What would you upgrade your OS to from 3.1.2?

[wa2ruff]

Hello all, I am going to try an make this quick so I don't bore you with another upgrade and JB thread.

I have:

3gs, 16 gb, 3.1.2 and jb with spirit, AT & T
shsh saved on cydia and tinyumbrella, from 3.1.2 on.

It works perfectly, however lately I have been running into the inability to install several apps because they require at least IOS4.

Here is where I need some help please. What OS should I upgrade to? I have read that 4.3+ is buggy so I don't think I want that. I'm more of a stay with an older IOS that is stable, thus why I have been on 3.1.2 for so long. Actually, I wouldn't be upgrading now if it wasn't for the incompatibility with some apps.

I also need a little bit of a walkthrough. I know that might be to much to ask but I have nothing to lose. I'm not a dummy when it comes to this, but I have never restored with custom .ipfw's, never restored from cydia or my saved tinyumbrella file.

I'm in no hurry, so if someone or someone's are willing to take a little bit of time and let me know the best OS to go with that has a jailbreak for windows (I'd like untethered), and would also take the time to help walk me through the process.

I already made a back-up in itunes. I don't know if this makes a difference, but after the back-up finished an itunes and safari update popped up (I'm not talking about the IOS update). Should I install this itunes update and then back up again?

PLEASE don't bash me, I know there are a lot of threads on the same thing, but they are either older or broken up in pieces and hard to follow.

I'm not a noob to pc's but I am still a noob in the learning process of upgrading, using custom .ipsw's and understanding the workings of the phone.

I read a lot at many forums to try and get a grasp and I have come a long way. Also, I am a patient perfectionist when it comes to this and I follow every detail

Sorry this post is so long, I just wanted to make sure I explained myself well enough for anyone to be able to help.

[kraziebone]

I don't know about everyone else but ever since I have updated from 4.0 I've had problems. I'm currently on 4.3.1 and haven't had any problems but I haven't had it for that long. If you need to preserve your baseband I wouldn't go past 4.0 but that's just my opinion.

[goofball2k]

I'd use 4.2.1 personally.

[i.Annie]

Never 4.0.x. 4.1 or 4.2.1 will be fine. 4.2.1 if anything. As for guides, google or view my are you jailbreakable thread that lists what tools you can use for that particular fw version.

[Trypt4mine]

I'd use 4.2.1 personally.

+1 good battery, runs mostly all of cydia's apps.

I was thinking of updating to 4.3 but heard lots of ppl warn of horrible battery life. Can anyone confirm this

[goofball2k]

+1 good battery, runs mostly all of cydia's apps.

I was thinking of updating to 4.3 but heard lots of ppl warn of horrible battery life. Can anyone confirm this

Never did 4.3 but did they have an untether jailbreak for 4.3? 4.3.1 came out so quick, i don't think they bothered to create an untether, and with everyone knowing 4.3.1 was coming 2 weeks after 4.3, I think they held off on creating an untether to ensure that Apple did not patch the hole they were going to use (they patched the one comex was saving).

[wa2ruff]

Thank you all so much for the replies to a newbie. Now I have a basis for what I need to read and study and successfully upgrade and jailbreak. You all are the best!

[wa2ruff]

Hey everyone I finally have the day off to concentrate on this so I don't screw up. One last question I can think of. If I go to /private/var/mobile/Library/AddressBook and back that up on my pc, once I do my upgrading can I ssh and paste that in to 4.2.1 and still have my contacts without losing any? I already saved my photos on my HDD, and I'm not concerned with app backups because I'll start over with that. I just want to make sure I have my contacts intact. Thank you very much!

[Fhsjaagshs]

Ibackup contacts

Its $5 on the app store and it emails you a contacts backup. Then it can add the contacts from the email. I have used it and loved it.

[i.Annie]

You could just go to iTunes and in the "info" tab sync it to something of your choice. I use windows contacts. It pulls your contacts into your computer, after you restore, simply go to the info tab and select to sync from windows contacts and get your contacts back into your phone.