Apple's fix for iOS4 on 3G coming soon

Almost a month ago we wrote about how Apple was swapping out iPhone 3G devices that were running iOS4. The process was sometimes pretty involved, but in most cases if you went to the Apple Store and complained enough, the Genius would pull a fresh iPhone 3G running OS 3.1.3 out of the box for you and swap it for your iPhone 3G running iOS4.

Now we're hearing that Steve Jobs has sent another one of his quick e-mails, this time confirming that the software update is coming soon. The text of the e-mail is literally:

"Software update coming soon"

Less than a month ago we heard that Apple was "looking into the issues," and we even called out Apple and asked that the company advise against upgrading the iPhone 3G to iOS4. If this latest e-mail from Steve Jobs is to be believed, though, it does seem that the company will finally release an update to fix the issue.

So, what exactly is the issue? That's the part that isn't clear since some people have updated their iPhone 3G device to iOS4 without issues, whereas others have restored from factory, and then re-installed all of their data, and then not experienced any issues. On the other end of the spectrum are the people who have tried just about everything, and the performance is just unbearable when running iOS4 on an iPhone 3G.

We'll have to wait and see what Apple offers up as a fix. At this point I figured they'd offer a way to restore your iPhone back to 3.x, but that probably opens up the phone a bit too much for hackers to have their fun.

Are you still struggling with your iPhone 3G running iOS4? If you don't want to wait for the fix, Lifehacker has a great how-to on rolling your iPhone back to 3.1.3. Since it's the weekend, this might be the perfect project for you.

Have you rolled back your iPhone or do you have other tips for improving the performance of iOS4? If so, share your thoughts below.