to get where we are now, one could say it still feels magical. Using a phones touchscreen-interface, controlling racing-games with a gyrometer, playing games in virtual reality and so on and so on.
As i also have ever been a fan of proper forums as a communication board, i am trying to get myself here more active within the community, to not just get in touch with other retro fans, but also to share some knowledge, some opionon, exchange mindsets and maybe also discuss about things.
Why am i opening this matter up now? You and i sure know that we all have some devices from past days, left out, that we always look for new things to replace others, or that we have some devices that we hardly can find any use for anymore. As emulation is a something that probably all of us here adore, i am opening up a series of, well, let's not call it guides, but maybe insights, of what we could do with old devices, how can we bring them back to life in any way. For emulation, and also for upcycling.
Many words, i know, although i haven't even started, but we get to the matter now, promise!
It is the year 2009, summer is hot, vacation is on, you meet with the boys/girls for a crate of beer, Gamecube and PSP. It is the year in which Apple announces its third phone, the S-version of the 3G-iPhone. To that time, not many of my friends were already in use of touchscreen phones, we were used to have small handsets, that easily fit our pockets, and were good for texting, calls and some music on the go. Apple brings out the iPhone 3GS, and thanks to the previously existing iPod Touch, gaming on these small devices were already a thing.
Back to now, early 2025. The iPhone 3GS is 15 and a half years old, and ten generations already came after it. Sealed and new 3GS models are collectors items, and those who aren't, are hidden in drawers, won't see any light of the day.
I did keep over the long run most of the devices i owned, and came to mind, "why not prepping it up again", give a clean, see what you still can do with it.
There is unfortunately not much left anymore, since this is a 3G phone, and 3G networks are mostly shut down internationally, so there won't be a real internet service for you available. While phone calls and SMS/iMessage still work (as does mail via iCoud), you will definitely have a phone that does its main function: being a phone. But besides, when you remember yourself maybe having owned one, you will also remember that you had ways to play games on it. While the Appstore officially does not let you in anymore with this device, you are only left with jailbreaking this device. This is something that is easily done, as this software does not get any patch against jailbreaking anymore. So, let's get that done! Jailbreaking the device let's you not just install games you acquired through other ways than the Appstore, but it also installs you an alternative app store called "cydia" - from which you get to download and install "unsigned" apps, such as homebrew apps, games, and emulators!
As you can see, i already myself comfortable with a versio of retroarch, and an additional SNES and GB/C emulator. But what gives?
gp4iphone is a Gameboy/Gameboy Color emulator made by ZodTTD for iPhone OS. It's a very ligthweight emulator, that does support all basic functions, speed-up, savestates, landscape and portrait modes. What would you want more? Personally, this is much more pocket that the Gameboy pocket has ever been. I tend to carry the phone with me every then and now, to play on this emulator during short-distance travels - decent!
Besides the standalone emulators, this device also supports Retroarch. Retroarch, as an opensource platform made for emulation based on emulator cores, made its debut in 2010, so it adds up that there would be an adaption, if not as a full OS, for iPhone OS/iOS. Retroarch, both as OS and app, brings a wide variety of emulators, with lots of options for settings, and "cores" to choose from, for you to find the best performance on your device.
Retroarch here either gives you the option to just browse the games, tap it and then choose with emulator core you want to play it with, or you choose your emulator/emulator-core first and then the game to run on it. Besides that easy handling, it only requires you to but BIOS-files, depending on what platform you choose to play, into the right directories - but i don't think that is news to anyone reading this!
When chosen the game to play, you will be greeted with on-screen-controls that are pretty much self-explaining, but might need adjustment. A tap on the settings button will lead you into the known Retroarch menu, from where you can adjust all further settings related to the emulator running. Plus, you get to change the on-screen-controls matching to the console you are emulating.
Us being used to devices with four times the screensize these days, this sure takes time to play on. But on the other side, we used to do it this way before, right?
From this point, i won't get any further into the emulators itself, i will just drop you some technical informations that might be interesting for those who are interested.
So what i got to run are the shown cases, PSX games go easily on 30fps. I tried Animal Crossing: Wild World within retroarch, which gave me an output of 20-25fps - playable at last, but maybe not the best result. Everything in between the shown, and what was before, is an easy play for the 600MHz handset.
About the device itself, i have it on iOS 6.1.6, which is the last version provided, jailbroken. The device is still possible to be synced up with iTunes in windows, or within the finder of current macOS versions. I though used "iFile" from cydia app store to move the games onto the device, which is an all-easy solution for those who are neither on macOS nor on Windows.
So, what else? Nothing else. Although, the iPhone 3GS has a 3.5mm aux, and delivers a decent audio quality for your mp3s.
I want to thank you, the reader, at this point, for giving me the attention, but also, if you made it that far, for giving a slight interest at least to upcycle for a better world. I also give a big thanks to Steve Jobs, for the coolest phone ever, to saurik and those who jailbroke the coolest phone ever, and to all the emulation scene. We had it really good back then, and could never think even of having it even better.
I will look to give more insights in the coming days and weeks on other platforms, other devices, obsolete and outdated, but loved nevertheless.
Feel free to give any input, to raise questions, to let a bit of nostalgia flow!
Thanks!
But first, i wanna open this topic with a matter that goes straight to my heart, and should be much more of a concern for all of us: overproduction and related e-waste. You all can see that not just in yearly cycles we all get to have new devices, many people change their phones even twice a year. Technology developoed rapidly within the past 20 years, and we became the developments victims. For those older or around 30, you will have seen the rise and fall of so many technologies, so many devices, computers, gadgets, consoles, that made their appearance, that made their hype, and suddenly were replaced by a newer model and got obsolete - but does that make the device useless? No, of course not. Many of you, as retro game fans, will hold older generations up and preserved for a future far ahead, and will hold it forever in its former glory.
Nevertheless, especially after the millenium, devices, especially handsets, phones, computers, made big jumps nearly every year. Thus, older hardware was left out without any chance to keep it up sides the manufacturers, and once expensive devices were considered obsolete. Other major technological leaps ultimately gave obsolete devices the rest, and there it is, an 800 dollar paperweight.
Me, a geek through and through, loving to experiment around all kind of devices, repairing, restoring, preserving, always looking to give devices back their former glance and shine, always seeing still good in what is packed in even the outdated devices. When you keep in mind how many decades of development and research were needed to get where we are now, one could say it still feels magical. Using a phones touchscreen-interface, controlling racing-games with a gyrometer, playing games in virtual reality and so on and so on.
As i also have ever been a fan of proper forums as a communication board, i am trying to get myself here more active within the community, to not just get in touch with other retro fans, but also to share some knowledge, some opionon, exchange mindsets and maybe also discuss about things.
Why am i opening this matter up now? You and i sure know that we all have some devices from past days, left out, that we always look for new things to replace others, or that we have some devices that we hardly can find any use for anymore. As emulation is a something that probably all of us here adore, i am opening up a series of, well, let's not call it guides, but maybe insights, of what we could do with old devices, how can we bring them back to life in any way. For emulation, and also for upcycling.
Many words, i know, although i haven't even started, but we get to the matter now, promise!
It is the year 2009, summer is hot, vacation is on, you meet with the boys/girls for a crate of beer, Gamecube and PSP. It is the year in which Apple announces its third phone, the S-version of the 3G-iPhone. To that time, not many of my friends were already in use of touchscreen phones, we were used to have small handsets, that easily fit our pockets, and were good for texting, calls and some music on the go. Apple brings out the iPhone 3GS, and thanks to the previously existing iPod Touch, gaming on these small devices were already a thing.
Back to now, early 2025. The iPhone 3GS is 15 and a half years old, and ten generations already came after it. Sealed and new 3GS models are collectors items, and those who aren't, are hidden in drawers, won't see any light of the day.
I did keep over the long run most of the devices i owned, and came to mind, "why not prepping it up again", give a clean, see what you still can do with it.
There is unfortunately not much left anymore, since this is a 3G phone, and 3G networks are mostly shut down internationally, so there won't be a real internet service for you available. While phone calls and SMS/iMessage still work (as does mail via iCoud), you will definitely have a phone that does its main function: being a phone. But besides, when you remember yourself maybe having owned one, you will also remember that you had ways to play games on it. While the Appstore officially does not let you in anymore with this device, you are only left with jailbreaking this device. This is something that is easily done, as this software does not get any patch against jailbreaking anymore. So, let's get that done! Jailbreaking the device let's you not just install games you acquired through other ways than the Appstore, but it also installs you an alternative app store called "cydia" - from which you get to download and install "unsigned" apps, such as homebrew apps, games, and emulators!
As you can see, i already myself comfortable with a versio of retroarch, and an additional SNES and GB/C emulator. But what gives?
gp4iphone is a Gameboy/Gameboy Color emulator made by ZodTTD for iPhone OS. It's a very ligthweight emulator, that does support all basic functions, speed-up, savestates, landscape and portrait modes. What would you want more? Personally, this is much more pocket that the Gameboy pocket has ever been. I tend to carry the phone with me every then and now, to play on this emulator during short-distance travels - decent!
Besides the standalone emulators, this device also supports Retroarch. Retroarch, as an opensource platform made for emulation based on emulator cores, made its debut in 2010, so it adds up that there would be an adaption, if not as a full OS, for iPhone OS/iOS. Retroarch, both as OS and app, brings a wide variety of emulators, with lots of options for settings, and "cores" to choose from, for you to find the best performance on your device.
Retroarch here either gives you the option to just browse the games, tap it and then choose with emulator core you want to play it with, or you choose your emulator/emulator-core first and then the game to run on it. Besides that easy handling, it only requires you to but BIOS-files, depending on what platform you choose to play, into the right directories - but i don't think that is news to anyone reading this!
When chosen the game to play, you will be greeted with on-screen-controls that are pretty much self-explaining, but might need adjustment. A tap on the settings button will lead you into the known Retroarch menu, from where you can adjust all further settings related to the emulator running. Plus, you get to change the on-screen-controls matching to the console you are emulating.
Us being used to devices with four times the screensize these days, this sure takes time to play on. But on the other side, we used to do it this way before, right?
From this point, i won't get any further into the emulators itself, i will just drop you some technical informations that might be interesting for those who are interested.
So what i got to run are the shown cases, PSX games go easily on 30fps. I tried Animal Crossing: Wild World within retroarch, which gave me an output of 20-25fps - playable at last, but maybe not the best result. Everything in between the shown, and what was before, is an easy play for the 600MHz handset.
About the device itself, i have it on iOS 6.1.6, which is the last version provided, jailbroken. The device is still possible to be synced up with iTunes in windows, or within the finder of current macOS versions. I though used "iFile" from cydia app store to move the games onto the device, which is an all-easy solution for those who are neither on macOS nor on Windows.
So, what else? Nothing else. Although, the iPhone 3GS has a 3.5mm aux, and delivers a decent audio quality for your mp3s.
I want to thank you, the reader, at this point, for giving me the attention, but also, if you made it that far, for giving a slight interest at least to upcycle for a better world. I also give a big thanks to Steve Jobs, for the coolest phone ever, to saurik and those who jailbroke the coolest phone ever, and to all the emulation scene. We had it really good back then, and could never think even of having it even better.
I will look to give more insights in the coming days and weeks on other platforms, other devices, obsolete and outdated, but loved nevertheless.
Feel free to give any input, to raise questions, to let a bit of nostalgia flow!
Thanks!
