I recently updated my firmware and only thing i dont like is the menu as icons.
After many searches it seems it can be changed back to list view with a program called javaloader?
I even found a link in the forums for it but the download link is a dead blackberry.com link
To be honest i dont see a difference with this new OS other then the icons.
Not in battery speed or performance.
Am i better off downgrading?

Wirelessly posted (8700g: BlackBerry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

You probably had a different "theme" at that time, if you could remember which it was, you could choose it again. Look at Options > Themes and try those available, you may come across the one you had.