I am getting seriously sick of this poorly working 2.3.5 and I am starting to look in the direction of custom roms, but before I will do that, I need answers to couple of my doubts:
1. Is installation of a custom rom equivalent to warranty void? Some people say that it is, some that it doesn't, so how it really is?
2. Which of the custom roms built on ICS (not necessarily) is currently most stable (no crashes, freezes, restarts, overheating etc.)? And also, would be good if it has newbie-guide how to install it (I have never done such things) without bricking the phone, and eventually how to get back to stock rom in case I didn't like it.
Regards
Installing a Custom Rom will Void your Warranty.
Installing a Samsung Rom via Odin3 software will Void your Vodafone Warranty. but not your Samsung Warranty.
However using Odin3 you can always flash a Vodafone Rom again and return your Warranty.
Non of the ICS ported Roms are completely stable with all features working. You can incorporate workarounds but as a first time flasher this would probably cause you issues.
My recommendation would be to Flash I9000XXJVU_2.3.6
This is the Rom that has been released with the new ICS style Lockscreen but not for general release yet.
It is a Samsung Rom and runs really well. (I'm using it now!)
For Galaxy S GT-I9000 Only
Odin Flash Program + pit files
I9000XXJVU_2.3.6 (this will debrand your phone as well)
Flashing Guide (see last few pages for actual guide)
After Flashing, open the Dialer and type: *#272*your imei number here#
You will see a menu, select XEU, then press OK.
The phone will Factory reset. Follow the onscreen setup.
thesoupdragon wrote:
Installing a Samsung Rom via Odin3 software will Void your Vodafone Warranty. but not your Samsung Warranty.
However using Odin3 you can always flash a Vodafone Rom again and return your Warranty.
Thank you for your answer 
My phone wasn't really branded in any way, except the CPW sales code which I've got now changed to XEU, so I don't think I would ever give my phone for repair to Carphone Warehouse (I'd probably send it directly to Samsung) cause it could get back to me with Vodafone rom on it 
Thanks for your help again, and I will try this I9000XXJVU_2.3.6 as soon as I get back home
Regards
I have been flashing both custom roms and stock
I have found about 80% don't like the look of Touchwiz as they carn't customize it so a new Launcher sorts that out
Now in the past there was the speed freeks that wanted a mega fast phone
Now that was a small amount
You then get the ones that were fed up with branding
At then end of the day it boild down to choice 2.3.5 is on XEU a stable rom if its done right other wise it can be very buggy,
Before getting into Flashing any roms you need to be able to fix if it goes wroung
I would get a Jig of ebay there about £4.00, This will get you out of trouble and is handy with custom roms
As soup has pointed out you need to get the hang of flashing first and the Leaked rom is a Good start.
Odin can look scarry but its not, In fact its a better way to flash then Kies.
The other thing to do is what will you do if it all goes wroung !!!!
With the galaxy s we can easily go back to fix the phone
I even go all the way back to 2.2.1 froyo and then lest Kies do the rest
The thing to do is get the hang of doing the basics
Then do your research into the Rom most on here have tryed them
There are two camps one bigger then the other
I would look at CM7/9 or Darkeys
There is allso the Dioxed roms i use one of these before flshing a custom rom save trouble these are done on XDA by Ramad and is a good bass to start and some people just use his roms as he removes alot of Samsung Junk
So there is alot
And were here to help so Don't Panic
Hmm, am I the only one with the "soft restarting" of the phone? I mean pretty often when I want to unlock the screen, after pressing the button it stays black for couple of seconds, and then it suddenly unlocks and it looks like it just had been restarted (memory card scan, etc.)
Also, every now and then music player stops playing music, without any error or anything
Android or should i say Gingerbread has not been perfected and will be left with Bugs that will never get fixed
ICS is the next rom and i fear we will never see this
Android is along way off from being a perfect rom but on there devices it is
Gingerbread and samsung have never been good togeather alot of the things on Gingerbread were needed by customers but smasung never realy polished there roms unlike HTC and others who do real life testing before rolling them out
Yes they have testers but most are repair centres
so it is then left to Custom rom developers to iron out all the bugs
In the life of the galaxy S there has never been a full stock Rom as custome rom develeopers want to put there mark on there roms
as for your problems third party apps can cause this
It is coming out that even Facebook app is causeing problems
Keeping a phone clean helps as well ICS has sorted that out as well
The Best Custom rom out there is CM9 but even that changes its hard to keep up
The lag you are experiencing will be due to a Third party App As N-dj said such as Facebook!
Facebook is a dog at the moment...! very slooow.
I am running JVU and have seen none of the issues that you report?
I have over 150 Apps installed, rooted and custom CRT-off animation, also Transparent App Drawer.
Are you using a lot of Widgets?
slavko17 wrote:That's really bad though, wanted to take Galaxy Note on next contract renewal - I will think it all over again before that (still plenty of time left), unless we'll get ICS for Galaxy S - then I'll take another Samsung smartphone with pleasure
The Galaxy Note is good but Vodafone are not doing it, It pains me to say this at the moment the Motorola razer is the better phone
unless the the S3 comes out
The Note is reporting very bad battery issues
the S2+ is due out with ICS and a better battery that would be a intresting phone
Try and stick to a phone with Non Branded firmware on
The Lag as soup said can be hard to pin down at times but social stuff is a pain use web links i have 105 apps on most games and its apps that make the phone drag but games never do
I removed facebook app - we'll see how it will act now. And it's not a lag I think, it's more like one of the processes crash. Also, I noticed a problem with Google Talk which is annoying me since 2.3.5 - it is disconnecting a few minutes after I lock the screen, even if I leave it "on top". It is also often showing people as unavailable even though they are talking with me... Sometimes also I don't receive their messages... It doesn't matter if I'm using 3G or WiFi - I noticed these issues on both.
Widgets - I use only three:
- Power control
- BatteryLife widget from Market
- Calendar
And thank you Ndj for Galaxy Note info, but it doesn't matter now because I don't know why Vodafone has extended my upgrade time from July 2012 to February 2013 (my contract ends in April 2013). Well, it's a good thing at some point, because it gives me more time to think if it's worth to renew the contract.
Regards
slavko17 wrote:I removed facebook app - we'll see how it will act now.
Widgets - I use only three:
- Power control
- BatteryLife widget from Market
- Calendar
And thank you Ndj for Galaxy Note info, but it doesn't matter now because I don't know why Vodafone has extended my upgrade time from July 2012 to February 2013 (my contract ends in April 2013). Well, it's a good thing at some point, because it gives me more time to think if it's worth to renew the contract.
Regards
They have don this to every one they have knocked the early upgrade on the head until it get close to the end of you contract
Plus it stops those anoying sales calls when there is no good handsets out there
Well, removing Facebook app didn't solve the crash problem, but I think it helped me to find possible cause of the problem. When it did that again (crashed) it was running in Safe Mode (I had information on left bottom corner of the screen, it said "Safe mode") and there was no BatteryLife widget on. I restarted the phone and I had to put it back, even in "normal" mode... Too bad, I really like this widget, it shows me the battery life, percentage of battery left, actual temperature of the phone and battery Voltage 
If you ROOT your phone then you can install loads of mods for JVU
Use Odin to Root your phone
Instructions:
- Follow these instructions to the letter. Do not touch any buttons or checkboxes that are not listed below to touch!
- Unzip the attached CF-Root-xxx-vX.X.zip
- (USB) Disconnect your phone from your computer
- Start ODIN
- Click the PDA button, and select CF-Root-xxx-vX.X.tar
- Put your phone in download mode
- (USB) Connect the phone to your computer
- Make sure repartition is NOT checked
- Click the START button
- Wait for the phone to reboot
- Done (if it took you more than 30 seconds, you need practise!)
CF-Root-XX_OXA_JVU_2.3.6-v4.3-CWM3RFS.zip
No you wont lose anything!
The Rooting process actually installs a modified Kernell. It is identical to stock but has SU priviledges enabled.
Also installed is ClockworkMod Recovery. You can use this to make a Complete backup of the entire phone! - Firmware, Apps, Saves, music, photos etc. Just like Windows Recovery.
With Root you can install Apps like AdFree which get rid of adverts in games... nice!
