Yes, "Xander Crews," I'm very well aware of the fact that ICS is not just cosmetic, thank you. And as for it functioning better/more efficiently, my battery life now only lasts about HALF of what it used to (and that's with background apps turned off and screen brightness at less than 25%), and I've heard several similar complaints from others with ICS and found the same on other forums. When I hit messages, the window often comes up with an "unexpected error" and has to close, many of my apps no longer sync properly, and my internet connection is often faulty at best (among multiple other issues). So, consider yourself lucky that you've had such a pleasant experience with ICS, but I still much prefer GB.
No offense intended. I honestly thought you may have just thought ICS was a cosmetic skin...just trying to rule that out and let you know it wasn't. You did say that your tech knowledge was limited, did you not?
Your initial post mentioned nothing of functionality problems...just that you hated the way ICS looked.
I typed out a long response with, what I thought, was a nice solution for you based on the information you gave at the time.
I was just trying to help you. Sorry if you took offense.
With that said, and after now finding out your phone has "ICS issues" my suggestion still remains the same. Keep ICS and use a launcher...but do a factory reset (again) first. Some folks have said they have had to do a reset a few times. I haven't had that issue though.
But before you do anything else after the reset, see if it is functioning properly for you. Any errors or whatnot. If it is fine, then it looks like the issues are in something you installed. If it's not fine, then I won't be of much help...but I am sure others can offer suggestions...some of which already have.
If the rest worked, then re-install some of your apps and see if the issues come back.
If your phone is functioning fine, then I highly recommend installing a launcher. It's no different than installing an app. It's easy and should satisfy your desire to get rid of the look and feel of ICS.
Oh, and if you have a lot of apps, re-install them through Google Play on your computer. It keeps a list of all apps you had installed at one time or another, and you can re-install them from there. Much faster and easier than doing all of that on your phone.
And I guess it goes without saying to back up your phone before doing the reset? Do an export of any app that stores information you want to keep (that doesn't store it elsewhere online), then backup your entire phone to your computer by copying your phone and sd card contents and pasting to a folder on your computer.
I prefer not to backup apps, but to re-install them manually when the time comes after a factory reset. I may do a little house cleaning by not re-installing some, and I'll get the newest version of the apps as well.
Hope this helps.
