[jsz0]

The first releases of iOS4 for the 3G were pretty bad but the subsequent releases greatly improved things. I recently sold my old 3GS so I updated it to the latest 4.x version and it was totally usable. Slower than iOS2 but for a 3.5 year old device I thought it was completely acceptable performance. In the rush to release iOS4 I think Apple didn't have time to optimize the 3G release. They seem to have learned their lesson with iOS5 for the 3GS.

[mschaef]

There is an enormous difference between a 3G and a 3GS. My wife and I have one of each, both running 4.2.1. Her 3GS is usable, my 3G really isn't. The 3H suffers from lots of OOM-killed applications, and a huge number of 30-40 second pauses that freeze the entire UI. (Although AT&T seems to be equally good at dropping calls placed from either.)

I hear you on the 'Apple didn't have time to get the 3G release right'. That's fine. I have no problem with being stuck on iOS 3.x. Good iOS 4.x would be best... Good iOS 3.x would be almost as good... but bad iOS 4.x is awful. They either should have invested the time to do the release correctly, or just not ship the update to the 3G.