[Samsung Galaxy SL i9003] CollieDawg:
Aaaand, i'm back in Buenos Aires!!! Phew, after a long travel, leaving my Galaxy in my backpack as added weight, I'm back. And still...guess what...

NO SOLUTION! FUUUUUUUUUUUU

Let me tell you what's been going on during this time. I know that everypony has been wondering what my "pseudo-definitive" solution was, i'm sorry for the delay in my replies. For now, let me tell you that it's been unsuccessful, and that I still haven't found a definitive solution for this. And for the record, neither has Samsung!

So what i did was to do a checksum of things that might fail. Temperature, External SD, SIM card, Power, Battery. All of them checked to be fine, and none of them had any influence in what happened to the phone. Result then, FUUUUUUU!!

I flashed once more, with a KB3 Froyo firm, and had it stripped to the wires for a while. I didn't even register it with Google. Just used it as a phone. It worked for a day or two, didn't reboot or anything.

How did I flash? I formatted first using Vol up, ok and power. Once it was stripped out of everything, i flashed with Odin. Once it was loaded, I flashed again to avoid issues. All of this was done without the SIM card and without the SD card (which, btw, i had formatted using the HP Tool previously to test, and was currently blank).

This configuration proved stable for a bit, so i started to add some programs. It was running fine. I had just one reboot, but it didn't lose the APNs or the data, so I thought I had found a solution. That's when i posted that I had found a pseudo-definitive solution. But I was wrong...oh, man, i was so effing wrong.

A few days after this, while i was travelling, my phone rebooted itself. I assumed it was a power issue, since the star symptom of this inconvenient was that the phone was unable to produce a "low battery" alert, it just powered off before it could do that. So when I got to the hotel, i plugged it in, let it charge, and then tried to power on. It wouldn't.

The Samsung screen and audio showed up, looked nice, and then the Samsung word started shining on the screen. And that was it.

For 2 friggin days.

Yes, really, not kidding or anything, phone was with the Samsung word shining for 2 full days.

On the 3rd day, I decided to either place it inside the microwave and enjoy the fireworks, or try to fix it. So i decided I'd flash it again. Sim card out, memory card out, i flashed Froyo with Odin once more. The phone started, services looked nice, it looked good. So i powered it off to insert the Sim, and when i did, it never powered back on. Same Samsung word shining. So i had to supress my wishes to place it inside the microwave, and just stuffed it into my backpack, waiting to get back home to check it with the vendor.

Monday, first thing in the morning, I went to Samsung. They took it in for service once more, and they told me it would be available for next day. Called next day, answer was "well, the phone needs to be replaced, so we're waiting for a new one...we'll get back to you in...10 days or so". Nice, really nice. In the meantime i was given an old Sony Ericsson to use...just text and calls, and i'm paying for a full Smartphone plan. Details beside, they emailed me yesterday afternoon saying it was ready and I could pick it up. I went this moring. And that story deserves a separate paragraph with full text transcript of what happened...

ACT 1: Samsung Store - San Isidro - 9:03 AM

[Collie Dog walks into the store, with the receipt in his paw, and goes to the front desk]

Lady: Good morning, how can I help you?

Collie: Hi! I've got a phone to pick up, I was emailed saying it was ready.

L: Of course, Sir. Please let me check.

[Lady checks her computer, then goes back and brings the phone. Phone has a plastic bag as a screen cover and all the plastic covers on the side are half peeled. Collie's eyes open in awe]

L: Can I have your SIM card please?

C: Sure...It works now?

L: Yes! It's brand new, been tested and you shouldn't have any issues now.

C: If you say so...

[Collie gives the SIM card to the Lady, who places it on the phone, enters the battery and powers it on. They both look at the phone, who starts up and shows the Samsung word shining. On...and on....and on....]

C: Umm....you sure this has been fixed?

L: Of course...just give it a bit, it's booting for the first time.

C: But you said it was tested before.

L: Yes, but not with your SIM card...please, let's wait for a while.

[5 minutes pass, phone still not booted up]

C: I'm not sure you've done anything with this phone...

L: Let me check with the technician.

[Lady goes away, Collie sits down to wait. Time passes, Lady returns after 20 minutes]

L: I apologise for the delay, technician confirmed me that Samsung does not load the OS when they send it, so we had to load it now.

C: Good thing it was tested before. Let's check it.

[Collie boots up the phone, it starts, it's got the basic Personal image (customized for the Operator). Syncs up with Google, works fine]

C: Looks good for now, i'll take it and let you know.

L: Thank you! Have a nice day!

C: You too!

Well, i took it out...still a bit unsure that they did something. My fears were confirmed 15 minutes after, when i was on the train going to work. I woke up the phone, and i see the error on the screen:

"Internal SD memory unexpectedly removed"

I looked at the phone in awe. Then i shook my head thinking "nah..it's probably something because it's still settling with the new image...Come on, Collie..it's a new phone...no worries". I used the phone, i texted...when i finished texting, another error:

"Sorry, application Messaging [location data crap here] has stopped unexpectedly".

"FUU- wait...nah, it can happen...don't think bad..."

Arrived at work...placed it to charge...left it for a bit...came back...woke the phone up...tried to enter Contacts...

"Sorry, application Contacts has stopped"

Messaging..."Sorry, application Messaging.."

Google Search..."Sorry, application Google Search.."

Calculator..."Sorry, application Calculator..."

Camera? ...."Sorry, application Camera"

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Basically, and bottom line, brand new phone with ALL the issues that the old one had!!

I'm starting to think that there's something seriously wrong with Samsung itself and with this model in particular. It's not possible, or it's really really bad luck, that you have two phones with exactly the same issues. This isn't serious. This is a disaster as a phone manufacturer.

I'm going to go back when i can, since this people are only available from Monday to Friday, from 9 am to 6 pm, exactly the same time when I have to work, and I can't miss work times anymore.

If this doesn't solve within the next week, i'm seriously considering a law suit against them...cuz this is a really really big issue. It's not possible that Samsung itself cannot find a solution, and the only solution that it provides is changing the phone for a new one that has exactly the same issues, and not even testing the new one for this issues before submitting it to the customer.

I'll let you guys know what happens from now onwards. I'm out of ideas for this, and I'm also thinking that it's not my problem. I'm not the one who should be troubleshooting issues that should be troubleshooted by Samsung Engineers.

So, to everypony that has this issue, go to Samsung, and have them take responsibility for this. It does not look like something ROM related, it doesn't look like anything that us, as users, can cause.

Still, it was fun to tell!

Let you know when i have news about this!

Kisses, hugs, handshakes, bro hoof, salutes to everyone!! (whichever applies :P)